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肩書を与える: The 強打者's Game
Author: Robert E. Howard
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Language: English
Date first 地位，任命するd:  Dec 2006
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The 強打者's Game

by

Robert E. Howard

A STEVE COSTIGAN STORY

First published in Jack Dempsey's Fight Magazine, May 1934

I WAS brooding over my rotten luck in the 甘い Dreams 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 on the Hong Kong waterfront, when in come that 白人指導者べったりの東洋人 peel on the steps of 進歩, Smoky Jones. I ain't got no use for Smoky, and he likes me just about as much. But he is 幅の広い-minded, as he quickly showed.

"Quick!" quoth he. "Lemme have fifty bucks, Steve."

"Why shouldst I 貸付金 you fifty smackers?" I 需要・要求するd.

"I got a sure-解雇する／砲火／射撃 tip," he yipped, jumping up and 負かす／撃墜する with impatience. "A hundred-to-one 発射 which can't lose! You'll get 支援する your dough tomorrer. C'mon, kick in."

"If I had fifty bucks," I returned 激しく, "do you think I'd be wasting my time in a port which don't 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる no fistic talent?"

"What?" hollered Smoky. "No fifty bucks? After all I've did for you?"

"井戸／弁護士席, I can't help it if these dopey promoters won't gimme a fight, can I?" I said ひどく. "Fifty bucks! Fifty bucks would get me to Singapore, where I can always talk myself into a 捨てる. I'm stuck here with my white bulldog, マイク, and can't even get a ship to 調印する on. If I don't scram away from here soon, I'll be on the beach, and you 需要・要求するs fifty bucks!"

A number of men at the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 was listening to our altercation with 広大な／多数の／重要な 利益／興味, and one of 'em, a big, 堅い-looking guy, 破産した／（警察が）手入れする into a loud guffaw, and said: "Blimey! If the 正規の／正選手 promoters turn you 負かす／撃墜する, mate, why don't you try Li Yun?"

"What d'you mean?" I 需要・要求するd suspiciously.

All the others was grinning like jassacks eating prickly pears.

"井戸／弁護士席," he said, with a 幅の広い smirk, "Li Yun runs a small menagerie to cover his real 商売／仕事 which is 行う／開催する／段階ing animal fights, like mongooses and cobras, and 炭坑，オーケストラ席-terriers, and game-cocks. He's got a big gorilla he せねばならない 調印する you up with. I'd like to see the 血まみれの brawl myself; with that pan of yours, it'd be like twin brothers fighting."

"Lissen here, you," I said, rising in righteous wrath—I never did like a limey much anyhow—"I may have a 襲う，襲って強奪する like a gorilla, but I figger your'n could be 改善するd some—like this!"

And so 説, I rammed my 権利 握りこぶし as far as it would go into his mouth. He reeled and come 支援する bellowing like a 台風. We 貿易（する）d some lusty swats and then clinched and went 長，率いる-long into the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業, which 後援d at our 衝撃, and the swinging lamp fell 負かす／撃墜する from the 天井. It 破産した／（警察が）手入れするd on the 床に打ち倒す, and you should of heard them fellers holler when the 燃やすing ile splashed 負かす／撃墜する their necks. Everything was dark in there, and some was 緊急発進するing out of winders and doors, and some was stomping out the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, and somehow me and my 対抗者 got tore loose from each other in the 急ぐ.

My 注目する，もくろむs was 十分な of smoke, but as I groped around I felt a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する-脚 ちらりと見ること off my 長，率いる, so I made a 得る，とらえる and got 持つ／拘留する of a human torso. So I throwed him and fell on him and begun to maul him. I musta 軟化するd him かなりの already, I thought, because he felt a lot flabbier than he done before, and he was hollering a lot louder. Then somebody struck a light, and I 設立する I was 大打撃を与えるing the fat Dutch bartender. The limey was gone, and somebody hollered the 警官，（賞などを）獲得するs was coming. So I riz and fled out the 支援する way in disgust. That limey had had the last lick, and it's a p'int of 栄誉（を受ける） with me to have the last lick myself. I 追跡（する）d him for half a hour, 目的（とする）ing to learn him to 攻撃する，衝突する a man with a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する-脚 and then run, but I didn't find him.

井戸／弁護士席, my 着せる／賦与するs was singed and tore, so I 長，率いるd for my 搭乗-house, the Seamen's Delight, which was 負かす／撃墜する on the waterfront and run by a fat half-caste. He was lying in the hall dead-drunk as usual, and I was glad because when he was sober he was all the time bellyaching about my board 法案. Didn't seem to be nobody else in the house.

I went upstairs to my room and opened the door, calling マイク. But マイク didn't come, and I smelt a peculiar smell in the 空気／公表する. I smelt that same smell once when some crimps tried to shanghai me. And the room was empty. My bed was still warm where マイク had been curled up on it, sleeping, but he was gone. I started to go outside and call him, when I seen a 公式文書，認める stuck to the 塀で囲む. I read it and turned 冷淡な all over.

It said:

If you want to ever see yure dog agane leeve fiftey dolers in the tin can outside the alley dore of the Bristol 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 at the stroak of leven-thirty tonight. Put the money in the can and go 支援する in the sloon and cloase the dore. Count a hunderd and then you will find yure dog in the 同盟（する）.

—A Man What Meens Bizziness.

I run downstairs and shook the landlord and hollered: "Who's been here since I been gone?"

But all he done was grunt and mutter: "Fill 'er up again, Joe!"

I give him a hearty kick in the pants and run out on the street, plumb distracted. Me and マイク has kicked around together for years; he's saved my worthless life a dozen times. マイク is about the only difference between me and a bum. I don't give a cuss what people think about me, but I always try to 行為／行う myself so my dog won't be ashamed of me. And now some dirty 襲う，襲って強奪する had stole him and I hadn't no dough to buy him 支援する.

I sot 負かす／撃墜する on the 抑制（する） and held my throbbing 長，率いる and tried to think, but the more I thought, the more mixed up things got. When I'm up against something I can't maul with my 握りこぶしs, I'm plumb off my course and no chart to steer by. Finally I riz up and sot out at a run for the 静かな Hour 円形競技場. They was a fight card on that night, and though I'd already tried to get 調印するd up and been turned 負かす／撃墜する by the promoter, in my desperation I thought I'd try again. I ーするつもりであるd 控訴，上告ing to his better nature, if he had one.

From the noise which 問題／発行するd from the building as I approached, I knowed the fights had already started, and my heart sunk, but I didn't know nothing else to try. The 支援する door was locked, but I give it a 肉親，親類d of 強く引っ張る and it come off the hinges and I went in.

They was nobody in sight in the narrer hallway running between the dressing-rooms, but as I run up the hall, a door opened and a big man come out in a bathrobe, follered by a feller with towels and buckets. The big man ripped out a 誓い and throwed out his arm to stop me. It was the limey I'd fit in the 甘い Dreams 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業.

"So that （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する-脚 didn't do the 商売／仕事, eh?" he 問い合わせd nastily. "Looking for another dose of the same, are you?"

"I got no time to fight you now," I muttered, trying to （人が）群がる past him. "I'm lookin' for Bisly, the promoter."

"What you shaking about?" he sneered, and I seen he had his 手渡すs taped. "Why are you so pale and sweating? 脅すd of me, eh? 井戸／弁護士席, I'm 予定 up in that （犯罪の）一味 権利 now, but first I'm going to polish you off, you Yankee swine!" And with that he give me a open-手渡すd swipe across the 直面する.

I dunno when anybody ever dared 非難する me. For a second everything floated in a crimson 煙霧. I dunno what 肉親，親類d of a lick I 手渡すd that Limey ape. I don't even remember hitting him. But I must of, because when I could see again, there he was on the 床に打ち倒す, with his jaw 分裂（する） open from the corner of his mouth to the 縁 of his chin, and his 長，率いる gashed where it 攻撃する，衝突する the door jamb.

The handler was trying to hide under a （法廷の）裁判, and somebody else was hollering like he had a knife stuck in him. It was the promoter of the 共同の, and he was jumping up and 負かす／撃墜する like a cat on a red-hot hatch.

"What 'ave you done?" he squalled. "Oh, blimey, what 'ave you done? A packed 'ouse 'owlin' for h'活動／戦闘, and one of the 主要な／長／主犯s wyting in the bleedin' （犯罪の）一味—and 'ere you've lyed out the other! Oh, my 'at! What a 血まみれの go!"

"You mean this here scut was goin' to fight in the main event?" I asked stupidly, because my 長，率いる was still going around.

"What else?" he howled. "Ow, 殺人! What am I to do?"

"井戸／弁護士席, you limeys certainly stick together," I said. And then a 広大な light dazzled me. I gasped with the 軍隊 of the idea which had just 攻撃する，衝突する me, so to speak. I laid 持つ／拘留する on Bisly so 強制的に he squealed, thinking I was attacking him.

"How much you payin' this ネズミ?" I 需要・要求するd, shaking him in my 緊急.

"Fifty dollars, 勝利者 tyke all!" he moaned.

"Then I'm your man!" I roared, 解放（する）ing him so vi'lently he sprawled his 十分な length on the 床に打ち倒す. "You been refusin' to let me fight in your lousy club account of your prejudice against Americans, but this time you ain't got no choice! That 暴徒 out there craves 血の塊／突き刺す, and if they don't see some, they'll 涙／ほころび 負かす／撃墜する your 共同の! Lissen at 'em!"

He done so, and shuddered at the ferocious yells with which the house was vibrating. The （人が）群がる was tired of waiting and was 需要・要求するing 活動／戦闘 in the same トン them old Roman （人が）群がるs used when they yelped for another （製品，工事材料の）一回分 of gladiators to be 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd to the lions.

"You want to go out there and tell 'em the main event's called off?" I 需要・要求するd.

"No! No!" he said あわてて, mopping his brow with a 不安定な 手渡す. "Have you got togs and a handler?"

"I'll get 'em," I answered. "Hop out there and tell them 襲う，襲って強奪するs that the main event will go on in a minute!"

So he went out like a man going to keep a date with the hangman, and I turned to the feller which was still trying to wedge hisself under the （法廷の）裁判—a dumb cluck 雇うd by the club to scrub 床に打ち倒すs and second 闘士，戦闘機s which didn't have 非，不，無 theirselves. I 手渡すd him a hearty kick in the 後部, and 厳しく requested, "Come out here and help me with this stiff!"

He done so in 恐れる and trembling, and we packed the limey battler into his dressing-room, and laid him on a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. He was beginning to show some faint 調印するs of life. I took off his bathrobe and togs and clamb into 'em myself, whilst the handler watched me in a 肉親，親類d of pallid silence.

"選ぶ up them buckets and towels," I 命令（する）d. "I don't like your looks, but you'll have to do. Any handler is better'n 非，不，無—and the best is 非，不，無 too good. Come on!"

Follered の近くに by him, I hurried into the arener to be 迎える／歓迎するd by a ferocious uproar as I come swinging 負かす／撃墜する the aisle. Bisly was 演説（する）／住所ing 'em, and I caught the tag-end of his 発言／述べるs which went as follows: "—and so, if you gents will be pytient, Battler Pembroke will be ready for the go in a moment—in fact, 'ere 'e comes now!"

And so 説, Bisly skipped 負かす／撃墜する out of the （犯罪の）一味 and disappeared. He hadn't had 神経 enough to tell 'em that a substitution had been made. They ちらりと見ることd at me, and then they glared, with their mouths open, and then, just as I reached the （犯罪の）一味, a big stoker jumped and roared: "You ain't Battler Pembroke! At him, mates—!"

I clouted him on the button and he done a nose-dive over the first 列／漕ぐ／騒動 ringside. I then 直面するd the snarling （人が）群がる, 拡大するing my 抱擁する chest and glaring at 'em from under my 乱打するd brows, and I roared: "Anybody else thinks I ain't Battler Pembroke?"

They started 殺到するing に向かって me, growling low in their throats, but they ちらりと見ることd at my 犠牲者 and 停止（させる）d suddenly, and （人が）群がるd 支援する from me. With a snort of contempt, I turned and clamb into the （犯罪の）一味. My handler clumb after me and 開始するd to massage my 脚s 肉親，親類d of dumb-like. He was one of these here 次第に損なう-長，率いるs, and things was happening too 急速な／放蕩な for him to keep up with 'em.

"What time is it?" I 需要・要求するd, and he pulled out his watch, looked at it carefully, and said, "Five minutes after ten."

"I got 井戸／弁護士席 over a hour," I muttered, and ちらりと見ることd at my 対抗者 in the oppersite corner. I knowed he must be popular, from the size of the purse; most performers at the 静かな Hour got only ten bucks apiece, 勝利，勝つ, lose or draw, and 一般に had to lick the promoter to get that. He was 井戸／弁護士席 built, but pallid all over, with about as much 表現 as a fish. They was something familiar about him, but I couldn't place him.

The （人が）群がる was muttering and growling, but the announcer was a stolid mutt which didn't have sense enough to be afraid of anybody, even the 顧客s which たびたび（訪れる）s the 静かな Hour. To save time, he 発表するd whilst the 審判（をする） was giving the usual 指示／教授／教育s, and said he: "In that corner, Sailor Costigan, 負わせる—"

"Where's Pembroke?" bellered the （人が）群がる. "That ain't Pembroke! That's a 血まみれの Yankee, the low-lifed son of a canine!"

"にもかかわらず," said the announcer, without blinking, "he 重さを計るs one-ninety; and the other blighter is 削除する Jackson, of Cardiff; 負わせる, one-eighty-nine."

The maddened 暴徒 frothed and 開始するd throwing things, but then the gong clanged and they 静めるd 負かす／撃墜する reluctantly to watch the show, like a fight （人が）群がる will. After all, what they want is a fight.

At the whang of the gong I tore out of my corner with the earnest ambition of finishing that fight with the first punch, if possible. It was my 意向 to lay my 権利 on his jaw, and I made no secret of it. I 軽蔑（する）s deception. If he'd ducked a 分裂（する） second slower, the 捨てる would of ended 権利 there.

But I didn't pause to meditate. I sent my left after my 権利, and he grunted poignantly as it sunk under his heart. Then his 権利 flicked up at my jaw, and from the way it 削減（する） the 空気／公表する as it whistled past, I knowed it was 負担d with dynamite. Giving him no time to get 始める，決める, I slugged him 支援する across the （犯罪の）一味 and into the ropes on the other 味方する. The （人が）群がる 叫び声をあげるd blue 殺人, but I wasn't 傷つけるing him as much as they thought, or as much as I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to. He was clever at rolling with a punch, and he was all 肘s. Nor he wasn't too careful where he put 'em, neither. He put one in my stummick and t'other'n in my 注目する，もくろむ, which occasioned some bitter profanity on my part. He also stomped heartily on my insteps.

Little things like them is ignored in the 静かな Hour; the audience 単に considers 'em the spice of the sport, and the 審判（をする） is above noticing 'em.

But I was irritated, and in my 切望 to break Jackson's neck with a swinging overhand punch, I exposed myself to his 権利, which licked out again like the flipper of a 調印（する）. I just barely managed to duck it, and it ripped the 肌 off my chin as it grazed me. And as I stabbed him off balance with a straight left to the mouth, that peculiar lick of his 始める，決める me to wondering again, because it reminded me of something, I couldn't remember what.

He now brung his left into play with flashy jabs and snappy hooks, but it didn't pack the 力／強力にする his 権利 did, and all he done was to 削減（する） my lips a little. He kept his 権利 cocked, but I was watching it, and when he 発射 it again I went inside it and 乱打するd away at his midriff with both 手渡すs. He was steel springs and 鯨-bone under his white 肌, but he didn't like 'em 負かす／撃墜する below. He was 支援 and breaking ground when the gong ended the 一連の会議、交渉／完成する.

I sunk の上に my stool in time to receive a swipe across the 注目する，もくろむs with the towel my handler was trying to fan me with, and whilst I was shaking the 星／主役にするs out of my 見通し, he emptied a whole bucket of ice water over my 長，率いる. This was wholly unnecessary, as I p'inted out to him with 解放する／自由な and 熱烈な language, but he had a one-跡をつける mind. He'd probably seen a 闘士，戦闘機 浴びせる／消すd thusly, and thought it had to be did, whether the 闘士，戦闘機 needed it or not.

I was still remonstrating with him 関心ing his dumbness when the bell rung, and as a result, Jackson, who 発射 out of his corner like a catapult, caught me before I could get into the 中心 of the （犯罪の）一味, 狙撃 his left and throwing his 権利 after it. Zip! It come through the 空気／公表する like a 大打撃を与える on a steel spring!

I 味方する-stepped and ripped my left to his midriff. He gasped and staggered, and I 始める，決める myself like a flash and throwed my 権利 at his 長，率いる with all my beef behind it. But I'd forgot I was standing where the canvas was soaked with the water my dumb handler had 注ぐd over me. My foot slipped on a sliver of ice just as I let go my swing, and before I could 回復する myself, that T.N.T. 権利 licked out, and this time it didn't 行方不明になる.

Jerusha! It wasn't like 存在 攻撃する，衝突する by a human 存在. I felt like a 解雇する／砲火／射撃-作品 factory hadst 爆発するd in my skull. I seen 惑星s and meteors and sky-ロケット／急騰するs, and somebody was trying to count the 星／主役にするs as they flew past. Then things （疑いを）晴らすd a little bit, and I realized it was the 審判（をする） which was counting, and he was counting over me.

I was on my belly in the resin, and bells seemed to be （犯罪の）一味ing all over the house. I could'st hardly hear the 審判（をする） for 'em, but he said "Nine!" so I riz. That's a habit of 地雷. I make a specialty of getting up. I have got up off the 床に打ち倒す of （犯罪の）一味s from Galveston to Shanghai.

My 脚s wasn't 正確に／まさに 権利—one had a 傾向 to steer south by west, while the other'n 手配中の，お尋ね者 to go 予定 east—and I had a dizzy idee that a 台風 was 激怒（する）ing outside. I coulds't hear the waters rising and the 勝利，勝つd roaring, but realized that it was my own ears （犯罪の）一味ing after that awful clout.

Jackson was on me like a 追跡（する）ing panther, just about as light and 平易な. He was too anxious to use his 権利 again. He thought I was out on my feet and all he had to do was to 攻撃する，衝突する me. Any old-timer could of told him that 主要な to me with his 権利, whether I was groggy or not, was 侵害する／違反するing a 支配する of safety which is already becoming a （犯罪の）一味 tradition.

He 簡単に cocked his 権利 and let it go, and I （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 it with a left hook to the 団体／死体. He turned kinda green in the 直面する, like anybody is liable to which has just had a アイロンをかける 握りこぶし sunk several インチs into their belly. And before he could strike again, I fell into him and hugged him like a grizzly.

I knowed him now! They wasn't but one man in the world with a 権利-手渡す clout like that—Torpedo Willoughby, the Cardiff 殺害者. Whiskey and women kept him from 存在 a champ, and kept him broke so much he often 成し遂げるd in 捨てるs like the 静かな Hour under a assumed 指名する, but he was a mankiller, the worst England ever produced.

I shook the 血 and sweat outa my 注目する，もくろむs, and took my time about coming out of that clinch, and when the 審判（をする） finally broke us, I was ready. Willoughby come slugging in, and I crouched and covered up, weaving always to his left, and hooking my left to his ribs and belly. My left carried more dynamite than his left did, and I didn't leave no 開始s for that 爆破ing 権利. I didn't tin-can; I dunno how and wouldn't if I could. But I retired into my 爆撃する whilst 続けざまに猛撃するing his 中央の-section, and he got madder and madder, and flailed away with that 権利 fiercer than ever. But it was ちらりと見ることing off my 武器 and the 最高の，を越す of my 長，率いる, and my left was digging into his guts deeper and deeper. It ain't a みごたえのある way of 戦う／戦いing, but it gets results in the long run.

I was purty 井戸／弁護士席 満足させるd at the end of that 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. Fighting like I was didn't give Willoughby no chance to 爆破 me, and 結局 he was going to 弱める under my 団体／死体-乱打するing. It might take five or six 一連の会議、交渉／完成するs, but the 一区切り／（ボクシングなどの）試合 was scheduled for fifteen でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるs, and I had plenty of time.

But that don't mean I was happy as I sot in my corner whilst my handler squirted lemon juice in my 注目する，もくろむ, trying to moisten my lips, and give me a long, refreshing drink of iodine in his brainless 成果／努力s to daub a 削減（する） on my chin. I was thinking of マイク, and a 冷気／寒がらせる trickled 負かす／撃墜する my spine as I wondered what them devils which stole him wouldst do to him if the money wasn't in the tin can at 正確に／まさに eleven-thirty.

"What time is it?" I 需要・要求するd, and my handler 運ぶ／漁獲高d out his watch and said, "Five minutes after ten."

"That's what you said before!" I howled in exasperation. "Gimme that can!"

I grabbed it and glared, and then I shook it. It wasn't running. It didn't even sound like they was any 作品 inside of it. Stricken by a premonishun, I yelled to the 審判（をする）, "What time is it?"

He ちらりと見ることd at his watch. "Seconds out!" he said, and then: "Fifteen minutes after eleven!"

Fifteen minutes to go! 冷淡な sweat 破産した／（警察が）手入れする out all over me, and I jumped up offa my stool so suddenly my handler fell backwards through the ropes. Fifteen minutes! I couldn't take no five or six 一連の会議、交渉／完成するs to lick Willoughby! I had to do it in this 一連の会議、交渉／完成する if winning was going to do me any good.

I throwed all my 計画（する）s to the 勝利，勝つd. I was trembling in every 四肢 and glaring across at Willoughby, and when he met the glare in my 注目する，もくろむs he 強化するd and his muscles 緊張したd. He sensed the change in me, though he couldn't know why; he knowed the 戦う／戦い was to be to the death.

The gong whanged and I tore out of my corner like a 台風, to kill or be killed. I'm always a 闘士，戦闘機 of the アイロンをかける-man type. When I'm 神経d up like I was then, the man ain't born which can stop me. There wasn't no 計画（する） or 陰謀（を企てる） or science about that 一連の会議、交渉／完成する—it was just raw, naked, 原始の manhood, sweat and 血 and 握りこぶしs flailing like mallets without a second's let-up.

I tore in, swinging like a madman, and in a second Willoughby was fighting for his life. The 血 spattered and the （人が）群がる roared and things got 薄暗い and red, and all I seen was the white figger in 前線 of me, and all I knowed was to 攻撃する，衝突する and 攻撃する，衝突する and keep hitting till the world ended.

I dunno how many times I was on the canvas.

Every time he landed solid with that awful 権利 I went 負かす／撃墜する like a butchered ox. But every time I come up again and tore into him more furious than ever. I was crazy with 恐れる, like a man in a nightmare, thinking of マイク and the minutes that was slipping past.

His 権利 was the concentrated essence of hell. Every time it 設立する my jaw I felt like my skull was 洞穴d in and every vertebrae of my spine was dislocated. But I'm used to them sensations. They're part of the 強打者's game. Let these here classy dancing-masters やめる when their bones begins to melt like wax, and their brains feels like they was 存在 揺さぶるd loose from their skull. A 強打者 lowers his 長，率いる and wades in again. That's his game. His ribs may be 後援d in on his 決定的なs, and his guts may be mashed outa place, and his ears may be streaming 血 from veins 破産した／（警察が）手入れするd inside his skull, but them things don't 事柄; the important thing is winning.

No white man ever 攻撃する，衝突する me harder'n Torpedo Willoughby 攻撃する，衝突する me, but I was 上陸 too, and every time I sunk a mauler under his heart or 粉砕するd one against his 寺, I seen him wilt. If he could of took it like he 手渡すd it out, he'd been champeen. But at last I seen his pale 直面する before me with his lips open wide as he gulped for 空気／公表する, and I knowed I had him, though I was hanging to the ropes and the （人が）群がる was yelling for the kill. They couldn't see the muscles in his calves quivering, nor his belly heaving, nor the glaze in his 注目する，もくろむs. They couldn't understand that he'd 大打撃を与えるd me till his shoulder muscles was dead and his gloves was like they was 負わせるd with lead, and the heart was gone out of him. All they couldst see was me, 乱打するd and 血まみれの, 粘着するing to the ropes, and him cocking his 権利 for the finisher.

It come over, slow and ponderous, and ちらりと見ることd from my shoulder as I lurched off the ropes. And my own 権利 粉砕するd like a caulking mallet against his jaw, and 負かす／撃墜する he went, 直面する-first in the resin.

When they 落ちる like that, they don't get up. I didn't even wait to hear the 審判（をする） count him out. I run across the （犯罪の）一味, getting stronger at every step, tore off my gloves and held out my 手渡す for my bathrobe. My gaping handler put the sponge in it.

I throwed it in his 直面する with a roar of irritation, and he fell outa the （犯罪の）一味 headfirst into a water bucket, which put the （人が）群がる in such a rare good humor that they even 元気づけるd as I run 負かす／撃墜する the aisle, and not over a dozen empty beer 瓶／封じ込めるs was throwed at me.

Bisly was waiting in the 回廊（地帯）, and I grabbed the fifty bucks outa his 手渡す as I went by on the run. He follered me into the dressing-room and 申し込む／申し出d to help me put on my 着せる／賦与するs, but knowing he hoped to steal my wad whilst helping me, I throwed him out bodily, jerked on my street 着せる／賦与するs, and sallied 前へ／外へ at 最高の，を越す 速度(を上げる）.

The Bristol 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 was a low-class dive 負かす／撃墜する on the 辛勝する／優位 of the native ４半期/4分の1s. It took me maybe five minutes to get there, and a clock behind the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 showed me that it 欠如（する）d about a minute and a fraction of eleven-thirty.

"Tony," I panted to the bartender, who gaped at my bruised and 血まみれの 直面する, "I want the 支援する room to myself. See that nobody 乱すs me."

I run to the 支援する door and throwed it open. It was dark in the alley, but I seen a empty タバコ tin setting の近くに to the door. I quickly wadded the money into it, stepped into the room and shut the door. I reckon somebody was hiding in the alley watching, because as soon as I shut the door, I heard a stirring around out there. I didn't look. I wasn't taking no chances on them doing anything to マイク.

I heard the tin 捨てる against the 石／投石するs, and they was silence whilst I hurriedly counted up to a hundred. Then I jerked open the door, and joyfully yelled: "マイク!" They was no reply. The tin can was gone, but マイク wasn't there.

冷淡な, clammy sweat 破産した／（警察が）手入れする out all over me, and my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. I 急ぐd 負かす／撃墜する the alley like a wild man, and just before I reached the street, where a 薄暗い street-lamp shone, I fell over something warm and 産する／生じるing which groaned and said: "Oh, my 長，率いる!"

I grabbed it and dragged it into the light, and it was Smoky Jones. He had a lump on his 長，率いる and the tin can in his 手渡す, but it was empty.

I must of went kinda crazy then. Next thing I knowed I had Smoky by the throat, shaking him till his 注目する，もくろむs crossed, and I was mouthing, "What you done with マイク, you dirty gutter ネズミ? Where is he?"

His 手渡すs were waving around, and I seen he couldn't talk. His 直面する was purple and his 注目する，もくろむs and tongue stuck out remarkable. So I 緩和するd up a bit, and he gurgled, "I dunno!"

"You do know!" I roared, digging my thumbs into his unwashed neck. "You was the one which stole him. You 手配中の，お尋ね者 that fifty bucks to bet on a horse. I see it all, now. It's so plain even a dumb mutt like me can 人物／姿／数字 it out. You got the money—where's マイク?"

"I'll tell you everything," he gasped. "Lemme up, Steve. You're chockin' me to death. Lissen—it was me which stole マイク. I snuck in and 麻薬d him and packed him off in a 解雇（する）. But I didn't 目的（とする） to 傷つける him. All I 手配中の，お尋ね者 was the fifty. I figgered you could raise it if you had to...I'd taken マイク to Li Yun's house, to hide him. We put him in a cage before he come to—that there dog is worse'n a tiger...I was to hide in the alley till you put out the dough, and 一方／合間 one of Li Yun's Chinees was to bring マイク in a 自動車, and wait at the mouth of the alley till I got the money. Then, if everything was 承認する, we was going to let the dog out into the alley and （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 it in the car...井戸／弁護士席, whilst I hid in the alley I seen the Chinee 運動 up and park in the 影をつくる／尾行するs like we'd agreed, so I signalled him and went on after the dough. But as I come up the alley with the money, wham! that 二塁打-crossin' heathen riz up out of the dark and whacked me with a blackjack. And now he's gone and the 自動車's gone and the fifty bucks is gone!"

"And where's マイク?" I 需要・要求するd.

"I dunno," he said. "I 疑問 if that Chinee ever brung him here at all. Oh, my 長，率いる!" he said, 持つ／拘留するing の上に his skull.

"That ain't a scratch to what I'm goin' to do to you when you get 回復するd," I 約束d him. "Where at does Li Yun live at?"

"In that old 倉庫／問屋 負かす／撃墜する 近づく the wharf the natives call the Dragon Pier," said Smoky. "He's 直す／買収する，八百長をするd up some rooms for livin' ４半期/4分の1s, and—"

That was all I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to know. The next second I was 長，率いるd for the Dragon Pier. I run 負かす／撃墜する alleys, crossed dark 法廷，裁判所s, turned off the narrer 味方する street that runs to the wharf, ducked through a winding alley, and come to the 支援する of the 倉庫／問屋 I was looking for. As I approached, I seen a 支援する door hanging open; and a light 向こうずねing through.

I didn't hesitate, but 破産した／（警察が）手入れする through with both 握りこぶしs cocked. Then I stopped short. They was nobody there. It was a 広大な／多数の／重要な big room, electrically lighted, with a switch on the 塀で囲む, and purty 井戸／弁護士席 直す／買収する，八百長をするd up 一般に. Leastways it had been. But now it was littered with 破産した／（警察が）手入れするd （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs and 後援d 議長，司会を務めるs, and there was 血 and pieces of silk on the 床に打ち倒す. They had been some 肉親，親類d of a awful fight in there, and my heart was in my mouth when I seen a couple of empty cages. There was white dog hair scattered on the 床に打ち倒す, and some 厚い darkish hair in big tufts that couldn't of come from nothing but a gorilla.

I looked at the cages. One was a bamboo cage, and some of the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s had been gnawed in two. The lock on the steel cage was 破産した／（警察が）手入れするd from the inside. It didn't take no 探偵，刑事 to figger out what had happened. マイク had gnawed his way out of the bamboo cage and the gorilla had 破産した／（警察が）手入れするd out of his cage to get at him. But where was they now? Was the Chinees and their gorilla chasing poor old マイク 負かす／撃墜する them dark alleys, or had they took his 団体／死体 off to 配置する／処分する／したい気持ちにさせる of it after the gorilla had finished him?

I felt weak and sick and helpless; マイク is about the only friend I got. Then things begun to swim red around me again. They was one （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する in that room yet unbusted. I …に出席するd to that. They was no human for me to lay 手渡すs on, and I had to 難破させる something.

Then a inner door opened and a fat white man with a cigar in his mouth stuck his 長，率いる in and 星／主役にするd at me.

"What was that ゆすり?" he said. "Hey, who are you? Where's Li Yun?"

"That's what I want to know," I snarled. "Who are you?"

"指名する's 井戸／弁護士席s, if it's any of your 商売／仕事," he said, coming on into the room. His belly bulged out his checked vest, and his swagger put my teeth on 辛勝する／優位.

"What a mess!" he said, flicking the ashes offa his cigar in a way which made me want to kill him. It's the little things in life which 原因（となる）s 殺人. "Where the devil is Li Yun? The （人が）群がる's gettin' impatient."

"（人が）群がる?" I interrogated. As I spoke, it seemed like I did hear a hum up に向かって the 前線 of the building.

"Why," he said, "the （人が）群がる which has come to watch the 戦う／戦い between Li Yun's gorilla and the fightin' bull-dog."

"Huh?" I gawped.

"Sure," he said. "Don't you know about it? It's time to start now. I'm Li Yun's partner. I 財政／金融s these shows. I've been up at the 前線 of the buildin', sellin' tickets. Thought I heard a awful ゆすり 支援する here awhile ago, but was too busy haulin' in the dough to come 支援する and see. What's happened, anyhow? Where's the Chinees and the animals? Huh?"

I give a 厳しい, rasping laugh that made him jump. "I see now," I said betwixt my teeth. "Li Yun 手配中の，お尋ね者 マイク for his dirty fights. He seen a chance to make fifty bucks and 行う／開催する／段階 a show too. So he 二塁打-crossed Smoky, and—"

"Go find Li Yun!" snapped 井戸／弁護士席s, biting off the end of another cigar. "That （人が）群がる out there is gettin' mad, and they're the scrapin's off the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れるs. Hurry up, and I'll give you half a buck—"

I then went berserk. All the grief and fury which had been seething in me 爆発するd and 殺到するd over like hot 溶岩 out of a 火山. I give one yell, and went into 活動／戦闘.

"Halp!" hollered 井戸／弁護士席s. "He's gone crazy!" He grabbed for a gun, but before he could draw I caught him on the whiskers with a 宙返り飛行ing haymaker and he done a classy cart-wheel 長，率いる-on into the 塀で囲む. The 支援する of his skull 攻撃する，衝突する the light-switch so hard it 揺さぶるd it clean outa the brackets, and the whole building was 即時に 急落（する），激減（する）d in 不明瞭. I felt around till my groping 手渡すs 位置を示すd a door, and I ripped it open and 急落（する），激減（する）d recklessly 負かす／撃墜する a narrer 回廊（地帯） till I 攻撃する，衝突する another door with my 長，率いる so hard I 分裂（する） the パネル盤s. I jerked it open and 肺d through.

I couldn't see nothing, but I felt the presence of a lot of people. They was a 混乱させるd noise going up, a babble of Chinese and Malay and Hindu, and some loud cussing in English and German. Somebody bawled, "Who turned out them lights? Turn on the lights! How can we see the 捨てる without no lights?"

Somebody else hollered, "They've turned the animals into the cage! I hear 'em!"

Everybody begun to cuss and yell for lights, and I groped 今後 until I was stopped by アイロンをかける 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s. Then I knowed where I was. That 回廊（地帯） I'd come through served as a 肉親，親類d of chute or 滑走路 into the big cage where the fights was fit. I reached through the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s, groped around and 設立する a 重要な sticking in the lock of the cage door. I give a yell of exultation which riz above the clamor, turned the 重要な, throwed open the door and come 急落（する），激減（する）ing out. Them ネズミs enjoyed a fight, hey? 井戸／弁護士席, I 目的（とする）d they shouldn't be disappointed. Two men fighting for money, of their own 解放する／自由な will, is one thing. Making a couple of inoffensive animals butcher each other just for the amusement of a ギャング（団） of wharf ネズミs is another'n.

I （機の）カム out of that cage crazy-mad and flailing with both 握りこぶしs. Somebody grunted and dropped, and somebody else yelled, "Hey, who 攻撃する，衝突する me?" and then the whole （人が）群がる began to mill and holler and strike out wild at 無作為の, not knowing what it was all about. It was a 正規の／正選手 bedlam, with me swinging in the dark and dropping a man at each 激突する, and then a window got 破産した／（警察が）手入れするd, and as I moved across a 薄暗い beam of light which come through, one guy give a frantic yell, "Run! Run! The griller's loose!"

At that, hell 破産した／（警察が）手入れする loose. Everybody 殺到d, 叫び声をあげるing and hollering and cussing and running over each other, and me in the middle of 'em, slugging 権利 and left.

"You all wants a fight, does you?" I howled. "井戸／弁護士席, here's some to こども home with you!"

They 攻撃する，衝突する the door like a herd of steers and 後援d it and went 嵐／襲撃するing through, them which was able to 嵐／襲撃する. Some had been stomped in the 急ぐ, and plenty had stopped my アイロンをかける 握りこぶしs in the dark. I come ravin' after 'em. Just because them ネズミs 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see 血の塊／突き刺す spilt—by somebody else—マイク, my only friend in the Orient, had to be sacrificed. I could of kilt 'em all.

井戸／弁護士席, they streamed off 負かす／撃墜する the street in 十分な cry, and as I 現れるd, I fell over a innocent 通りがかりの人 which had been knocked 負かす／撃墜する by the 殺到. By the time I riz, they was out of my reach, though the sounds of their flight come 支援する to me.

The 解雇する／砲火／射撃 of my 激怒（する） died 負かす／撃墜する to ashes. I felt old and sick and worn out. I wasn't young no more, and マイク was gone. I stooped to 選ぶ up the man I had fell over, idly noticing that he was a English captain whose ship was tied up at a nearby wharf, 発射する／解雇するing 貨物.

"Say," he said, gasping to get his breath 支援する, "aren't you Steve Costigan?"

"Yeah," I 認める, without enthusiasm.

"Good!" he said. "I was looking for you. They told me it was your dog."

I sighed. "Yeah," I said. "A white bulldog that answered to the 指名する of マイク. Where'd you find his 団体／死体?"

"団体／死体?" he said. "My word! The bally brute has been 追求するing four Chinamen and a 血まみれの gorilla up and 負かす／撃墜する the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れるs for half an hour, and now he has them treed in the 船の索具 of my ship, and I want you to come and call him off. Can't have that, you know!"

"Good old マイク!" I whooped, jumping straight into the 空気／公表する with joy and exultation. "Still the fightin'est dog in the Asiatics! Lead on, matey! I craves words with his 犠牲者s. I got nothin' against the griller, but them Chinees has got fifty bucks belongin' to me and マイク!"

THE END

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