f it. The moment he was free, Ponta sprang at Joe like a
wild animal bearing down its prey. But Joe covered up, blocked, and fell
into a clinch. Again Ponta struggled to get free, Joe held on, and the
referee thrust them apart. And again Joe avoided damage and clinched.

Genevieve realized that in the clinches he was not being beaten--why,
then, did not the referee let him hold on? It was cruel. She hated the
genial-faced Eddy Jones in those moments, and she partly rose from her
chair, her hands clenched with anger, the nails cutting into the palms
till they hurt. The rest of the round, the three long minutes of it, was
a succession of clinches and breaks. Not once did Ponta succeed in
striking his opponent the deadly final blow. And Ponta was like a
madman, raging because of his impotency in the face of his helpless and
all but vanquished foe. One blow, only one blow, and he could not
deliver it! Joe's ring experience and coolness saved him. With shaken
consciousness and trembling body, he clutched and held on, while the
ebbing life turned and flooded up in him again. Once, in his passion,
unable to hit him, Ponta made as though to lift him up and hurl him to
the floor.

"V'y don't you bite him?" Silverstein taunted shrilly.

In the stillness the sally was heard over the whole house, and the
audience, relieved of its anxiety for its favorite, laughed with an
uproariousness that had in it the note of hysteria. Even Genevieve felt
that there was something irresistibly funny in the remark, and the relief
of the audience was communicated to her; yet she felt sick and faint, and
was overwrought with horror at what she had seen and was seeing.

"Bite 'm! Bite 'm!" voices from the recovered audience were shouting.
"Chew his ear off, Ponta! That's the only way you can get 'm! Eat 'm
up! Eat 'm up! Oh, why don't you eat 'm up?"

The effect was bad on Ponta. He became more frenzied than ever, and more
impotent. He panted and sobbed, wasting his effort by too much effort,
losing sanity and control and futilely trying to compensate for the loss
by excess of physical endeavor. He knew only the blind desire to
destroy, shook Joe in the clinches as a terrier might a rat, strained and
struggled for freedom of body and arms, and all the while Joe calmly
clutched and held on. The referee worked manfully and fairly to separate
them. Perspiration ran down his face. It took all his strength to split
those cling