some but I guess if I'd
shoved the calico off mine and held it up he'd a
pulled down his sleeve. I suppose the feller's arm
had a kind of a mule's kick in it, but, good
gracious! If he'd a seen as many arms as you an' I
have that have growed up on a hickory helve he'd a
known that his was nothing to brag of. I didn't
know just how good a man Abe was and I was kind o'
scairt for a minute. I never found it so hard work
to do nothin' as I did then. Honest my hands kind
o' ached. I wanted to go an' cuff that feller's
ears an' grab hold o' him an' toss him over the
ridge pole. Abe went right up to him an' said:

"'Jack, you ain't half so bad or half so cordy as
ye think ye are. You say you can throw down any
man here. I reckon I'll have to show ye that
you're mistaken. I'll rassle with ye. We're
friends an' we won't talk about lickin' each
other. Le's have a friendly rassle.'

"In a second the two men were locked together.
Armstrong had lunged at Abe with a yell. There was
no friendship in the way he took hold. He was
going to do all the damage he could in any way he
could. He tried to butt with his head and ram his
knee into Abe's stomach as soon as they came
together. Half-drunk Jack is a man who would bite
your ear off. It was no rassle; it was a fight.
Abe moved like lightning. He acted awful limber
an' well-greased. In a second he had got hold of
the feller's neck with his big right hand and
hooked his left into the cloth on his hip. In that
way he held him off and shook him as you've seen
our dog shake a woodchuck. Abe's blood was hot. If
the whole crowd had piled on him I guess he would
have come out all right, for when he's roused
there's something in Abe more than bones and
muscles. I suppose it's what I feel when he speaks
a piece. It's a kind of lightning. I guess it's
what our minister used to call the power of the
spirit. Abe said to me afterwards that he felt as
if he was fighting for the peace and honor of New
Salem.

"A friend of the bully jumped in and tried to
trip Abe. Harry