o. Randerson's face
was covered with livid lumps and welts. But he seemed not to mind them,
to be unconscious of them, for on his lips was still the dogged smile
that had reached them soon after the fight had started, and in his eyes
was the same look of cold deliberation and unrelenting purpose.

He had spoken no word since the fight began; he had taken Masten's
heaviest punches without sign or sound to indicate that they had landed,
always crowding forward, carrying the battle to his adversary, refusing
to yield a step when to yield meant to evade punishment. Passion, deep
and gripping, had made him for the moment an insensate automaton; he was
devoid of any feeling except a consuming desire to punish the despoiler
of his "kid."

But he was holding this passion in check; he was its master--it had not
mastered him; he had made it a vassal to his deliberation. To have
unleashed it all at once would have made him too eager, would have
weakened him. He had chosen this punishment for Masten, and he would see
that it was sufficient.

But, as Randerson had well known, Masten was no mean opponent. He stepped
in and out rapidly, his blows lacking something in force through his
inability to set himself. But he landed more often than Randerson; he
blocked and covered cleverly; he ducked blows that would have ended the
fight had they struck him with their full force.

Masten had been full of confidence when the fight started. Some of that
confidence had gone now. He was beginning to realize that he could not
beat Randerson with jabs and stinging counters that hurt without
deadening the flesh where they struck; nor could he hope to wear the
Westerner down and finally finish him. And with this realization came a
pulse of fear. He began to take more risks, to set himself more firmly on
his feet in order to give his blows greater force when they landed. For
he felt his own strength waning, and he knew what the end would be,
should he no longer be able to hold Randerson off.

He went in now with a left jab, and instead of dancing back to avoid
Randerson's counter, he covered with the left, swiftly drawn back from
the jab, and hooked his right to Randerson's face. The blow landed
heavily on Randerson's jaw, shaking him from head to foot. But he shook
his head as though to dissipate the effect of it, and came after Masten
grimly. Again Masten tried the maneuver, and the jab went home
accurately, with force. But when he essayed to d