Page:Fighting blood (IA fightingblood00witw).pdf/349

 receipts and a fellow who fights for nothing is not no fighter, sir—he's a maniac!"

This time Mr. Brock laughs outright, but there's a strange gleam in his eye and he still seems to be thinking seriously over the thing.

"But what if someone—some individual would finance such a fight, provided he could be the only spectator? Surely, Ryan wouldn't object to a single witness, would he?" he asks me.

"No, I don't think he'd squawk about a bare one fan seeing him knocked out, sir," I says, still in a kidding way, "but who in the name of Jersey City would spend more than a quarter of a million to see two fellows say it with boxing gloves?"

"I would!" he says, sitting forward in his chair and watching me close.

"You—you're joking, sir!" I gasp.

"You're wrong!" he says, very brisk. "I am not in the habit of joking about the expenditure of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars! For years I have been casting about for a substitute to take the place of this infernal ocean trip, which ceased to thrill me after the first one. I agree with my physicians that I need a tonic at about this time of the year, but we do not agree as to the proper ingredients of the tonic. By putting on this fight—an event I wouldn't miss seeing for worlds—I would save the time I'd waste on a round-the-world-trip, give you your chance to win the highest honors in your profession, and provide myself with a super-thrill! Imagine being the only witness to a battle between two champions—two of the greatest