He delivered one of his favorite thrusts; it
was a stroke of his own invention; three times out of five, in years
past, it had carried home the button of his foil to his opponent's
jacket. It was executed with the directness and rapidity of a flash of
lightning.

But Loge parried it with a neatness which made Cleggett open his eyes,
replying with a counter so shrewd and close, and of such a darting
ferocity, that Cleggett, although he met it faultlessly, nevertheless
gave back a step.

"Ah," cried Loge, showing his yellow teeth in a grin, "so the little
man knows that thrust!"

"I invented it," said Cleggett.

With the word he pressed forward and, making a swift and dazzling
feint, followed it with two brilliant thrusts, either of which would
have meant the death of a tyro. The first one Loge parried; the second
touched him; but it gave him nothing more than a scratch.
Nevertheless, the smile faded from Loge's face; he gave ground in his
turn before this rapid vigor of attack; he measured Cleggett with a new
glance.

"You are touched, I think," said Cleggett, meditating a fresh
combination, "and I am glad to see you drop that ugly pretense at a
grin. You have no idea how the sight of those yellow teeth of yours,
which you were evidently never taught to brush when you were a little
boy, offends a person of any refinement."

Loge's answer was a sudden attempt to twist his blade around
Cleggett's; followed by a direct thrust, as quick as light, which
grazed Cleggett's shoulder; a little smudge of blood appeared on his
undershirt.

"Take care, take care, Cleggett!" warned Wilton Barnstable, from his
post by the starboard bulwark.

"Make yourself easy," said Cleggett, parrying a counter en carte, "I am
only getting warm."

And both of them, stung by the slight scratches which they had
received, settled to the business with an intent and silent deadliness
of purpose.

To all appearances Loge had an immense advantage over Cleggett; his
legs were a good two inches longer; so were his arms. And he knew how
to make these peculiarities count. He fought for a while with a calm
and steady precision that repeatedly baffled the calculated impetuosity
of Cleggett's attack. But the air of bantering certainty with which he
had begun the duel had left him. He no longer wasted his breath on
repartee; no doubt he was surprised to find Cleggett's strength so
nearly equal to his own, as Cleggett had been astonished to f