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248 the entrance to "Jacob's ladder." And I saw a smile on his face, and he wounded me in the left arm.

No glory do I take for that contest. I believe that the man would have mastered me and slain me, and then done his butcher's work, for he was the most skillful swordsman I have ever met; but even as he pressed me hard the half-mad, wasted, wan creature in the corner leaped high in lunatic mirth, shrieking:

"It's Cousin Rudolf! Cousin Rudolf! I'll help you, Cousin Rudolf!" and catching up a chair in his hands (he could but just lift it from the ground and hold it uselessly before him), he came toward us. Hope came to me.

"Come on!" I cried. "Come on! Drive it against his legs."

Detchard replied with a savage thrust. He all but had me.

"Come on! Come on, man!" I cried. "Come and share the fun!"

And the king laughed gleefully, and came on, pushing his chair before him.