Roy Norton

“ His smile never lost its warmth. 'Ah,' he said, looking at me, 'it is so unfortunate that I have no one who will act as my second! If such were the case, we could doubtless find some convenient spot this very night. The moon is splendid. I love to fight beneath the moon, messieurs. Perhaps,' he said to Lepard, one of your friends would be so kind—say—ah—the Captain Dunois.'
“I looked at Louis, and he nodded emphatically, urging me to accept; but I rather liked De Costa's appearance and hated to see him wounded for so trivial a cause. ”

“ The night came, and we made our way through the dirty, crooked, narrow streets, and, dressed as Moors, waited at a safe distance outside the prison walls. We had no doubt that our man would be released, for we had given money enough to bribe a whole company of such soldiers as the Moors; but what we had to fear was his being captured before we could get him to our consulate. ”

“ The gray had crept into my hair and a certain grimness had come over the scarred face of Villalon. We were never boys after that African war which sapped the life from us and taught the lesson that a soldier's occupation is a merciless one.
“Under an escort from the Sultan and protected by our uniforms, we had penetrated past the line of war into the very heart of the country, and were in Fez on that day when the Moors gained their first and almost their last notable victory. ”

“ This time it was Lepard who sent a note, in which he assured De Costa that he held no blame that a brave man could not engage to his satisfaction, and that he wished him to know that their meeting was only temporarily postponed. And what do you think was De Costa's reply? The rascal had the audacity to send to our tram a magnificent bouquet of flowers and one of the most delicious train luncheons that the appetite of man could conceive,
MORE than two years later they met in Rome, where each had been sent on detached service. ”

“ BEFORE those men could realize that we were not going to run we were among them, and our swords were swift and keen. At the first onslaught two of them fell to mine and Lepard's blade, and then we fought—three to three. I can't tell you how desperately they met us, nor how desperately we drove at them. Villalon mastered his man and rushed upon the one who had engaged Lepard. He jumped sidewise, and, just as my adversary turned to seek safety in flight, I caught a glimpse of Villalon bringing his sword hilt down on the Moor's head. ”

“ Fight? I have no objection to your fighting; but I will not have blood on my pavement! Avaunt!'
“Fancy, if you can, these doughty officers, neither whom would have hesitated to face an army, standing nonplussed with rapier points turned toward the ground; then at the conclusion of this woman's outburst being driven out into the street, terrorized, subjugated, and violently admonished by the deft and certain blows of that broom! This much she accomplished—that meeting of long standing was again left unfinished and deferred. ”

“ A hundred yards, two hundred, and already we were beginning to congratulate ourselves on our success—when, abruptly, from a side street there came a group of five men. From far back in the distance at the same moment arose a clamor of alarm, and we knew that the guards of the prison were pretending to have discovered the escape. Their treachery was plain.
“What they had intended to do was merely to let that poor fellow go for a few minutes, then kill him. The men coming toward us had been set to watch in the very belief that we would come that way and were expected to intercept us. ”

“ With this store of wealth we started cautiously to find some one to bribe, and in this we were actively and ably assisted by as charming a thief as ever did murder for a franc or picked a drunken man's pockets for his centimes. ”

“ Once more we looked down from our terrace, and this time we cheered boldly as the splendid soldiers of Spain went galloping past, and at last saw our Captain rush out through the gate to be received by the men of his own regiment. ”

“ THE greatest sword light I ever saw?” Colonel Dunois repeated after me thoughtfully. “Why, for an affair between two individuals I should say it was the one between Señor Pablo De Costa, the Spanish Captain, and Louis Lepard. It really required ten years to bring it about; for you see it became not a matter of enmity but purely a test of skill.”
He gave his white mustaches a deft curl, beckoned a waiter to replenish our glasses, and waited till a crowd of students from some atelier farther down in the quarter had passed. ”