t, a Gabbett with the education of a
prize-fighter; and, in a personal encounter between two men of equal
courage, science tells more than strength. In the struggle, however,
that was now taking place, science seemed to be of little value. To the
inexperienced eye, it would appear that the frenzied giant, gripping
the throat of the man who had fallen beneath him, must rise from the
struggle an easy victor. Brute force was all that was needed--there was
neither room nor time for the display of any cunning of fence.

But knowledge, though it cannot give strength, gives coolness. Taken by
surprise as he was, Maurice Frere did not lose his presence of mind. The
convict was so close upon him that there was no time to strike; but,
as he was forced backwards, he succeeded in crooking his knee round the
thigh of his assailant, and thrust one hand into his collar. Over and
over they rolled, the bewildered sentry not daring to fire, until the
ship's side brought them up with a violent jerk, and Frere realized that
Gabbett was below him. Pressing with all the might of his muscles, he
strove to resist the leverage which the giant was applying to turn him
over, but he might as well have pushed against a stone wall. With his
eyes protruding, and every sinew strained to its uttermost, he was
slowly forced round, and he felt Gabbett releasing his grasp, in order
to draw back and aim at him an effectual blow. Disengaging his left
hand, Frere suddenly allowed himself to sink, and then, drawing up his
right knee, struck Gabbett beneath the jaw, and as the huge head was
forced backwards by the blow, dashed his fist into the brawny throat.
The giant reeled backwards, and, falling on his hands and knees, was in
an instant surrounded by sailors.

Now began and ended, in less time than it takes to write it, one of
those Homeric struggles of one man against twenty, which are none
the less heroic because the Ajax is a convict, and the Trojans merely
ordinary sailors. Shaking his assailants to the deck as easily as a
wild boar shakes off the dogs which clamber upon his bristly sides, the
convict sprang to his feet, and, whirling the snatched-up cutlass round
his head, kept the circle at bay. Four times did the soldiers round the
hatchway raise their muskets, and four times did the fear of wounding
the men who had flung themselves upon the enraged giant compel them to
restrain their fire. Gabbett, his stubbly hair on end, his bloodshot
eyes glari