He received no applause, and he squirmed through the ropes, snakelike,
into the arms of his seconds, who helped him to the floor and supported
him down the aisle into the crowd. Joe remained where he had fallen. His
seconds carried him into his corner and placed him on the stool. Men
began climbing into the ring, curious to see, but were roughly shoved out
by the policemen, who were already there.
Genevieve looked on from her peep-hole. She was not greatly perturbed.
Her lover had been knocked out. In so far as disappointment was his, she
shared it with him; but that was all. She even felt glad in a way. The
Game had played him false, and he was more surely hers. She had heard of
knockouts from him. It often took men some time to recover from the
effects. It was not till she heard the seconds asking for the doctor
that she felt really worried.
They passed his limp body through the ropes to the stage, and it
disappeared beyond the limits of her peep-hole. Then the door of her
dressing-room was thrust open and a number of men came in. They were
carrying Joe. He was laid down on the dusty floor, his head resting on
the knee of one of the seconds. No one seemed surprised by her presence.
She came over and knelt beside him. His eyes were closed, his lips
slightly parted. His wet hair was plastered in straight locks about his
face. She lifted one of his hands. It was very heavy, and the
lifelessness of it shocked her. She looked suddenly at the faces of the
seconds and of the men about her. They seemed frightened, all save one,
and he was cursing, in a low voice, horribly. She looked up and saw
Silverstein standing beside her. He, too, seemed frightened. He rested
a kindly hand on her shoulder, tightening the fingers with a sympathetic
pressure.
This sympathy frightened her. She began to feel dazed. There was a
bustle as somebody entered the room. The person came forward,
proclaiming irritably: "Get out! Get out! You've got to clear the
room!"
A number of men silently obeyed.
"Who are you?" he abruptly demanded of Genevieve. "A girl, as I'm
alive!"
"That's all right, she's his girl," spoke up a young fellow she
recognized as her guide.
"And you?" the other man blurted explosively at Silverstein.
"I'm vit her," he answered truculently.
"She works for him," explained the young fellow. "It's all right, I tell
you."
The newcomer grunted and knelt down. He passed a hand over the damp
head, grunted again, and arose to his feet.
"This is no case for me," he said. "Send for the ambulance."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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