Page:Fighting Back (1924).pdf/107

 claimed it to be, and the Kid hadn't been there a week when he was the same as a new man. The healthy color came back to his pale cheeks, his long missin' appetite joined him again and the deep dark hollows under his eyes disappeared like magic. But best of all was the way he snapped into his trainin'. I pitched our camp as near the beach as I could, with the ring practically right on it, where we'd get the best of the zippy breezes from the rollin' ocean. There Kid Roberts skipped rope, punched air and sand bags, pulled the weights, throwed the medicine ball, did his army settin'-up exercises, shadow boxed, wrestled and slammed his sparrin' partners around with all his old-time pep. In fact, the boy got to be such a glutton for work that I had to time him carefully and ease him up after a few days for fear he'd overdo matters and leave his fight in the gym.

The gang on the island treated Kid Roberts royally, they did for a fact. All of 'em had $9.85 for every wave which sloshed up on the sand there, and most of 'em knew the Kid's father and what his family had meant before the crash. The tired business men and Wall Street rajahs amongst the old boys couldn't do enough to make his stay there somethin' to remember with delight, whilst the male and female flappers looked on him like he was some kind of a god, no foolin'! The Kid managed to fit in a few tennis and golf games with his gym workouts, and whenever he hit the casino he was mobbed by the gals which figured him the greatest dancer since St. Vitus.

Well, they packed our trainin' quarters every day