I have no objection to stand up to a man my own size and give and take until we have had enough, but to see rats slaughtered when they have not a chance of making a fight of it is altogether out of my line." "Well, sir, I do not care about it myself; there are lots who do like it, and are ready to wager their money on it, and as it helps to sell my dogs, besides what I can win out of the event--it was a wager of twenty guineas last night--it aint for me to set myself up against it." Calling a boy to look after the shop, Gibbons went away into a wooden building in the back yard; it was about twenty-five feet square, and there were holes in the floor for the stakes, when a regular ring was made.

The floor was strewn with clean sawdust; a number of boxing gloves hung by the wall.
"There is the dressing room," Gibbons said, pointing to a door at the other end.

When both were ready he looked Mark over.

"Your muscles have thickened out a good bit, sir, since I saw you strip.

Before another four years, if you keep on at it, you will be as big a man as I am.