Our rival, the rascal : a faithful portrayal of the conflict between the criminals of this age and the defenders of society, the police . tt the story is told of an extraordinary passage at armsbetween King Richard of the Lion Heart and the Sultan,Saladin. The two monarchs met as host and guest in thecourse of a brief truce and Richard willingly gave a display ofhis surpassing strength at the request of his rival. Heaving aloft with both handshis mighty sword, heswung it about his headas if it were of featherweight and brought itdown with such resist-less force that its tem-pered blade sheared
Our rival, the rascal : a faithful portrayal of the conflict between the criminals of this age and the defenders of society, the police . tt the story is told of an extraordinary passage at armsbetween King Richard of the Lion Heart and the Sultan,Saladin. The two monarchs met as host and guest in thecourse of a brief truce and Richard willingly gave a display ofhis surpassing strength at the request of his rival. Heaving aloft with both handshis mighty sword, heswung it about his headas if it were of featherweight and brought itdown with such resist-less force that its tem-pered blade sheared intwo the heavy iron han-dle of his mace and sunkdeeply into a block ofwood beneath. All ^helookers on cried out inwonder and praise of theTitans stroke of theMelech Ric. Saladins tribute wasungrudging as any tothis demonstration of sheer strength which he could not hopeto match. But when the haughty Richard asked him, in turn,for some exhibit of his own powers, the modest Saracen wounda veil lightly over his scimitar, and with a sidelong sweep cutthe floating gauze apart. Such a contrast there is between the smashing onset of the. TUE STROKE OF THE QUILL. 145 burglar, breaking his way with sledge hammer and dynamiteinto a steel-bound treasure vault, and the insidious craft of theforger, wiling the hidden gold from its strongholds with theflourish of a pen or the ^cratch of a graving tool. In actualencounter on the field it is probable that the huge sword ofthe English king was more terrible and deadly than the sultapspotent scimitar, but no ponderous pick or sledge has everstruck such dread into the heart of a banker as the tiny crowquill or slender etching tool in the hand of an expert counter-feiter. Here the pen is indeed mightier than any weapon thatever cut or battered its way into a treasure chamber. Forgery as a means of obtaining money, credit or othervaluable considerations under false pretences is doubtless al-most as old as the invention of letters. It is morally c
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectcr, booksubjectpolice
