, attempted to rally them. Having
succeeded in this attempt for the moment, the said officer had the
impudence to attack and put his majesty's liege subject, John Shipp,
ensign on full pay, and in the full vigour of his life and manhood, in
bodily fear, on the king's high hill of Muckwanpore, on the afternoon of
---- I now forget the date, he so frightened me. He was a strong,
powerful man, protected by two shields, one tied round his waist, and
hanging over his thighs as low as his knees, and the other on the left
arm, much larger than the one round his waist. From this gentleman there
was no escape; and, fortunately for me, I had my old twenty-fourther
with me, which I had two or three days before put in good shaving order.
With this I was obliged to act on the defensive, till I could catch my
formidable opponent off his guard. He cut, I guarded; he thrust, I
parried; until he became aggravated, and set to work with that
impetuosity and determination pretty generally understood by the phrase
"hammer and tongs;" in the course of which he nearly cut my poor
twenty-fourther in pieces. At last I found he was winded; but I could
see nothing of the fellow, except his black face peeping above one
shield, and his feet under the other; so I thought I would give him a
cut five across his lower extremities; but he would not stand still a
moment; he cut as many capers as a French dancing-master, till I was
quite out of patience with his folly. I did not like to quit my man; so
I tried his other extremities; but he would not stand still, all I could
do. At length, I made a feint at his toes, to cut them; down went his
shield from his face, to save his legs; up went the edge of my sword
smack under his chin; in endeavouring to get away from which, he threw
his head back, which nearly tumbled off, and down he fell; and I assure
you, reader, I was not sorry for it, for he was a most unsociable
neighbour. I don't know whether I had a right or not, but I took the
liberty of taking his sword, gold crescent, turban-chain, and large
shield. The latter I sported on my left arm during the action, and it
was fortunate for me that I did, for I found that the shield was
ball-proof, and I should have been severely wounded, had I been deprived
of this trophy. Our gallant captain fought like one of the old Fogs, and
his men, as I had been told, were indeed "divels to fight." The very
noise they made would have frightened old Harry himself.

The e