ouched the floor
at "ten," he was considered "down," and also "out." The instant his
knee left the floor, he was considered "up," and in that instant it was
Rivera's right to try and put him down again. Rivera took no chances.
The moment that knee left the floor he would strike again. He circled
around, but the referee circled in between, and Rivera knew that the
seconds he counted were very slow. All Gringos were against him, even
the referee.

At "nine" the referee gave Rivera a sharp thrust back. It was unfair,
but it enabled Danny to rise, the smile back on his lips. Doubled partly
over, with arms wrapped about face and abdomen, he cleverly stumbled
into a clinch. By all the rules of the game the referee should have
broken it, but he did not, and Danny clung on like a surf-battered
barnacle and moment by moment recuperated. The last minute of the round
was going fast. If he could live to the end, he would have a full minute
in his corner to revive. And live to the end he did, smiling through all
desperateness and extremity.

"The smile that won't come off!" somebody yelled, and the audience
laughed loudly in its relief.

"The kick that Greaser's got is something God-awful," Danny gasped in
his corner to his adviser while his handlers worked frantically over
him.

The second and third rounds were tame. Danny, a tricky and consummate
ring general, stalled and blocked and held on, devoting himself to
recovering from that dazing first-round blow. In the fourth round he was
himself again. Jarred and shaken, nevertheless his good condition had
enabled him to regain his vigor. But he tried no man-eating tactics.
The Mexican had proved a tartar. Instead, he brought to bear his best
fighting powers. In tricks and skill and experience he was the master,
and though he could land nothing vital, he proceeded scientifically to
chop and wear down his opponent. He landed three blows to Rivera's one,
but they were punishing blows only, and not deadly. It was the sum of
many of them that constituted deadliness. He was respectful of this
two-handed dub with the amazing short-arm kicks in both his fists.

In defense, Rivera developed a disconcerting straight-left. Again
and again, attack after attack he straight-lefted away from him with
accumulated damage to Danny's mouth and nose. But Danny was protean.
That was why he was the coming champion. He could change from style to
style of fighting at will. He now devoted himself to in