“You 're in luck, Massingbred,” cried he, as the other concluded his recital,--“you're in luck, sir, to have for your friend one that, though I say it myself, has n't his equal for a case like this in the three kingdoms. It was I, sir, took out Cahill when he shot Major Harris, of the Fusiliers. I handled him that morning in a way that made the English officers confess there was no chance against us! A duel seems an easy thing to arrange. You 'd say that any fool could put up two men, twelve or even ten paces asunder, and tell them to blaze away; and if that was all there was in it, it would be simple enough. But consider for a minute the real case, and just remember how much the nature of the ground, whether level or uneven, has to do with it; what's behind,--if a wall, or trees, or only sky; the state of the light; how the sun stands; whether there 's wind, and what way it's coming. These are not all. There's the pistols,--how they _'throw,'_ and with what charge; and then there 's the size of your man. Ay, Massingbred, and let me tell you, you now see before you the man that invented the 'invulnerable position.'” “By Jove! that's a most valuable fact to me just now,” said Jack, helping himself to a fresh tumbler. “I 'm glad you have not been retained by the other side.” “The 'invulnerable position'!” continued Magennis, perfectly heedless of the other's remark; while, taking up the poker, he stalked out to the middle of the room, drawing himself up to his full height, and presenting, as though with a pistol,--“Do you see what I mean?” cried he. “I can't say I do,” said Jack, hesitatingly. “I thought not,” rejoined the other, proudly; “nobody ever did that was n't 'out' often. Pay attention now, and I 'll explain it. My head, you perceive, is carried far behind my right shoulder, so as to be completely protected by my pistol-hand and the pistol. I say the pistol, because it has been proved scientifically that the steadiest eye that ever fired never could aim at the antagonist's pistol. Morris Crofton practised it for eight years in his own garden; and though he did succeed, he told me that for practical purposes it was no use. Now we come to the neck, and you may observe the bend of my elbow. Ay, that little angle that nobody would remark masks the jugular arteries, and all the other vital nerves in that part. John Toler used to say that the head and neck was like the metropolis, and that a shot elsewhere was only like a 'row' in the provinces; and a very true and wise remark it was. Not that I neglect the trunk,” added he, proudly; “for you see how I stand,--three-quarters of the back towards the enemy so as not to expose the soft parts. As for the legs,” cried he, contemptuously, “let them crack at them as long as they like.” “And that 's the 'invulnerable position,'” said Massing-bred; with less enthusiasm, however, than the discovery might seem to warrant.