At
that moment luck came to my aid. He did not repeat the strange gentle
blow at the back of my head--one which I think would have left
unconscious a man with a neck less stiff--and as his pressure on my
twisted arm relaxed, I suddenly got back my faculties. At once I used my
whole body as a spring, and so straightened enough to turn and put my
arm power against his own, which was all I wanted.
He laughed when I turned, and with perfect good nature freed my arm and
sprang to his feet, bowing with hand upreached to me. His eye had lost
its peculiar stare, and shone now with what seemed genuine interest and
admiration. He seemed ready to call me a sportsman, and a good rival,
and much as I disliked to do so, I was obliged to say as much for him in
my own heart.
"By the Lord! sir," he said--with a certain looseness of speech, as it
seemed to me, for a minister of the gospel to employ, "you're the first
I ever knew to break it."
"'Twas no credit to me," I owned. "You let go your hand. The horse is
yours."
"Not in the least," he responded, "not in the least. If I felt I had won
him I'd take him, and not leave you feeling as though you had been given
a present.
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