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The man on the floor contemplated the entry with indifference; but a new light entered his eyes as he recognized his visitor, though his face held like wood.

“Evenin’, Clayton,” he greeted, nodding toward a stool by the hearth. “Come over ‘n sit down to the entertainment.” A whimsical smile struggled through the heavy whiskers. “I’ve been seeing all sorts of things in there”–a thoughtful nod toward the fire. “Guess, though, a fellow generally does see what he’s looking for in this world.”

“See here, Bud,” the visitor bluntly broke in, coming into the light and slurring a dialect of no nationality pure, “y’ can’t stop me thataway. There ain’t no use talkin’ about the weather, neither.” A motion of impatience; then swifter, with a shade of menace:

“You know what I came over fer. It’s actin’ the fool, I know, we few families out here weeks away from ev’rybody, but this clearin’ can’t hold us both.”

The menace suddenly left the voice, unconsciously giving place to a note of tenderness and of vague self-fear.

“I love that girl better ‘n you er life er anything else, Bud; I tell ye this square to yer face. I can’t stand it. I followed ye last night clean home from the party–an’ I had a knife. I jest couldn’t help it. Every time I know nex’ time it’ll happen. I don’t ask ye to give her up, Bud, but to settle it with me now, fair an’ open, ‘fore I do something I can’t help.”

He strode swiftly to and fro across the room as he spoke, his skin-shod feet tapping muffled upon the bare floor, like the pads of an animal. The fur of his leggings, rubbing together as he walked, generated static sparks which snapped audibly. He halted presently by the fireplace, and looked down at the man lying there.

“It’s ‘tween us, Bud,” he said, passion quivering in his voice.

Minutes passed before Bud Ellis spoke, then he shifted his head, quickly, and for the first time squarely met Clayton’s eyes.

“You say it’s between you and me,” he initiated slowly: “how do you propose to settle it?”

The other man hesitated, then his face grew red.

“Ye make it hard for me, Bud, ‘s though I was a boy talkin’ to ye big here; but it’s true, as I told ye: I ain’t myself when I see ye settin’ close to ‘Liz’beth, er dancin’ with your arm touchin’ hern. I ain’t no coward, Bud; an’ I can’t give her up–to you ner nobody else.

“I hate it. We’ve always been like brothers afore, an’ it ‘pears kinder dreamy ‘n foolish ‘n unnatural us settin’ here talkin’ ’bout it; but there ain’t no other way I can see. I give ye yer choice, Bud: I’ll fight ye fair any way y’ want.”

Ellis’s attitude remained unchanged: one big hand supported his chin while he gazed silently into the fire. Clayton stood contemplating him a moment, then sat down.

By and by Ellis’s head moved a little, a very little, and their eyes again met. A minute passed, and in those seconds the civilization of each man moved back generations.

The strain was beyond Clayton; he bounded to his feet with a motion that sent the stool spinning.

“God A’mighty! Are y’ wood er are y’ a coward? Y’ seem to think I’m practisin’ speech-makin’. D’ye know what it means fer me to come up here like this to you?” He waited, but there was no response.

“I tell ye fer the last time, I love that girl, an’ if it warn’t fer you–fer you, Bud Ellis–she’d marry me. Can ye understand that? Now will ye fight?–or won’t ye?”

A movement, swift and easy, like a released spring, the unconscious trick of a born athlete, and Ellis was upon his feet. Involuntarily, Clayton squared himself, as if an attack were imminent.

“No, I won’t fight you,” said the big man, slowly. Without the least hesitation, he advanced and laid a hand upon the other man’s shoulder, facing him at arm’s length and speaking deliberately.