"We will call time when we feel we want it. You understand, this is not only a fight; it"s a whipping. I"m whipping you."
Mr. Pownceby smiled as he answered: "I understand exactly."
When they were in position there was not much, so far as appearance went, for a lover of the "fancy" to choose between the two. Now that they were peeled, both seemed thoroughly fit--as fit almost as though they had been trained. Mr. Pownceby was fair, Mr. Pratt was dark; that was about the only difference. Both would have turned the scale at something near eleven stone, and both measured something under five foot eight. Nor did it take long to show that both could use their hands. There was none of that waiting for each other which so often tries the patience of the spectators round a ring. Mr. Pratt came at once to business; with, perhaps, rather too much self-confidence. He was apparently under the impression that it was going to be a case of whipping his opponent from the first; which was the reason, doubtless, that Mr. Pownceby succeeded in returning the compliment which had been paid himself, and landing Mr. Pratt upon his back. That gentleman seemed surprised.
"I say," he asked, lying where he had fallen, "what"s this?"
Mr. Pownceby replied politely: "I hope I haven"t hurt you?"
"You haven"t hurt me--much. You"ve surprised me--more. I reckon we"ll continue."
The proceedings recommenced. But this time Mr. Pratt had changed his tactics. Instead of coming up with the apparent intention of wiping his opponent off the face of the earth with a single blow, he played his game more cautiously. He fenced; but, becoming tired of this, and feeling possibly that the whipping was not proceeding fast enough, he led off with his right, and followed on with his left, and Mr.
Pownceby countered and returned--returned with such effect that for half a minute Mr. Pratt was dancing about while Mr. Pownceby was performing on him much in the fashion which the regimental drummer beats to quarters on his drum.
"Time!" he cried.
The round was over. A pause ensued, during which his feelings were plainly too deep for words.
"Have you ever had a whipping before?" he asked.
Mr. Pownceby smiled; it was evident that his smile was a smile of enjoyment at last.
"One or two," he said.
"Like this?"
"Not exactly. In England we don"t, as a rule, indulge in this form of amus.e.m.e.nt in the private sitting-room of an hotel."
"Don"t you? Well, it"s as well. I smelt that a big fight was coming, and it"s come. I"m going to enjoy myself entirely. You"ve closed up one of my eyes, I should say, from the feel of it, for ever. You"ve broken the bridge of my nose; what there"ll be to pay for the blood upon the carpet--there"s a quart gone from me already--is more than I quite care to think. Before I"ve finished whipping you I reckon I"ll be slain."
"Come, Mr. Pratt, don"t you think this foolish business had better cease? If you require an apology I am willing to tender one in any form you like. What pa.s.sed between your wife and myself was simply in the nature of a little scientific experiment."
"It"ll be in the nature of a little scientific experiment what"s going to pa.s.s between us too. I"m fond of experiments as well as you. Time!"
Mr. Pratt fell into position. He struck at Mr. Pownceby. Mr. Pownceby laughed as he warded off the blow.
"Come, Mr. Pratt, why will you persist in this absurdity?"
"I"m going to whip you, sir."
"In that case you really must excuse me for putting on the steam. If a waiter or someone were to come and find me engaged like this, I should never hear the last of it as long as I lived. Here goes!"
It went. He had been warding off Mr. Pratt"s blows while he was speaking. When he ceased the battle really joined. Mr. Pratt"s guards were nowhere. In spite of all that he could do to save himself, his antagonist proceeded to administer severe punishment in thoroughly workmanlike style. The blows rang out upon his head and body. Mr.
Pownceby wound up with one under the chin which lifted him off his feet and laid him on his back. He lay where he fell. The blow had knocked him senseless. Mr. Pownceby proceeded to revive him with the remains of the champagne.
"This," he murmured, opening his eyes and looking up, "is nice."
Mr. Pownceby propped him up upon a chair.
"You compelled me to rush the thing; but I hope I haven"t hurt you much."
"Well," said Mr. Pratt, "you haven"t killed me--quite. I never enjoyed whipping a man so much before. Say, stranger, is this the first little fight you"ve had?"
"I"ve sparred for the amateur championship, and won it twice. I"m going in for it again next week."
"You might have mentioned that before the game began."
"If the inherent absurdity of your proposal could not deter you, I doubt if any information I might have imparted would have been of much avail."
"There"s something in that. Time!"
Mr. Pratt rose from his chair. He stood on his feet--rather doubtfully.
"What do you mean?" asked Mr. Pownceby.
"I"m going on whipping you."
"Look here, Mr. Pratt, each time you stand up I shall simply knock you down again. Of course you can go on with that sort of thing as long as you like."
"That is so; I can. And that"s a sort of thing of which one doesn"t care to get more than enough."
Mr. Pratt rested his hand on the back of a chair. It seemed as though, without some support of that kind, he could not stand. Mr. Pownceby advanced to him.
"Mr. Pratt, give me your hand."
Mr. Pratt gave it to him, it would seem, mechanically. The two men stood looking at each other in silence--the one almost without a scratch, the other a battered ruin. While they were so engaged the latch of the French window was opened from without, the blind was thrust aside, and a lady entered. It was Mrs. Pratt. When she saw what met her eyes she stared, which, as a breach of good manners, was, under the circ.u.mstances, excusable.
"Mr. Pownceby! Gilead! What have you been doing?"
"I"ve been whipping him," said Mr. Pratt. "I must be off my ordinary, for I never whipped a man that way before."
Mr. Pownceby slipped on his jacket. He helped Mr. Pratt to put on his.
"It"s my fault, Mrs. Pratt. When I told your husband of our little experiment and that I found myself unable to release you from the hypnotic state which I had induced he thought I must have done you a serious injury, and that he naturally resented."
Mrs. Pratt looked at Mr. Pownceby. There was a twinkle of intelligence in her sweet blue eyes.
"I see. Miss Haseltine is looking for you. You"ll find her in the drawing-room."
"Thank you," said Mr. Pownceby. "I--I"ll go and look for her."
As he sneaked out of the room, with his shirt and waistcoat under his arm, devoutly hoping that no one might encounter him on his journey to his own apartment, he heard Mrs. Pratt make this remark to her husband--the first after two years absence:
"So, Gilead, you"ve been at it again."
He heard Mr. Pratt reply:
"I have. I was raised fighting, and I reckon that fighting I shall die. If I have to whip that Pownceby again it is a certainty I shall."