A Tramp Abroad
Page 8
CHAPTER VI
[A Sport that Sometimes Kills]
The third duel was brief and bloody. The surgeon stopped it when he sawthat one of the men had received such bad wounds that he could not fightlonger without endangering his life.
The fourth duel was a tremendous encounter; but at the end of five orsix minutes the surgeon interfered once more: another man so severelyhurt as to render it unsafe to add to his harms. I watched thisengagement as I watched the others--with rapt interest and strongexcitement, and with a shrink and a shudder for every blow that laidopen a cheek or a forehead; and a conscious paling of my face when Ioccasionally saw a wound of a yet more shocking nature inflicted.My eyes were upon the loser of this duel when he got his last andvanquishing wound--it was in his face and it carried away his--but nomatter, I must not enter into details. I had but a glance, and thenturned quickly, but I would not have been looking at all if I had knownwhat was coming. No, that is probably not true; one thinks he would notlook if he knew what was coming, but the interest and the excitement areso powerful that they would doubtless conquer all other feelings; andso, under the fierce exhilaration of the clashing steel, he would yieldand look after all. Sometimes spectators of these duels faint--and itdoes seem a very reasonable thing to do, too.
Both parties to this fourth duel were badly hurt so much that thesurgeon was at work upon them nearly or quite an hour--a fact which issuggestive. But this waiting interval was not wasted in idleness bythe assembled students. It was past noon, therefore they ordered theirlandlord, downstairs, to send up hot beefsteaks, chickens, and suchthings, and these they ate, sitting comfortable at the several tables,whilst they chatted, disputed and laughed. The door to the surgeon'sroom stood open, meantime, but the cutting, sewing, splicing, andbandaging going on in there in plain view did not seem to disturbanyone's appetite. I went in and saw the surgeon labor awhile, but couldnot enjoy; it was much less trying to see the wounds given and receivedthan to see them mended; the stir and turmoil, and the music of thesteel, were wanting here--one's nerves were wrung by this grislyspectacle, whilst the duel's compensating pleasurable thrill waslacking.
Finally the doctor finished, and the men who were to fight the closingbattle of the day came forth. A good many dinners were not completed,yet, but no matter, they could be eaten cold, after the battle;therefore everybody crowded forth to see. This was not a love duel, buta "satisfaction" affair. These two students had quarreled, and were hereto settle it. They did not belong to any of the corps, but they werefurnished with weapons and armor, and permitted to fight here by thefive corps as a courtesy. Evidently these two young men were unfamiliarwith the dueling ceremonies, though they were not unfamiliar with thesword. When they were placed in position they thought it was timeto begin--and then did begin, too, and with a most impetuous energy,without waiting for anybody to give the word. This vastly amused thespectators, and even broke down their studied and courtly gravity andsurprised them into laughter. Of course the seconds struck up the swordsand started the duel over again. At the word, the deluge of blows began,but before long the surgeon once more interfered--for the only reasonwhich ever permits him to interfere--and the day's war was over. It wasnow two in the afternoon, and I had been present since half past nine inthe morning. The field of battle was indeed a red one by this time;but some sawdust soon righted that. There had been one duel before Iarrived. In it one of the men received many injuries, while the otherone escaped without a scratch.
I had seen the heads and faces of ten youths gashed in every directionby the keen two-edged blades, and yet had not seen a victim wince, norheard a moan, or detected any fleeting expression which confessed thesharp pain the hurts were inflicting. This was good fortitude, indeed.Such endurance is to be expected in savages and prize-fighters, for theyare born and educated to it; but to find it in such perfection in thesegently bred and kindly natured young fellows is matter for surprise.It was not merely under the excitement of the sword-play that thisfortitude was shown; it was shown in the surgeon's room where anuninspiring quiet reigned, and where there was no audience. The doctor'smanipulations brought out neither grimaces nor moans. And in the fightsit was observable that these lads hacked and slashed with the sametremendous spirit, after they were covered with streaming wounds, whichthey had shown in the beginning.
The world in general looks upon the college duels as very farcicalaffairs: true, but considering that the college duel is fought by boys;that the swords are real swords; and that the head and face are exposed,it seems to me that it is a farce which had quite a grave side to it.People laugh at it mainly because they think the student is so coveredup with armor that he cannot be hurt. But it is not so; his eyes andears are protected, but the rest of his face and head are bare. Hecan not only be badly wounded, but his life is in danger; and he wouldsometimes lose it but for the interference of the surgeon. It isnot intended that his life shall be endangered. Fatal accidents arepossible, however. For instance, the student's sword may break, and theend of it fly up behind his antagonist's ear and cut an artery whichcould not be reached if the sword remained whole. This has happened,sometimes, and death has resulted on the spot. Formerly the student'sarmpits were not protected--and at that time the swords were pointed,whereas they are blunt, now; so an artery in the armpit was sometimescut, and death followed. Then in the days of sharp-pointed swords, aspectator was an occasional victim--the end of a broken sword flew fiveor ten feet and buried itself in his neck or his heart, and death ensuedinstantly. The student duels in Germany occasion two or three deathsevery year, now, but this arises only from the carelessness of thewounded men; they eat or drink imprudently, or commit excesses in theway of overexertion; inflammation sets in and gets such a headway thatit cannot be arrested. Indeed, there is blood and pain and dangerenough about the college duel to entitle it to a considerable degree ofrespect.
All the customs, all the laws, all the details, pertaining to thestudent duel are quaint and naive. The grave, precise, and courtlyceremony with which the thing is conducted, invests it with a sort ofantique charm.
This dignity and these knightly graces suggest the tournament, not theprize-fight. The laws are as curious as they are strict. For instance,the duelist may step forward from the line he is placed upon, if hechooses, but never back of it. If he steps back of it, or even leansback, it is considered that he did it to avoid a blow or contrive anadvantage; so he is dismissed from his corps in disgrace. It would seemnatural to step from under a descending sword unconsciously, and againstone's will and intent--yet this unconsciousness is not allowed. Again:if under the sudden anguish of a wound the receiver of it makes agrimace, he falls some degrees in the estimation of his fellows; hiscorps are ashamed of him: they call him "hare foot," which is the Germanequivalent for chicken-hearted.