er's terrors were unspeakable. He considered Fathom as a devil
incarnate, and went into the coach as a malefactor bound for Tyburn. He
would have gladly compounded for the loss of a leg or arm, and
entertained some transient gleams of hope, that he should escape for half
a dozen flesh-wounds, which he would have willingly received as the price
of his presumption; but these hopes were banished by the remembrance of
that dreadful declaration which he had heard the Count make, after having
overcome his last adversary; and he continued under the power of the most
unsupportable panic, until the carriage halted at Hyde Park Corner, where
he crawled forth in a most piteous and lamentable condition; so that,
when they reached the spot, he was scarce able to stand.

Here he made an effort to speak, and propose an accommodation upon a new
plan, by which he promised to leave his cause to the arbitrement of those
gentlemen who were present at the rupture, and to ask pardon of the
Count, provided he should be found guilty of a trespass upon good
manners; but this proposal would not satisfy the implacable Ferdinand,
who, perceiving the agony of the Swiss, resolved to make the most of the
adventure, and giving him to understand he was not a man to be trifled
with, desired him to draw without further preamble. Thus compelled, the
unfortunate gamester pulled off his coat, and, putting himself in a
posture, to use the words of Nym, "winked, and held out his cold iron."

Our adventurer, far from making a gentle use of the advantages he
possessed, fiercely attacked him, while he was incapable of making
resistance, and, aiming at a fleshy part, ran him through the arm and
outside of the shoulder at the very first pass. The chevalier, already
stupefied with the horror of expectation, no sooner felt his adversary's
point in his body than he fell to the ground, and, concluding he was no
longer a man for this world, began to cross himself with great devotion;
while Fathom walked home deliberately, and in his way sent a couple of
chairmen to the assistance of the wounded knight.

This achievement, which could not be concealed from the knowledge of the
public, not only furnished the character of Fathom with fresh wreaths of
admiration and applause, but likewise effectually secured him from any
future attempts of his enemies, to whom the Swiss, for his own sake, had
communicated such terrible ideas of his valour, as overawed the whole
communi