Far from being subdued by this informal usage, my indignation
triumphed over that slavish awe which had hitherto enforced my
obedience; and the more my years and knowledge increased, the more
I perceived the injustice and barbarity of his behaviour. By the
help of an uncommon genius, and the advice and direction of our
usher, who had served my father in his travels, I made a surprising
progress in the classics, writing, and arithmetic; so that, before
I was twelve years old, I was allowed by everybody to be the best
scholar in the school. This qualification, together with the boldness
of temper and strength of make which had subjected almost all my
contemporaries, gave me such influence over them that I began to
form cabals against my persecutor; and was in hope of, being able
to bid him defiance in a very short time. Being at the head of a
faction, consisting of thirty boys, most of them of my own age, I
was determined to put their mettle to trial, that I might know how
far they were to be depended upon, before I put my grand scheme in
execution: with this view, we attacked a body of stout apprentices,
who bad taken possession of a part of the ground allotted to us for
the scheme of our diversions, and who were then playing at ninepins
on the spot; but I had the mortification to see my adherents routed
in an instant, and a leg of one of them broke in his flight by the
bowl, which one of our adversaries had detached in pursuit of us.
This discomfiture did not hinder us from engaging them afterwards
in frequent skirmishes, which we maintained by throwing stones
at a distance, wherein I received many wounds, the scars of which
still remain. Our enemies were so harassed and interrupted by these
alarms that they at last abandoned their conquest, and left us to
the peaceable enjoyment of our own territories.