lie stands off about fifty yards, callin' Hotspur names,
an' waitin' for Falstaff to arrive.
"An' thar's a by-play gets pulled off. This ranikaboo Pistol, who
couldn't fight a little bit, an' who's caperin' along ten rods in
the lead of Falstaff, gets the sudden crazy-boss notion that he'll
mete out punishment to Hotspur himse'f, an' make a reputation as a
war-eagle with his pard an' patron, Falstaff. With that, Pistol
curves his tail like a letter S, and, lowerin' his knittin'-needle
horns, comes dancin' up to Hotspur. The bluff of this yere ignoble
Pistol is too much. Hotspur r'ars loose an' charges him. This
egreegious Pistol gets crumpled up, an' Hotspur goes over him like a
baggage wagon. The shock is sech that Pistol falls over a wash-bank;
an' after swappin' end for end, lands twenty feet below with a groan
an' a splash in the Caliente. Pistol is shorely used up, an' crawls
out on the flat ground below, as disconsolate a head o' cattle as
ever tempts the echoes with his wails.
"But Hotspur has no space wherein to sing his vict'ry. Falstaff
decends upon him like a fallin' tree. With one rushin' charge, an' a
note like thunder, he simply distributes that Hotspur all over the
range.
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