Omaha daily bee., 1896-07-05
CHAPTER XVIII.
VTfEfT ITt
THE SMITHS LAST BATTLE.

- SNi '''
Clear the outer ring!' cried Jackson,
standing up beside the ropes with a big sill
yer watch in his hand.
~'Ss-whack! Ss-whack! Ss-whack!'
went the horsewhips, for a number of the
spectators, either driven onward by the
pressure behind or willing to risk some
physical pain on the chance of getting a bet
ter view, had crept under the ropes and
formed a ragged fringe within the outer
ring. Now amid roars OF laughter from the
crowd and a shower of blows from the
beaters-out they dived madly back with the
u~ngainly haste of frightened sheep blunder-
ing through a gap in their hurdles. Their
case was a hard one, for the folk in front
refused to yield an inch Of their places, but
the arguments from the rear prevailed over
everything else, and presently every frantic
fugitive had been absorbed while the beaters-
out took their stands along the edge at in
tervals with their whips held down by their
thighs.
Gentlemen" cried Jackson again, II am
requested to inform you that Sir Charles
Tregelils' nominee is Jack Harrison. fight
ing at thirteen eight, and Sir Lothian
Hume's is Crab Wilson, at thirteen three.
No person can be allowed at the inner ropes
save the referee and the timekeeper. | have
only to beg that if the occasion should re-
quire II you will all give your assistance to
keep the ground clear, to prevent confusion
and to have a fair fight. All ready"
A ready" from both corners.
'Time!"
There was a breathless hush as Harrison
Wilson, Belcher and Dutch Sam walked
briskly into the center of the ring. The two
men shook hands while their seconds did
the same. the four hands crossing each
other, Then the seconds dropped back, and
the two champions stood toe to toe, with
their hands UT.
1t was a magnificent sight to any one who
had not lost his sense OF appreciation of the
oil ~ n tho NrnrlFu nf nntnrn Both
men fulfilled that requisite of the powerful
athlete that they should look larger without
their clothes than with them, In ring slang,
they buffed we'll. And each showed up the
others points on account of the extreme
contrast between them, the long, loose
limbed, deer-footed youngster and the square
set, rugged veteran, with his trunk like the
stump of an oak. The betting began to rise
upon the younger man from the instant that
they were put face TO face, for his advan-
tages were obvious, while those qualities
which had brought Harrison to the top in
his youth were only a memory in the minds
of the older men. All could see the three
inches extra OF height and two of reach
which Wilson possessed, and a glance at the
quick, cat-like motions of his feet and the
perfect poise OF his body upon his legs,
showed how swiftly he could spring either
In or out from his slower adversary. But 1t
took a subtler insight to read the grim smile
which hickered over the smiths mouth, or
the smouldering fire which shone in his gray
eyes, and it was only the old timers who
knew that with his mighty heart and his
iron frame he was a p~erilous man to lay odds
against.
Wilson stood in the position from which
he had derived his nickname, his left hand
and left foot we'll to the front, his body
sloped very far back from his loins, and his
guard thrown across his chest. but held
we'll forward, in o way which made him ex-
eeedingly hard to get at, TIL smith. on the
other hand, assumed the obsolete attitude
which HUMPHREYS and Mendoza introduced,
but which had not for ten years been seen