Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-11-18

grope around the walls and feel for win
I was doing this when there came a
I noise of unharring. and an opening was
made in the wall through which the night
air came rushing cold and blusterous
Herr Graf" called a voice.
who is that?'
! ut is l. Captain D'Aguilar. You will
find your sword there. II you are not
afraid. come out by this window. and | will
lead you TO a place where ! can cheat the
platoon by taking your life"
Good" said l emphatically, seeing now
1t was he and not Lota who had put the
sword for me. and why he had done it, In
moment l was by his side, and we were
striding through the darkness Of the night
he took me to an empty barn in which
a couple Of lamps were burning, giving
dim, unsteady light
Times short. This is the best we can
do. We must use swords and can have no
witnesses. Sign this first" He held out
a paper, and l read it by the light of the
two small lamps.
I'VE, Captain D'AguiIar and the Graf Won
Holebrann, have agreed TO settle our quar-
rel alone together here with swords. Every
thing fairly and honorably done"
! signed under his name, and laid the
paper underneath one Of the lamps.
Quick" he said. and 1 saw he had al
ready stripped to his shirt and was rolling
up the sleeve of his sword arm.
l made ready instantly and In less than
half a minute we stood facing one another
In the grim silent place, staring into each
others eyes, ready to engage.
ITO the death" he said, fiercely
ITO the DEATH" 1 answered in the same
tone, setting my teeth; and our swords
crossed.
The first few passes showed me that
was stronger man than he, but he the
| better swordsman. He was, however half
| beside himself with rage, and from the mo-
| ment when he Kissed out the words, ITO
| the death" 1 saw his deadly intent was
| set on killing me.
| The light was abominably insufficient for
| the grim work. The lamps We're placed
| one In the middle of each side Of the long
! gloomy barn; and although the light was
| fairly distributed we stood in the CEN
| ter, l saw in a moment that if either of
| us gave way, the man who was pressed
| back would be at an enormous disadVan-
| taGe. The ground was very uneven, too;
! merely beaten earth, and the humps and
/ bumps on it were likely enough to trip one
| up if forced backwards. My antagonist
| had taken note of these things as kecnly
| as l, and he put all his force and strength
| into an effort to drive me back
| l answered with an effort equal to his
own; and for a while our heavy cavalry
swords ClaShed and rang under the fierce
| blows which we dealt at one another
| Had 1t not been for his rage / am con-
| WINGED he would have killed me within a
| couple Of minutes, for he lunged and cut at
| me, parrying my best strokes with a skill
| far beyond mine
| But he fought like n mailman and was
I StOil sure tfldl MS strength could not last
| long at the furious pace he set. | fought
mainly on the defensive, therefore, and had
| all my work to save myself. Indeed | was
| wounded In three places before l touched
| him once.
| furious blow at my head I managed to
turn, but only so that it gashed my left
| shoulder, bringing the blood streaming
| down my arm and side. Almost Instantly
| afterward a smarting cut on nv leg told
me | was wounded there, and before I had
time to think of 1t his sword had sliced the
| lower part Of my left cheek
All the time not a word was spoken not
| moments breathing space made in the
| fighting. We eyed each other In grim,
deadly luminosity. and, except that there
| pleasure when he wounded me, there was
no change in the fierce intensity and blood
lust with which his eyes held mine
saw that | should be certainly killed Il
| kept on the defensive only; I should
| either be hacked to pieces gradually or
| grow too weak from loss of blood to parry
his more dangerous blows. 1 changed,
therefore, suddenly, and with something of
the wildness of q beast at bay when It
scents death began to cut and thrust at
MIN with all the strength 1 could muster,
pouring IN my blows with such rapid vio-
renee that twice in as many minutes 1
broke down his guard and wounded him
we were both bleeding badly now, and
my antagonist was breathing very heavily
| with the fatigue of the combat: but NV
| rage had laid hold of me now, and though
| L was cool and wary enough outwardIv I
fought with all the fiery yehemence of des.
| reration. My greater strength soon told
| and L rained in my blows with such stag
gering rapidity that he could scarcely fend
them off. and at that l saw a look come
| into his eyes which spoke Of his conyictiop
that I Should beat HIM
This goaded me to still further exertfons.
Now was my chance or never. and a minute
| later the end came Making a rand feint
| l put all my strength into a terrific stroke
| which he tried in vain TO parry. 1t crashed
through his guard and slashed into his