Argument was on his side

From A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court:

"Fair sir, will ye just?" said this fellow.

"Will I which?"

"Will ye try a passage of arms for land or lady or for—"

"What are you giving me?" I said. "Get along back to your circus, or I'll report you."

Now what does this man do but fall back a couple of hundred yards and then come at me as hard as he could tear, with his nail keg bent down nearly to his horse's neck and his long spear pointed straight ahead. I saw he meant business, so I was up the tree when he arrived.

He allowed that I was his property, the captive of his spear. There was argument on his side—and the bulk of the advantage—so I judged it best to humor him. We fixed up an agreement whereby I was to go with him and he was not to hurt me.

Two things interest me here: the author's use of comic violence, and the danger of language. In fact, the two are closely bound in this scene, with a physical threat following the protagonist's inability to communicate with the knight.

This passage also tickles me because of the understatement ("I saw he meant business…", "there was argument on his side"), and the ego-preservation of the narrator ("I judged it best to humor him").

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, by Mark Twain, Bantam Classic edition (pg. 5), March 1981, ISBN: 0-553-21143-9.