Connecticut western news., 1907-12-05
The Irresistible Lunge.
toriginal.l

George Ringwalt and / were school
fellows, and when the Spanish war
broke out both ran away from home
to enlist, neither of us being eighteen
years of age. During the siege of
Santiago George was left wounded in
an exposed position. went back and
carried him to a safer place. He set
great store by an act which / consider
only the most natural In the world
and declared that he would never rest
But he did not recover from his wound
and In addition contracted typhoid
fever, of which he died at Montauk
Point. He expired brooding over the
fact that he could not live to repay the
service / had done him.
When was mustered out Of the serv-
ice l was offered a commission In the
regular army, but / decided to study
medicine. While taking finishing
course in Paris l Internationally won
the regard Of girl who. unfortunately
for me, had lover already Had l
known of this mans existence l should
have endeavored to keep the girl at n
distance. The first intimation / had
of him was at a supper / was enjoying
with a number Of my fellow students.
A man in passing behind me brushed
against me so forcibly as to knock
me or my chair. Looking up Mt him, /
saw that his act was intentional.
Quick as a fash / sprang at him aud
knocked him down. Before he could
retaliate was seized by my compan-
ions, and my antagonist. throwing a
card at me, left the cafe. The card
bore the name Of Antoine Dupuy, and
one Of my party Informed me that he
was the lover OF the girl who had hon.
ored me.
Well, I was obliged to fight him
that Is, / saw no way Of avoiding meet
Ing him under the Paris code without
subjecting myself to a worse fate. for
the friend he sent me with a challenge
informed me that his principal was
bent ON killing me, and preferred to
die In q respectable fashion rather than
be stabbed In the back. i had little
or no training as shot or a fencer, so
threw dice to decide whether should
choose q had the right as the chal-
lenged party foils or pistols. The
dice said foils, and foils 1t was.
knew the fellow could do with me
what he liked. and, as his second had
told me he would kill me, the prospect
was gloomy. Before Santiago there
had been no more chance OF my getting
killed than any one else. 1t was the
certainty In the present case didn't
like. Had not had soldierly instincts
and fair share of pride. believe
would have left Paris by midnight
train.
The night before the meeting l was
asleep In bed. Suddenly awoke.
There stood George Ringwalt. My FIRST
impression was that I had been mis-
taken In his death. Before / could
pass to second impression he said to
me: &o
'.Get upr'
| / did so and stood In my pajamas,
waiting the next move In this strange
affair. A couple Of foils were standing
In corner. George took one, handed
me the other, then placed himself on
| guard. passively did the same. After
few passes he put back his left foot
and toyed with my foil. Then sud-
denly he lunged. / saw, but did not
feel. his foil pass through my body.
While was wondering he said, ION
guardr' and made the same movement
second time, again running me
through the body. Ee
"Try It yourself" he said.
| / did as he suggested, making sew
eral trials, every one of which failed,
not because of the defense, but because
of my own clumsiness. But kept on
until at last 1t seemed to me that 1t
was not George standing before me, but
my enemy of the morrow, and that my
life depended on my making the lunge
successfully. Concentrating all my
watchfulness, my activity, my strength,
threw II with one supreme effort, rum
ming my foil clean through the body
before me and breaking my foil against
the wall.
That's the last OF consciousness for
me till was aroused at o'clock by
my second. H2d / dreamed or had
George Ringwalt come back to show
In the corner. Neither was broken.
must have dreamed. AS soon as had
got into my clothes we went down.
stairs, stepped into a carriage and roll
ed away to the place OF meeting. There
stood my adversary, with self salts
fed look on his face which seemed to
say, IT shall kill you In few mn-
utes."
l remembered the lunge had prac-
ticed In my dream, IL II was dream,
and felt that 1t was my only chance.
Almost as soon as we had crossed
weapons put my left foot back and
toyed for few moments with my adj
versary's blade. What there was In
my eye that disconnected him ] don't
know. He must have seen something
there, for he showed momentary
fright. Selling my opportunity, feel
Ing a confidence I could not account