effort and handing the money
to her. "... How much do you make it?"

"Nineteen dollars and thirty-five cents."

"That's right... the loser's end... twenty dollars. I had some drinks,
an' treated a couple of the boys, an' then there was carfare. If I'd
a-won, I'd a-got a hundred. That's what I fought for. It'd a-put us
on Easy street for a while. You take it an' keep it. It's better 'n
nothin'."

In bed, he could not sleep because of his pain, and hour by hour she
worked over him, renewing the hot compresses over his bruises, soothing
the lacerations with witch hazel and cold cream and the tenderest of
finger tips. And all the while, with broken intervals of groaning, he
babbled on, living over the fight, seeking relief in telling her his
trouble, voicing regret at loss of the money, and crying out the hurt
to his pride. Far worse than the sum of his physical hurts was his hurt
pride.

"He couldn't put me out, anyway. He had full swing at me in the times
when I was too much in to get my hands up. The crowd was crazy. I
showed 'em some stamina. They was times when he only rocked me, for I'd
evaporated plenty of his steam for him in the openin' rounds. I don't
know how many times he dropped me. Things was gettin' too dreamy....

"Sometimes, toward the end, I could see three of him in the ring at
once, an' I wouldn't know which to hit an' which to duck....

"But I fooled 'm. When I couldn't see, or feel, an' when my knees
was shakin an my head goin' like a merry-go-round, I'd fall safe into
clenches just the same. I bet the referee's arms is tired from draggin'
us apart....

"But what a lacin'! What a lacin'! Say, Saxon... where are you? Oh,
there, eh? I guess I was dreamin'. But, say, let this be a lesson to
you. I broke my word an' went fightin', an' see what I got. Look at me,
an' take warnin' so you won't make the same mistake an' go to makin' an'
sellin' fancy work again....

"But I fooled 'em--everybody. At the beginnin' the bettin' was even. By
the sixth round the wise gazabos was offerin' two to one against me. I
was licked from the first drop outa the box--anybody could see that;
but he couldn't put me down for the count. By the tenth round they was
offerin' even that I wouldn't last the round. At the eleventh they was
offerin' I wouldn't last the fifteenth. An' I lasted the whole twenty.
But some punishment, I want to tell you, some punishment.

"Why, they was four rounds I was in dreamland all the time