"Edward Whittemore - The Jerusalem Quartet 01 - Sinai Tapestry" - читать интересную книгу автора (Whittemore Edward)

a kind of exhibition for amateurs, on the basis of letters of recommendation from two Italian masters with
international reputations. When asked which event he wished to enter he said all three, foil and ├йp├йe and
sabre as well.

The proposal would have been ridiculous even if he had studied privately under two masters. But in the
end he was allowed to enter all three classes because the letters from the Italians, as he pointed out,
failed to mention which event was his specialty.

Actually none of them was, nor had he ever studied under the two Italians or anyone else. A year earlier,
aware that his rapid growth might render him awkward, he had decided to improve his balance. Fencing
seemed as useful as any exercise for that, so he read the classical manuals on fencing and dueled with
himself in front of a mirror an hour each day.

The time came for him to go up to Cambridge. While passing through London he learned that two
famous Italian masters were in the city instructing members of the royal family. Curious about several
techniques he was using that didn't seem to be in any of the manuals, he offered the Italians a large sum of
money to pass some judgment on his moves.

An hour was duly arranged. The masters watched him do his exercises in front of a mirror and wrote the
letters of praise he carried on to Cambridge.

But secretly the two men were less enthusiastic than alarmed by what they had witnessed. Both realized
Strongbow's unorthodox style of fighting was revolutionary and perhaps unbeatable. Therefore they
canceled their engagements and left London that same night to return home in the hope of eventually
mastering his techniques themselves.

At Cambridge, meanwhile, the national tournament opened early in December. Refusing to wear a mask
because he wasn't used to one and refusing to reveal his methods, Strongbow won straight matches in the
foil and ├йp├йe and sabre and advanced from the preliminaries into the main competition. There he
continued to fight maskless and continued to win with as much ease as ever.

At the end of two busy weeks he had reached the finals in all three events, itself an unprecedented
accomplishment. The finals were meant to occupy most of a weekend but Strongbow insisted they be
held one after another. All together they took less then fifteen minutes. In that fierce span of time
Strongbow consecutively disarmed his three masked opponents while himself receiving only one slight
prod in the neck.

Furthermore, two of the champions he defeated had dislocated wrists by the end of their matches.

In less than fifteen minutes Strongbow had proved himself the greatest swordsman in English history.



Having done so, he never entered a fencing contest again. The cause for this was assumed to be his
extreme arrogance, already unbearable to many. But the truth was simply that Strongbow had stopped
growing. He no longer needed a special exercise and had given up the tiresome practice of parrying with
himself in front of a mirror.

He never lost his style as a swordsman, however, and decades later it was still distinct enough to betray
his true identity, as nearly happened in a tiny oasis in Arabia more than forty years after he left