'
"Rube had got the fellow by the throat with both hands, and though
the crowd of men who threw themselves upon him pulled him to the
ground, he never let go, but brought the man down too. I knew it
was all over with him. I was quite mad to join in and help; but
though I tugged and strained at my thongs till they cut right into
my wrists, I could not succeed. For awhile they lay in a struggling
mass on the ground, and then Rube shook himself free of them for a
moment and got to his feet. A dozen men were upon him in a moment;
but he was blind with rage, and would not have minded if it had
been a thousand. Those who came in front went down as if shot
before the blows of his fists; but others leaped on him from
behind, and then the struggle began again. I never saw sich a thing
before, and never shall again. It was downright awful. They could
not hold his arms. Their weight, over and over again, got him upon
the ground, and over and over again he was up on his feet; but his
arms, somehow, they could not hold, and the work he did with them
was awful. Anything he hit went down, and when he could not hit he
gripped. It was like a terrier with rats: he caught 'em by the
throat, and when he did it was all up with them. Some of them made
a grab for their knives, but they had no time to use them.
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