My hand was on my sword, for he was most insulting.
“Sir!” I exclaimed, “for the pain I have caused you I am regretful. As for ‘clumsy fellows,’ look to yourself, sir!”
My weapon was out on the instant. He was not a second behind me. The steel blades crossed with a clash.
“What is this, sirs?” cried Sir William Phips, Massachusetts’s Governor, whose room I had just left. He hastened toward us.
“What mean you two, with your swords out in the Council Chamber, like a pair of swashbucklers over a card game? Put them up at once, you Captain Amherst; and you, also, Sir George. You are both at fault. This must go no further; do you hear? If it does, you may reckon with me on the quarter deck.”
My opponent and I were startled. Somewhat abashed, he whom the Governor called Sir George, sheathed his weapon, I following his action.
I looked at the man. He was tall and well built. His clothing was of good quality, with fine lace and ruffles; his sword a trusty blade, set in a hilt, studded with red stones. On his face there was a haughty look, yet withal, a trace of sadness. He gazed sharply at me, seeming about to put a question, but the Governor was beckoning him, and he passed me without a word, scowling darkly, into the chamber of His Excellency. Then I went out.
There came a time, afterward, when I wished with all my heart, that our swords had come into use, that day; a time when I would have given much to have seen him dead before me. But there was another way.
I felt within my jacket to see if my papers were safe, for on them, now, depended my good fortune. I had come to Boston town without friends, and almost on a forlorn hope, for England was no longer a safe place for me, with a relentless enemy following close on my heels at every step. My mission had succeeded better than I had dared to hope, and I was leaving now, carrying with me a captain’s commission, duly signed and sealed by His Excellency. I also had a letter of introduction to one, Samuel Willis, a tavern keeper at Salem.
Of the things which had come to pass before I found myself in Boston town, in the year of grace 1692, I will relate none for the present. At any rate here I was, Captain Edward Amherst, in age not yet a score and a half, in stature say a bit over six feet; in weight--but there, you will doubtless have more than enough of me ere I have finished.