Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 4, 1922 — page 128: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

438 handle him in his theatrical work, as he sensed something unusual. “When there is I’ll tell you,” answered the fighter. ‘“‘ Get him them gloves an’ shut up, so’s I can murder him!” “There’s not going to be any murder, Dineen,” said Richards; ‘‘ there’s ‘just go- ing to be a knocked-out champ!” “That coke sure is the stuff, ain’t it, kid?” was Butch’s sneering rejoinder. Clem paid no attention. He looked, once more, at the bandages about his right wrist, and his examination of the gloves handed him was so lengthy that several in the audience booed. A few more joined, too, when he discarded the first pair and called for a second. These proved satisfactory, and he laced them slowly, cautiously—then stepped out before the champion. ‘Qh, boy!” yelled a man in the gallery; “‘ somethin’ tells me this guy’s there!” The man who had spent five solid months doing healthy work on a farm showed that he had forgotten none of his ring strategy. He was fighting for the woman he loved, and the man who had come to his aid when things had been at their darkest. There is no particular need to go into lengthy detail over the bout itself. It has gone down in ring annals for all time, and is known to all who follow the sporting press. Clem Richards, they assert, fought one of the greatest whirlwind battles that was ever witnessed. From the beginning he took the offensive. He took, with it, a fair share of punishment, but he cleverly managed to evade and counter every blow that might have been serious. Also, it was noticed that for the first three rounds—., and for most of the fourth—he himself struck only with his left. With it, though, he seemed able to inflict heavy damage. Constantly he was aiming for one spot—the jaw. And at last, not ten seconds before the fourth canto was about to close, he saw his chance. They say that Dineen, in a blind rage, left himself wide open. Be that as it may, Clem’s right fist suddenly crashed through the air, through the champion’s tardy de- fense, and landed flush on the point of his jaw. But all that Clem remembers, to this ~ ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. day, is that he dimly saw Butch Dineen crumple down, heard the count of ten that seemed hours instead of seconds—and then fainted. VI. Crem did not get back to the farm until sunset of the following day. His right arm was in a sling, hopelessly crippled as far as future fighting was concerned; his face, too, was cut and bruised, and his body ached; but, although he knew that he had given up all hope of ever winning the title, the loss of it, somehow, did not seem at all important. Twenty-five hundred dol- lars, in cash, was in a wallet in his coat. “Well, sir,” he said, putting it down. before Tyrus Babcock, ‘“‘ I guess you don’t need that darn bank, after all!” “Lad, lad,” answered the farmer hus- kily, his eyes moist, “ you shouldn’t have done it! We heard—we know all ’bout it —we know what it means—we— You tell him, Allie!” The old man turned away, overcome by emotion, and Clem, fis face crimson, was looking at the girl he loved. He saw in her eyes something he had never seen there before. She walked over toward him, very simply, very frankly, and put her hands on his shoulders. ‘“‘ Clem,” she said, “‘ it’s done, and we can only accept your help and say how we ap- preciate it. We heard—it’s all over the neighborhood—how that, by holding off for three months more, you could have gone-~- back to your profession and probably won the championship. It’s all in the @apers, and Dr. Patten is calling you all sorts of a fool. He says you had the—the ‘ winning punch,’ and that if you’d only waited you could have done anything. Clem—God bless you!” He took his plunge then. With his eyes gazing squarely into her own, he asked a question. “It was the winning punch, wasn’t it,— Allie?”’ / Alice Babcock flushed, averted her eyes, then let her hands steal down and rest on his bandaged arm. ‘““T think you—you delivered it, in your ring parlance, months ago!” COmiCcboooks.Gom