And so saying, she rode up to him and offered him the choice of the
pistols.
He laughed--partly in surprise and partly in admiration, as he said,
with seeming good humor: "Miss Black, you are a very charming young woman, and delightfully
original and piquant in all your ideas; but you outrage all the laws
that govern the duello. You know that, as the challenged party, I have
the right to the choice of time, place and arms. I made that choice
yesterday. I renew it to-day. When you accede to the terms of the
meeting I shall endeavor to give you all the satisfaction you demand!
Good-morning, miss."
And with a deep bow, even to the flaps of his saddle, he rode past her.
"That base insult again!" cried Capitola, with the blood rushing to her
face.
Then lifting her voice, she again accosted him: "Mr. Le Noir!"
He turned, with a smile.
She threw one of the pistols on the ground near him, saying: "Take that up and defend yourself."
He waved his hand in negation, bowed, smiled, and rode on.
"Mr. Le Noir!" she called, in a peremptory tone.
Once more he turned.
She raised her pistol, took deliberate aim at his white forehead, and
fired-Bang! bang! bang! bang! bang! bang!
Six times without an instant's intermission, until her revolver was
spent.
When the smoke cleared away, a terrible vision met her eyes!
It was Craven Le Noir with his face covered with blood, reeling in his
saddle, from which he soon dropped to the ground.
In falling his foot remained in the hanging stirrup. The well-trained
cavalry horse stood perfectly still, though trembling in a panic of
terror, from which he might at any moment start to run, dragging the
helpless body after him.
Capitola saw this danger, and not being cruel, she tempered justice
with mercy, threw down her spent pistol, dismounted from her horse,
went up to the fallen man, disengaged his foot from the stirrup, and,
taking hold of his shoulders, tried with all her might to drag the
still breathing form from the dusty road where it lay in danger of
being run over by wagons, to the green bank, where it might lie in
comparative safety.
But that heavy form was too much for her single strength. And, calling
her terrified groom to assist her, they removed the body.
Capitola then remounted her horse and galloped rapidly into the
village, and up to the "ladies' entrance" of the hotel, where, after
sending for the proprietor she said: "I have just been shooting Craven Le Noir for slandering me; he lies by
the roadside at the entrance of the village; you had better send
somebody to pick him up."