er the prostrate figure, counting with
semaphore strokes of his arm: "One! Two! Three!"

The spectators began to think it was all over, and the tension let
down. Joe grinned, albeit wearily. There was not much left in him.

Meanwhile Sam's brain was working with perfect clearness. He stirred
cautiously.

"Nothing broken," he thought. "Take nine seconds for wind enough to
keep away till the end of the round. Then you have him!"

At the count of nine he sprang up, and the spectators roared afresh.
Joe, surprised, went after him without overmuch heart. Sam managed to
escape further punishment.

A growing weariness now made Joe's attacks spasmodic and wild. He was
working his arms as if his hands had leaden weights attached to them.
A harrowing anxiety appeared in his eyes. At the sight of it a little
spring of joy welled up in Sam's breast.

"Pretty near all in, eh?" he said. "You're going to get licked, and
you know it! There's fear in your eye. You always had a yellow streak.
Crying Joe Hagland!"

Joe, missing a wild swing, fell of his own momentum amid general
laughter. Derision ate the heart out of him. He rose with a hunted
look in his eyes. Sam suddenly took the offensive, and rained a
fusillade of blows on the damaged eye, the heart, the kidneys. Joe,
taken by surprise, put up a feeble defence.

The next round was the last. Around Caribou Lake they still talk about
it. A miracle took place before their eyes. David overcame Goliath at
his own game. Jack beat down the giant. At the referee's word, Sam
sprang from his corner like a whirlwind, landing right and left before
Joe's guard was up.

The weary big man was beaten to his knees. Struggling up, he tried to
clinch, only to be met by another smashing blow in the face. He turned
to escape, but the dancing figure with the battering fists was ever in
front of him.

He went down again, and, stretching out on the floor, began to blubber
aloud in his confusion and distress.

"He's had enough," said Sam grimly.

The result was received in the silence of surprise. A few laughed at
the spectacle Joe made. Others merely shrugged. The victory was not a
popular one.

Big Jack went through the formality of counting, though it was patent
to all that the fighting was done. Afterward he turned to Sam and
shook his hand.

"I didn't think you had it in you," he said.

This was sweet to Sam.

Joe raised himself, snivelling, and commenced to revile Sam.

"Aw, sh