m, and his position was such that two at
least could assail him front and rear. He counted on that, and measured
their approach with pale cheek but glittering eye, and thrust his shovel
deep into the white coals.

They crept nearer and nearer, and, at last, made an almost simultaneous
rush on him back and front.

The man in the rear was a shade in advance of the other. Little, whose
whole soul was in arms, had calculated on this, and turning as they came
at him, sent a shovelful of fiery coals into that nearest assailant's
face, then stepped swiftly out of the way of the other, who struck at
him too immediately for him to parry; ere he could recover the wasted
blow, Little's hot shovel came down in his head with tremendous force,
and laid him senseless and bleeding on the hearth, with blood running
from his ears.

Little ladled the coals right and left on the other two assailants, one
of whom was already yelling with the pain of the first shovelful; then,
vaulting suddenly over a pew, he ran for the door.

There he was encountered by Sam Cole, an accomplished cudgel-player,
who parried his blows coolly, and gave him a severe rap on the head that
dazzled him. But he fought on, till he heard footsteps coming behind
him, and then rage and despair seized him, he drew back, shifted his
hammer into his right hand and hurled it with all his force at Cole's
breast, for he feared to miss his head. Had it struck him on the breast,
delivered as it was, it would probably have smashed his breastbone, and
killed him; but it struck him on his throat, which was, in some degree,
protected by a muffler: it struck him and sent him flying like a
feather: he fell on his back in the porch, yards from where he received
that prodigious blow.

Henry was bounding out after him, when he was seized from behind, and
the next moment another seized him too, and his right hand was now
disarmed by throwing away the hammer.

He struggled furiously with them, and twice he shook them off, and
struck them with his fist, and jobbed them with his shovel quick and
short, as a horse kicking.

But one was cunning enough to make a feint at his face, and then fell
down and lay hold of his knees: he was about to pulverize this fellow
with one blow of his shovel, when the other flung his arms round him. It
became a mere struggle. Such was his fury and his vigor, however, that
they could not master him. He played his head like a snake, so that they
could no