If the gentleman will come in there with me I will have a
look at him."

Mark expressed his willingness to be looked at, and the man having gone
and got the key of the room from Ingleston, went in with them and locked
the door behind.

"Now, sir, if you will strip to the waist I shall be better able to say
who you should have as your teacher than I can now."

Mark stripped, and the man walked round and round him, examining him
critically.

"He's a big 'un," he said to Dick when he had completed his examination.
"He has got plenty of muscle and frame, and ought to be a tremendous
hitter; he is about the figure of Gibbons, and if he goes in for it
really, ought to make well nigh as good a man, if not quite. I don't
think Bill would care about taking him up till he knows a bit about it.
I tell you what, sir; you will be too big altogether for me by the time
you get to be quick on your legs, and to use your strength, but if you
like I will take you on for a month or so--say, two months; by that time
I think you will be good enough to go to Gibbons. I will just call him
in if you don't mind; he came in just before you."

In a couple of minutes he came in with a man of similar height and
somewhat similar figure to Mark.

"This is Gibbons, sir, ex-champion, and like enough he might be champion
now if he chose; as fine a boxer as ever stripped, but he is ring maker
now to the P. C. and it suits him better to do that and to teach, than
to have a chance of getting a battle once a year or so."

"Have you a great many pupils, Gibbons?"

The man shook his head.

"I am too big, sir; gentlemen like to learn from someone about their
own weight, or perhaps a bit lighter, and there are not many of them
who would care to stand up against a man who has been champion, and so I
have plenty of time on my hands. I am a hard hitter, too, even with the
gloves; that is one reason why Jack had best take you on until you get
a little handy with your fists. I do more in the dog fancier line than
I do with boxing, but there is nothing I like better than getting the
gloves on with an amateur who is likely to be a credit to me. That is my
card, sir; you will find me in pretty nearly any time of the day, and
I have got a place behind the house where I do teaching when I get
a chance. It is handy in one way, because you can drop in and take a
lesson any time you like."

"That would suit me exceedingly well," Mark said; "and when I have had a