A FENCING-CONTEST 45 



as "over the Rhine." Scherer insisted that I should be his 

 pupil ; this I at first refused to do, but his tearful woe and im- 

 precations led me in the end to overcome my reluctance to take 

 part in such performances. There was a throng of spectators ; 

 for some reason the contest had aroused attention. Scherer's 

 bout with his antagonist was only slightly to his advantage, for 

 he was then about seventy years of age and no longer at his 

 best. When it came my turn, I found myself opposed by an- 

 other six-footer, most elegantly clad in white buckskin jacket 

 with an embroidered red heart covering the place where his own 

 was supposed to lie. After the ancient grand salute, we set 

 about it. My plan was always to take the defensive and hold it 

 with no returns until the quality of the antagonist was clear, his 

 tactics evident, and his guard dropped as it almost inevit- 

 ably will drop, if there is no occasion to parry; then to take 

 the offensive swiftly and with determination. I managed to 

 protect myself for perhaps thirty passes, and had as I felt 

 nearly used up my limit of retreat. I recall the white teeth of 

 my vis-a-vis as he smiled in his amusement at a fencer who 

 could only parry, however well he might do that part of his 

 task. At length, his guard was low enough and I "stopped 

 true" on him, that is, lunged out the instant he did, for the em- 

 broidered heart. To my horror, the blade entered to the hilt, 

 and the fellow fell forward and sideways to the floor, pulling 

 the foil out of my hand as he came down, and lay as if dead. 

 Happily, it turned out when his clothes were cut open that the 

 button on the foil had not broken off, but bent sideways; it had 

 then ripped through the leather, padding, and inner clothes, 

 then torn the skin and passed out beneath the arm. The hard 

 blow had for the moment stopped the action of the heart. In a 

 few moments the man was himself again. It is an ugly thing 

 even in mere appearance to slay a fellow against whom you 

 have no ill-will, so I had a very bad minute or so before the 

 situation was evident ; but the real horror of it was the demo- 

 niacal screech of joy and triumph from that old sinner Scherer 



