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Page 40
'That's 'im, Bill!' cried eager voices, indicating Mike.
''E's the bloke wot 'it yer, Bill,' said others, more precise in
detail.
Bill advanced on Mike in a sidelong, crab-like manner.
''Oo're you, I should like to know?' said Bill.
Mike, rightly holding that this was merely a rhetorical question and
that Bill had no real thirst for information as to his family history,
made no reply. Or, rather, the reply he made was not verbal. He waited
till his questioner was within range, and then hit him in the eye. A
reply far more satisfactory, if not to Bill himself, at any rate to the
interested onlookers, than any flow of words.
A contented sigh went up from the crowd. Their Sunday afternoon was
going to be spent just as they considered Sunday afternoons should be
spent.
'Give us your coat,' said Psmith briskly, 'and try and get it over
quick. Don't go in for any fancy sparring. Switch it on, all you know,
from the start. I'll keep a thoughtful eye open to see that none of his
friends and relations join in.'
Outwardly Psmith was unruffled, but inwardly he was not feeling so
composed. An ordinary turn-up before an impartial crowd which could be
relied upon to preserve the etiquette of these matters was one thing.
As regards the actual little dispute with the cloth-capped Bill, he
felt that he could rely on Mike to handle it satisfactorily. But there
was no knowing how long the crowd would be content to remain mere
spectators. There was no doubt which way its sympathies lay. Bill, now
stripped of his coat and sketching out in a hoarse voice a scenario of
what he intended to do--knocking Mike down and stamping him into the
mud was one of the milder feats he promised to perform for the
entertainment of an indulgent audience--was plainly the popular
favourite.
Psmith, though he did not show it, was more than a little apprehensive.
Mike, having more to occupy his mind in the immediate present, was not
anxious concerning the future. He had the great advantage over Psmith
of having lost his temper. Psmith could look on the situation as a
whole, and count the risks and possibilities. Mike could only see Bill
shuffling towards him with his head down and shoulders bunched.
'Gow it, Bill!' said someone.
'Pliy up, the Arsenal!' urged a voice on the outskirts of the crowd.
A chorus of encouragement from kind friends in front: 'Step up, Bill!'
And Bill stepped.
16. Further Developments
Bill (surname unknown) was not one of your ultra-scientific fighters.
He did not favour the American crouch and the artistic feint. He had a
style wholly his own. It seemed to have been modelled partly on a
tortoise and partly on a windmill. His head he appeared to be trying to
conceal between his shoulders, and he whirled his arms alternately in
circular sweeps.
Mike, on the other hand, stood upright and hit straight, with the
result that he hurt his knuckles very much on his opponent's skull,
without seeming to disturb the latter to any great extent. In the
process he received one of the windmill swings on the left ear. The
crowd, strong pro-Billites, raised a cheer.
This maddened Mike. He assumed the offensive. Bill, satisfied for the
moment with his success, had stepped back, and was indulging in some
fancy sparring, when Mike sprang upon him like a panther. They
clinched, and Mike, who had got the under grip, hurled Bill forcibly
against a stout man who looked like a publican. The two fell in a heap,
Bill underneath.
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