FOR THE SEAL RIVER BELT
over the left eye and below the belt before I could sound the gong.
"The last drive hurt my man like sin, and I was mad clean through at such rank play. By rights he had lost the joust by fouling. Waltzing over to him I told him to eliminate that kind of dirty work, or I'd give the decision to his opponent, but he grinned sardonically and, spitting out a tooth, made a playful lunge at my chin.
"‘Look out, old chap!' I warned, scuttling back to my panting nonpareil. 'He's so mad he'll do all kinds of crooked work to down you.'
"‘Guess it was an accident,' gasped Tib, rubbing the pit of his stomach. 'What was that hook the Spider used?'
"I told him, and the third round opened with my patron receiving a present on the side of his jaw that quickly puffed up to the size of a South African diamond, but in the rush that followed he worked the hook, and the funny part of it was he thought it was on the level. He had ducked under Chuck's crouching guard and had sent a raking right from jaw to ear, and then, in some outlandish way I never understood, he gave the Seal River belt-holder the point of his sturdy elbow just under the ear. Really, sir, it would have been more humane to have struck Chuck with a spike-maul. He rolled and writhed in agony to his corner, trying to corral his wind, and
71
