bein' sported there.

I stowed myself away in a corner of the billiard-room and didn't mix
much, but I was takin' it all in. Not that I was feelin' lonesome, or
anything like that. I likes to see any sort of fun, even if it ain't
just my kind. And besides, there was more or less in the bunch that I
knew first-rate. But I don't care about pushin' to the front until I
gets the call.

So everything runs along smooth, and I was figurin' on makin' a late
train down to Primrose Park after I'd done my little turn. I didn't care
much about seein' the show, so I stuck to the dressin'-room until they
sends word that it was my next. We'd had the punchin'-bag apparatus
rigged up in the forenoon, and there wasn't anything left to be done but
hook on the leather and spread out the mat.

Pinckney was doin' the announcin' and the jolly he gives me before he
lugs me out was somethin' fierce. I reckon I was blushin' some when I
went on. I took just one squint at the mob and felt a chill down my
spine. Say, it's one thing to step up before a gang of sports in a hall,
and another to prance out in ring clothes on a platform in front of two
or three hundred real ladies and gents wearin' their evenin' togs.

There I was, though, and the crowd doin' the hurrah act for all it was
worth. When I gets the bag goin' I feels better, and whatever grouch I
has against Pinckney for not lettin' me wear my gym. suit I puts into
short-arm punches on the pigskin. The stunt seemed to take. I could tell
that by the buzz that came over the footlights. No matter what you're
doin', whether it's makin' campaign speeches, or stoppin' a comer in six
rounds, it's always a help to know that you've got the crowd with you.

By the time I'd got well warmed up, and was throwin' in all the
flourishes that's been invented--double ducks, side-step and swing,
shoulder work, and so on--I felt real chipper. I makes a grandstand
finish, and then has the nerve to face the audience and do a matinee
bend. As I did that I gets my lamps fixed on some one in the front row.

Say, if you've ever done much on the platform, you know how sometimes
you'll get a squint at a pair of eyes down front and can't get yourself
away from 'em after that. Well, that was the way with me then. There was
rows and rows of faces that all looked alike, but this one phiz seemed
to stand right out; and to save me, all I could do was to stare back.

It belonged to Miriam. She had her chin tucked down,