17.—OLE BULL AS A DUELIST.
Händel was not the only great musician to fight a duel, although he was the greatest composer who took a part in that exciting pastime. Ole Bull once had an adventure similar to Händel's, but from all accounts the Norwegian violinist must have been a better swordsman than the "Dear Saxon." In his student days in Germany, Bull once fell in with a party of carousing students and was persuaded by them to take the part of their violinist (who had become more than "half seas over") in a concert they were about to give. He accepted the position and played so well that the drunken fiddler whom he succeeded was jealous of his success and challenged him to a duel. Now, Ole could handle a sword as well as a fiddle bow and soon had disabled his opponent. This made things so warm for him in that neighborhood that he had to take his departure to Norway.