"Not I," said the host.
"No? Ah! I see that your sword is not of the same form as those used in battle. It is probably antique—an heirloom, perhaps."
The man answered with a nod of the head.
"I thought so," said the stranger; "and yet it seems bright and well cared for. It has evidently been sharpened lately. Do you always keep it well sharpened?"
"On great occasions, yes," was the reply, and our host gave a peculiar wink, accompanying it with a significant gesture with both hands, in imitation of wielding the two-handed instrument over his head, then slapping his own neck he uttered a low whistle and a sort of chuckle thus: "Wh—ew!—click!" being his mode of expressing the action of cutting off a head.
"Ho! ho!" exclaimed the Englishman, "is that in your line?"
The ogre answered by a savage laugh.
At this moment the crying of a child was heard overhead, together with the harsher tones of its mother scolding it.
"Then you do not live perfectly solitary, as I thought," said the student; "you have also wife and children?"
"One boy only," replied the man.