the reputation of having the best fighters in the
university.

Otto proved his strength in this first duel with the Brunswick captain.
He himself received a number of hard blows, but he gave more than he
took, and finally cut his opponent on the cheek. That ended the duel,
and each boy retired satisfied, Otto because he had won, and the
Brunswick captain because he had another scar to prove his fighting
spirit.

But the Brunswickers were not yet satisfied that their reputation was
entirely cleared, and so in a few days Otto received a challenge from
the next best fighter of their corps, and having fought him was
challenged by another, and so the affair continued until he had met and
defeated almost every student in the Brunswick corps. He fought twenty
schlaeger duels during his first year at the University, and came out of
them so well that he was ranked as one of the best fighters at
Goettingen, and the Hanoverians were very proud of him.

In only one encounter was the young Prussian wounded. He was fighting
with a student named Biederwig, and the latter's sword-blade snapped in
two as Otto was parrying his fierce attack. The broken edge gave
Bismarck a slight cut on the cheek, and Biederwig at once claimed a
victory. The officers of the clubs, however, decided that the duel was a
drawn encounter. By this time Otto, who was just eighteen, had become
the leader among the students of Goettingen.

Such customs seem strange and almost barbarous to Anglo-Saxon boys, but
this dueling played a large part in the college life of Germans at that
time. Otto was not by nature quarrelsome, but he was bound to hold his
own with his friends, and to do that he felt that he must take his part
in the rough life about him. Very soon after the fight with Biederwig he
was drawn into a much more serious affair.

Among his close friends was a young German baron who had fallen out with
an English student named Knight. Each of them felt that their quarrel
demanded serious settlement and they determined to fight with pistols
instead of swords. At first Otto refused to have anything to do with the
meeting, but at the last minute the Baron's second withdrew, and the
Baron begged Otto to take his place. Otto could not refuse this appeal
of his friend, and so reluctantly consented.

When the two met Otto paced out a much longer distance than was usual in
such cases, and had them stand very far apart. When the word was given
each student fi