It is not the proper number in this case. One
more is wanted to make the full dozen. He who rests at eleven has not
completed his task and should not boast of what he has done. Here am I
at his service: here is a life worth nothing to any one waiting to be
taken if he is willing and has the power to take it.
This was a challenge direct enough, yet strange to say no sudden
furious action followed, no flashing of steel and blood splashed on
table and benches; nor was there the faintest sign of emotion in the
singer's face, or any tremor or change in his voice when he resumed
his singing. And so it went on to the end - boastful stanza and
insulting remarks from Marcos; and by the time the _decima_ ended a
dozen or twenty men had forced themselves in between the two so that
there could be no fight on this occasion.
Among those present was an old gaucho who took a peculiar interest in
me on account of my bird lore and who used to talk and expound gaucho
philosophy to me in a fatherly way. Meeting him a day or two later I
remarked I did not think Barboza deserving of his fame as a fighter. I
thought him a coward. No, he said, he was not a coward. He could have
killed Marcos, but he considered that it would be a mistake, since it
would add nothing to his reputation and would probably make him
disliked in the district.
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