Cinder Path Tales

198 CINDER-PATH TALES when he felt my hand on his arm, and heard my whisper in his ears, his heart, lmost gone, came back to him. He turned his swollen face up tome, and with a new light in his eyes he said, " Tell me what I'll do, Misther Brown; tell me, darlin',an' I'll lick the nager yet." There wassomething wonderfully pathetic in his blind confidence, and I never cared so much for the big-hearted Irishman as I did that minute. To tell the truth, Ihad been half willing to seehim knocked out after his foolish persistence againstmy advice. Then again I knew it was not at all a serious matter to one with his strength and vitality, and a dash ofcold water wouldleave himno worse memories than a sore head and afew bruises. But after his appeal Ifelt very different. I racked my brain, but though I had been studying hisopponent from the beginning, trying to find his weak point, hewas so very- shifty onhis feet, andPaddy was so deathly slow, I could think of nothing. Pat had been swinging at his opponent's head, from the very start, the same old blow, landing never. He had not tried for the body once, and I made upmy mind just before the bell rang, and whispered, " Never mind his top­ knot, Paddy;wait until he leads, then step in, and hit him in the ribs; and hit him hard."