“I don’t believe any good will come of takin’ her, but there is a plaguy good chance for evil to come of it.”

“Let it come, then, and we’ll face it like men!  I tell you I am desperate; I have fixed my stakes and I don’t intend to be driven from them.  The more I think, the more determined I become.”

“But it looks so mean and cowardly to abuse a woman.”

“Who said I was going to abuse her?”

“I say so.”

“You’d better be a little careful of your speech, my good fellow!”

“I’ll say what I please; and you know what I have said is the truth.  Haint you goin’ to deceive the gal?  Didn’t you jist tell her that you was her friend? and that we’d liberate her?  And don’t she expect us to take her home, instead of away off to that cave in Virginny, where she’ll be no better off than she is here?  And haint it cowardly to lie and deceive them as trust in your word and honor?”

“Honor! a pretty word that for such a fellow as you to use!  How long have you entertained such high notions, pray?”

“Allers, sir, allers!  Did you ever hear me tell a lie?  Did you ever see me betray any one that put themselves under my care?  Say, sir, have you?”

“Well, no, I don’t know as I have; but what of that?”

“A great deal, sir; a great deal!  It means that I’m not a mean, cowardly dog; that I don’t go to a woman with a lie in my mouth, and sneakingly deceive her!  No, sir, I am above such work.”

“That will do, I can’t bear everything, even from you, and I warn you not to go too far!”

“Warn away, then; I’m not the man to be skeered by any woman-stealer that ever walked the earth.  No, sir, I’m not!  And I say ag’in, the man that’ll impose on a woman is a coward, and a mean one at that.”

“Come, come, Dick, it’s no use to be talking in that manner.  You know I am no more of a coward than yourself; and so what’s the use of such an ado about nothing.  Didn’t you tell me yesterday you would stand by me in this affair?  Come, now, keep your word, and don’t prove yourself a liar after such a boast of truthfulness, just a moment ago?”

“Yes, there it is ag’in.  You told me it was for our personal safety, and such like stuff, that you were goin’ to take the gal along; and now you defy the whole order, and are goin’ to blow them all to atoms!  I take it that makes quite a difference.”

“Didn’t I tell you the girl was to go any how?  And didn’t you say it would hardly be fair to help an enemy and not a friend?  Come, where is your honor now?”

“That promise, I tell you, was obtained under false pretenses, and is not binding!”

“A pretty excuse, indeed!—­Well to bring the matter to a point at once, I now state distinctly that I am going to take the girl with me, because I wish to do so, and for that reason alone; and I want you to help me.  Will you do it?  That’s the question, and I want a positive answer, yea or nay, and no more palaver on the subject.  Say, will you stand by your old friend in this last great hour of need?”