"Shuck off that coat an' shirt!" was his order.
Westerfelt did not move. "I'm glad to say I'm not afraid of you," he
said. "If you have got human hearts in you, though, you'll kill me,
and not let me live after the degradation you are going to inflict. I
know who's led you to this. It is a cowardly dog who never had a thing
against me till I refused to let him have credit at my stable, when he
owes an account that's been running for two years. He tried to kill me
with a pistol and a knife when I was unarmed. He failed, and had to
get you to help him. You are not a bit better than he is. I'm no
coward. I've got fighting blood in me. Some of you'd acknowledge it
if I was to tell you who my father was. I have reason to believe there
are men here to-night who fought side by side with him in the war, and
were with him when he was shot down tryin' to hold up the flag at the
battle of Chickamauga. One of the dirty cowards he once carried off
the field when the whelp could hardly walk with a bullet in his leg!"
"What company wus that?" came from the edge of the crowd.
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