This was good fortitude, indeed. The doctor's manipulations brought out neither grimaces nor moans. And in the fights it was observable that these lads hacked and slashed with the same tremendous spirit, after they were covered with streaming wounds, which they had shown in the beginning. People laugh at it mainly because they think the student is so covered up with armor that he cannot be hurt. It is not intended that his life shall be endangered.
Fatal accidents are possible, however.
For instance, the student's sword may break, and the end of it fly up behind his antagonist's ear and cut an artery which could not be reached if the sword remained whole. This has happened, sometimes, and death has resulted on the spot. Indeed, there is blood and pain and danger enough about the college duel to entitle it to a considerable degree of respect. All the customs, all the laws, all the details, pertaining to the student duel are quaint and naive. The grave, precise, and courtly ceremony with which the thing is conducted, invests it with a sort of antique charm.