"I have drunk rum and wine and all other liquors all my life," he said,
"but I am neither little nor weak."
His tone was truculent, and his flushed face indicated that he had already
taken too much.
"Go away, Menocal," said Monsieur Gilibert, in a voice half soothing, half
warning. "I do not wish my guests to be annoyed."
But Menocal would not turn away. He put his hand upon Henry's shoulder.
"This is a great youth," he said. "They grow large in the new country to
the north that they call Kaintock, but I, Alonzo Menocal of Santo Domingo,
am the stronger. Stand up, thou youth of Kaintock, by the side of me!"
Henry promptly stood up again, and the young giant towered above Alonzo
Menocal of Santo Domingo, tall though the West Indian was. Moreover he had
greater breadth of shoulder and a deeper chest.
"Ha, thou Kaintock!" exclaimed Menocal, "thou art the taller and the
larger, but I am the stronger, as I shall quickly prove!"
The size of Henry acted as an irritant upon Menocal, already flushed with
intoxicants, and he seized the youth by the waist in an attempt to hurl
him to the floor and thus prove his superior strength. Henry, with an
instant, powerful effort, threw oft the encircling arms, seized the West
Indian by both shoulders, and made use of a trick that Shif'less Sol had
taught him.
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