The Prince and BettyWodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)
General
The Prince and Betty
Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)
Humorous stories
The Cyclone now became still more cyclonic. He had a left arm which
seemed to open out in joints like a telescope. Several times when the
Kid appeared well out of distance there was a thud as a brown glove
ripped in over his guard and jerked his head back. But always he kept
boring in, delivering an occasional right to the body with the pleased
smile of an infant destroying a Noah's ark with a tack-hammer. Despite
these efforts, however, he was plainly getting all the worst of it.
Energetic Mr. Fisher, relying on his long left, was putting in three
blows to his one. When the gong sounded, ending the first round, the
house was practically solid for the Cyclone. Whoops and yells rose from
everywhere. The building rang with shouts of, "Oh, you Dick!"
Smith turned sadly to John.
"It seems to me," he said, "that this merry meeting looks like doing
Comrade Brady no good. I should not be surprised at any moment to see
his head bounce off on to the floor."
Rounds two and three were a repetition of round one. The Cyclone raged
almost unchecked about the ring. In one lightning rally in the third he
brought his right across squarely on to the Kid's jaw. It was a blow
which should have knocked any boxer out. The Kid merely staggered
slightly, and returned to business still smiling.
With the opening of round four there came a subtle change. The
Cyclone's fury was expending itself. That long left shot out less
sharply. Instead of being knocked back by it, the _Peaceful
Moments_ champion now took the hits in his stride, and came
shuffling in with his damaging body-blows. There were cheers and "Oh,
you Dick's!" at the sound of the gong, but there was an appealing note
in them this time. The gallant sportsmen whose connection with boxing
was confined to watching other men fight and betting on what they
considered a certainty, and who would have expired promptly if anyone
had tapped them sharply on their well-filled vests, were beginning to
fear that they might lose their money after all.
In the fifth round the thing became a certainty. Like the month of
March, the Cyclone, who had come in like a lion, was going out like a
lamb. A slight decrease in the pleasantness of the Kid's smile was
noticeable. His expression began to resemble more nearly the gloomy
importance of the _Peaceful Moments_ photographs. Yells of agony
from panic-stricken speculators around the ring began to smite the
rafters. The Cyclone, now but a gentle breeze, clutched repeatedly,
hanging on like a leech till removed by the red-jerseyed referee.
Suddenly a grisly silence fell upon the house. For the Kid, battered,
but obviously content, was standing in the middle of the ring, while on
the ropes the Cyclone, drooping like a wet sock, was sliding slowly to
the floor.
"_Peaceful Moments_ wins," said Smith. "An omen, I fancy, Comrade
John."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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