Fougas himself approached his adversary and drank with him without reserve.

But he whispered in his ear, speaking very thickly: "I hope, for my part, that you will not refuse the sabre-match which I had the honor to propose to you ?" "As you please," said the colonel of cuirassiers.
The gentleman from the other world, drunker than ever, went out of the crowd with two officers whom he had picked up haphazard.

He declared to them that he considered himself insulted by M.du Marnet, that a challenge had been given and accepted, and that the affair was going on swimmingly.
"Especially," added he in confidence, "since there is a lady in the case! These are my conditions--they are all in accordance with the honor of the infantry, the army, and France: we will fight on horseback, stripped to the waist, mounted bareback on two stallions.

The weapon--the cavalry sabre.

First blood.