p to the steep bank; but there were few boats
upon it, and the ships were moored far out in the centre of the stream.
Here the two combatants drew their swords and threw off their doublets,
for neither had any defensive armor. The duello with its stately
etiquette had not yet come into vogue, but rough and sudden encounters
were as common as they must ever be when hot-headed youth goes abroad
with a weapon strapped to its waist. In such combats, as well as in
the more formal sports of the tilting-yard, Tranter had won a name for
strength and dexterity which had caused Norbury to utter his well-meant
warning. On the other hand, Alleyne had used his weapons in constant
exercise and practice for every day for many months, and being by nature
quick of eye and prompt of hand, he might pass now as no mean swordsman.
A strangely opposed pair they appeared as they approached each other:
Tranter dark and stout and stiff, with hairy chest and corded arms,
Alleyne a model of comeliness and grace, with his golden hair and his
skin as fair as a woman's. An unequal fight it seemed to most; but there
were a few, and they the most experienced, who saw something in the
youth's steady gray eye and wary step which left the issue open to
doubt.

"Hold, sirs, hold!" cried Norbury, ere a blow had been struck. "This
gentleman hath a two-handed sword, a good foot longer than that of our
friend."

"Take mine, Alleyne," said Ford.

"Nay, friends," he answered, "I understand the weight and balance of
mine own. To work, sir, for our lord may need us at the abbey!"

Tranter's great sword was indeed a mighty vantage in his favor. He stood
with his feet close together, his knees bent outwards, ready for a dash
inwards or a spring out. The weapon he held straight up in front of him
with blade erect, so that he might either bring it down with a swinging
blow, or by a turn of the heavy blade he might guard his own head and
body. A further protection lay in the broad and powerful guard which
crossed the hilt, and which was furnished with a deep and narrow notch,
in which an expert swordsman might catch his foeman's blade, and by
a quick turn of his wrist might snap it across. Alleyne, on the other
hand, must trust for his defence to his quick eye and active foot--for
his sword, though keen as a whetstone could make it, was of a light and
graceful build with a narrow, sloping pommel and a tapering steel.

Tranter well knew his advantage and lost no t