CHAPTER XV BENDIGO AND DEAF BURKE

It is not generally known that a Mr. William Thompson was once Champion of England. Sometimes a nickname will stick to a man much harder than the name of his father, and so it was with Thompson. He was one of a triplet, called, in and out of the family, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. This last, “Thormanby” tells us, soon became “Bednego,” of which “Bendigo,”—a much easier word to say—is the natural corruption¹. To start with, Thompson tried to maintain the full “Abednego,” and advertised himself as a boxer² under that nom de guerre in Bell’s Life. Jem Belcher left his name to a particular sort of scarf. “Jack Johnson,” a variety of heavy German shell, is at least as well-known as the negro champion, and thousands of people must know of Bendigo, a town in Australia, who never heard of Bendigo, the prize-fighter.

Bendigo was a Nottingham man, born in 1812, and his first battle took place in 1835. This was with Ben Caunt, with whom he fought in all three times. He was, as champion heavy-weights go, a middle-sized man, 5 feet 9? inches in height, and his weight was generally somewhere in the neighbourhood of twelve stone. He was an all-round athlete, a fair cricketer and an acrobat³: he was also a most scientific boxer, plucky⁴, and a terribly hard hitter: but his methods were foul⁵. In his first fight with Caunt his dodge—to which he was ever faithful in after years—was to hit and then directly there were signs of possible retaliation⁶ to slip down, as plausibly⁷ as possible, to avoid punishment. Going down without a blow was a foul by the rules: but on the whole Bendigo was wonderfully lucky in his referees⁹. Caunt lost his temper after a time, and dashing across the ring, hit Bendigo whilst still on his second’s knees. That was a foul that no referee⁸ 86 could by any conceivable possibility overlook, and Caunt was “deemed the loser.”

Three years later they met again, and this time Caunt won on a foul. This Ben Caunt also came from Nottingham; a huge fellow of 6 feet 2? inches, weighing well over 15 stone in condition, and much more than that out of it. He had enormous bat-like ears which stood out on his head as do the handles of a cup. In the second fight he showed himself an inferior boxer to Bendigo: but his size and strength enabled him, in a close, to seize his opponent and almost to squeeze the breath out of his body. So far as hitting went, Bendigo had the better of it, and towards the end of the fight, which lasted for seventy-five rounds, the betting on him was 3-1. In the last round, however, he fell without a blow. His supporters declared that he had slipped and that throughout he had been handicapped by not having his proper fighting shoes. Caunt’s people, however, appealed to the referee, who gave it a foul, and Caunt was, therefore, declared the winner. There were many roughs about the ringside, mostly partisans¹¹ of Bendigo, and Caunt had to be mounted on a horse and ride almost for his life to escape them.

Bendigo’s next fight was with Deaf Burke, and it took place near Appleby in Warwickshire, on February 12th, 1839. Bendigo was in first-rate condition, whilst his opponent looked pale and flabby. A diverting incident marked the preliminary arrangements, for there appeared at the ringside a “not unlikely woman,” as Bell’s Life calls her, a friend of the “Deaf ‘un,” who shook hands with him over the ropes and remained in that position of vantage throughout the battle.

Bendigo fought right foot foremost and in a rather stooping position, whilst Burke’s attitude was more orthodox but a little too square, judged by the standard of Belcher and Spring. The man who stands square to his antagonist¹² offers a bigger target, and it has been reckoned from the beginning of the nineteenth century that “edgeways on” is the better mode.

The first round was a good one. Both fought carefully and hit hard. Bendigo’s left was straight and true, and the exchange 87 of blows was equal. They closed at the end and both went down together. The second set-to was much the same, though it was noticed that Burke breathed the more heavily. In the next round, however, Bendigo went ahead, hitting again and again without a return. Burke seemed to be almost paralysed, unable either to defend himself or to hit back. His left eye was closed and at the end of the round, when Bendigo threw and fell on him, he was evidently feeling ill. He was much marked, whilst Bendigo was quite fresh and with hardly a flush to show that he had been hit. The fourth round was similarly Bendigo’s. Burke fought with dogged pluck, but was clearly out of condition. His seconds shouted to him to go in and fight, and he did his best, but his opponent’s straight and well-judged blows came and returned to the same bad eye and battered¹³ nose. Finally Bendigo stepped back rather too quickly, tripped against the lower rope, and fell out of the ring.

Ill-trained men can often fight with pluck, and Burke did this now, but his self-confidence had gone. He hesitated about leading, and whilst making up his mind Bendigo hit him and closed. A little later Burke took a nip from the brandy bottle, but this did him no good. In the seventh round he began by fighting hard, hitting left and right, but was finally thrown. He now accused his man of butting¹⁴ him, and anxiously appealed to the umpire, but no question of foul play had arisen. Bendigo had jerked his head back as he flung Burke down, and had not, as a fact, touched him. Burke was thrown in the eighth round and knocked down in the ninth. The tenth round was the last. Burke was now desperate. He rushed in, got close to his man, and hit with both hands, but he got more in return than he gave. Again he charged at his opponent, forcing him to the ropes, and whilst pinned with his back against them Burke deliberately¹⁵ butted¹⁶ Bendigo with his head. Jem Ward¹⁰, who was seconding the victim, claimed a foul, which was allowed. Deaf Burke’s umpire could not deny the justice of the decision; so Bendigo was proclaimed the winner after twenty-four minutes’ fighting. There seems to be no doubt that Burke butted openly with this very end in view of being disqualified, so that an end could be made of a battle for which he had lost all taste.

1 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

2 boxer   

n.制箱者，拳击手

参考例句：

• The boxer gave his opponent a punch on the nose.这个拳击手朝他对手的鼻子上猛击一拳。
• He moved lightly on his toes like a boxer.他像拳击手一样踮着脚轻盈移动。

3 acrobat   

n.特技演员，杂技演员

参考例句：

• The acrobat balanced a long pole on his left shoulder.杂技演员让一根长杆在他的左肩上保持平衡。
• The acrobat could bend himself into a hoop.这个杂技演员可以把身体蜷曲成圆形。

4 plucky   

adj.勇敢的

参考例句：

• The plucky schoolgirl amazed doctors by hanging on to life for nearly two months.这名勇敢的女生坚持不放弃生命近两个月的精神令医生感到震惊。
• This story featured a plucky heroine.这个故事描述了一个勇敢的女英雄。

5 foul   

adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规

参考例句：

• Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
• What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气！

6 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 plausibly   

似真地

参考例句：

• The case was presented very plausibly. 案情的申述似很可信。
• He argued very plausibly for its acceptance. 他为使之认可辩解得头头是道。

8 referee   

n.裁判员．仲裁人，代表人，鉴定人

参考例句：

• The team was left raging at the referee's decision.队员们对裁判员的裁决感到非常气愤。
• The referee blew a whistle at the end of the game.裁判在比赛结束时吹响了哨子。

9 referees   

n.裁判员( referee的名词复数 )；证明人；公断人；（专业性强的文章的）审阅人

参考例句：

• The fiery player has had numerous run-ins with referees. 这位脾气暴躁的队员曾和裁判员发生过无数次争吵。
• If you want to appeal, the Court of Referees will decide. 如果你要上诉，可以由仲裁法庭去判决。 来自辞典例句

10 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

11 partisans   

游击队员( partisan的名词复数 )； 党人； 党羽； 帮伙

参考例句：

• Every movement has its partisans. 每一运动都有热情的支持者。
• He was rescued by some Italian partisans. 他被几名意大利游击队员所救。

12 antagonist   

n.敌人，对抗者，对手

参考例句：

• His antagonist in the debate was quicker than he.在辩论中他的对手比他反应快。
• The thing is to know the nature of your antagonist.要紧的是要了解你的对手的特性。

13 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

14 butting   

用头撞人（犯规动作）

参考例句：

• When they were talking Mary kept butting in. 当他们在谈话时，玛丽老是插嘴。
• A couple of goats are butting each other. 两只山羊在用角互相顶撞。

15 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

16 butted   

对接的

参考例句：

• Two goats butted each other. 两只山羊用角顶架。
• He butted against a tree in the dark. 他黑暗中撞上了一棵树。