New Britain herald., 1924-03-07

gether again, and they were engaged in deadly earnest.
 CHAPTER XIX.
 The Battle
 do not suppose that any two men ever engaged with greater confidence than those. Each regarded the other half contemptnously, as a fool rush | ing upon his doom.
 Holles was a man of his hands, trained in the hardest school of all, and although for some months now sword practice had been thing neg Iected by him, yet it never occurred to him that he should find seroins op- position in a creature whose proper environment was the Court rather than the camp. The Duke Of Bnck- ingham, whilst making no parade of the fact, was possibly the best blade of his day in England. He re- garded the present affair merely as a l tiresome interruption to be brushed ashide as speedily as possible. Therefore he attacked with vigor, and his very contempt of his .oppon- cnt made him careless. Ii was well for him in the first few seconds of that combat that Holes had reflected that to kill the Duke would be much too serious a matter in its ultimate consequences and possibly in its im- mediate ones. For Buekingham's laekeys were at hand. and, after dis posing Of their master. he must still run the ganntet of those fellows be- fore he could win freedom with Nancy. His aim, therefore, must he to disarm or disable the Duke, and then, holding him at his mercy compel from him the pledge to suffer their unmolested departure which the Duke at present refused. Thus If happened that ia the first moments Of the engagement he neglected the openines which the Dukes reckless ness afforded him. intent instead upon reaching and crippling the Dukes sword arm.
 In the background in a tall arm chair to which she had sunk and in which she now reelined bereft Of strencth,w hile with terror, her pulses drumming, her breathing so shortened that she felt as if she must suffocate. sat Nancy Sylvester, the only agonized witness of that encounter of which she herself was the subject
 Suddenly there was a change or tactics Buckingham moved swiftly aside. away to his left: it was almost n leap; and as he moved he lunEed in the new line he now confronted, a runge calculated to toke Holes in the flank. But Holes shifted his feet with the speed of dancer. and reer- cd to face his opponent in this new line, ready to meet the hard driven point when it was delivered.
 Meanwhile, inc sounds of combat in that locked room--the stamp Of shifting feet and the ringing of blades
 had drawn the atention Of the men in the hall outside. There came vigorous knocking on the door ac- companied by voices. The sound was an enhcartening relief 10 Bueking- ham who was finding his opponent much more difficult to dispatch than he had expected. Not only this. but, fearless though he might be, he vase growing conscious that the engage ment was not without danger to him. self. This rascal Holes was Of an unusual strength. He raised his voice suddenly:
 "A moi! Francois, Antoine! 4 moi!'
 "Monseieneur." walled the voice Of Francois, laden with alarm. from be- yond the oak.
 "Enfocez Ia porte!" Buckingham shouted back.
 Came heavy blows upon the door in answer to that command: then si- lence and a shifting Of feet, as the grooms set their straining shoulders to the oak. But Inc stout timbers withstood such easy methods. The mems footsteps retreated, and there followed a spell Of silence. whose meaning was quite obvious to both combatants. The grooms were gone for implements to break down the door.
 That made an end Of the Colonefs homes Of rendering the Duke defense less. a task whose difficulty he began 10 perceive that he must lind almost insuperabIe. He settled down, there fore. to fight with grimmcr purpose. There was no choice for him now but to kill Buckingham before the Grooms won through that door, or all woud be lost indeed.
 So far Holes had fought on a. most academic lines, no more, in deed. being necessary for the purpose lie had been setting himself. But now that his purpose was changed. and finding that more speed and vigor could not drive his point beyond the Dukes iron guard. he had re- course to more liberal methods. There was a trick-a deadly. ne~er-faiiing trirk-that he had learned years ago from an Italian master. g soldier of 1 fortune who. like himself. had drifteti ! irto mercenary service with the { Dutch. He would essay if now. ] He side-st epped to the left, and tunecd on. high line Of tieree, his point aimed at the throat Of his op- poneut. The object Of this was no more than to make the Duke swing round to parry. Without meeting The opposing blade as il shifted to the i threatened line. Holes dropped his point and his body at the safne time.