rom foe in the obscurity, and urged on by fear, fell
upon each other,--this one striking out at the first he met, and that
giving as good as he had taken,--and so all fell a-mauling and
belabouring with such lust of vengeance that presently the whole place
was of an uproar with the din of cursing, howling, and hard blows. For
my own lot I had old Simon to deal with, as I knew at once by the cold,
greasy feel of his leathern jerkin, he being enraged to make me his
prisoner for the ill I had done him. Hooking his horny fingers about my
throat, he clung to me like any wildcat; but stumbling, shortly, over
two who were rolling on the floor, we went down both with a crack, and
with such violence that he, being undermost, was stunned by the fall.
Then, my blood boiling at this treatment, I got astride of him, and
roasted his ribs royally, and with more force than ever I had conceived
myself to be possessed of. And, growing beside myself with this passion
of war, I do think I should have pounded him into a pulp, but that two
other combatants, falling across me with their whole weight, knocked all
the wind out of my body, oppressing me so grievously, that 'twas as much
as I could do to draw myself out of the fray, and get a gasp of breath
again.

About this time the uproar began to subside, for those who had got the
worst of the battle thought it advisable to sneak out of the house for
safety, and those who had fared better, fearing a reverse of fortune,
counted they had done enough for this bout, and so also withdrew.

"Are you living, Kit?" asks Dawson, then.

"Aye," says I, as valiantly as you please, "and ready to fight another
half-dozen such rascals," but pulling the broken door open, all the
same, to get out the easier, in case they returned.

"Why, then, let's go," says he, "unless any is minded to have us stay."

No one responding to this challenge, we made ado to find a couple of
hats and cloaks for our use and sallied out.

"Which way do we turn?" asks Dawson, as we come into the road.

"Whither would you go, Jack?"

"Why, to warn Moll of her danger, to be sure."

I apprehended no danger to her, and believed her husband would defend
her in any case better than we could, but Dawson would have it we should
warn them, and so we turned towards the Court. And now upon examination
we found we had come very well out of this fight; for save that the
wound in Dawson's hand had been opened afresh, we were neither much