FOR THE SEAL RIVER BELT
easily recalled all the blows so faithfully reproduced and diagnosed by our machine before Finzer and his men. I tried to make him let me take his place, for he was old enough to be my father, but he reminded me of my two-cent condition—lung trouble, you know—and I had to admit one good punch in the chest would lay me away to get dusty. Then I stood on a bale of furs and played I was the nut-brown champion, so that he could get used to the chief's height, while he hopped about like a rubber ball and did some fearful contortions. While I didn't believe he could ever lick Chuck, I hoped he would scare him to death by his manœvres. 'He won't make my weight,' he declared, 'but if I've any friends, tell 'em to place their money on me, for I'm going to annex that baby.'
"That night I rubbed him in oil, and he went to sleep early. Chuck kept the gang quiet outside our dormitory, and we were not disturbed until late next morning. When we stepped out into the sunlight the scenery impressed me as being out of joint. For in the midst of the Seal River's grand old stage settings was a roped arena that looked much like a parcel of the Bowery. And about it was a sea of flat faces, all eying with admiration the husky build of Chief Chuck. And he, despite the keen air, had been prompted by some New Bedford corpuscle to strip to the waist, quite in the approved
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