"It being one of the many peculiar features of Jack's upbringing that…at the age when every boy engages in mock sword-fight, he and Bob happened to suddenly find themselves living in a military barracks, where their duels served as free entertainment for large numbers of men who actually did know a few things about fighting with swords, and who found the entertainment lacking if it was not well played…The result being that from a young age the Shaftoe boys had sword-fighting abilities considerably above their station in life (most people like them never came into contact with a sword at all, unless it was with the edge of the blade in the last instant of their life)."
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Original Language: English
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The Harz Mountains, Walpurgisnacht 1684, footnote.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Baroque_Cycle
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The Baroque Cycle
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