Jack quoted: "'Will the first-cabin passengers understand that I am thoroughly capable of carrying on all the necessary conversation with these people in regard to this matter?'"
"An' I was gettin' mad, an' I says: 'To blazes with y'ur nessary conversation, you pot-bellied loafer—who won th' fight?' An' at that the passenger that'd first butted in he makes a megaphone of his hands an' he sings out: 'Johnson!'
"'Johnson?' I says—'Johnson?' an' reaches back to find somethin' t' heave at him. I was goin' to heave a cod at him, but Jack says: 'Don't waste that on him,' an' digs me out an old gray hake, an' I holds it by the tail an' I says: 'Say, you, you in the blue Chinese trousers, who'd you say won?' an' he says: 'Why, Johnson.'
"'You glue-eyed squid!' I says, an' scales th' old hake up at him, an' he dodges, but his chum in pink he didn't have time an' it ketches him fair, an' 'What in thunder's that thing!' he yells, an' takes to hoppin' up an' down an' wipin' the hake scales off his chin.
"An' the lad in blue sings out: 'Say, you, you oughter be in a big league with that arm o' yours,' an' he rushes inside the house an' comes out with a bunch of papers twisted together an' throws 'em over the side, an' Jack an' me we picks 'em up an' smooths 'em out on a thwart, an' there 'twas in letters six inches high—black letters, too—'JOHNSON WINS!' an' that's them the cook's readin' to himself now."
Tom stopped, and he who was called Professor said: "No doubt you would have wagered all you possessed if you had been home instead of out here."
"I wouldn't 'a' minded that. But Jeffries licked by a nigger! What's the white race comin' to? Say—say, but I wisht good old John L. in his prime'd been there to Reno—or Dan Magee."
There were two, both of course new to the vessel, who before this night had never heard of Dan Magee. One being from Fortune Bay, Tom was expecting no better of him; but the other (and he called Professor because of his book learning), and living in Boston, in Boston where they used to nourish champion fighters!
"But there is no record of a Dan Magee who was a heavyweight champion," argued Professor.
"A good thing for a lot of 'em there ain't," snapped Tom. "JOHNSON!!—Johnson!—Johnson——"