5.—Mace first to scratch, King promptly facing him. As Tom tried to lead off with the left, Mace showed how well he was fortified by his left-hand guard, and then retaliating with the right. King, in turn, retreated. Tom, in shifting, got to the ropes, when Jem weaved in, getting both hands on head and body. Tom lashed out both hands defensively, but could not keep Jem off until he chose to retire to his own corner, where he got cleverly out of difficulty and was down.
6.—King had evidently got home at the close of the last round, for Jem came up with his proboscis tinted with the carmine. Tom dashed at his man with more determination than judgment, hit from the forearm without doing execution; Jem, hitting up as he made the backward break, gave Master Tom a straightener, who, persevering, got his man down at the ropes; no harm done.
7.—Jem advanced to the scratch with a firm step and determined bearing, as if the difficulties of his position had only produced a concentration of the resolute “I will.” The men stood eyeing each other in the pelting rain; Jem rubbed his chest, which had a large red mark as though a warm plaster had recently been removed. After manœuvring round the ring, Mace got to range, delivering a well-aimed shot on King’s cranium. As Jem broke ground he nearly lost his equilibrium from the slipperiness of the grass, but quickly steadied himself. After a feint or two, they got well together and countered splendidly, Mace sending home his left on Tom’s right cheek, King getting his right on the Champion’s left peeper, raising a small bump, and causing him to blink like an owl in sunshine. The men, with mutual action, broke away, and manœuvred all over the ring. At last Jem, measuring his man accurately, gave him such a left-hander on the snuff-box that claret du premier crû was copiously uncorked. As Mace retreated after this smack Tom went in rather wildly, and closing, got his left leg between Mace’s and threw him. (Cheers for King.)
8.—Tom no sooner faced his man than he made play, and got his right arm round Mace; he then tried to lift him by main strength for a throw, but the Champion put on the head-stop, with his hand on Tom’s face, and King had to let him go down an easy fall.
9.—King, by the advice of his seconds, again forced the fighting, slung out both hands, and closed, when Mace cleverly put on the back heel, and down went Tom undermost.
10 to 14.—The ropes had now got slack, and Puggy White busied himself in driving the stakes deeper, and tightening them. In this and the following four rounds, King still led off, and though his hits did not seem severe, he had got as often on Jem’s eye and nose, that his friends were confident of his pulling through.
15.—The odds seemed melting away like butter in the sun, and the backers of the Champion were just becoming “knights of the rueful countenance;” while Tom’s partisans were as merry and chirpy as crickets; Jerry Noon, especially, dispensing an unusual and unseemly store of chaff among the despondent patrons of Mace. King once again went at his man, and both were down at the ropes. King’s seconds claimed the battle for a “foul,” alleging that Mace had tried to force his fingers into King’s eye in the struggle at the ropes; the referee crossed the ring to caution Mace, who indignantly denied any intention of so unmanly an action.
16.—King seemed determined to lose no time. He rattled in, and Mace, nothing loth, stood up and hit with him, certainly straightest and swiftest. In the close both were down at the ropes.
17.—In sparring, the combatants changed positions, and paused in the centre of the ring. King had been fighting very fast, and wanted a breathing time. On resuming, he went in, and after some exchanges Mace got down easy at the ropes.
18.—Sharp exchanges, left and right, on the cheek, mouth, and jaw, when Jem, in shifting, dipped down. His seconds ran to him, but he motioned them away, resumed his perpendicular, and beckoned Tom with a smile to renew the bout. The challenge was cheerfully accepted, and fighting into a close both were down.