Argosy All-Story Weekly, 4 February 1922 — page 90: what you’re looking at

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

Oe ' ‘ i. a \ 4 f iepec? OPTS WAY oP at hs? PN AG Ve - i= yon, TM th Ry ws aw Tad rs tos) » . “ Forty-four and one-quarter—” A wild yell burst from the throng below the platform, louder far than the thunder of the steel. Sissek lifted Davies in his arms. Griffith pushed Hugh back upon the bench, holding a cup of water in his hand. In a moment the platform was covered by a swarming mass of men. The championship would stay in Hobart for another year. At evening there was music in the town, and presently a demonstration yelling and barking as the painted Piutes leaped about a huge bonfire built on the street. A glare of rockets rose against the sky; reverberat- ing detonations of exploded giant powder rolled and crashed among the hills. The street was jammed with a moving mass of Hobart’s population in whom the carnival spirit was flowing at high tide. Davies had refused to remain at the com- pany hospital, where an admiring surgeon had set his arm, but Hugh had finally been able to persuade him that the Horseshoe _ Club was not the place to carry a broken bone. Davies, not without some grumbling, accompanied by Hugh McGregor and Wil- liam, who trailed along, decided at last to go to his room at the hotel while the night was young. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. for William, but directed at Davies, pushed against the railing of the stairway. Hugh > was occupied with affairs of his own. William struck the man who had jostled him; that man staggered, and came back again. No one, certainly, had ever taught William to fight as he fought now, with feet and hands and shoulders, teeth, if possible— but William had never fought for life be- fore. CHAPTER VIII. THE END OF A PERFECT DAY, E opened with a drop-kick at Kowal- ski; heavy miner’s boot reached Kowalski’s elbow; the knife, released, leaped into the air, and falling, found a crack between the planking of the stairway. Davies finished that with a smashing blow from his good left arm that caught Kowal- ski midships and tied him in a knot. Hugh heaved one man over the railing bodily; William, meanwhile, had troubles. of his own. A living catapult caught him as he kicked, and William fell, squirming and twisting like a cat; it was some time before he could use his arms again except by way of protection for his head. At last he man- aged to roll over, and there were blows re- i - They arrived together at the foot of the ceived and returned with usurious interest. S stairway leading upward to the hotel. They Then a hand gripped at the collar of his Bs stood talking for a moment; the noise of foe; as the man rose, William struck again; =e the celebration reached them only as a_ there was no need to strike a second time. fe subdued murmur from a distance. And it was all over, with one man running = A group of roysterers, singing and jab- rapidly away with infinitely better leg-con- c. bering in a foreign tongue, approached on trol than that same man had displayed on a the road that would take them to the smel- arrival. Davies acknowledged a_knife- = ter, There were five men in the group, each, thrust in his shoulder that had done little es apparently, carrying all the liquor that his more than tear the skin; Hugh was un- < skin would hold. touched; William was a much battered e— Near the stairway they stopped to en- young man. Kowalski, recovering, had — gage in drunken disputation. One, it would crept away. —~ seem, was demanding that his companions The man whom William had last struck = ascend to the hotel. They approached the showed signs of regaining consciousness. z foot of the stairway indirectly. Beneath the stairway that assailant who had pi ee William was jostled by one of the drunk- been tossed from the railing sat up in the e. eri men—not so drunk as his speech would weeds with a broken collar-bone. 3 = indicate. Then he was looking into the “Let ‘em go,” said Hugh. “I guess — face of Kowalski, and in his hand Kowalski they’ve had enough.” = held a knife. Kowalski’s attention was not Davies laughed. ‘“‘ Ah’ll gi’ ye odds Ko- —— ~ comicbooks.com. =" - ‘’ y — . no =