Twice he stepped upon the king's toes- accidentally- and the
king, as became his royalty, was contemptuously unconscious of it
and indifferent to it; but the third time Hugo entertained himself
in that way, the king felled him to the ground with a cudgel, to the
prodigious delight of the tribe. Hugo, consumed with anger and
shame, sprang up, seized a cudgel, and came at his small adversary
in a fury. Instantly a ring was formed around the gladiators, and
the betting and cheering began. But poor Hugo stood no chance
whatever. His frantic and lubberly 'prentice-work found but a poor
market for itself when pitted against an arm which had been trained by
the first masters of Europe in single-stick, quarter-staff, and
every art and trick of swordsmanship. The little king stood, alert but
at graceful ease, and caught and turned aside the thick rain of
blows with a facility and precision which set the motley onlookers
wild with admiration; and every now and then, when his practised eye
detected an opening, and a lightning-swift rap upon Hugo's head
followed as a result, the storm of cheers and laughter that swept
the place was something wonderful to hear. At the end of fifteen
minutes, Hugo, all battered, bruised, and the target for a pitiless
bombardment of ridicule, slunk from the field; and the unscathed
hero of the fight was seized and borne aloft upon the shoulders of the
joyous rabble to the place of honor beside the Ruffler, where with
vast ceremony he was crowned King of the Game-Cocks; his meaner
title being at the same time solemnly canceled and annulled, and a
decree of banishment from the gang pronounced against any who should
henceforth utter it.
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