第7章 A TALE OF A PAIR OF SCISSORS(2)

Goguelat was no more accommodating than myself.'I do not like apologies nor those that make them,' was his only answer.And there remained nothing but to arrange the details of the meeting.

So far as regards place and time we had no choice; we must settle the dispute at night, in the dark, after a round had passed by, and in the open middle of the shed under which we slept.The question of arms was more obscure.We had a good many tools, indeed, which we employed in the manufacture of our toys; but they were none of them suited for a single combat between civilised men, and, being nondescript, it was found extremely hard to equalise the chances of the combatants.At length a pair of scissors was unscrewed; and a couple of tough wands being found in a corner of the courtyard, one blade of the scissors was lashed solidly to each with resined twine - the twine coming I know not whence, but the resin from the green pillars of the shed, which still sweated from the axe.It was a strange thing to feel in one's hand this weapon, which was no heavier than a riding-rod, and which it was difficult to suppose would prove more dangerous.A general oath was administered and taken, that no one should interfere in the duel nor (suppose it to result seriously) betray the name of the survivor.And with that, all being then ready, we composed ourselves to await the moment.

The evening fell cloudy; not a star was to be seen when the first round of the night passed through our shed and wound off along the ramparts; and as we took our places, we could still hear, over the murmurs of the surrounding city, the sentries challenging its further passage.Leclos, the sergeant-major, set us in our stations, engaged our wands, and left us.To avoid blood-stained clothing, my adversary and I had stripped to the shoes; and the chill of the night enveloped our bodies like a wet sheet.The man was better at fencing than myself; he was vastly taller than I, being of a stature almost gigantic, and proportionately strong.In the inky blackness of the shed, it was impossible to see his eyes;

and from the suppleness of the wands, I did not like to trust to a parade.I made up my mind accordingly to profit, if I might, by my defect; and as soon as the signal should be given, to throw myself down and lunge at the same moment.It was to play my life upon one card: should I not mortally wound him, no defence would be left me;

what was yet more appalling, I thus ran the risk of bringing my own face against his scissor with the double force of our assaults, and my face and eyes are not that part of me that I would the most readily expose.

'ALLEZ!' said the sergeant-major.

Both lunged in the same moment with an equal fury, and but for my manoeuvre both had certainly been spitted.As it was, he did no more than strike my shoulder, while my scissor plunged below the girdle into a mortal part; and that great bulk of a man, falling from his whole height, knocked me immediately senseless.

When I came to myself I was laid in my own sleeping-place, and could make out in the darkness the outline of perhaps a dozen heads crowded around me.I sat up.'What is it?' I exclaimed.