be occupied by some more meritorious person."

"You can say what you like, for no one has yet put a padlock on your
lips," said Barbudo, raising his voice to a shout; "but you are not
going to plunder me; and if my lasso is not restored to me, then I
swear I will make myself a new one out of a human hide."

"Then," said Eyebrows, "the sooner you provide yourself with a hide
for the purpose, the better, for I will never return the lasso to you;
for who am I to fight against Providence, that took it out of my hands?"

To this Barbudo replied furiously:

"Then I will have it from this miserable starved foreigner, who comes
here to learn to eat meat and put himself on an equality with men.
Evidently he was weaned too soon; but if the starveling hungers for
infant's food, let him in future milk the cats that warm themselves
beside the fire, and can be caught without a lasso, even by a
Frenchman!"

I could not endure the brute's insults, and sprang up from my seat.
I happened to have a large knife in my hand, for we were just preparing
to make an assault on the roasted ribs of a cow, and my first impulse
was to throw down the knife and give him a blow with my fist. Had I
attempted it I should most probably have paid dearly for my rashness.
The instant I rose Barbudo was on me, knife in hand. He aimed a furious
blow, which luckily missed me, and at the same moment I struck him,
and he reeled back with a dreadful gash on his face. It was all done
in a second of time, and before the others could interpose; in another
moment they disarmed us, and set about bathing the barbarian's wound.