live this wild storm through. Again Holliday got him in a corner.
Holliday's bull-strength was not believable. Again he got him just above
the belt. And he couldn't help it this time--this time he had to do it.
He dropped a little his guard. And then it happened. It struck him
then. The roof came down!

[Illustration: "Come on, now--'fess up?"]

As he lay head on the arm curled under him he knew it must have been the
roof. By nothing else could he have been so smitten. The roof must have
fallen, though the faces around him were still tossing and swaying,
though the referee stood counting above him, though there was no
wreckage. And the clarity of his mind astonished and pleased him. A
brick roof--sure! A brick roof! That was unusual, very unusual. But it
had to be that. It was a brick without a doubt which had struck him.

He knew the house was roaring--was sure of it--and yet he couldn't hear
them at all. And that was strange, because he could hear the referee; he
could hear Jack English. Jack was pleading--good old Jack!--begging him
to get up. Apparently Jack didn't know that the roof had come down and
stopped the fight. But the referee? Would he toll on endlessly before
he noticed it? He should know; he'd been close at hand when it happened.
He felt a warm emotion, a sense of comradeship, for the referee. He'd
surely been square; he'd made Holliday break clean. He felt an impulse
to joke with the referee, to banter him, and bid him count a million if
he wanted to.

And then another thought. How easily he was thinking! With what
precision! Yellow! They might think him yellow, even if the roof had
fallen, if he didn't get up. They might think--At that he rolled over
and discovered that there were miles of bodiless space between his head
and his feet. It made the latter hard to handle, but he managed it
doggedly. He climbed to his knees and wavered erect. And on the stroke
of ten Holliday smashed him down again.

Yellow? Well, he'd get right up this time. He started to; he even
staggered after Holliday who now appeared to be the one who wouldn't
stand and fight, when he felt English dragging him back. Even English
was against him. Holding his arms! Bound he'd lose! He lashed out at
English; and then, like a distant echo, he remembered the sound of a bell.

He let them put him upon his stool and stretch him out. Let them work
over him frantically. The brick from the roof appar