"I can"t go on fighting a man that"s as good for nothing as my old grandmother," said Ross.
But his contempt was abating; he was growing uneasy; Philip was before him as fierce as ever.
"Fight your equal," he cried.
"I"ll fight you," growled Philip.
"You"re not fit. Give it up. And look, the dark is falling."
"There"s enough daylight yet. Come on."
"n.o.body is here to shame you."
"Come on, I say."
Philip did not wait, but sprang on his man like a tiger. Ross met his blow, dodged, feinted; they gripped, swinging to and fro; there was a struggle, and Philip fell again with a dull thud against the ground.
"Will you stop now?" said Ross.
"No, no, no," cried Philip, leaping to his feet.
"I"ll eat you up. I"m a glutton, I can tell you." But his voice trembled, and Philip, blind with pa.s.sion, laughed.
"You"ll be hurt," said Ross.
"What of that?" said Philip.
"You"ll be killed."
"I"m willing."
Ross tried to laugh mockingly, but the hoa.r.s.e gurgle choked in his throat. He began to tremble. "This man doesn"t know when he"s mauled,"
he muttered, and after a loud curse he stood up afresh, with a craven and shifty look. His blows fell like scorching missiles, but Philip took them like a rock scoured with shingle, raining blood like water, but standing firm.
"What"s the use?" cried Ross; "drop it."
"I"ll drop myself first," said Philip.
"If you won"t give it up, I will," said Ross.
"You shan"t," said Philip.
"Take your victory if you like."
"I won"t."
"Say you"ve licked me."
"I"ll do it first," said Philip.
Ross laughed long and riotously, but he was trembling like a whipped cur. With a blob of foam on his lips he came up, collecting all his strength, and struck Philip a blow on the forehead that fell with the sound of a hammer on a coffin.
"Are you done?" he snuffled.
"No, by G.o.d," cried Philip, black as ink with the burnt gorse from the ground, except where the blood ran red on him.
"This man means to kill me," mumbled Ross. He looked round shiftily, and said, "I mean no harm by the girl."
"You"re a liar!" cried Philip.
With a glance of deep malignity, Ross closed with Philip again. It was now a struggle of right with wrong as well as nerve with strength.
The sun had set under the sea, the sally bushes were shivering in the twilight, a flight of rooks were screaming overhead. Blows were no more heard. Ross gripped Philip in a venomous embrace, and dragged him on to one knee. Philip rose, Ross doubled round his waist, pushing him backward, and fell heavily on his breast, shouting with the growl of a beast, "You"ll fight me, will you? Get up, get up!"
Philip did not rise, and Ross began dragging and lunging at him with brutal ferocity, when suddenly, where he bent double, a blow fell on his ear from behind, another and another, a hand gripped his shirt collar and choked him, and a voice cried, "Let go, you brute, let go, let go."
Ross dropped Philip and swung himself round to return the attack.
It was the girl. "Oh, it"s you, is it?" he panted. She was like a fury.
"You brute, you beast, you toad," she cried, and then threw herself over Philip.
He was unconscious. She lifted his head on to her lap, and, lost to all shame, to all caution, to all thought but one thought, she kissed him on the cheek, on the lips, on the eyes, on the forehead, crying, "Philip!
oh, Philip, Philip!"
Ross was shuddering beside them. "Let me look at him," he faltered, but Kate fired back with a glance like an arrow, and said, screaming like a sea-gull, "If you touch him again I"ll strangle you."
Ross caught a glimpse of Philip"s face, and he was terrified. Going to a turf pit, he dipped both hands in the dub, and brought some water. "Take this," he said, "for Heaven"s sake let me bathe his head."
He dashed the water on the pallid forehead, and then withdrew his eyes, while the girl coaxed Philip back to consciousness with fresh kisses and pleading words.
"Is he breathing? Feel his heart. Any pulsation? Oh, G.o.d!" said Ross, "it wasn"t my fault." He looked round with wild eyes; he meditated flight.
"Is he better yet?"
"What"s it to you, you coward?" said Kate, with a burning glance. She went on with her work: "Come then, dear, come, come now."
Philip opened his eyes in a vacant stare, and rose on his elbow. Then Kate fell back from him immediately, and began to cry quietly, being all woman now, and her moral courage gone again in an instant.
But the moral courage of Mr. Ross came back as quickly. He began to sneer and to laugh lightly, picked up his riding-whip and strode over to his horse.
"Are you hurt?" asked Kate, in a low tone.
"Is it Kate?" said Philip.
At the sound of his voice, in that low whisper, Kate"s tears came streaming down.
"I hope youll forgive me," she said. "I should have taken your warning."
She wiped his face with the loose sleeve of her dress, and then he struggled to his feet.