Chapter Two Three Seconds in Hope

He looked at Jack without anger and without fear, as though he were studying a miscounted animal in a ledger. Jack's chest went quiet. His father's grave, his mother's marker, William's copper spur, the burned house. All of it sank into him and became a piece of cold iron. The enemy was watching. Then let him watch clearly. Rusk called out, "Boy, kneel and apologize now, and I'll only break your right hand." Jack did not answer. Rusk's eyelid twitched. He was used to fear. He was used to freezing a man's fingers with words before a draw. But the young man across from him did not look like a man preparing for a duel. He looked like a man waiting for a late train. "Begin!" someone shouted. Rusk drew.