Adventure Magazine Cover — page 126: what you’re looking at

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

120 “There you go luggin’ in his wife again,” cut in Trimble. ‘I’ve been settin’ in this fight game too long not to know how it’s played. Say, ain’t McCrady workin’ over there somewhere in Mercer, Chick?” ‘At the Union Panel Company.”’ “All right, you chase yourself over there an’ tell him we want six rounds at a hundred an’ thirty-five or less at the North Side Athletic Club’s plant thirty days after date of contract. Tommy can put him out inside of six rounds. ‘Tell the Kid we'll post a guarantee of three thousand beans the minute he signs. Winner takes sixty per cent. of the net gate. If he sticks offer him eighty per cent.” “Thirty days ain’t very much training time, Ike; he’ll buck on that.” “Son, do I look feeble minded? This McCrady ain’t no bum preliminary fighter; he’s one of the niftiest little lightweights ever stuck a fist in a glove. Between you an’ me, Chick, the Kid could put both Nixon an’ Lynn out if he was top-notch. Tl give him credit. If his wife hadn’t pulled him outta the ring he’d of got Nixon sure.”’ “T believe it,” agreed Ward. “T bet Dunn was tickled sick when McCrady retired. You see, Chick, I gotta hunch Dunn figgers McCrady’s wife won’t let him fight, thereby he puts Tommy in a hole. In case we do get a match with McCrady, though, Dunn still figgers Mc- Crady’ll beat Tommy. He thinks he’s got us goin’ an’ comin’, see? An’ that’s good dope, Chick, an’ it’s cause why I don’t want McCrady top-notch when him an’ Tommy gets together. The Kaid’s been outta regular trainin’ about a year now an’ I calculate he’s gone kinda stale.” “Then your calculator’s on the blink, Ike,” Ward said. “I went over to Mercer to see a basket-ball game at the Calumet Club a few nights ago. McCrady plays with the Calumet team and I had a good look at him, and he didn’t look stale to me. He boxes around the club with some of the boys, I understand. Give him two months and he’ll be as good as ever.’ “Two months, ——!” snorted Trimble. “T said thirty days. If you have to give ground anywhere make it money. Money ain’t no object to us right now; what we want’s a match between McCrady and Tom- my, an’ we'll give our shirts to get it. Thirty days trainin’ time, Chick, an’ not a day longer. I’m playin’ this safe.” Adventure “You sure are,” commented Ward with a wide grin. ‘‘You’re playing it so safe you're not going to play at all. Better let me make that guarantee five thousand instead of three, Ike.” “All right, shoot the five,” assented Trimble. “I’m willin’ to pay for what I get. An’ play up the purse strong, Chick. The North Side plant seats four thousand an’ we oughta take in at least twenty thousand beans. Promoter takes twenty per cent. of the gross for overhead an’ the rest goes to the purse. Now toddle along over there to Mercer an’ see what you can do with McCrady. Here, better take a little change in case you need it.” He handed Ward five one-hundred-dollar bills. Ward shoved them in his pocket and went out and caught an interurban car across the river to Mercer, lying in another State. IT WAS the noon hour when Chick Ward arrived at the plant of the fourid Kid McCrady standing at the main gate with a toothpick between his teeth. McCrady was a trim-built young man of twenty-four with an open countenance and steel-blue eyes that looked at one as straight as a needle. Sad to relate, but none the less is it true that the prize ring has laid malign hands upon many fighters. It would seem that there is about the squared circle an atmosphere that tends to breed in its votaries a moral carelessness. But Kid McCrady had not been con- taminated by this atmosphere; he had remained clean in the things that count most—morally, mentally and physically. Never in his life had he fought a crooked fight or loaned himself to questionable tactics. His scutcheon was unblotted. He and Chick Ward had met on frequent occasions, and while they were more than acquaintances they were yet a little less than friends. McCrady greeted the other man cordially. “What brings you to this side of the river, Chick?” he inquired, shaking Ward’s hand. “Looking for a job here?” “No job today, Kid,” laughed Ward. “T came over expressly to see you. Havea cigaret?”’ McCrady declined the proffered cigaret case and looked at Ward with not a little suspicion. COMNICGLOOKS } Union Panel Company, and he - (E@)