El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-10-08
A SINGULAR DUEL.
a Story Offering - Fine Flight For
the Imagination Of the Reader
BY Barry Pain.

|
At in the morning it was already
light as the two men came along the cliff
path They walked in silence until they
! reached a wedge shaped promontory.
| The path skirtcd the one side of it and
was divided from it by n light fence: Oh
/ the other two sides was nothing but the
sea. roaring on spiked rocks hundreds of
! feet below
| Age was the chief distinction between
them. Halbron was % and Safwell IL
| years older. Both were men OF fine
| physique and looked in perfect condition.
HaIbron was perhaps n shade taller and
had n triae longer reach. and Safwell
was n little the heavier. Both wore an
air of grave determination; in this
strange duel there were no elaborate
| courtesies.
| Two miles away a lazy, pretty woman
| woke for n moment. yawned, and went
! to sleep again. Both men had the
thought of that woman in their hearts.
| The older man spoke:
81 mention once more the conditions:
| You will try to kill me by throwing me
over the cliff: I shall try to kill you in the
same way We go on until one Is dead
or both are dead. The fence constitutes
! the boundary. 1t is not permitted to
kick hit with the fist, but everything
else is permitted; one may take advan-
tage of the exhaustion sleep of the
other. supposing that the struggle is pro-
longed: one may resort to any kind OF
feint- i think ] have mentioned every
thing"
Now" said Halbron-
For a moment they watched each other
with strained eyes, and then Safwell
sprang forward suddenly and tripped and
threw Halbron. He caught him by the
ankle to drag him, but Halbron twisted
himself free and was on his feet again in
a moment. He flung himself on Safwell.
and the two, locked closely together, spun
round and round. The struggle lasted
some minutes. neither being able to get
the other down. Suddenly they broke
away; they had worked right up to the
edge of the cliff, and another step would
have sent both over.
Instinctively both men rushed back to
the fence and flung themselves down,
painting Safwell happened for one in
slant to turn his head. and in that in
slant Halbron had caught him by the
foot and was dragging him He tried to
twist his foot free, but could not; nor
could he stop himself with his other foot
or by clutching at the short, dry grass. He
was within three feet of the edge, and
the case seemed hopeless for him. At
the best In going over he might be able
to clutch at Halbron and drag him over.
too; that was his only consolation. But
as Halbron was on the point OF swinging
him over he stumbled and fell, releasing
Safwell.
Both men sprang to their feet and
faced each other. They were on the mar
rowest part of the wedge. As Safwell
lowered his shoulder to charge he saw
Halbron drop and let the force of the
charge carry him over. There was n mo-
ment's pause. and then Halbron darted
back to the fence again. Safwell went
after him and once more they locked.
every muscle strained in the life and
death struggle.
1t was in the morning. The woman
was awake again and angry at being
awake. she who usually slept so long and
we'll After n vain effort to get some
more sleep she gave il up and presently
rang for her maid. When the fresh sun
light was admitted into her room and she
had got her letters and her cup of tea
she had n feeling of unusual virtue in be-
ing awake so early. 1t seemed to herself
To be good of her.
Prone on the grass by the fence lay
the two men a few yards apart from
each other, utterly exhausted. They had
been like that for the last half hour. Ii
looked as If il would resolve itself into a
trial of endurance, that the one who first
slept or swooned would be the one to die.
They watched ench other carefully; the
least movement of the one was suspected
and answered by the other. Since the |
duel began 1t had gone on in absolute ST. |
1ence: not word had been spoken. |
Twenty times the merest chance had |
saved them both from destruction.
Snfwell felt that his strength was Civ
ing out: he determined on a plan which |
would end the fight one way or the other |
and seemed to give him at least an equal /
chance with his opponent. His plan was
to stand on the extreme edge of the cliff,
with his back TO his enemy: Halbron
would not risk a charge, but would creep
up behind him and then push him to send
him over. If just at the moment of that
push he dropped. Halbron would be GER
tain to stumble over his body and over
the cliff; If he dropped too soon Halbron
would not stumble and would have n
good chance of rolling him over the edge:
if he did not drop soon enough then il
was certain death
He rose and went to the edge and look
ed over. with his back to Halbron. He
stood there for some minutes. and then he
could hear Halbron softly rise to his feet
He dared not look round. He had to go
by the sound alone. 1t was Halbron's
breathing that he heard best: on the grass
he footsteps were almost inaudibIc. An
,ther moment would settle il.
! am sorry that forgot the rest of this