ore by bullying than fighting;
others had submitted to him without a sufficient trial. Jack, on the
contrary, had won his way up in school by hard and scientific combat.
The result, therefore, may easily be imagined. In less than a quarter of
an hour Vigors, beaten dead, with his eyes closed and three teeth out,
gave in; while Jack, after a basin of water, looked as fresh as ever.

After that, Jack declared that as might was right in a midshipman's
berth, he would so far restore equality that, let who would come, they
must be his master before they should tyrannise over those weaker than
he.

_III.--The Triangular Duel_

Jack, although generally popular on board, had made enemies of Mr.
Biggs, the boatswain, and Mr. Easthupp, the purser's steward. The
latter--a cockney and a thief--had even been kicked down the hatchway by
our hero.

When the Harpy was at Malta, Jack, wroth at the way the two men talked
at him, declared he would give them satisfaction.

"Mr. Biggs, let you and this fellow put on plain clothes, and I will
meet you both."

"One at a time?" said the boatswain.

"No, sir; not one at a time, but both at the same time. I will fight
both or none. If you are my superior officer, you must _descend_ to meet
me, or I will not descend to meet that fellow, whom I believe to have
been little better than a pickpocket!"

Mr. Biggs having declared that he would fight, of course, had to look
out for a second, and he fixed upon Mr. Tallboys, the gunner, and
requested him to be his friend. Mr. Tallboys consented, but he was very
much puzzled how to arrange that _three_ were to fight at the same time,
for he had no idea of there being two duels. Jack had no one to confide
in but Gascoigne, a fellow-midshipman; and although Gascoigne thought it
was excessively _infra dig._ of Jack to meet even the boatswain, as the
challenge had been given there was no retracting, and he therefore
consented and went to meet Mr. Tallboys.

"Mr. Gascoigne," said the gunner, "you see that there are three parties
to fight. Had there been two or four there would have been no
difficulty, as the straight line or square might guide us in that
instance; but we must arrange it upon the triangle in this."

Gascoigne stared. He could not imagine what was coming.

"The duel between three can only be fought upon the principle of the
triangle," the gunner went on. "You observe," he said, taking a piece of
chalk and making a triangle on th