ch was the better
man. Thus you see the match bore some similarity to those of the present
day, in which the victor is declared to be the one who in a certain
number of rounds gains the advantage of the other.

"As I am to be the boss of this business," sald Fred, with the keenest
zest, "let me explain the terms: Each one is to strike the other as
often as he can, the blows to be sharp enough to be felt pretty plainly,
but not enough to cause any injury. I will let this go on until one of
you has enough, or until I am satisfied of the superiority of one over
the other. After that you are to have a wrestling match. When I call for
you to stop, you must do so, no matter how anxious you may be to go on.
Is that understood?"

"The terms are agraaable to mesilf," said Terry; "it is sittled that
there's to be no bettin' on the match."

"I have no objection to your betting if you wish, but inasmuch as you
haven't a cent and Deerfoot never did such a thing as bet in all his
life, I don't think there will be any trouble about holding the stakes."

"There ain't to be any foul blows in this," added Terry, who showed that
he knew more than most of his friends about the "Irish champions" and
the cause that made them champions of England and Ireland.

"What do you mean by foul blows?" asked the puzzled Fred.

"Hits below the belt. What I wished to observe, howiver, is that we
ain't to recognize such things as foul blows in this fight for the
championship of Louisiana. Aich one is to git the bist of the ither in
the bist way he can. The rule, Deerfut, is for such pugilists to shake
hands before beginnin' to try to knock aich ither out."

And Terry extended his hand, which the young warrior gravely shook, for,
as you can well understand, this was something to which he was
altogether unaccustomed. He knew, however, the nature of the contest
between himself and his doughty Irish friend, and he entered into it
with the calm confidence with which he would have engaged Tecumseh
himself in a fight to the death with knives.

Deerfoot did not put up his hands after the manner of a pugilist, nor
did he even close them, but fixing his eyes on those of Terry (just as
he always did in his deadly fights with his antagonists), he began
softly circling about him, like a cat searching for a chance to leap
upon his prey.

This did not disconcert Terry, whose pose would have been pronounced
excellent by any one competent to judge. The left arm