Beadle's Dime Library No. 236 — page 28: what you’re looking at

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

——— ee — . mounced that bis strength was returning, and Joe muttered to Steve: “fs got’is second wind a’ready, Steve, Now look out. ’E’ll go for ’im now.” Sure enough, the young man began to spar more assuredly, and all of a sudden dashed in, hammer and tongs, delivering a facer on the champion between the eyes, and getting away unhurt, Then the champion got his second wind toa certain extent, and leveled a vicious right and left at Sam, who ducked his head and got in three terrible body blows, under which the champion grunted and fell. Sam walked to bis corner, and Joe whispered; ‘You've got ’im, Sammy. You've got ’im. Take a suck of the lemon, boy. Don’t rush ’im. 7E’s a-wealcenin’. Let ’im rush you, and stop ’is temper. Give it ’im ’ot on the nob.” Sam smiled slightly, in a confident way. ‘Pye not tried all I know, Joe,” he said. Joe grinned delightedly. “Try it now, then! ’f’s a-sufferin’ like—” Joe couldn’t think of a simile before Mr. Shortliffe called: ‘* Time. Third round!” The a came up much better in wind, but evidently afraid of his man; and, after sparring cautiously, went down in parrying a blow, and lay still. ‘‘ Foul, Mr, Referee! Weclaimsa foul!” cried Oe, Shortliffe shook his head. “Pretty near, Joe; but not quite. men fight on, till the best man wins,” The champion grinned in his corner at his success in gaining another minute’s rest, and came up to the fourth round as if he felt better than before. ‘* Press him close, Sammy,” said old Joe, and Sam obeyed orders so well that the champion went down at the second blow, amid the jeers of the crowd, who began to cry: ‘“ Here’s a great champion!” ‘Put him on ice, Bill.” ‘Give bim a nursing-bottle!” “Why don’t he stand up or give up?” Bill Black eyed them with some contempt, as le retorted scornfully: ‘‘Mebbe some of you fellers had better take “y place, orhis’n. I know my biz. Here, Patsy, ea sup.” Let the Then he whispered to his principal. “ Ho’s getting riled. Get bim tocome in hard, and slug him on the retreat.” The champion nodded, and the fifth round began, ia which he obeyed instructions so well that be got in two hard blows on Sam’s head in return for one on the ribs, and went down laughing. ‘This won’t do, Sammy,” said old Joe, stern- ly, as the young man came back to his corner. ‘**You’re a losin’ your ’ead, and peor lose the fight, if you ain’t keerful. ’E knows you’re the best man and ’e ain't goin’ to fight up to ye any more. Let’im come fur ye, and coax ‘im on again.” ‘But ne won't come,” said Sam, rubbing his head where he had been bit, ‘* You do as I tell you,” retorted Joe, sharply. “ Coax bim and slug bim.” * Time! Sixth round /” cried Shortliffe, Sam went in quietly and stood off at long range, so that the round was uneventful for nearly a minute. Then the champion saw his opening and dashed in, with his usual rapid skill, to deliver @ hot one and get away. Sam ducked his head like a flash and closed in with a couple of heavy body blows, and in another minute the two men were closed in a atruggle as desperate as that which had marked the first round, but with far different result. Béfore the champion could collect his wits sufficiently to drop, be felt the ropes at his back and his strength going, while the pile-driving blows of Catapult Sam were on his jaw, breast and neck, battering the life out of him. He lost his head, turned his back to run; was driven to and fro; till, in his desperation, he clutched wildly at Sam co grapple, and threw his guard open. In that moment Sam uttered a short laugh of exultation, pushed his foe’s head back with the left hand with all his force, and let drive a single right-hander, full on the fatal spot, over the jugular vein, Toe blow sounded like a whip-crack, and the champion dropped like a log. Catapult Sam looked down at him with an eager, inquiring gaze; then remarked to Shortliffe quietly: ‘ That finishes this battle, sir.” He walked to his corner, and said to Joe: ‘‘[ gotitin atlast. But he wasa good man.” Joe looked over into the corner where Bill Blaek and the Ruby were trying in vain to re- vive the senseless champion, who lay as limp as @ rag over bis chair. “Ope ’e ain’t dead, Sammy,” he said un- easily. ‘‘Tbhat would be a bad go for hus,” ’ Bam shook his head, ‘*Not a bit of it. I know how hard to bit. I told you I'd not tried all I know,” ** Time !” cried Mr. Shortliffe. Bill Black threw up the sponge, and the ref- @rece said aloud: Champion Sam. “ Sam, you've won the battle, and you’reen- | poor Chase. _People said you had something to titled to .be called Champion of America. | do with that.” Gentlemen, three cheers for Catapult Sam, | Cola turned deadly pale, and his eyes glared Champion of the World!” | as he answered slowly: And the lonely island in the Muggahoochie | ‘*Thecoroner’s jury said no such thing, sir. Lagoon rung with cheers: | A low-lived scoundrel called Marshall tried to | spread the report, and [ knocked him stiff for OHAPTER XXIV. it. Whoare you? Do you want a taste of the fa same dose? I’ve not forgotten how to hit, yet.” CATAPULT SAMS JUSTICE, The stranger put down tis bat in the coolest THE season of 18—- had closed, and with it a | manner, and took out a card-case before be re- great battle in the show business, plied, dryly: Three monster concerns had been runningthe | ‘‘ Exactly. Here’s my card and two more same routes in the circuit, fighting each other | that may interest you. Look at them, please, in the large cities; spending money like water | before we talk any more on bnsiness.” and abusing each other in advertisements. He kept a table between him and C: la, and Their advance-parties bad been stealing march- | threw a card across the cloth to the advance es from town to town; buying up the show- | manager, with a square white envelope, of the kind used to contain wedding cards. A kow of white ribbon, peeping out, showed thau such were the contents of the envelope. Cola’s color flickered uneasily, For the first time in twenty years he was puzzled and alarmed at this quiet, Imperturbsble stranger, whose face stemed strangely familiar to bim. _ He took up the first card, and even his prac- _ticed nerves did not prevent a start as he read: **MR. SAMUEL CHASE.” boards; hiring all the empty lots; tearing down each other’s paper, and occasionally coming to | blows, while ‘tthe guys” enjoyed a feast of daring acts, bewildering to the choice, Comic lithograpbs were in_every shop win- dow representing the great Mr. Moses Hind- foote as a giant among showmen, advancing, | with his hands in his breeches’ pockets, while Hoopler, Gittuppe, Cola, and a crowd of lesser showmen were fleeing like Liliputians from the tramp of his elephantine boot. pre T’- ell’s Terrible stories about Hoopler’s city ty, which was familiarly designated “ alf-acre,” from the character of the buildings erected thereon, circulated in country papers; and the editors grinned and took in cash and passes from all three shows with charming im- partiality. It was a regular ‘cut-throat season” and witnessed the arrest. of the enterprising Mr. Howard of the Hoopler Show, for assault and battery on an envious rival, Mr, Howard being a man of muscle, Little money wes made, on account of the rivalry, and it soon became a question of *‘ who had the longest stocking ” to dive into for shek- els of gold and silver. It was an exciting season, and closed with all three shows badly hurt. Hoopler, Tombs, and Warren, went into winter quarters, bat- tered and worn, to repair damages. Mr. Hindfoote re-entered Phi.adelpbia witha blaze of glory, and divided a profit of nine dol- lars and thirty-seven cents between his right ani left breeches pockels. Gittuppe and Cola concluded to try a winter season in the land of the orange and fig, and took the much-dreaded Southern circuit. The result was a speedy dissolution of the yarinership, Cola getting out unburt, and tak- ing Pippa and Corinne away to jcin the Hoop- ler show. The ambitious Gittuppe survived the winter by help of the cotton crop in the Sunny South and got as far as St. Louis, where the sheri took charge of his show in the spring, at suit of Mr. George Washington Newgate. The stock, at auction, left Mr. Newgate a net loser of some twenty thousand, dollars, with the satisfaction that be bad obliged Hoopler to mortgage ‘‘ Hell’s Half Acre” and the Madison farm of ‘‘ Nonpareil” to cover his expenses. Then Hoopler and Hindfoote agreed to disa- gree, and run on diverging tracks, Rivalry that entails an annual loss of a hun- dred thousand dollars possible profit, is too ex- ensive to be kept up over a year in the United tates of the nineteenth century. Therefore, in the spring, when Gittuppe came to grief, Hoopler sallied forth in rejoicing mood, and Cola chuckled, as he said to Harry: ‘‘ We've got ’em this time. It’s been a tough pull, but I've weathered thestorm, I think,” The catapult act remained a feature of the Great Hoopler Combination, but Corinne was not there. Maggie was out of her apprenticeship; Lily had got married to a quiet person who ran the confectionery privileges of Mr. Hindfoote’s show, and had refused to go on the wire any more, The “ original Corinne,” for some unexplained cause, had parted from Cola, and accepted an engagement with the establishinent of Maiden and Silver, who kept out of the way of the Leviatbans of the show business, and made a good deal of money every season, by attending to their own affairs, The season was nearly over when Mr. Cola, being then in a Western town, received notice that a gentleman wished to speak to him on show business, as the agent of a novelty. Cola pricked up his ears instantly: for he was al was on the lookout, for novelties, to be hired cheap and rehired dear. ‘Send him up,” he said to the waiter; for he His fierce blaek eyes sunk intoa furtive glance and his fingers trembled as he opened the en- velope and looked at the wedding cards. He read on one: ; * MAGGIE L. SOUTH.” The other contained the legend: “MR. AND MRS. SAMUEL CHASE, ** Married at All Souls’ Church, ** Philadelphia, June 17th, 18—.” Then he absently pushed back te cards inte the envelope and eyed Chase in the same lower- ing, furtive way for near a minute before he sald: ‘* Well?” / Chase looked him in the eye and Cola’s glance fell as the young man said, in a cold, business way: OM wife has appointed me heragent. You owe her some money, it seems.” Cola sneered, and squared his shoulders with an air of relief, “Is that all? Poor girl! She doesn’t under- stand business, I don’t owe her any money. If you’ve been fool enough to marry her for that you'll find it a grave mistake, young man. I don’t owe ber any money.” Chase smiled. ‘“‘Our lawyer informs us differently. We have the articles, and it appears that, under them, Maggie South’s apprenticeship really ex- pired two yearsago. You drew for her services and those of Lilian Chase, my sister. now Mrs, Alfred Marlowe, two hundred and fifty dollars a week for the last season of forty weeks, a sum of ten thousand dollars. The show paid their board, and you therefore owe my wife five thousand dollars for her half-share.” Cola turned livid during this recital, but made no observation till Chase had closed, when he said, in a low, grating tone: “Your sister? Who told you Lily was your sister?’ **My wife, more than a year ago, and I have roofs of the fact, But for that I should bave ‘illed you long ago, John Nichols. Do you un- derstand me?” Cola glared at him, and a writhing smile curled his lip as he answered: “You kill me? It doesn’t lie in your boots to doit, any more than when you were a kid, Sam Chase. I can knock you stiff in one round,” Chase laughed in the same imperturbable way. ‘“Perbaps you think so; but I have other names, too, in the profession, besides Chase, For instance, I worked your catapult, in a wig and dye, under the name of Saniels, and you once failed to knock me stiff then.” Cola pushed back his chair a few feet, and stared intently at Chase for several seconds, before he burst out: “You! Were you Samuels? That great calf that thought he eould fight, because he licked Gasbag Frisbie?: You! You're just the man I want to see. It'll give the rest a good lesson.” As he spoke, he started to the door; locked it; put the key in bis pocket, and began to shove the furniture back all round the room, which was large and lofty. Chase, on his part, kept on the other side of the room, assisting him, till the table was the was in a private parlor of a big botel, where he only article left, when Cola said, sharply: had been holding audience as advance manager, * Vil give you all the chance you need. I ask with great state, at the expense of the show. no oddsof you, I’veno pistolsorknives. Have A tall, exceedingly handsome gentleman, fashionably dressed and quite young, came in and bowed formally, saying: “This is Mr. Nichols, I presume.” Cola drew himself up, answering’ “‘ My business name is Cola,sir. I dropped that of Nichols, when I wentinto the business.” The stranger nodded indifferently. “Tremember. You tacan, after the death of you?” Chase laughed aloud, and began to teke off his upper clothing, remarking: “Nothing of the sort. J’ll strip to my under- shirt, and turn my pockets inside out, if you'll do the same.” ** Agreed!” said Cola, with glittering eyes, and mutterine rs 9 ‘ook. off bi» clothing, ** Curse you, Lil show yca in a minute.” LL OL LL ALLL LALLA LL LOO LLL LL te tT CORNIELOOOKS (SC (E(0)