The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-05-24
RODNEY STONE.
A "Reminiscences Of the Ring.
ny A. CONAN DOYLE.
corvrtohi. rsrr, bp 4. cora- Doyle
CHAPTER x.-ooNTTNUED.

ire OF the principal one, with the prince upoI
his right and Lord sele upon his left. by hi
wlso prccaution tho seats had boon allotted DO
forehand. 90 that the gentlemen might be scat
tered among the professionals and no risk rur
% two enemies finding themselves together. OF
a man who had been recently beaten falling
into the company OF his conqueror. For MY
own part. had champion Harrison upon one
side Of me and q short, forid-faeed man upon
the other. who whispered to me: that he wat
"BHl War;. landlord Of the One Tun public
house OF JerInyn street. and one Of the Rnmest
mer upon the list"
ITS my flesh that's beat me. SIR" eaid he.
ut creeps over me amns'n' fast. I should
fight at hirteen-eight and 'ere I am nearly
seventeen. It's the business that does II.
What with lollin' about behind the bar nll day,
and bcin' afraid TO refuse a wet for fear Of Of.
fendin' a customer. It's been tho ruin OF
many n good fighting man before me-"
"Iou should take TO my Job" said Harrison.
'Fm n smith by trnde. and I've not put on
half n stone In fifteen years."
"Some take to one thing and some to an
other, but the most Of us try to have a bar par-
Tor NJ our own. There's VIII Wood that I beat
in forty rounds In the middle OF a snowstorm
down livestock way. lie drives "A 'ackney.
Young Firby, the %ruffan, he's n waiter.now."
"Dick Humphries cells Goals he was always
Of a Gentlemnnly disposition. George Ingle.
stone Is n brewers drayman. We all find our
own cribs. Bet there's one thing you arc
saved by Twin in the country. and that Is
hayin' the young Corinthians and bloods about
town smackin' you eternally in the face
This was the last inconvenience which l
should have expected a famous prize fighter to
be subjected 70. but several bull faced fellows
at the other side of the table nodded their con.
currence.
YOU'RE right. Bill" said one of them.
''Therc's no rns has had more trouble with
them than I have. In they come OF an evenin'
into my bar with the wine In their heads. Are
you Tom Owen the Bruiser2' says one o. them.
AT your service. sir says /. Take that,
them says he, md It's q clip on the nose. or O
backhanded slap across the chops as likely
~ not. Then they can brag oil their lives
that they had hit Tom Owen.'
''D' you draw their cork in return?"
II argey It out with them. I say to them:
Now. sente. f1Rhtin' is my profession. and 1
don't fight for love any more than q doctor
doctors for love, or q butcher gives away a loin
chop. Put up a small purse. master. and I'll
do you over. and proud. But don't expect
that you're goin' to come here and get knocked
about by q middlo-weight champion for moth
ing"
That's my way. too. Tom." said my burly
%neighbcr.
'If they put up o guinea on the counter,
which they do II they have been drinking
pretty heavy. I give them what I think is
about q guinea's worth and take the money"
But II they don'tf"
"why. then it's a common assault. dye
sec, against the body of his Ma1esty's liege,
William War;. and I has 'em before che beak
next mornin', and it's q week or 20 shillin's."
Meanwhile the supper was in full swing
one OF those solid and Incorporating meals
which prevailed In the days of your grand
fathers, and which may explain TO some OF
You why You never set eyes upon that relative.
Great rounds of beat, saddles of mutton,
smoking tongues. veal and ham pies. turkeys
and chickens and geese. with every variety OF
vegetables and a succession Of fiery sherries
and heavy ales, were the main staple of the
feast.
1t was the same meal and the same cooking
as their Morse or German ancestors might have
sat down TO fourteen centuries before, and in
decd. as l looked through the steam Of the
dishes at the lines of fierce and rugged faces,
and the mighty shoulders which rounded
Themselves over the board. I could have imag-
ined myself at one of those old-world carou-
Gals Of which I had read. whore the savage
company gnawed the joints to the bone, and
then. with murderous horseplay, hurled the
Aehuiho ~ u Z pTiooHoTb. TleTo anu tner6
the pale a~quiline features of q sporting CO.
rinth.an recalled rather the Norman type. but
in the main these stolid, beavv-towled faces.
belonging to men whose whole life was O bat
tie. were the nearest suggestion which we
have had In modern times of those fierce pt-
rates and rovers from whose loins we have
sprung.
And yet as I looked carefully from man to
man in the line which faced me. I could see
that tho English. although they were 10 to 1,
had not the game entirely to themselves, but
that other rases had shown that they ,ould
produce fighting men worthy to rank with the
best. There were, It Is true, no finer or
drawer men In the room than jackson md
Jem Belcher, the one with his magnificent fig
urc. his small waist and herculean shoulders,
tho other as era. eful MS an old Grecian statue,
with a head whose beauty many O sculptor
had wished to copy, and with those long. deli
cate lines In shoulders and loins and limbs
which gave him the litheness and activity of a
panther. Already as I looked at him, Il seemed
10 re that there was q shadow of tragedy
upon his face. q forecast Of the day then but a
few months distant, when q blow from O
racquet ball darkened the sight Of one eye for
ever. Had he stopped then with his unbea ten
career behind him then indeed the evening of
his life might have been as glorious, as its
e-"'s oNN ~ ASoAt Jul " pCTult
his title 10 be torn from him without a struR-
gle. II even now you can read how the gal
liant fellow, unable with his one eye TO Judge
his distances. fought for thirty-hve minutes
against his young and most formidable op2o-
nent, and how In the bitterness Of defeat he
was heard only to express his sorrow for a
friend who had backed him with all he Dos
sessed. and II you were not touched by the
story. there must DO something wanting in you
which should go to the making OF a man.
But II there were no mon at tho tables who
could have held their own against Jackson or
Jem Belcher. there were others Of q different
race and type who had qualities which made
them dangerous brulsers. A little way down
the table I saw the black face and woolly head
OF Bill Richmond, in q purple and gold foot
mans livery-destined 10 be the predecessor OF
Molyneaux, Sutton, and all that line OF black
boxers, who have shown chat the muscular
power and insensibility to pain which dlstin-
0nish tho African give him a peculiar advan.
rage in the sports Of the ring. He could boast