Omaha daily bee., 1896-07-05

quickness of his hitting. but the truth sur
passed h had been expected OF him. In
this round andothe two which followed he
showed a swifttfess and accuracy which old
ringslders declared that Mendoza in his
prime had never surpassed. He was in and
out like lighting, and his blows were heard
and felt rather. than seen. But Harrison
still took them all with the same doEged
smile. occasionally getting in a hard body
blow In return, FOR his adversary's height
and his position rombined to keep his face
out of danger. At the end of the NTH round
the odds we're 4 to 1, and the west country
men were riotous in their eXultation.
what think you now" cried the West
countryman behind me, and in his excite
mont he could get no further save to repeat
over and over; |.'NVha think you now p
When in the sixth round the smith was
peppered twice without getting in a counter,
and had the worst of the fall as we'll, the
fellow became inarticulate altogether, and
could only huzza wildly in his delight. Sir
Lothian Hume was smiling and nodding his
head, while my uncle was coldly impassiYe,
though l was sure that his heart was as
This won't do, Tregellis," said General
Fitzpatrick. My money is on the old one,
but the other is the finer boxer"
My man is un peu passe, but he will
come through all right" answered my
uncle.
l saw that both Belcher and Baldwin
were looking grave, and l knew that we
must have a change of some sort or the old
tale OF youth and age would be told once
more.
The seventh round, however. showed the
reserve strength of the hardy old fighter
and heightened the faces of those layers of
odds who had imagined that the fight was
practically over, and that a few finishing
rounds would have given the smith his coup
de grace. 1t was clear when the two men
faced each other that Wilson had made
himself up for mischief, and meant to force
the fighting and maintain the lead which he
had gained. but the gay CLEAN was not
quenched yet in the veterans eyes, and
still the same smile played over his grim
face. He had become more jaunty, too, il
the swing of his shoulders and the poise OF
his head. aud it brought my confidence
back to me to see the brisk way in which
he squared up to his man.
Wilson led with his left, but was short.
and he only just avoided a dangerous right
handler, which whistled in at his ribs.
Bravo. old 'un! One Of those will be a dose
of laudanum IL you get it home" cried
Belcher. There was a pause of shuflinr
feet and hard breathing. broken by the thud
Of a tremendous body blow from Wilson.
which the smith stopped with the utmost
GOODNESS. Their again a few seconds Of
silent tension. when Wilson led viciously at
the head. but Harrison took it on his fore
arm. smiling and nodding at his opponent.
Get the pepperbox open!' yelled Mendoza
and Wilson sprang in to carry out his in
struction, but was hit out again by a heavy
drive on the chest. "Now's the time! Follow
it up!" cried Belcher, and in rushed the
smith, pelting in his half-arm blows and
taking the returns without a vince, until
Crab Wilson went down, exhausted, in the
corner. Both men had their marks to show.
but Harrison had all the best of the rally,
so it was our turn to throw our hats into
the air and to shout ourselves hoarse whilst
the seconds clapped their man unon his
broad back as they hurried him to his cor
ner.
What think you now?" shouted all the
%neighbors of the West countryman. repeat
ing his own-refrain.
Why, Dutch Sam never put in a better
rally cried Sir John Lade. whats the
betting now. Sir lothian"
81 have laid all that | intend. but | don't
think my man can lose it." For all that
the smile had faded from his face, and ]
observed that he glanced continually over
his shoulder into the crowd behind him.
A sullen purple cloud had been drifting
slowly up from the southwest, though
dare say that out of 80 600 folk there we're
very few who had spared the time or atten-
tion to mark it. Now it suddenly made its
presence apparent by a few heavy drops of
rain, thickening rapidly into a sharp shower
which filled the air with its hiss and ratified
noisily upon the hard high hats of the Cor
inthians. Coat collars were turned up and
handkerchief tied around necks, whilst the
skins OF the twos men glistened with the
moisture ass they stood up to each other
once more. l noticed that Belcher wills
pered very earnestly into Harrison's ear as
he rose from his knee, and that the smith
nodded his head curtly with the air of a
man who understood and approved his or.
ders.
And what those orders were was instantly
apparent. Harrison was to be turned from
the defender into the attacker. The result
of the rally in the last round had con-
WINGED his seconds that when it came to
give and take hitting their hardy and DOW.
erful man was likely to have the better
of it. And then on the top Of this came the
rain. With the slippery grass the superior
activity of Wilson would be neutralized, and
he would find it harder to avoid the rushes
of his opponent. 1t was in taking advantage
OF such circumstances that the art of ring
craft lay, ard many a shrewd and vigilant
second had won a losing battle for his man
G in. then! Go in" whooped the twc
prize fighters, while every hacker in tho
crowd took up the roar.
And Harrison went in in such fashion
that no man who saw him do it will ever
forget it. Crab Wilson, as game as a peb-
BILE, met him with a flush hit every time,
but no human strength or human science
seemed capable of stopping the terrible on
slaught of this iron man. Round after
round he III his way in slap bang,
right and left. every hit tremendously sent
home. Sometimes he covered his own face
with his left, and sometimes he disdained tc
use any guard at all, but his springing hits
were irresistible. The rain dashed down
upon them, pouring from their faces and
running in crimson trickles over their
bodies, but neither gave any heed to 1t
save to maneuver always with the view OF
bringing it into each others eyes. But
round after round the west countryman fell.
and round after round the betting rose until
the. odds were higher in our favor than
ever they had been against us. With a
sinking heart, filed with pity and admira-
ton for these two gallant men, | longed
that every bout might be the last, and yet
the "Time!' was hardly out of Jackson's
mouth before they had both sprung from
their seconds knees with laughter upon
their mutilated faces and chatting words
upon their bleeding lips.
Ito be Continued.)
THE AGE OF PERFECTION.