The excitement of the trial, suspended at its height, was now followed by reaction, a despondency which it was hard to shake off.

Was this, then, the land of his choice?
he thought.

And what, then, was this human nature of which men sung and wrote?
He shook himself together with difficulty.
He went to his room and buckled on his revolver, smiling grimly as he did so at the thought of how intimately all law is related to violence, and how relative to its environment is all law.

He went to Battersleigh's room and knocked, entering at the loud invitation of that friend.
"Shure, Ned, me boy," said Battersleigh, "ye've yer side arms on this evenin'.

Ye give up the profission of arms with reluctance.