The King of the School, or, Who will Win? — page 25: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE KING OF THE SCHOOL; OR, WHo WILL WIN? “Yes; but vot haf you done that he ehallenges you?” “T gave him a good caning, sir.” “Ja! I should challenge any man | Jat beats me mit a shtick.” “Tt served him right, Dr. Moeritz ; he behaved in a most cruel manner to a poor little homeless boy only half his size,” observed Fitzgerald. “Was ist grausamer !”.* ejaculated the German, holding up his hands. “YT should haf in Vaterland.haf beat him mit a shtick, and he would haf challenged me. But we should not fight mit ze box as you Englanders always do.” “How then, doctor?” young earl. | “TI would fight mit a degen—sword, as you call him.” “Ah, yes; I have heard of the way German students fight,” laughed Frank. ‘‘ They pad themselves till it is almost impossible for a sword to penetrate their thick dresses; and then, if one gets a scratch on the finger or wrist, his courage cannot be doubted.” “It is not always so,” responded the professor. ““ Look.” He pulled off his hat—of the true republican shape—and shaking back his tawny locks showed a long deep scar extending right across the skull. The boys gathered round him curious- ly, as though waiting for an explan- ation. “It was done when I was at the Heidelberg University.” “Tell us how, doctori;” I should like to hear a story of a real duel,” said Pembridge. Doctor Moeritz hesitated, but being pressed by all the boys, at last consented to tell his tale. In repeating it to our readers, we shall take the liberty of making the professor speak good Eng- lish, a thing he was not accustomed to do. “Tt is twenty-five years since I first entered the University of Heidelberg. “JT was then a young man, and entered with heartiness into all the ® What is more cruel? asked the 19 freaks and jokes of university life: though I certainly did not neglect the lectures. “In fact, I always devoted at least three hours every day to hard reading. “‘ Of course, most of you have heard that in Germany the students do little except drink beer and smoke. “That is wrong; many of them are accomplished students, though it is also true that many morét are confirmed tavern haunters. “JT tried to hit the medium: if I spent my days in study, I saw no par- ticular harm in passing the evenings in the society of my fellow-students. “It was at one of these convivial meetings that I first met the man who gave me that wound. “ He was an Englishman, too, and bore the same name as you.” The professor pointed to Frank Egerton as he spoke. “‘ That is strange,” muttered our hero, Dr. Moeritz, without heeding the interruption, went on— ‘‘ His name was Fairfax Egerton-—” “ The name of my uncle who went to America years ago, and has not since been heard of,” said Frank. | “‘ It is indeed a singular coincidence,” replied the professor. ‘‘ However, as I am unable to tell whether it was your uncle or not, I can only finish the his- tory of my duel. “We met one night at the hostelry renowned for the excellence of its beer. ‘“‘ Of course the guests were all stu- dents, and among them was one named Fritz Leiderwold, a poor weakly youth, who had only just joined the university. ‘“‘ He was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; a circumstance which, combined with the bad health Fritz had always suffered, had led to his having been brought up in a very effeminate way. ‘“ He could neither ride, swim, shoot, nor fence! “The Englishman knew this well, and neglected no opportunity of remind- ing Fritz of his want of manhood, “ Egerton, I should say, was not like EO DOC EO mn