Indeed, the thought of successful opposition seemed never to occur to him at all.

Certainly at this moment, angered at the impatient insolence of his adversary, the thought of danger was farthest from his mind.

Stronger than his brother, he pushed the latter back with one hand, grasping as he did so the small-sword with which the latter was provided.

With one leap he sprang from the carriage, leaving Will half dazed and limp within.
Even as he left the carriage step, he found himself confronted with an adversary eager as himself; for at that instant Beau Wilson was hastening from his coach.

Vain, weak and pompous in a way, yet lacking not in a certain personal valor, Beau Wilson stopped not for his seconds, tarried not to catch the other's speech, but himself strode madly onward, his point raised slightly, as though he had lost all care and dignity and desired nothing so much as to stab his enemy as swiftly as might be.
It would have mattered nothing now to this Highlander, this fighting Argyll, what had been the reason animating his opponent.