Page:Hudibras - Volume 1 (Butler, Nash, Bohn; 1859).djvu/149

CANTO II.] The gun recoil'd, as well it might, Not us'd to such a kind of fight, And shrunk from its great master's gripe, Knock'd down, and stunn'd, with mortal stripe: Then Hudibras, with furious haste, Drew out his sword; yet not so fast, But Talgol first, with hardy thwack, Twice bruis'd his head, and twice his back; But when his nut-brown sword was out, Courageously he laid about, Imprinting many a wound upon His mortal foe, the truncheon. The trusty cudgel did oppose Itself against dead-doing blows, To guard its leader from fell bane, And then reveng'd itself again: And though the sword, some understood, In force had much the odds of wood, 'Twas nothing so; both sides were balanc't So equal, none knew which was valian'st. For wood with honour b'ing engag'd, Is so implacably enrag'd, Though iron hew and mangle sore, Wood wounds and bruises honour more. And now both knights were out of breath, Tir'd in the hot pursuit of death; Whilst all the rest, amaz'd, stood still, Expecting which should take, or kill. This Hudibras observ'd, and fretting Conquest should be so long a-getting, He drew up all his force into One body, and that into one blow. But Talgol wisely avoided it By cunning sleight; for had it hit The upper part of him, the blow Had slit, as sure as that below.