“‘The moon alone was the light which gazed upon us.
“‘Draw,’ said Count Felix, with a quivering lip, ‘you or I must die!’
“‘I at first refused, and tried to get out of the duel; but he would listen to no excuses.
“‘Fight I must, and fight I did, for with all my faults,’ said Baptiste, ‘I am not a coward!
“‘Out came my trusty blade.
“‘We crossed swords.
“‘How long we fought I know not; but I shall not forget that terrible conflict for a whole lifetime.
“‘We must have been tilting at each other for fully half an hour, until at last, while he was giving a desperate lunge at me, his foot slipped, and I——I run him through the heart.
“‘He died without a groan.
“‘I took up the body and buried it with my own hands, digging a large hole in the ground as best I could with my own sword.