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Show 176 IUCIIAJW 1/U/WIS. how fast one may acquire it who l1ns comrncncecl so happily. Perhaps-as I doubt uot that you desire still further to improve- you would be pleased to give me some 1ittlc opportunity to try you, and test your progress. If you would but free an arm or so, and let us try it with fist or hickory- ny, or with otl1er wert pons with which I sec you arc well enough provided - I should very much alter the opinion I had formed of you nt our first meeting." Tile fellow chafCd to heat· tltcsc words, and let fly a volley of oaths, wh ich only served to incrcnsc t he coolness of my temper. I felt that I had a decided advantngc over l1im, and a speech so little expected from one in my situation, and so contemptuous at the same time, provoked the unmitigated laugllter of the fel low's companions, who hnd assumed with him the custody of my person. "And whnt the h-11 is tl1erc to grin abont 1" he said to them, as soon as their subsiding merriment ennbled him to be l1card. "do you mind, or do you tldnk I mind, the crowings of t}1i~ cock-spnnow, when I can clip l1is wings at any moment 1 Let him talk while he may- who cares1 It will be for me to wind up with him when 1 get tired of h is nonsense." "But won't you let the chap loose, Dully George 1" cried one o: the companions; "let him loose, as l•e asks you, and try a h1ckory. I ~now you're famous at a stick-figl1t: 1 saw you once at the 81psy, wl1e11 you undertook to lather J im Cudworth. You didn't know Jim before that time, George, or you wouldn't ha.' chose that '\'Cnpon. But this lark, now- he, I reckon's, mu~h _easier to manage than Jim: let him try it, George." 11us speech turned the fury of the bully from me to his comrades; but it wns the fury of foul language only, and would not bear repetition: T he fellow, whom they seemed 11leased to chnfe, fonrncJ hke a madmnn ln striving to reply. The jest wa~ taken up by the two, who bandied it to and fro, as two expert ball-players do their baH without suffering it once to fall to the ground, until they t ired of the game; and t!Jey repeated and referred to a number of little circumstances in the history of t l10ir vexed associate, all calculated at once to ]Jrovoke him into additional fury, and to convince me that the fellow was, as I had esteemed him at the very first glance, a poor '!'Ill~ HUFFIAN CONFEHENCE. 177 and pitiable coward. In due proportion as they found merriment in annoyino- him, did they seem to grow good natured townrd myself-~erhaps, because I had set the ball in _motion which they had founcl it so pleasant to keep up; but thetr sport had like to have been death to me. 'rhe rutli.an, driven almost to madness b·y the sarcasms of those whom he did not dare to attack, turned suddenly u1>on me, and with a mo~t murderous determination aimed his dagger at my throat. I had no way to ward the weapon, and must have perished but for the promptituile of one of the fellows, w~10 seemed_to have watched the bully closely, aml who caught lns arm ere tt descended,r~nd wrested tl1e weapon from him. The joke had ceased. I he man who stayed his arm now spoke to him in the fierce lan-guage of a superior:- "Look you, Bully George, had you bloocl iocl the boy, I should ha' put my cold steel into yonr ribs for certain !" "·why, what is he to you, Geoffrey, that you should take up for him 1" was the subdued answer. "Nothinrr much, and for that matter you're nothing much to me either; 0 but I don't see the profit of killing the chap, and Mat 'V ebber ordered that we shouldn't h urt him." "blat VV ebber's a. milk-and-water fool," replied the other. "Let him hear you say so," said Geoffrey," and see the end of it! It's a. pretty thing, indeed, tl1at you should talk of Mat being a milk-and-water fOol-a man that will fight through a thicket of mCn, when you'd be for sneaking round it ! Shut up, Bully George, and give way to your betters. ~l,he less you say the wiser. Don't we know that the chap's right 1 If you were only half the man that he seems to be, you wouldn't be half so bloody-minded with a llrisoner; you wouldn't cut more throats than 1\Iat \tV cbbcr, and perhaps you'd get a larger share of the plunder. l've always seen that it's such chaps as you, that don't love fight when it's going, that's always most ready to cut and stab when there's no danger, and when there's no usc for it. Keep your knife till it's wanted. It may be that you may soon luwe better use for it, since, if thnt other lark get off, he'll bring G-rafton and all tl;e constables of the district upon us." "It's a bad job, that chap's getting off," said the other ruffian. " Ilow did you happen to miss, Geoffrey 1" s• |
