Argosy, Vol. 117, No. 2 — page 82: what you’re looking at

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

232 of the house could hope for was a terrible beating. And there wasn’t a-thing in it for him. Doggie Bull backed away from the head of the stairs with every intention of leaving the two women; but his eyes met the ter- ror-filled, dependent gaze of Rosine:and he heard the voice of Mrs. Gardner speaking. as steadily as though she were talking to him about a job. “Take the case, Rosine,” she said, “‘ and hide in the woods—anywhere. This gen- tleman and I will handle these thugs!” “ But no, madame!” protested Rosine. “IT will n-n-never leave madame!”’ Game! thought Doggie. He looked at Mrs. Gardner. -She had called him a gen- tleman. Something swelled up inside of Doggie Bull and he felt like a balloon— light and big and able to get right up above such trash as the two men dewn there who had taken off their coats and were already on the first steps. Fight? He felt able to fight a herd of elephants! “ You take the flash, Mis’ Gardner!” he snapped, as he stripped to his shirt. He caught the eyes of Rosine—eyes that could sparkle even if they were frightened—gag- ing the depth of this chest. ‘“‘ Nobody’s going to say Doggie Bull run off and left a couple of women to be robbed!”’ Mose Tatro came first, stepping very slowly and waiting for the man above to come down to him. Doggie did not like that at all. He wanted Turkey Walker out of the way once and for all before he fought Mose. So he held himself at the top of the stairs, as though he expected to do battle there, until Tatro, growing im- patient, began to take the steps two at a time. Doggie waited until he was within three steps of the top and then, making as though to launch himself upon the attack- ers, he balanced on one leg and drove the other into Tatro’s middle. It was a dangerous chance to take but he was successful. Mose doubled up with a grunt and rolled to the bottom, almost carrying Walker with him. And while Turkey sprawled out against the wall to save himself from falling, Doggie fell upon him with joy in his heart and the deter- mination to do the best job of whirlwind THE ARGOSY. fighting he had ever done in his life. He must, for Mose would be on his feet again in a few seconds. When Mose Tatro got up, with arms swinging and his white teeth bared, Turkey Walker lay head downward upon the stairs with a broken arm and such numerous minor injuries that he would fight no more that night, nor for a long time to come. And Sidney Bull sprang lightly down to the hardest part of his task with nothing more serious than bleeding nose and fists. They faced each other between the bul- let scarred front door and the foot of the stairs; and almost at once Doggie found himself in a clinch. Tatro forced the des- perate, close fighting of the woods, in which every wrestling hold, fair and foul, is used —in which the teeth seek for a thumb or finger and the thumbs try to search out the eyes. A man not versed in that fighting would have been, in the hands of Mose Tatro, a bleeding wreck in less than a minute of time. But Doggie Bull knew as much as his antagonist, although he lacked the ex- perience; and he had no scruple against using everything that he knew. When they broke away each had had enough for the moment. Doggie conceived the idea of making it a different kind of a fight—one in which wind and endurance might tip the balance in his favor. He knew almost nothing of boxing—and he knew that Tatro was no better off in that respect. So he felt safe, when Mose showed a disposition to renew the battle, in launch- ing a heavy but powerful blow that rocked Tatro to his heels. And Tatro replied in kind; from which Bull guessed that he had found more that he expected in the clinch. Then began the long battle that later became historic in that township. Like flails their thick arms struck out and fell: like sledge-hammer blows their hardened fists reached face or neck or body. Neither man knew the art of avoiding a blow and neither man tried. They struck and struck, satisfied to take the pain of punishment for the pleasure of feeling a fist drive home. They tried to clinch once again and fell apart from weakness. Doggie was glad of that. They planted their feet wide so that (EO) DOO MIE S (E@)