"Oh," said Dick, "tell him I am much obliged and that I will fight him with the bow or with the axe and dagger, or with all three.

Then we will see whether he beats me to a jelly, or whether I cut him into collops, who, as I think, needs shortening." Now the Captain Ambrosio consulted with his friends, who with much earnestness prayed him have nothing to do with arrows.

They pointed out that there his bulk would put him at a disadvantage, especially in dealing with an English archer who had an eye like a snake and a face like that of death itself.
In short, one and all they recommended the battle-axe and the dagger as his most appropriate weapons--since his adversary refused swords.

The battle-axe with which to knock him down, as he could easily do, being so strong, and the dagger with which to finish him.
When this was explained to Grey Dick he assented to the proposal with a kind of unholy joy that was almost alarming to those who saw it.
Moreover, as neither of them had gauntlets to throw down or pick up, he stretched out his hand to seal the bargain, which, incautiously enough, the huge, half-breed Swiss accepted.
Dick's grasp, indeed, was so firm and long that presently the giant was observed first to move uneasily, secondly to begin to dance and thirdly to shout out with pain.
"What is the matter ?" asked his friends.
"The matter is," he groaned, as Dick let go, "that this son of Satan has a blacksmith's vise in place of a hand," and he showed his great fingers, from beneath the nails of which the blood was oozing.
His Venetian companions of the Guard looked at them, then they looked at Grey Dick and gave him a wide berth.

Also Ambrosio said something about having offered to fight a man and not a fiend.