e if you could."

The fellow made a plunge at Shawn, who was somewhat taken by surprise.
They met and grappled in the water, and the contest between them was,
probably, one of the fiercest and most original that ever occurred
between man and man. It was distinctly visible to the spectators on
the shore, and the interest which it excited in them can scarcely be
described. A terrible grapple ensued, but as neither of them wished to
die by drowning, or, in fact, to die under such peculiar circumstances
at all, there was a degree of caution in the contest which required
great skill and power on both sides. Notwithstanding this caution,
however, still, when we consider the unsubstantial element on which
the battle between them raged--for rage it did--there were frightful
alternatives of plunging and sinking between them.

Shawn's opponent was the stronger of the two, but Shawn possessed in
activity what the other possessed in strength. The waters of the lake
were agitated by their struggles and foamed white about them, whilst, at
the same time, the four bloodhounds tearing each other beside them
added to the agitation. Shawn and his opponent clasped each other and
frequently disappeared for a very brief space, but the necessity to
breathe and rise to the air forced them to relax the grasps and seek the
surface of the water; so was it with the dogs. At length, Shawn, feeling
that his middogue had got entangled in his dress, which the water had
closely contracted about it, rendering it difficult, distracted as
he was by the contest, to extricate it, turned round and swam several
strokes from his enemy, who, however, pursued him with the ferocity of
one of the bloodhounds beside them. This ruse was to enable Shawn to
disengage his middogue, which he did. In the meantime this expedient of
Shawn's afforded his opponent time to bring out his skean,--two weapons
which differed very little except in name. They once more approached one
another, each with the armed hand up,--the left,--and a fiercer and more
terrible contest was renewed. The instability of the element, however,
on which they fought, prevented them from using their weapons with
effect. At all events they played about each other, offering and warding
off the blows, when Shawn exclaimed,--having grasped his opponent with
his right arm,--

"I am tired of this; it must be now sink or swim between us. To die here
is better than to die on the gallows."

As he spoke both