Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1910-07-15

81 The best blufer I ever knew was {
Ned Thornton of Chicago. One win
ter Ned and y met In Berlin and went
together to i a students, ball. While
Ned was dancing with q very pretty :
fraulein young fellow who evidently !.
had claim upon her came up to him
and said 81
% will pigstick you. ri Sz a..==
9 That's the way they have over thereI
OF telling 8 man that he's got to fight.
Ned turned upon him with well as
sumed fury and replied: -. -: s !: s:
70 And I will let the sawdust out Of. i
you: !. :. s' -~ s : & Z !, ss
Later dapper officer With "a !.
wasp waist stepped up to Ned and
handed him a card on which was en-
graved ttLieutenant Ernst Won Batter
STEM" -. : y +: .s- =. - .5@E
Ned, understanding that the, officer !
addressed him as bearer Of a chal-
slenge, whipped out his own card, on.
which he had scrawled, Instructor of
Fencing, No. - Dearborn Street, Chi
cago, q. s. A." -: ID F :S> ..s. :.
You see, Ned had known very well
what was coming and with his usual
quick foresight had prepared his first
move. With magnificent sweep Of
his arm he referred the lieutenant to :
me, and agreed to meet the gentle
man at cafe in the Unter den Linden
in half an hour. r.. ! !: .s: zs. :
Med" protested as soon as we
were alone, "you can't bluff one Of
these young Germans with so palpable
a device as that. My opinion is that
we'd better jump the town. You
know we'll enough you've never ham
died a foil in your life, and at shoot
ing you couldn't hit ten story build
ing at ten PAGES. We don't duel any
in America, and it's no disgrace to fee
from these fellows who do. All we
have to do is to lose ourselves for tho
rest Of the night and take an early
train in the morning" - -.~.~ - !;
ooh, there's some better way out Of
it than that. Do you know what Gen.
eral Grant said when going to attack
his first enemy2 &c said that Tie 9th
er 9 fee.iow was probably as much scared
as he was, and so be Wept on: We,
I've put at least the probability into
this young mans head that I'm an ex-
pert, and If he doesn't believe me he
won't be sure that I'm not. You go
and talk with his second and hear
what he has to say"
1 met Won Batterstein and to help
Ned on in his game assumed conf:
dent air. said as little as possible.
for when a man is playing desperate
game it's best to let him do it all him.
self. The slightest interference with
Ned in this instance might cost him
his life. When the lieutenant asked
what weapons my friend as the cha.:
lenged party would choose L simply
replied, "Foils, of coursev'# and as to
other details I left them entirely to
him, except that the affair should be
settled at once. as my man had an en-
gagement in Paris with pupil who
needed his services In an affair Of the.
same sort. ~, "a .>-~:t-t-.-,,a.s< 6.
I dattered myself that this was keep
ing up tie Constructor in fencing IL
fusion pretty well. If the principal on
the other side had been an officer in
the army the pretense couldn't be re-.
lied on, for soldier can't very well
back out from sure death. But the
would be pigsticker was civilian,
and that wasn't so bad. The officer
didn't appear in the least frightened,
but he was not the nan who would
have to meet fencing MASTER.
1t was arranged. III order that Ned
should meet his engagement in, Paris.
that we should be at rendezvous
where such affairs are settled at 6
O'Clock the same morning. l went
back and reported the outcome to Ned, :
''What are you going to do?" asked.
"You're certainly not going to let this
fellow run a sword through your vi
tails"
ooh. I'll keep up the bluff till the
last minute. and If the thing goes
against me I'll find pretext to slide
out with honor"
=: At $50 we took carriage and drove :
to the rendezvous. had left the pro-
curement of the weapons to the enemy, !:
saying that, my principal could fence !
as we'll with cutlass as foil and l ::
would rely on them for weapons.
When we got on the ground the pig
sticker was looking over stock OF
;foils and testing them, evidently think
ing that if he was to meet fencing 1
master who didn't. care whether he I
used a foil or, cutlass he must be !:
carefully armed. 1t looked to me that
the bluff game was up and Ned would
have to swiggle out >. =: IT. r.:
{ Just before taking position Ned sent
me to the enemy to say that since be
didn't wish to kin his antagonist he
would give him. the choice between !.
losing an eye or having his nose cut
of. was to bring back word "
Of these the pigsticker PREFER
lose s. . :: 5% > ST. : 10 i
]. I:saW By the appearance OF the prin- s