Are you ready ?" "Of course I am; go ahead." Zeigler was not lacking in a certain skill.

The lesson he had just received was not lost on him.

He was cautious, tricky, and alert--more so than Tom suspected, and he put forth the utmost cunning of which he was capable.
They twisted, swayed back and forth, and once Tom came within a hair of falling, owing to a slight slip of one foot.

But he was on his mettle, and, putting forth his whole might and ability, he flung his antagonist on his back with a violence that almost drove the breath from his body.
"Fudge!" remarked Tom, turning away in disgust; "I'll give you a few lessons if you wish to learn how to wrestle.

Any way, you had better take lessons of some person before you bother _me_ again." The other two clerks had dropped upon the nearest stools, and were holding their sides with mirth.
"Zeigler," said one, when he recovered speech, "that's too big a contract for you; you can't deliver the goods." "You'll have to pay for those window-panes you shook out," added the other.
"I've got a set of boxing-gloves here," growled Zeigler, who tried to assume an indifference, as he brushed off his clothes and looked up with flaming face.