I do not like to be called a coward, even by implication; and here I lost my temper and propounded an untimely ultimatum. ‘You had better put it plain,’ I cried. ‘Do you mean to refuse me what I ask?’
‘I don’t want either to refuse it or grant it,’ he replied.
‘You’ll find you have to do the one thing or the other, and right now!’ I cried, and then, striking into a happier vein, ‘Come,’ said I, ‘you’re a better sort than that. I see what’s wrong with you—you think I came from the opposite camp. I see the sort of man you are, and you know that what I ask is right.’
Again he changed ground. ‘If the natives get any drink, it isn’t safe to stop them,’ he objected.
‘I’ll be answerable for the bar,’ I said. ‘We are three men and four revolvers; we’ll come at a word, and hold the place agains
