www.freeclassicebooks.com

Cassidy crawled through the ropes and threw his arms around Billy.

"I knew youse could do it, kid!" he screamed. "You're as good as made now, an'

you're de next champ, or I never seen one."

The following morning the sporting sheets hailed "Sailor" Byrne as the greatest

"white hope" of them all. Flashlights of him filled a quarter of a page. There were

interviews with him. Interviews with the man he had defeated. Interviews with

Cassidy. Interviews with the referee. Interviews with everybody, and all were

agreed that he was the most likely heavy since Jeffries. Corbett admitted that,

while in his prime he could doubtless have bested the new wonder, he would have

found him a tough customer.

Everyone said that Byrne's future was assured. There was not a man in sight who

could touch him, and none who had seen him fight the night before but would

have staked his last dollar on him in a mill with the black champion.

Cassidy wired a challenge to the Negro's manager, and received an answer that

was most favorable. The terms were, as usual, rather one-sided but Cassidy

accepted them, and it seemed before noon that a fight was assured.

Billy was more nearly happy again than he had been since the day he had

renounced Barbara Harding to the man he thought she loved. He read and re-

read the accounts in the papers, and then searching for more references to

himself off the sporting page he ran upon the very name that had been constantly

in his thoughts for all these months--Harding.

Persistent rumor has it that the engagement of the beautiful Miss Harding to

Wm. J. Mallory has been broken. Miss Harding could not be seen at her father's

home up to a late hour last night. Mr. Mallory refused to discuss the matter, but

would not deny the rumor.

There was more, but that was all that Billy Byrne read. The paper dropped from

his hand. Battles and championships faded from his thoughts. He sat with his

eyes bent upon the floor, and his mind was thousands of miles away across the

broad Pacific upon a little island in the midst of a turbulent stream.

And far uptown another sat with the same paper in her hand. Barbara Harding

was glancing through the sporting sheet in search of the scores of yesterday's

woman's golf tournament. And as she searched her eyes suddenly became riveted

upon the picture of a giant man, and she forgot about tournaments and low

scores. Hastily she searched the heads and text until she came upon the name--

"'Sailor' Byrne!"

143

The Mucker