Pagina 515 de 788

Old Maciek, who was not good at hand to hand combat, retreated,

clearing a place before him to the right and to the left; now

with the tip of his sabre he sheared a bayonet from a gun barrel

as a wick from a candle; now with a slashing blow from the left

he cut or stabbed. Thus the cautious Maciek retired to the open

field.

But an old corporal, who was the instructor of the regiment, a

great master of the bayonet, pressed upon him with the utmost

obstinacy; he gathered himself together, bent down, and grasped

his carbine with both hands, holding the right on the lock and

the left at the middle of the barrel; he dodged and skipped, and

at times crouched down; he let go with his left hand, and thrust

forward the weapon with his right, like the sting from the jaws

of a serpent; and again he withdrew it and rested it on his

knees; and thus dodging and jumping he pressed upon Maciek.