“I’m going to take some of the conceit out of you, you young upstart,” he said with pitying smile as he drew his guns and handed them to Bud. “You’re going up against a full grown man and I’m going to break you.”
Mason knew he would have a tough job on his hands as Ricker was of the brute type and outweighed him by forty pounds. Mason fell back to join his mother and sister as they were calling frantically to him.
They both appealed to him not to fight Ricker, Josephine and the ranch owner joining in with them.
“I intend to get revenge for Dad’s sake,” he told them simply, and they knew it was useless to argue with him further.
Bud went over and had a talk with Ricker. Soon he came back and drew Mason to one side.
“Ricker says he won’t stand for any rules to this fight, lad,” he said kindly, “the best man to win at any style he likes best.”
“That suits me,” Mason answered with a laugh; “I’ll box with him every minute.”
Ricker announced that he was ready, and the two combatants began to circle around, each looking for an opening. Mason held his hands as though to grapple with his opponent, when Ricker, thinking he saw an opportunity to get a hold, suddenly darted in and received a swinging blow to the jaw that dazed him. He fell into a crouch, as the blow had hurt him, and took a lightning uppercut for his pains. As he backed away, Mason could see that he was full of fight and a hog for punishment. The man was a regular giant in stature and the way he recovered from the effect of the blows amazed Mason. He decided to change his tactics. Ricker rushed him furiously, his great brawny arm trying to encircle Mason’s body. Mason easily side-stepped this mad rush and shot a snappy punch to his opponent’s eye, completely closing that member. He followed this blow with a series of body punches before Ricker could clinch him. Mason worked his arms free and swung a fierce left to Ricker’s face cutting a wide gash over his other eye, and causing him to back away cursing. Mason followed up his advantage, swinging short body blows that brought a spasm of pain to Ricker’s face. The bully was breaking ground now before Mason’s relentless smashes and tried to clinch at every opportunity.
“I knew you had a streak of yellow in you, Ricker,” Mason said coolly as he evaded a wild swing. “Why, your efforts are clumsy, stand up like a man and take a licking.”
Ricker bellowed like a bull at the taunt and rushed at Mason in a wild attempt to finish his nimble opponent with a single blow. The bully’s eyes were nearly closed and his breath came in gasps. His men sat amazed at the easy way Mason was handling him. Some of them nervously fingered their guns, but Bud was watching every move sharply and they didn’t dare make any display of force. Mason set himself and met Ricker’s bull-like rush with a powerful blow to the jaw. The man’s head snapped back while his heels were lifted clear from the ground. Mason had scored a clean knockout, scarcely receiving a scratch himself.