234 THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



Then care has been taken to prove that a bullying manner 

 rarely, if ever, accompanies true courage and even 

 consummate skill. For example : when Hector, in the 

 seventh book of the Iliad, is made to challenge to single 

 combat any of the Greek leaders, Ajax remains silent, 

 through modest reserve, till Nestor's speech rouses him to 

 an offer of meeting the defiance. Again, when the lot 

 falls upon him to be the champion on the occasion, the 

 same reserve marks his conduct. He merely expresses a 

 soldier's confidence in the result, and desires the Greeks 

 to pray to Jupiter for his success. Then, as I understand 

 is invariably the case with British pugilists, Homer takes 

 care to show that Ajax bore no personal ill-will towards 

 Hector when he went forth to fight him ; and it is on 

 this ground that Cicero, in his Tusculon questions, offers 

 an apology for the gladiatorial exhibitions of his country. 1 

 I finished my exordium," continued our hero, " on British 

 boxing, with a short extract from Jackson's ' Stranger in 

 America,' which I had written in my memorandum book 

 for the express purpose : 



" ' Gouging, in the State of Georgia,' says the author, 

 ' is thus practised : the best man throws his antagonist 

 on the ground, and gets up with an eye in his hand, which 

 he has turned out of the socket with the thumb-stroke ; 

 " The first eye for the honour of the State ! I ! " They use 

 their teeth, sharpened with a file, and bite off ears and 

 noses. A scuffle took place among some sailors ; one of 

 them, a practised gouger, knocked out the candle, gouged 

 out three eyes, bit off one ear, tore a few cheeks, and made 

 good his retreat ! ' " 



" And what said your uncle to all this ? " asked the 

 Captain. 



" Why, he gave a shudder, and expressed a wish to drop 

 the subject for the present." 



" Had I been present at this conversation," resumed the 

 Captain, " I would have told your uncle that, although 

 the invention of gunpowder has put men more on an 



1 Why Homer has chosen to represent Ajax as a loser in all the 

 games in which he is engaged at the funeral of Patroclus, is not 

 easily explained ; especially as they are of a nature in which his 

 bodily strength and vigour would have fair scope for exertion. 

 We may siippose, however, that, having fixed his reputation by 

 making him the resource of his countrymen on all important 

 occasions, it is of little consequence that others excel him in 

 sportive conflicts. 



