no more than if they had been made of iron. Goddet, the four
seconds, and the two soldiers felt an involuntary admiration.

"They are a proud pair!"

The exclamation came from Potel.

Just as the signal was given, Max caught sight of Fario's sinister face
looking at them through the hole which the Knights of Idleness had made
for the pigeons in the roof of the church. Those eyes, which sent forth
streams of fire, hatred, and revenge, dazzled Max for a moment. The
colonel went straight to his adversary, and put himself on guard in a
way that gained him an advantage. Experts in the art of killing,
know that, of two antagonists, the ablest takes the "inside of the
pavement,"--to use an expression which gives the reader a tangible
idea of the effect of a good guard. That pose, which is in some degree
observant, marks so plainly a duellist of the first rank that a feeling
of inferiority came into Max's soul, and produced the same disarray of
powers which demoralizes a gambler when, in presence of a master or a
lucky hand, he loses his self-possession and plays less well than usual.

"Ah! the lascar!" thought Max, "he's an expert; I'm lost!"

He attempted a "moulinet," and twirled his sabre with the dexterity of
a single-stick. He wanted to bewilder Philippe, and strike his weapon so
as to disarm him; but at the first encounter he felt that the colonel's
wrist was iron, with the flexibility of a steel string. Maxence was then
forced, unfortunate fellow, to think of another move, while Philippe,
whose eyes were darting gleams that were sharper than the flash of
their blades, parried every attack with the coolness of a fencing-master
wearing his plastron in an armory.

Between two men of the calibre of these combatants, there occurs a
phenomenon very like that which takes place among the lower classes,
during the terrible tussle called "the savante," which is fought with
the feet, as the name implies. Victory depends on a false movement, on
some error of the calculation, rapid as lightning, which must be made
and followed almost instinctively. During a period of time as short to
the spectators as it seems long to the combatants, the contest lies in
observation, so keen as to absorb the powers of mind and body, and yet
concealed by preparatory feints whose slowness and apparent prudence
seem to show that the antagonists are not intending to fight. This
moment, which is followed by a rapid and decisive struggle, is terrible