From then on, Mike and Carpenter would show off their trick to all the other boatmen. One time, before Mike could fire at the cup on Carpenter‘s head, there was a blast from another rifle in the woods nearby. The cup flew into the air. Mike spun around so fast the ground smoked. "Who did that?" he roared.

"“My name‘s Talbot," a man said, stepping out of the woods. He was a redheaded fellow with muscles bunched up as thick as thunderclouds.

"Whoop, holler, and hailstones!" Mike yelled, jumping into the air and banging his heels together. "My name‘s cholera, pestilence, and sudden death. I’m the original meat-grinder, man-mauler, muscle-ripper, and the meanest, cruellest, blood-thirstiest creation that ever drew breath."

Talbot took a deep breath and shouted back, "Whoop! I’m the man who invented fighting. I’ve got fists so big they make mountains look like bumps. I’ve got a hide like an alligator and a heart as black as a buzzard in a coal mine. I’m so mean, I hate not being able to kill a man more than once."

They leaped at each other. They hissed and hollered. They slammed, rolled, and punched. The ground shook, and the trees shook until all the leaves fell off At last, after several hours, Mike swung his fist up from the ground. His knuckles banged Talbot‘s chin so hard that Talbot flew up and hit his head on a tree branch. When he sailed down to earth again, his head was considerably flatter, and all the fight had gone out of him.

Talbot and Mike shook hands, and when the men went back onto the keelboat, Talbot went along. He, Carpenter, and Mike all swore they would die for each other if they absolutely had to.