[Illustration: Sam made a couple of tremendous swipes, and then down
went the _Aurora's_ captain and one of his crew]
That sort of put it up to our national pride--there was six or seven
American fishermen in the place--and we waded in, and the French
man-of-war's men, they waded in, and it was one fine battle for maybe
ten minutes, with nothing in the way of empty bottles, or full ones
either, being overlooked. And when we couldn't reach any more chairs or
table legs we pulled off our sea boots, and, believe me, a big red jack
with a three-quarter-inch sole and an inch and a half of heel--you grab
a sea boot o' that size--it don't weigh more than four pounds or so--you
grab it by the ears and get a full healthy swing on it and let it hit a
man anywhere above the water-line, and he won't mistake it for any sofa
cushion.
It was a fine fight, and I think we'd 'a' won out only for the
re-enforcements from outside. A liberty party of French man-of-war's men
come first, and then the police lads with the red trousers and the
swords, and out we went into the street.
And when they got us out they locked the doors and barred the windows.
While I was pulling on my red jacks again, out under the lamp, on the
corner of the street, up comes Sam and Archie. "Say, Alec," begins Sam,
"but you cert'nly laid 'em out with your sea boot."
I thought Sam and Archie would be pretty well smashed up, but there
wasn't a mark on 'em except a couple of lumps behind their ears.
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