Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 123, No. 3 — page 82: what you’re looking at

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

B64 “ And I will, too, Larry.” He turned td the surgeon. “So that’s how it stands, doc. We had some hard rows to hoe at first, but I’m making money now, and pretty soon I think IT] be in line for a fight with the middleweight champion. Thursday night I take on Chick Robbins at the Auditorium— five hundred for that; and, doc, if you can do anything for kim 1 be olad to pay you everything I earn for a year; anything to. bring back his full mental power.” “ We'll try the operation,” said the sur- geon. His eyes were shining in a wholly unprofessional manner. ‘“ And,. Mr. Wing, I'll make the cost as light as I can. If he goes into the hospital now, we should be able to determine by Wednesday whether ‘or not the operation is a success.” He stood up and shook hands with Jimmy Wing. “You promised you'd get me a knife, jimmy.” The man’s voice quaiered plain- tively. “Tl get you the fimest knife in the store, Larry; yes, and some sweet chocolate, too, and anything else you want.” It was ten o’clock Wednesday morning when Jimmy Wing and Dr. Ballard stood by the bedside of the man who had become a child. “I'm afraid there is no use hopmg, Mr. Wing,” confessed the surgeon. ‘SHe has come through the operation splendidly. There is no doubt about his living, but I’m afraid his mind is just what it was.” He shook his head. “ You speak to him.” Half fearfully, Jimmy bent over the bandaged convalescent. “Mr. Briscoe! Mr. Briscoe! jimmy, Mr. Briscoe.” A faint, fretful voice answered. ‘“ Why do you Keep calling me Mr. Briscoe? I ain’t Mr. Briscoe. I’m just Larry. And, jimmy, you promised you’d get me a new knife.”’ It’s me— Vit. Down, down, pitilessly down, the. hot sun beat on the bodies of the half-naked men in the ring. They might have been stokers under the flare of boiler fires. But the sun’s rays were brighter than any red glow of any furnace. They brought. out ty ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. | cles, and shot the dripping sweat with radi- ant reflections. From his seat near the ringside, Dr. Bal- lard studied the whole scene before him with curious eyes, not omitting the spectators themsetves. Except for an amateur bout or two at the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the surgeon had witnessed no boxing shows; and yet here he was, on a vacation junkecing,—~ half by chance, half by inclination, in the new Tia Juana amphitheater, watching a battle for the middleweight championship of the world. .; : Fat Americans, slim Americans, respec- table Americans, others not so respectable, _ Mexicans, a scattering of women, all went to fill the vast arena with its spectacte of latter-day gladiators. ‘« Attaboy, Jimmy!” ) It was one of the normally quiet and everyday Americans, a butcher perhaps, or the proprietor of a placid restayrant, who let out the whoop. Now, as Dr. Bailard saw, the quiet and everyday American had altogether forgotten his. inhibitions and seemed on point of letting his enthusi- asm carry-tim out of his sifk shirt. The in- cident interested and amused the specialist in brain diseases. — / “Fight him! Fight him, Jimmy!” The stout gentleman turned. “ Ain't that Jimmy Wing a wonder! Never even been knocked down, I tell you, we got a new champ to- day. Attabsy, Jimmy! Don’t kt him set!” ' There was no doubt where the sympa- thies of the crowd lay. “ Heeler ” Kull was the present champion; but he was far from popular. His “ money-first, safety-next, fair-play-last ” ‘tactics had brought him to the top of the heap, but they had not car-: ried him mto public favor. Jimmy Wing was the crowd’s man. And even Dr. Bal- lard felt in himself the stirrings of enthusi- asm. He, too, wanted Jimmy to win. Following the unsuccessful operation, he. had acquired a habit of reading the sport- pages of the daily papers, wherein Jimmy Wing’s sensational rise to the logical con- _ tender for the middleweight crown had been spasmodically featured. In fact, it was just possible, Dr. Ballard admitted to himself, every dip and swelling of the fighters’ mus- that he had taken his yearly vacation at ee ~ gitized by Gor Ogle re “ie. al fora TATION COCO