te it was between each round. If he could only
keep out of harm's way, he must surely wear this man out before the end
of twenty rounds. He was so slow that all his strength went for
nothing.

"You're fightin' a winnin' fight--a winnin' fight," Ted Barton whispered
in his ear. "Go canny; tak' no chances; you have him proper."

But the Master was crafty. He had fought so many battles with his
maimed limb that he knew how to make the best of it. Warily and slowly
he manoeuvred round Montgomery, stepping forward and yet again forward
until he had imperceptibly backed him into his corner. The student
suddenly saw a flash of triumph upon the grim face, and a gleam in the
dull, malignant eyes. The Master was upon him. He sprang aside and was
on the ropes. The Master smashed in one of his terrible upper-cuts, and
Montgomery half broke it with his guard. The student sprang the other
way and was against the other converging rope. He was trapped in the
angle. The Master sent in another with a hoggish grunt which spoke of
the energy behind it. Montgomery ducked, but got a jab from the left
upon the mark. He closed with his man.

"Break away! Break away!" cried the referee. Montgomery disengaged,
and got a swinging blow on the ear as he did so. It had been a damaging
round for him, and the Croxley people were shouting their delight.
"Gentlemen, I will _not_ have this noise!" Stapleton roared. "I have
been accustomed to preside at a well-conducted club, and not at a
bear-garden." This little man, with the tilted hat and the bulging
forehead, dominated the whole assembly. He was like a head-master among
his boys. He glared round him, and nobody cared to meet his eye.
Anastasia had kissed the Master when he resumed his seat.

"Good lass. Do't again!" cried the laughing crowd, and the angry Master
shook his glove at her, as she flapped her towel in front of him.
Montgomery was weary and a little sore, but not depressed. He had
learned something. He would not again be tempted into danger.

For three rounds the honours were fairly equal. The student's hitting
was the quicker, the Master's the harder. Profiting by his lesson,
Montgomery kept himself in the open, and refused to be herded into a
corner. Sometimes the Master succeeded in rushing him to the
side-ropes, but the younger man slipped away, or closed and then
disengaged. The monotonous "Break away! Break away!" of the referee
broke in upon the qui