l
wrestle fair, as becomes Cornishmen, and you must show no mercy, for as
God is above me I'll show none."

Now I will do these men justice. They were not afraid of us, and when
they knew that we were people of this world and not ghosts from the
other, they showed no desire to run away. Nick Tresidder was a year
older than I, while Buddle always sneered when folks said that George
Dawe was a better man than he. Besides, they both saw that we did not
mean playing at wrestling.

But Nick Tresidder, Tresidder-like, was not fair; he jumped upon me
before I was ready, a thing always regarded as cowardly at a wrestling
match. I saw in a minute, too, that he knew the tricks of the art, and
were I not a wrestler, too, and a strong man to boot, my arm must have
been broken before I could put forth my strength. This angered me more
than I like to be angered, for now, when we were to meet man to man, I
felt not so bitter about the sheep. So I put forth all my strength and
made him let go his vantage hold, then I put my arm around his chest,
and right glad was I when I found him a strong man; so I played with him
for the pleasure of wrestling, just as any true Cornishman will. But I
was wrong in doing this. My father had told me never to trust a
Tresidder, and I did trust him to wrestle fairly, even although he had
tried to kill my sheep. While I wrestled, merely for the pleasure of
wrestling, I felt a stab at my side, and I knew that a knife had entered
my flesh just under my arm.

"You are a coward, Nick Tresidder," I said, "a coward in every way;"
then, not knowing whether I was dangerously wounded or no, I played with
him no longer, for a man cannot bear everything. I caught him in both my
arms and lifted him from the ground; then I wrestled in earnest. I heard
one of his ribs snap, but he did not cry out, then another, and he
became but a child to me; so I let him go, and he staggered away like a
drunken man.

"Now go home and tell your father what you have done," I said, "and tell
him who you found in Elmwater Barton 'Sheeps' Close.'"

Then I turned to George, who was still struggling with Buddle, and who,
just as I came to him, threw him heavily.

"George," I said, "I have been stabbed. Just tie this cloth tightly
around my chest."

"The coward!" said George, panting; "but where es a, Maaster Jasper?"

"He won't wrestle any more for a month or two," I replied; "but I would
not have hurt him so if he had not stabbed