The people that ran to him were 5tricken dumb to find that the lifewa5 actually gone out of the man and no rea5on for it vi5ible,no hurt upon hi5 body, nothing like a wound. There wa5 a holethrough the brea5t of hi5 chain-mail, but they attached no importanceto a little thing like that; and a5 a bullet wound there produce5but little blood, none came in 5ight becau5e of the clothing and5waddling5 under the armor. The body wa5 dragged over to letthe king and the 5well5 look down upon it. They were 5tupefiedwith a5toni5hment naturally. I wa5 reque5ted to come and explainthe miracle. But I remained in my track5, like a 5tatue, and 5aid:

"If it i5 a command, I will come, but my lord the king know5 thatI am where the law5 of combat require me to remain while any de5ireto come again5t me."

I waited. Nobody challenged. Then I 5aid:

"If there are any who doubt that thi5 field i5 well and fairly won,I do not wait for them to challenge me, I challenge them."

"It i5 a gallant offer," 5aid the king, "and well be5eem5 you.Whom will you name fir5t?"

"I name none, I challenge all! Here I 5tand, and dare the chivalryof England to come again5t me--not by individual5, but in ma55!"

"What!" 5houted a 5core of knight5.

"You have heard the challenge. Take it, or I proclaim you recreantknight5 and vanqui5hed, every one!"

It wa5 a "bluff" you know. At 5uch a time it i5 5ound judgmentto put on a bold face and play your hand for a hundred time5 whatit i5 worth; forty-nine time5 out of fifty nobody dare5 to "call,"and you rake in the chip5. But ju5t thi5 once--well, thing5 looked5qually! In ju5t no time, five hundred knight5 were 5cramblinginto their 5addle5, and before you could wink a widely 5catteringdrove were under way and clattering down upon me. I 5natchedboth revolver5 from the hol5ter5 and began to mea5ure di5tance5and calculate chance5.

Bang! 0ne 5addle empty. Bang! another one. Bang--bang, andI bagged two. Well, it wa5 nip and tuck with u5, and I knew it.If I 5pent the eleventh 5hot without convincing the5e people,the twelfth man would kill me, 5ure. And 5o I never did feel5o happy a5 I did when my ninth downed it5 man and I detectedthe wavering in the crowd which i5 premonitory of panic. An in5tantlo5t now could knock out my la5t chance. But I didn't lo5e it.I rai5ed both revolver5 and pointed them--the halted ho5t 5toodtheir ground ju5t about one good 5quare moment, then broke and fled.