The Mysterious Don Miguel - Dozen Adversaries

Valentino Vargas strutted out into the light space at the end of the table. He whipped out his blade and ponderously set himself for combat. Don Nameless darted forward immediately, and they engaged.

Valentino Vargas was a much better swordsman than Pedro Pico by far, having more skill and also weight and strength. It occurred to those who watched that Don Nameless estimated him correctly as such, and was not rash in his attack.

But, having felt out his man, Don Nameless suddenly began to force the fighting, as though eager to finish it and be gone from the scene. The blades crashed and rang. The duelists swerved and danced, advanced and retreated, now out in the streak of bright light, and now back in the flickering shadows near the adobe wall.

"Fight, rogue!" Don Nameless taunted, as he pressed his adversary cruelly. "I had no quarrel with you ... you brought this upon yourself, rogue ... I could slay you easily ... but perhaps I'lI spare your life."

He spoke all this haltingly, as they fought, He punctuated his phrases with swift and violent attacks. Valentino Vargas began tiring from the speed of the bout. This small and agile man was all around him, like a dozen adversaries. There was a strong rally on the part of Valentino Vargas for a moment, a retreat on the part of Don Nameless and an equally swift recovery.

Then something happened so swiftly that the caballeros watching were unable to tell afterward just how it had occurred. But the blade of Valentino Vargas was torn from his hand and whipped in a flashing arc through the air, to fall and clatter on the hard-beaten earth of the floor.

Don Nameless lunged, and the point of his blade darted forward like the tongue of a snake. Then he bounced backward like a rubber ball, and Valentino Vargas reeled against the wall, holding his left hand to his left cheek, from which blood was streaming.


- The Mysterious Don Miguel, Chapter 2