There was no help for it, and Buck took off his coat. Then with a roar of rage he rushed at Bob, who sidestepped cleverly and caught Buck in the jaw with a blow that shook him from head to heels. Buck staggered for a moment and then rushed in to a clinch, and in an instant they were at it, hammer and tongs.
As Jimmy described it afterward it was a “peach of a scrap” while it lasted. But it did not last long. Buck was a little the older and considerably the heavier of the two, but he was no match for Bob in strength, cleverness and hard hitting. Bob met his opponent’s rushes with smashing, skilfully placed blows that soon had Buck grunting and bewildered, and at last with a long drive to the point of the jaw stretched him on the ground, where he lay half blubbering with rage and pain.
“Had enough?” asked Bob. “If not, there’s plenty more waiting for you. No trouble to show goods.”
Buck made some unintelligible answer.
“Say enough,” commanded Bob.
“Enough,” growled Buck.
“All right,” said Bob. “Now there’s only one more thing you’ve got to do. Take off one of your shoes.”
“I won’t!” shouted Buck, stung into fury.
“Then stand up and take some more,” commanded Bob. “It’s one thing or the other.”
But Buck had no stomach for any more fighting, and confronted by the two alternatives, he chose the lesser evil and took off one of his shoes.