"Will I?" I says, holdin' on to that hand. "If Scanlan don't box him,
I'll take him on myself!"

"Oh, thank you--thank you!" she whispers, "I--"

"That's all right!" I cuts her off. "Is--ah--is the big fellow any
relation to you?"

She blushed. Yeh--and I looked at her, forgettin' a lot of things
about both of us that didn't quite match--and wished! I got everything
I had together for one good try, bein' handicapped by the fact that I
still had her hand and that room was goin' around like a top. And
then, poor boob--I looked down at the hand I didn't have, wonderin' why
she didn't answer me--and saw the answer on one finger. The darned
cold, glitterin' thing seemed to sneer at me. I felt like I'd stopped
one with my chin, and somethin' went outa me that ain't back yet.
What? Well, a guy can hope, can't he?

Say! That ring must have cost five hundred bucks--it was a pip!

I grabbed a drink of that darned milk to steady myself, and I seen from
the way she looked at me that she got me.

"I see!" I says, lettin' go of the hand that belonged to friend Arthur.
"He--and he went to South America, eh?"

"Listen!" she whispers, bendin' over. "You know now what this means to
me. If you'll help me, I'll do anything for you! Why--"

I sat up in bed and grabbed her hand again.

"Anything?" I asks her.

She looks out the window, gets pale and grits her teeth. You could see
she wished she hadn't said it, but she was game and was standin' pat.

"Anything!" she says.

"Then for the love of heaven!" I shoots out, "get me a piece of meat!
This egg and milk thing is drivin' me nutty!"

She wheeled around so quick the scared look was still on her face, and
for a minute we both just looked. Then she give a kinda nervous little
laugh, grabbed both my hands, squeezed 'em like a man--and blew!

Oh, boy! I ain't no hard loser but--

Well, it wasn't no trick at all to get big Arthur to box with the Kid.
He took to it like a chorus girl does to a telephone and what puzzled
me was why none of them fifty dollar doctors hadn't thought of it
before. I guess it was because they was nobody there husky enough to
handle him by themselves, because Arthur packed a wallop in each hand
that meant curtains, if it landed. Behind that was six-foot-two of
bone and about two hundred and forty pounds of muscle.

The Kid labored with him like a mother with a baby. He taught him how
to duck, feint, jab, uppercut, swing, stall,