the wust o't. Terrible hard you pitched me, to be sure: but your
sweetheart was a-watchin' 'ee--hey?--wi' her blue eyes."

Samuel Badgery sat down on deck, with a leg on either side of the
band-box.

"Iss: she was there, as you say. An' she married me that day month.
How do you know her eyes were blue?"

"Oh, I dunno. Young men takes notice o' these trifles."

"She died last week."

"Indeed? Pore soul!"

"An' she left you this by her will. 'Twas hers to leave, for I gave
it to her, mysel', when that day's wrestlin' was over."

He removed the lid of the band-box and pulled out two parcels wrapped
in a pile of tissue-paper. After removing sheet upon sheet of this
paper he held up two glittering objects in the sunshine. The one was
a silver mug: the other a leather belt with an elaborate silver
buckle.

William Dendle wore a puzzled and somewhat uneasy look.

"I reckon she saw how disapp'inted I was that day," he said. After a
pause he added, "Women brood over such things, I b'lieve: for years,
I'm told. 'Tis their unsearchable natur'."

"William Dendle, I wish you'd speak truth."

"What have I said that's false?"

"Nuthin': an' you've said nuthin' that's true. I charge 'ee to tell
me the facts about that hitch of our'n."

"You're a hard man, Sam Badgery. I hope, though, you've been soft to
your wife. I mind--if you _must_ have the tale--how you played very
rough that day. There was a slim young chap--Nathan Oke, his name
was--that stood up to you i' the second round. He wasn' ha'f your
match: you might ha' pitched en flat-handed. An' yet you must needs
give en the 'flyin' mare.' Your maid's face turned lily-white as he
dropped. Two of his ribs went _cr-rk!_ and his collar-bone--you
could hear it right across the ring. I looked at her--she was close
beside me--an' saw the tears come: that's how I know the colour of
her eyes. Then there was that small blacksmith--you dropped en slap
on the tail of his spine. I wondered if you knew the mortal pain o'
bein' flung that way, an' I swore to mysel' that if we met i' the
last round, you should taste it.

"Well, we met, as you know. When I was stripped, an' the folks made
way for me to step into the ring, I saw her face again. 'Twas whiter
than ever, an' her eyes went over me in a kind o' terror. I reckon
it dawned on her that I might hurt you: but I didn' pay her much heed
at the time, for I lusted after the prize, an' I got savage. You was