they strained, legs braced, their lungs heaving as they
wrestled, doggedly.

Corrigan stood like a post, not giving an inch. Vainly Trevison writhed,
seeking a position which would betray a weakened muscle, but though he
exerted every ounce of his own mighty strength Corrigan held him even.
They broke at last, mutually, and Corrigan must have felt the leathery
quality of Trevison's muscles, for his face was set in serious lines. His
eyes glittered malignantly as he caught a confident smile on Trevison's
lips, and he bored in silently, swinging both hands.

Trevison had been the cool boxer, carefully trying out his opponent. He
had felt little emotion save that of self-protection. At the beginning of
the fight he would have apologized to Corrigan--with reservations. Now he
was stirred with the lust of battle. Corrigan's malignance had struck a
responsive passion in him, and the sodden impact of fist on flesh, the
matching of strength against strength, the strain of iron muscles, the
contact of their bodies, the sting and burn of blows, had aroused the
latent savage in him. He was still cool, however, but it was the crafty
coolness of the trained fighter, and as Corrigan crowded him he whipped in
ripping blows that sent the big man's head back. Corrigan paid little heed
to the blows; he shook them off, grunting. Blood was trickling thinly from
his lips; he spat bestially over Trevison's shoulder in a clinch, and
tried to sweep the latter from his feet.

The agility of the cow-puncher saved him, and he went dancing out of
harm's way, his spurs jingling. Corrigan was after him with a rush. A
heavy blow caught Trevison on the right side of the neck just below the
ear and sent him, tottering, against the wall of the building, from which
he rebounded like a rubber ball, smothering Corrigan with an avalanche of
deadening straight-arm punches that brought a glassy stare into Corrigan's
eyes. The big man's head wabbled, and Trevison crowded in, intent on
ending the fight quickly, but Corrigan covered instinctively, and when
Trevison in his eagerness missed a blow, the big man clinched with him and
hung on doggedly until his befoggled brain could clear. For a few minutes
they rocked around the room, their heels thudding on the bare boards of
the floor, creating sounds that filtered through the enclosing walls and
smote the silence of the outside world with resonant rumblings.
Mercilessly, Trevison hammered at the heavy head that