Page:Hugh Pendexter--Tiberius Smith.djvu/100

 mailed fist,' he protested. 'I can't appear rampant with an empty gauntlet.' "Not to delay the game, I felt around and found and gave him a ponderous battle-axe, and he was satisfied. For myself I selected a long, two-handled sword, hoping to use is as a push-pole. Tib, however, led me in one particular: he was armed with spurs. Well, sir, I appreciate there were some gay birds when knighthood grew outside of hot-houses, before the revolving pistol and hip-pocket were invented, but for downright oddity you could safely wager the frozen northland never saw two such imprisoned sprites before. We were about as graceful as a steel-rolling mill, but when it came to solidity, we had everything from King Arthur's time down to the Spanish-American War bereft of all garlands.

"‘Are you ready, Sir William?' asked Tib, at last unfastening the door, just as another volley of bullets and spears assured us the infidels were willing to devote all of their time and attention to our reception. I clanked my helmet against the wall in assent and staggered after him into the afternoon twilight, the air tasting ancient and musty through the vizor-bars.

"It simply swept the foe off their feet, sir. In all their Arctic-Circle doings they had never stubbed up against the steel trust. With a cry of wonder, tainted with terror, those in the underbrush about