He stopped; and Percival breathed long and deep again: "Fine, Japhra—fine. I never thought of it like that. Fine—I think I see."
"Surely thou dost, master; or any man that giveth thought to it. Take it to thine own case—that is my word to thee. Reck nothing how life assaileth—hold on only to thy spirit. Thou wouldst be doing something and art irked by the bonds that hold thee—never fear but that in its time the thing will come. I have seen men—I know the fashion of them. Thou art of the mould and mind to which adventures come. See to it thou art ready for them when they arrive—trained as the boxer is against the big fight."
Percival said heavily: "What's the prize, Japhra?" Now that the application of this engaging view was pressed to his own case he had a dark vision of what it required of him. "What's the prize?"
"Why, content! Look, little master, here's happiness, here's content—and content is all the world's gold and all its dreams. Whatever cometh against thee, whether through the flesh or through the mind, get thou the mastery of it. How? Every man according to his craft. The philosophers, the reckoners—theirs to judge bad against good and find content that way. That was old Crusoe's manner of it. Thou art the fighting type—the Ring for thee."
Percival got abruptly to his feet. At the same moment Ima opened the door of the van and stood above them—held, as it were, upon the light that streamed from the interior.
"The Ring for thee," Japhra repeated, "there to meet and conquer all thy vexations. Make a boxer of thy spirit. Step back through the ropes then and take up the champion belt marking thee thine own man, thine own master: a proud and jewelled thing to wear—content."
Ima's voice broke in upon them. "The champion belt?" she said. "What, is it still boxing, thy talk?"
Japhra turned his face up to her and the lamplight showed the twinkling with which he met the reproach in her voice. "Why, it is my trade," he said, "and thine. In two days thou'lt be taking the money at the door of my booth."
"Not his trade, though," she answered.
Percival said: "Japhra, would I be a likely one for your booth, do you think?"