a distant way that I was about to be beaten, subdued--I, John Cowles!

This had been done, as he had said of my own work with Singleton, as
much by the momentum of my own fall as by any great effort on his part.
As he had said regarding my own simple trick, the time of this was
perfect, though how far more difficult than mine, only those who have
wrestled with able men can understand.

For the first time in my life I found myself about to be mastered by
another man. Had he been more careful he certainly would have had the
victory over me. But the morning was warm, and we had worked for some
moments. My man stopped for a moment in his calm pinioning of my arms,
and perhaps raised his hand to brush his face or push back his hair. At
that moment luck came to my aid. He did not repeat the strange gentle
blow at the back of my head--one which I think would have left
unconscious a man with a neck less stiff--and as his pressure on my
twisted arm relaxed, I suddenly got back my faculties. At once I used my
whole body as a spring, and so straightened enough to turn and put my
arm power against his own, which was all I wanted.

He laughed when I turned, and with perfect good nature freed my arm and
sprang to his feet, bowing with hand upreached to me. His eye had lost
its peculiar stare, and shone now with what seemed genuine interest and
admiration. He seemed ready to call me a sportsman, and a good rival,
and much as I disliked to do so, I was obliged to say as much for him in
my own heart.

"By the Lord! sir," he said--with a certain looseness of speech, as it
seemed to me, for a minister of the gospel to employ, "you're the first
I ever knew to break it."