year later, in the same situation, I would have reached for it. Had I
done so that morning, as a dozen of them assured me later, they would
have shot me before I could have got my hand on it. But, as it was,
when I rolled up my sleeves the men began to laugh, and some shouted:
"Give him room," "Make a ring," "Fair play, now," "Make a ring." The
semi-circle spread out and lengthened until it formed a ring, with
Heinze and Reeder, and Aiken holding my coat, and myself in the centre
of it.

I squared off in front of the German and tapped him lightly on the
chest with the back of my hand.

"Now, then," I cried, taunting him, "I call _you_ a coward to _your_
face. What are you going to do about it?"

For an instant he seemed too enraged and astonished to move, and the
next he exploded with a wonderful German oath and rushed at me,
tugging at his sword. At the same moment the men gave a shout and the
ring broke. I thought they had cried out in protest when they saw
Heinze put his hand on his sword, but as they scattered and fell back
I saw that they were looking neither at Heinze nor at me, but at
someone behind me. Heinze, too, halted as suddenly as though he had
been pulled back by a curbed bit, and, bringing his heels together,
stood stiffly at salute. I turned and saw that everyone was falling
out of the way of a tall man who came striding toward us, and I knew
on the instant that he was General Laguerre. At the first glance I
disassociated him from his followers. He was entirely apart. In any
surroundings I would have picked him out as a leader of men. Even a
civilian would have known he was a soldier, for the signs of his
calling were stamped on him as plainly as the sterling mark on silver,