Again and again he had struck at Conko and missed. When the round had ended, Hitch found himself swinging on to Mukes with all his weight to keep from falling to the floor, while Conko’s bellowing was like the distant thunder of the surf in his ear, sounding afar off: “Sleep! Sleep! Sleep, Hitch Diamond, go to sleep!” When Conko Mukes walked to his corner he was jubilant. He faced the crowd of wondering coons, placed his gloved hands to the side of his face, and crowed like a rooster. “I got him goin’, niggers!” he squalled. “He’s wabbly on his foots! One mo’ roundance, an’ dat big fat stiff will go to sleep an’ never wake up no mo’!” He sank down upon his camp-stool, and his heaving chest and abdomen sucked in the air in great, hungry gulps. Skeeter Butts worked like an engine, cackling his delight at his hero’s wonderful pugilistic ruse. “You got him skeart, Conko,” Skeeter squawked in a voice hoarse with excitement. “One mo’ roun’ wid dat hypnertize-eye, an’ dat’ll be his finish. Don’t let him bat yo’ hoodoo-eyes out!” At the beginning of the fourth round Conko Mukes proceeded to steal some of Professor Dodo Zodono’s thunder. “Feller cit’zens,” he howled, “I’s gwine gib you a little demerstration of my powers. “In dis nex’ roun’, you’ll see wonders whut no man cain’t account fer! You-all will hear noises whut defy all de laws of soundance! You gwine behold appearances whut fly in de face of scrutination! Us is gwine demerstrate effecks whut ain’t got no resomble cause--all free-fer-nothin’!” He sat down with a happy grin on his horrible face, and Hitch Diamond stood up to proclaim: “I ain’t never fit in de ring wid no lunatic befo’. I ain’t gwine waste no time gittin’ done wid dis fight, neither. While Conko Mukes is pullin’ all dem stunts he’s braggin’ ’bout, I’s gwine knock de stuffin’ outen his black hide!” The two men advanced to the center of the ring, circled slowly around while Conko began his monotonous, bellowing chant: “Sleep! Sleep! Sleep, Hitch Diamond--sleep!” Still keeping well out of reach of Hitch’s punch, Conko waved his right hand slowly in front of his opponent’s face, as if he were stroking invisible fur with his glove. Hitch followed him slowly, waiting for a chance to land a knock-out blow. Then upon Hitch Diamond’s slow mind there slowly dawned the meaning of all this. He had witnessed the hypnotic exhibition before the drug-store earlier in the day, and recognized portions of the speech which Conko had recited, and noticed a similarity between Conko’s gestures and the actions of Professor Dodo Zodono. Then Hitch’s dull eyes began to glow with strange interior fires. With the negro’s knack for imitation, Hitch’s gloved hands dropped, his giant arms dangled at his sides, and he began to move toward Conko Mukes with stiff legs, as if someone had him by the shoulders leading him forward, as if the hinge joints of his hips were rusty, and hurt him when he walked.