Lifting his left knee suddenly as the infuriated beggar rushed in upon
him in catapult fashion, with his body doubled and his head bent low,
Mick at the same time, with all the force of his good right arm, struck
downwards at the darkey's exposed ear, which was about the size of a
small plate, catching him thus between his knee and fist like a piece of
iron a blacksmith might be at work on at the forge beaten flat between
hammer and anvil.

Result--down dropped the mulatto as if he were a felled ox!

"Hooray!" yelled out all the Actives; while there was a groan and a rush
from the surrounding compatriots of Mick's opponent to pick up their
champion. "Give the bloomin' nigger fits, me boy! You've pretty nearly
done for him already."

But, the mulatto was not by any means settled yet.

Encouraged by his sympathising backers, of whom we allowed some five or
six to enter the ring, wishing to play fair and not to have it all to
ourselves, the mulatto shook himself as if he had just come out of the
water; and, standing up in a proper manner now, he faced Mick, who
smilingly beckoned him to come on.

"Hit 'im in de eyeball, Bim!" cried one of the dark ladies, who indeed
was the cause of the fray, as generally is the case, I have been told,
when menfolk fall out. "Yah, yah! Mash um face fo' um, de imperent
man-o'-war buckra!"

"Go it, Mick!" cried we. "Land him one in his bloomin' bread-basket!"

A very pretty bit of sparring now ensued, the two being well matched;
for, though the mulatto was the taller and had the longer reach of arm,
Mick had a better guard, holding his right well out across his chest,
and dodging in his left every now and then, keeping moving about on his
pins as lightly as an opera-dancer.

Once `Mr Bim' got in a roundabout blow that landed on Mick's left
cheek, which drew blood, and sent him all of a stagger into the corner
where the signalman and I stood officiating as bottle-holders.

This raised a wild yell of excited enthusiasm from all the assembled
darkeys, both ladies and gentlemen alike.

"Golly, dat fetch um, Bim!" they shouted. "Gib um goss, Bim! 'Badian
too brabe; um beat all de buckra sailor trash in de whole world, you
bet!"

"Stow that, you ugly black devil!" interposed one of our men, fetching
the mulatto's partisan a crack on the shins with the cutter's boathook,
which he held in his hand, he being bowman and left in charge of the
boat. "You just keep out o' the rin