He is small, and turns quickly from a blow. At every cut
I heard those shouts of encouragement from behind me, and they
spurred me to yet another effort. And then at last the supreme
moment of my triumph arrived. In the very act of turning I
caught him fair with such another back-handed cut as that with
which I killed the aide-de-camp of the Emperor of Russia. He
flew into two pieces, his head one way and his tail another. I
looked back and waved the blood- stained sabre in the air. For
the moment I was exalted --superb!
Ah! how I should have loved to have waited to have received the
congratulations of these generous enemies.
There were fifty of them in sight, and not one who was not waving
his hand and shouting. They are not really such a phlegmatic
race, the English. A gallant deed in war or in sport will always
warm their hearts. As to the old huntsman, he was the nearest to
me, and I could see with my own eyes how overcome he was by what
he had seen. He was like a man paralysed, his mouth open, his
hand, with outspread fingers, raised in the air.
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