"Juon Tare is a very strong man. Fortunately, he is also a peaceful,
retiring creature, for if he were as passionate as he is strong and
frequented the wine shops, every carouse would end with the death of a
man. All the more horrible was it therefore to behold him at that moment
like a ravening beast of prey.
"The detected seducer at once made a rush for his arms, but Juon Tare
overtook him with an enormous bound and seized one of his hands. If
Fatia Negra had been one of God's ordinary creatures, he must have been
writhing the next moment with crushed limbs on the ground beneath Juon's
knee; but at the very instant in which Juon caught hold of one hand, the
robber faced about and seizing the herdsman round the body began to
wrestle with him.
"The moon flooded the valley with its light; the whole course of the
struggle was plainly visible.
"As soon as Juon Tare perceived that his antagonist was foolhardy enough
to try a fall with him, he complacently allowed his body to be encircled
and calmly murmured: 'Ho, ho! then you would wrestle with me, eh, Fatia
Negra! Very well, be it so!'
"Then he also quietly encircled the trunk of his opponent with those
terrible arms of his, which had shown themselves capable on one occasion
of throttling a bear, and prepared to crush his adversary.
"And thus began an awful struggle, the mere remembrance of which is a
horror.
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