If we were on firm earth I would fight you on your own terms.

If there is to be a fight between us, remember that you are fighting for the government reward, and I for my life." "Will you fight me," said the man, "without using your middogue ?" "I saw you take a skean from between your teeth as I turned round," replied Shawn, "and I know now that you are a villain and a treacherous ruffian, who would take a cowardly advantage of me if you could." The fellow made a plunge at Shawn, who was somewhat taken by surprise.
They met and grappled in the water, and the contest between them was, probably, one of the fiercest and most original that ever occurred between man and man.

It was distinctly visible to the spectators on the shore, and the interest which it excited in them can scarcely be described.

A terrible grapple ensued, but as neither of them wished to die by drowning, or, in fact, to die under such peculiar circumstances at all, there was a degree of caution in the contest which required great skill and power on both sides.

Notwithstanding this caution, however, still, when we consider the unsubstantial element on which the battle between them raged--for rage it did--there were frightful alternatives of plunging and sinking between them.
Shawn's opponent was the stronger of the two, but Shawn possessed in activity what the other possessed in strength.