“No wonder,” he told a reporter, “that Rough-House Kelly thought the roof hit him.”
After Chub Collins had been put out in the twelfth second of the first round of a fifteen-round contest, Stubener felt compelled to speak to Pat.
“Do you know what they’re calling you now?” he asked.
Pat shook his head.
“One Punch Glendon.”
Pat smiled politely. He was little interested in what he was called. He had certain work cut out which he must do ere he could win back to his mountains, and he was phlegmatically14 doing it, that was all.
“It won’t do,” his manager continued, with an ominous15 shake of the head. “You can’t go on putting your men out so quickly. You must give them more time.” [46]
“I’m here to fight, ain’t I?” Pat demanded in surprise.
Again Stubener shook his head.
“It’s this way, Pat. You’ve got to be big and generous in the fighting game. Don’t get all the other fighters sore. And it’s not fair to the audience. They want a run for their money. Besides, no one will fight you. They’ll all be scared out. And you can’t draw crowds with ten-second fights. I leave it to you. Would you pay a dollar, or five, to see a ten-second fight?”
Pat was convinced, and he promised to give future audiences the requisite16 run for their money, though he stated that, personally, he preferred going fishing to witnessing a hundred rounds of fighting.
And still, Pat had got practically nowhere in the game. The local sports laughed when his name was mentioned. It called to mind funny fights and Rough-House [47]Kelly’s remark about the roof. Nobody knew how Pat could fight. They had never seen him. Where was his wind, his stamina18, his ability to mix it with rough customers through long grueling contests? He had demonstrated nothing but the possession of a lucky punch and a depressing proclivity19 for flukes.
So it was that his fourth match was arranged with Pete Sosso, a Portuguese20 fighter from Butchertown, known only for the amazing tricks he played in the ring. Pat did not train for the fight. Instead he made a flying and sorrowful trip to the mountains to bury his father. Old Pat had known well the condition of his heart, and it had stopped suddenly on him.
Young Pat arrived back in San Francisco with so close a margin21 of time that he changed into his fighting togs [48]directly from his traveling suit, and even then the audience was kept waiting ten minutes.
“Remember, give him a chance,” Stubener cautioned him as he climbed through the ropes. “Play with him, but do it seriously. Let him go ten or twelve rounds, then get him.”
Pat obeyed instructions, and, though it would have been easy enough to put Sosso out, so tricky22 was he that to stand up to him and not put him out kept his hands full. It was a pretty exhibition, and the audience was delighted. Sosso’s whirlwind attacks, wild feints, retreats, and rushes, required all Pat’s science to protect himself, and even then he did not escape unscathed.
Stubener praised him in the minute-rests, and all would have been well, had not Sosso, in the fourth round, played one of his most spectacular tricks. Pat, in a [49]mix-up, had landed a hook to Sosso’s jaw23, when to his amazement24, the latter dropped his hands and reeled backward, eyes rolling, legs bending and giving, in a high state of grogginess25. Pat could not understand. It had not been a knock-out blow, and yet there was his man all ready to fall to the mat. Pat dropped his own hands and wonderingly watched his reeling opponent. Sosso staggered away, almost fell, recovered, and staggered obliquely26 and blindly forward again.
For the first and the last time in his fighting career, Pat was caught off his guard. He actually stepped aside to let the reeling man go by. Still reeling, Sosso suddenly loosed his right. Pat received it full on his jaw with an impact that rattled27 all his teeth. A great roar of delight went up from the audience. But Pat did not hear. He saw only Sosso before him, [50]grinning and defiant28, and not the least bit groggy29. Pat was hurt by the blow, but vastly more outraged30 by the trick. All the wrath31 that his father ever had surged up in him. He shook his head as if to get rid of the shock of the blow and steadied himself before his man. It all occurred in the next second. With a feint that drew his opponent, Pat fetched his left to the solar plexus, almost at the same instant whipping his right across to the jaw. The latter blow landed on Sosso’s mouth ere his falling body struck the floor. The club doctors worked half an hour to bring him to. After that they put eleven stitches in his mouth and packed him off in an ambulance.
“I’m sorry,” Pat told his manager, “I’m afraid I lost my temper. I’ll never do it again in the ring. Dad always cautioned me about it. He said it had made him lose more than one battle. I didn’t [51]know I could lose my temper that way, but now that I know I’ll keep it in control.”
And Stubener believed him. He was coming to the stage where he could believe anything about his young charge.
“You don’t need to get angry,” he said, “you’re so thoroughly32 the master of your man at any stage.”
“At any inch or second of the fight,” Pat affirmed.
“And you can put them out any time you want.”
“Sure I can. I don’t want to boast. But I just seem to possess the ability. My eyes show me the opening that my skill knows how to make, and time and distance are second nature to me. Dad called it a gift, but I thought he was blarneying me. Now that I’ve been up against these men, I guess he was right. [52]He said I had the mind and muscle correlation33.”
“At any inch or second of the fight,” Stubener repeated musingly34.
Pat nodded, and Stubener, absolutely believing him, caught a vision of a golden future that should have fetched old Pat out of his grave.
“Well, don’t forget, we’ve got to give the crowd a run for its money,” he said. “We’ll fix it up between us how many rounds a fight should go. Now your next bout17 will be with the Flying Dutchman. Suppose you let it run the full fifteen and put him out in the last round. That will give you a chance to make a showing as well.”
“All right, Sam,” was the answer.
“It will be a test for you,” Stubener warned. “You may fail to put him out in that last round.”
“Watch me.” Pat paused to put [53]weight to his promise, and picked up a volume of Longfellow. “If I don’t I’ll never read poetry again, and that’s going some.”
“You bet it is,” his manager proclaimed jubilantly, “though what you see in such stuff is beyond me.”
Pat sighed, but did not reply. In all his life he had found but one person who cared for poetry, and that had been the red-haired school teacher who scared him off into the woods.
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1
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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jolt
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| v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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astounded
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| v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶 | |
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8
crumple
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| v.把...弄皱，满是皱痕，压碎，崩溃 | |
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referee
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| n.裁判员．仲裁人，代表人，鉴定人 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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sagging
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| 下垂[沉，陷]，松垂，垂度 | |
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aisle
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| n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道 | |
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13
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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14
phlegmatically
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15
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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16
requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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bout
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| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
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18
stamina
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| n.体力；精力；耐力 | |
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19
proclivity
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| n.倾向，癖性 | |
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Portuguese
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| n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语 | |
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margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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tricky
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| adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的 | |
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jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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grogginess
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| 酒醉；东歪西倒 | |
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obliquely
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| adv.斜； 倾斜； 间接； 不光明正大 | |
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rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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groggy
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| adj.体弱的；不稳的 | |
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outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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32
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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33
correlation
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| n.相互关系，相关，关连 | |
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musingly
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| adv.沉思地，冥想地 | |
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