“You see Master Henry,” said Johnson, who was a marine bandsman, and who assisted, when off duty, in our house, “the captain, your father, has been grossly insulted.”
“Only you make that clear, Johnson, and I am ready,” was my reply.
“Well, you had better step up into my room, young gentlemen, at once, as time is on the wing, and will brook no delay.”
The bandsman having disclosed the nature of the aspersion, and the hour having been fixed for the encounter, I found myself with no way of escape consistent with honour and respect for a parent; so that I may as well make a clean breast of another blot on my life’s history by avowing that, the same evening, in a back yard, on suitable premises, rented by one McMollon, a linesman, Johnson had arranged for the meeting to take place; and for the better understanding of the why and wherefore, as also of the respective characters of Johnson and McMollon, I must unavoidably state that these worthies were, to some extent, rivals, as Johnson was in our employ and McMollon was not, though he wished to be. The former, moreover, was a Royal Marine of the Chatham Division, while the latter was of another cloth altogether: and then again the bandsman was a Man of Kent, while the soldier hailed from the other side of St. George’s Channel, so that their brogue and tastes were quite opposed.
McMollon considered that H—— had not insulted Johnson’s “bhoys,” as he accentuated his allusion to us, and the Englishman swore in strong Saxon that H—— had, and that the affair should be fought out.
Preliminaries having been settled, an adjournment took place to Johnson’s private quarters, which were located near our back garden, as was McMollon’s house and yard, though they were fully a stone’s throw apart from the bandsman’s rooms and from our place.
On entering Johnson’s room, he threw off his coat, and then drew with a piece of chalk a line across the floor, and brought us up to the scratch, as he roughly named the place of demarkation. He then threw himself into a pugilistic attitude and thus addressed us:—
“You are going to face, young gentlemen, a strapping young fellow, whose hit may prove like the kick of a horse. From what I know of you both, I have no fear whatever of the issue, if you follow my advice; but if he lands his left on Master Henry’s nose and his right between Master John’s eyes, by taking you apart and dropping on to you unawares, then I’ll not answer for the consequences. Now look here! I’m your opponent; please to foot the chalk line, and square up like men. Capital—anyhow as a sample. Now, please not to forget that in round one Master Henry must hit for the wind, and you, Master John, must play for the face—left and right like a sledge-hammer. No. 2 then recovers himself, and next pops in another compliment on the nob, as we call it in the classics; and if you land your blows, as I expect you will, Col. H—— will be taken all aback, and round one will soon be over.”
“But hold; look here Johnson,” I said, “supposing that when I aim at the wind I catch one in the eye, how then?”
“Oh! that’s what we’re coming to. If you, after a spurt in sparring, throw your guard well over your face, and butt in smartly at the same time, you score a shot between wind and water, and then the figure-head is open for master John. Come now, just go through it.”