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The battle was a long one The tere rolling about in the dust of the alley quite as often as they were upon their feet exchanging blows There was nothing fair, nor decent, nor scientific about their ed and bit and tore They used knees and elbows and feet, and but for the tiers at the psychologicaldefeat As it was the other boy went down, and for a week Billy re the report from the hospital
When word came that the patient would live, Billy felt an immense load lifted from his shoulders, for he dreaded arrest and experience with the law that he had learned from childhood to deride and hate Of course there was the loss of prestige that would naturally have accrued to hiuy that croaked Sheehan"; but there is always a fly in the ointhed and came out of his te, and the result of that mental activity was a determination to learn to handle his mitts scientifically--people of the West Side do not have hands; they are equipped by Nature with mitts and dukes A few have paws and flippers
He had no opportunity to realize his new dreahbor's son surprised his little world by suddenly developing froht
The young , as his escutcheon was defiled with a record of steady e lessons his young neighbor had taken, or of the work he had done at the don gymnasiuht-weight was unknown to the char, Billy knew him fairly well by reason of the proximity of their respective parental back yards, and so when the gla lory
He sawwinter He accolorious occasion occupied a position in the cohter toured, Billy continued to hang around Hil odd jobs, the while he picked up pugilistic lore, and absorbed the spirit of the ga with the rudiments and finer points of its science, aled Once he had longed to shine as a gunhter; but the old gang still saw ure about the saloon corners along Grand Avenue and Lake Street