He put his bullet where he could.

It took it into its head to walk straight into Bellegarde's left side, just below the heart." As they picked their way in the gray, deceptive dawn, between the manure-heaps of the village street, Newman's new acquaintance narrated the particulars of the duel.

The conditions of the meeting had been that if the first exchange of shots should fail to satisfy one of the two gentlemen, a second should take place.

Valentin's first bullet had done exactly what Newman's companion was convinced he had intended it to do; it had grazed the arm of M.Stanislas Kapp, just scratching the flesh.
M.Kapp's own projectile, meanwhile, had passed at ten good inches from the person of Valentin.

The representatives of M.Stanislas had demanded another shot, which was granted.