Not out of cruelty
--God knows I have never erred in that direction!--but because,
for the first time in my life, I felt a strange reluctance to
strike the blow. The curls clung to his forehead; his breath
came and went in gasps; I heard the men behind me and one or two
of them drop an oath; and then I slipped--slipped, and was down
in a moment on my right side, my elbow striking the pavement so
sharply that the arm grew numb to the wrist.
He held off. I heard a dozen voices cry, 'Now! now you have
him!' But he held off. He stood back and waited with his breast
heaving and his point lowered, until I had risen and stood again.
on my guard.
'Enough! enough!' a rough voice behind me cried. 'Don't hurt
the man after that.'
'On guard, sir!' I answered coldly--for he seemed to waver, and
be in doubt. 'It was an accident. It shall not avail you
again.'
Several voices cried 'Shame!' and one, 'You coward!' But the
Englishman stepped forward, a fixed look in his blue eyes. He
took his place without a word. I read in his drawn white face
that he had made up his mind to the worst, and his courage so won
my admiration that I would gladly and thankfully have set one of
the lookers-on--any of the lookers-on--in his place; but that
could not be.
Pages:
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29