The prize-fighter had kept pace with the preparations of his formidable antagonist. His own hat, coat, and vest hung suspended upon a bush. He advanced now into the open s.p.a.ce which the other had indicated.
"Ruffianing or fighting?" asked the amateur, coolly.
"Fighting."
"Very good," said the other. "Put up your hands, Spring. Try it out."
They were standing facing one another in a gra.s.sy ring intersected by the path at the outlet of the wood. The insolent and overbearing look had pa.s.sed away from the amateur"s face, but a grim half-smile was on his lips and his eyes shone fiercely from under his tufted brows. From the way in which he stood it was very clear that he was a past-master at the game. Tom Spring, as he paced lightly to right and left, looking for an opening, became suddenly aware that neither with Stringer nor with the redoubtable Painter himself had he ever faced a more business-like opponent. The amateur"s left was well forward, his guard low, his body leaning back from the haunches, and his head well out of danger. Spring tried a light lead at the mark, and another at the face, but in an instant his adversary was on to him with a shower of sledge-hammer blows which it took him all his time to avoid. He sprang back, but there was no getting away from that whirlwind of muscle and bone. A heavy blow beat down his guard, a second landed on his shoulder, and over went the prize-fighter with the other on the top of him. Both sprang to their feet, glared at each other, and fell into position once more.
There could be no doubt that the amateur was not only heavier, but also the harder and stronger man. Twice again he rushed Spring down, once by the weight of his blows, and once by closing and hurling him on to his back. Such falls might have shaken the fight out of a less game man, but to Tom Spring they were but incidents in his daily trade. Though bruised and winded he was always up again in an instant. Blood was trickling from his mouth, but his steadfast blue eyes told of the unshaken spirit within.
He was accustomed now to his opponent"s rushing tactics, and he was ready for them. The fourth round was the same as to attack, but it was very different in defence. Up to now the young man had given way and been fought down. This time he stood his ground. As his opponent rushed in he met him with a tremendous straight hit from his left hand, delivered with the full force of his body, and doubled in effect by the momentum of the charge. So stunning was the concussion that the pugilist himself recoiled from it across the gra.s.sy ring. The amateur staggered back and leaned his shoulder on a tree-trunk, his hand up to his face.
"You"d best drop it," said Spring. "You"ll get pepper if you don"t."
The other gave an inarticulate curse, and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Come on!" said he.
Even now the pugilist found that he had no light task before him. Warned by his misadventure, the heavier man no longer tried to win the battle at a rush, nor to beat down an accomplished boxer as he would a country hawbuck at a village fair. He fought with his head and his feet as well as with his hands. Spring had to admit in his heart that, trained to the ring, this man must have been a match for the best. His guard was strong, his counter was like lightning, he took punishment like a man of iron, and when he could safely close he always brought his lighter antagonist to the ground with a shattering fall. But the one stunning blow which he had courted before he was taught respect for his adversary weighed heavily on him all the time. His senses had lost something of their quickness and his blows of their sting. He was fighting, too, against a man who, of all the boxers who have made their names great, was the safest, the coolest, the least likely to give anything away, or lose an advantage gained. Slowly, gradually, round by round, he was worn down by his cool, quick-stepping, sharp-hitting antagonist. At last he stood exhausted, breathing hoa.r.s.ely, his face, what could be seen of it, purple with his exertions. He had reached the limit of human endurance.
His opponent stood waiting for him, bruised and beaten, but as cool, as ready, as dangerous as ever.
"You"d best drop it, I tell you," said he. "You"re done."
But the other"s manhood would not have it so. With a snarl of fury he cast his science to the winds, and rushed madly to slogging with both hands. For a moment Spring was overborne. Then he side-stepped swiftly; there was the crash of his blow, and the amateur tossed up his arms and fell all asprawl, his great limbs outstretched, his disfigured face to the sky.
For a moment Tom Spring stood looking down at his unconscious opponent.
The next he felt a soft, warm hand upon his bare arm. The woman was at his elbow.
"Now is your time!" she cried, her dark eyes aflame. "Go in! Smash him!"
Spring shook her off with a cry of disgust, but she was back in an instant.
"I"ll make it seventy-five pounds--"
"The fight"s over, ma"am. I can"t touch him."
"A hundred pounds--a clear hundred! I have it here in my bodice. Would you refuse a hundred?"
He turned on his heel. She darted past him and tried to kick at the face of the prostrate man. Spring dragged her roughly away, before she could do him a mischief.
"Stand clear!" he cried, giving her a shake. "You should take shame to hit a fallen man."
With a groan the injured man turned on his side. Then he slowly sat up and pa.s.sed his wet hand over his face. Finally, he staggered to his feet.
"Well," he said, shrugging his broad shoulders, "it was a fair fight.
I"ve no complaint to make. I was Jackson"s favourite pupil, but I give you best." Suddenly his eyes lit upon the furious face of the woman.
"Hulloa, Betty!" he cried. "So I have you to thank. I might have guessed it when I had your letter."
"Yes, my lord," said she, with a mock curtsey. "You have me to thank.
Your little wife managed it all. I lay behind those bushes, and I saw you beaten like a hound. You haven"t had all that I had planned for you, but I think it will be some little time before any woman loves you for the sake of your appearance. Do you remember the words, my lord? Do you remember the words?"
He stood stunned for a moment. Then he s.n.a.t.c.hed his whip from the ground, and looked at her from under his heavy brows.
"I believe you"re the devil!" he cried.
"I wonder what the governess will think?" said she.
He flared into furious rage and rushed at her with his whip. Tom Spring threw himself before him with his arms out.
"It won"t do, sir; I can"t stand by."
The man glared at his wife over the prize-fighter"s shoulder.
"So it"s for dear George"s sake!" he said, with a bitter laugh. "But poor, broken-nosed George seems to have gone to the wall. Taken up with a prize-fighter, eh? Found a fancy man for yourself!"
"You liar!" she gasped.
"Ha, my lady, that stings your pride, does it? Well, you shall stand together in the dock for trespa.s.s and a.s.sault. What a picture--great Lord, what a picture!"
"You wouldn"t, John!"
"Wouldn"t I, by--! you stay there three minutes and see if I wouldn"t."
He seized his clothes from the bush, and staggered off as swiftly as he could across the field, blowing a whistle as he ran.
"Quick! quick!" cried the woman. "There"s not an instant to lose." Her face was livid, and she was shivering and panting with apprehension.
"He"ll raise the country. It would be awful--awful!"
She ran swiftly down the tortuous path, Spring following after her and dressing as he went. In a field to the right a gamekeeper, his gun in his hand, was hurrying towards the whistling. Two labourers, loading hay, had stopped their work and were looking about them, their pitchforks in their hands.
But the path was empty, and the phaeton awaited them, the horse cropping the gra.s.s by the lane-side, the driver half asleep on his perch. The woman sprang swiftly in and motioned Spring to stand by the wheel.
"There is your fifty pounds," she said, handing him a paper. "You were a fool not to turn it into a hundred when you had the chance. I"ve done with you now."
"But where am I to go?" asked the prize-fighter, gazing around him at the winding lanes.
"To the devil!" said she. "Drive on, Johnson!"
The phaeton whirled down the road and vanished round a curve. Tom Spring was alone.
Everywhere over the countryside he heard shoutings and whistlings. It was clear that so long as she escaped the indignity of sharing his fate his employer was perfectly indifferent as to whether he got into trouble or not. Tom Spring began to feel indifferent himself. He was weary to death, his head was aching from the blows and falls which he had received, and his feelings were raw from the treatment which he had undergone. He walked slowly some few yards down the lane, but had no idea which way to turn to reach Tunbridge Wells. In the distance he heard the baying of dogs, and he guessed that they were being set upon his track. In that case he could not hope to escape them, and might just as well await them where he was. He picked out a heavy stake from the hedge, and he sat down moodily waiting, in a very dangerous temper, for what might befall him.
But it was a friend and not a foe who came first into sight. Round the corner of the lane flew a small dog-cart, with a fast-trotting chestnut cob between the shafts. In it was seated the rubicund landlord of the Royal Oak, his whip going, his face continually flying round to glance behind him.
"Jump in, Mr. Spring jump in!" he cried, as he reined up. "They"re all coming, dogs and men! Come on! Now, hud up, Ginger!" Not another word did he say until two miles of lanes had been left behind them at racing speed and they were back in safety upon the Brighton road. Then he let the reins hang loose on the pony"s back, and he slapped Tom Spring with his fat hand upon the shoulder.
"Splendid!" he cried, his great red face shining with ecstasy. "Oh, Lord! but it was beautiful!"