"
"I'll see you damned!" said Bruce.
"Maybe ye may, bein' likly to arrive at the spot first. But i' the mean
time, gin ye dinna want her to see ye lickit, come doon into yon how,
and we'll jist sattle aff han' wha's the best man o' the twa."
"I won't move a step to please you or any one else," returned Bruce. He
saw that his safety consisted in keeping within sight of Annie.
Curly saw on his part that, a few steps nearer to where Annie sat, the
path led behind a stunted ash-tree. So he stepped aside with the
proverb,
"He that will to Coupar, maun to Coupar."
Without deigning a word, Bruce walked on, full of pride, concluding
that Curly's heart had failed him. But the moment he was behind the
tree, Curly met him from the other side of it. Then Bruce's anger, if
not his courage, rose, and with an oath, he pushed against him to pass.
But the sensation he instantly felt in his nose astonished him; and the
blood beginning to flow cowed him at once. He put his handkerchief to
his face, turned, and walked back to Glamerton. Curly followed him at a
few yards' distance, regretting that he had showed the white feather so
soon, as, otherwise, he would have had the pleasure of thrashing him
properly.
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