"
M. de Rivarol's hawk-face flamed scarlet. His dark eyes bulged.
"Sir, you... you are insolent! But of an insolence that is
intolerable!" Normally a man of the utmost self-possession
he was so rudely shaken now that he actually stammered.
"M. le Baron, you waste words. This is the New World. It is not
merely new; it is novel to one reared amid the superstitions of the
Old. That novelty you have not yet had time, perhaps, to realize;
therefore I overlook the offensive epithet you have used. But
justice is justice in the New World as in the Old, and injustice as
intolerable here as there. Now justice demands the enlargement of
my officer and the arrest and punishment of yours. That justice
I invite you, with submission, to administer."
"With submission?" snorted the Baron in furious scorn.
"With the utmost submission, monsieur. But at the same time I will
remind M. le Baron that my buccaneers number eight hundred; your
troops five hundred; and M. de Cussy will inform you of the
interesting fact that any one buccaneer is equal in action to at
least three soldiers of the line.
Pages:
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530