A Tramp Abroad - The Original Classic Edition. Twain Mark

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       69.A A A NIGHT'S WORK

       70.A A LEAVING HEILBRONN

       71.A A THE CAPTAIN

       72.A A WAITING FOR THE TRAIN

       CONTENTS:

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       CHAPTER VIII The Great French Duel--Mistaken Notions--Outbreak in the

       French Assembly--Calmness of M Gambetta--I Volunteer as Second--Drawing

       up a Will--The Challenge and its Acceptance--Difficulty in Selection

       of Weapons--Deciding on Distance--M. Gambetta's Firmness--Arranging Details--Hiring Hearses--How it was Kept from the Press--March to the Field--The Post of Danger--The Duel--The Result--General Rejoicings--The only One Hurt--A Firm Resolution

       CHAPTER IX At the Theatre--German Ideal--At the Opera--The

       Orchestra--Howlings and Wailings--A Curious Play--One Season of

       Rest--The Wedding Chorus--Germans fond of the Opera--Funerals Needed

       --A Private Party--What I Overheard--A Gentle Girl--A Contribution--box--Unpleasantly Conspicuous

       CHAPTER X Four Hours with Wagner--A Wonderful Singer, Once--" Only a

       Shriek"--An Ancient Vocalist--"He Only Cry"--Emotional Germans--A Wise Custom--Late Comers Rebuked--Heard to the Last--No Interruptions Allowed--A Royal Audience--An Eccentric King--Real Rain and More of

       It--Immense Success--"Encore! Encore!"--Magnanimity of the King

       CHAPTER XI Lessons in Art--My Great Picture of Heidelberg Castle--Its

       Effect in the Exhibition--Mistaken for a Turner--A Studio--Waiting

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       for Orders--A Tramp Decided On--The Start for Heilbronn--Our Walking

       Dress--"Pleasant march to you"--We Take the Rail--German People on

       Board--Not Understood--Speak only German and English--Wimpfen--A Funny

       Tower--Dinner in the Garden--Vigorous Tramping--Ride in a Peasant's

       Cart--A Famous Room

       CHAPTER XII The Rathhaus--An Old Robber Knight, Gotz Von Berlichingen--His Famous Deeds--The Square Tower--A Curious old Church--A Gay Turn--out--A Legend--The Wives' Treasures--A Model Waiter--A Miracle Performed--An Old Town--The Worn Stones

       CHAPTER XIII Early to Bed--Lonesome--Nervous Excitement--The Room We Occupied--Disturbed by a Mouse--Grow Desperate--The Old Remedy--A Shoe Thrown--Result--Hopelessly Awake--An Attempt to Dress--A Cruise in the

       Dark--Crawling on the Floor--A General Smash-up--Forty-seven Miles' Travel

       CHAPTER XIV A Famous Turn--out--Raftsmen on the Neckar--The Log

       Rafts--The Neckar--A Sudden Idea--To Heidelberg on a Raft--Chartering

       a Raft--Gloomy Feelings and Conversation--Delicious Journeying--View of the Banks--Compared with Railroading

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       CHAPTER VIII

       The Great French Duel

       [I Second Gambetta in a Terrific Duel]

       Much as the modern French duel is ridiculed by certain smart people, it is in reality one of the most dangerous institutions of our day. Since

       it is always fought in the open air, the combatants are nearly sure

       to catch cold. M. Paul de Cassagnac, the most inveterate of the French duelists, had suffered so often in this way that he is at last a

       confirmed invalid; and the best physician in Paris has expressed

       the opinion that if he goes on dueling for fifteen or twenty years

       more--unless he forms the habit of fighting in a comfortable room where damps and draughts cannot intrude--he will eventually endanger his life. This ought to moderate the talk of those people who are so stubborn

       in maintaining that the French duel is the most health-giving of recreations because of the open-air exercise it affords. And it ought also to moderate that foolish talk about French duelists and socialist-hated monarchs being the only people who are immoral.

       But it is time to get at my subject. As soon as I heard of the late fiery outbreak between M. Gambetta and M. Fourtou in the French Assembly, I knew that trouble must follow. I knew it because a long personal friendship with M. Gambetta revealed to me the desperate and implacable nature of the man. Vast as are his physical proportions,

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       I knew that the thirst for revenge would penetrate to the remotest frontiers of his person.

       I did not wait for him to call on me, but went at once to him. As I had expected, I found the brave fellow steeped in a profound French calm.

       I say French calm, because French calmness and English calmness have points of difference.

       He was moving swiftly back and forth among the debris of his furniture, now and then staving chance fragments of it across the room with his foot; grinding a constant grist of curses through his set teeth; and

       halting every little while to deposit another handful of his hair on the pile which he had been building of it on the table.

       He threw his arms around my neck, bent me over his stomach to his

       breast, kissed me on both cheeks, hugged me four or five times, and

       then placed me in his own arm-chair. As soon as I had got well again, we began business at once.

       I said I supposed he would wish me to act as his second, and he said, "Of course." I said I must be allowed to act under a French name, so that I might be shielded from obloquy in my country, in case of fatal results. He winced here, probably at the suggestion that dueling was not

       regarded with respect in America. However, he agreed to my requirement. This accounts for the fact that in all the newspaper reports M.

       Gambetta's second was apparently a Frenchman.

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       First, we drew up my principal's will. I insisted upon this, and stuck

       to my point. I said I had never heard of a man in his right mind going

       out to fight a duel without first making his will. He said he had never

       heard of a man in his right mind doing anything of the kind. When he had

       finished the will, he wished to proceed to a choice of his "last words." He wanted to know how the following words, as a dying exclamation, struck me:

       "I die for my God, for my country, for freedom of speech, for progress, and the universal brotherhood of man!"

       I objected that СКАЧАТЬ