Hooligan Nights | Page 8

He
has usually done a bit of fighting with the gloves, for in Lambeth
boxing is one of the most popular forms of sport. But he is better with
the raws, and is very bad to tackle in a street row, where there are no
rules to observe. Then he will show you some tricks that will astonish
you. No scruples of conscience will make him hesitate to butt you in
the stomach with his head, and pitch you backwards by catching you
round the calves with his arm. His skill, born of constant practice, in
scrapping and hurricane fighting brings him an occasional job in the
bashing line. You have an enemy, we will say, whom you wish to mark,
but, for one reason and another, you do not wish to appear in the matter.
Young Alf will take on the job. Indicate to him your enemy; hand him
five shillings (he will ask a sovereign; but will take five shillings), and
he will make all the necessary arrangements. One night your enemy
will find himself lying dazed on the pavement in a quiet corner, with a
confused remembrance of a trip and a crash, and a mad whirl of fists
and boots. You need have small fear that the job will be bungled. But it
is a matter of complaint among the boys of the Walk, that if they do a
bit of bashing for a toff and get caught, the toff seldom has the
magnanimity to give them a lift when they come out of gaol.
The Hooligan is by no means deficient in courage. He is always ready

to fight, though he does not fight fair. It must indeed, require a certain
amount of courage to earn your living by taking things that do not
belong to you, with the whole of society, backed by the police force,
against you. The burglar who breaks into your house and steals your
goods is a reprehensible person; but he undoubtedly possesses that
two-o'clock-in-the-morning courage which is the rarest variety. To get
into a stranger's house in the dead of night, listening every instant for
the least sound that denotes detection, knowing all the time that you are
risking your liberty for the next five years or so--this, I am sure,
requires more nerve than most men can boast of. Young Alf has nearly
all the vices; but he has plenty of pluck. And as I shall have very little
to disclose that is to his credit, I must tell of one instance in which his
conduct was admirable. One afternoon we were at the Elephant and
Castle, when suddenly a pair of runaway horses, with a Pickford van
behind them, came pounding into the traffic at the crossing. There was
shouting, screaming, and a scurrying to clear the way, and then I saw
young Alf standing alone, tense and waiting, in the middle of the road.
It was a perilous thing to do, but he did it. He was used to horses, and
though they dragged him for twenty yards and more, he hung on, and
brought them up. A sympathetic and admiring crowd gathered, and
young Alf was not a little embarrassed at the attention he commanded.
'The firm oughter reckernize it,' said a man in an apron, looking round
for approval. 'There's a matter of two 'underd pound's worth of prop'ty
that boy's reskid.'
We murmured assent.
'I don't want no fuss,' said young Alf, glancing quickly around him.
Just then a man ran up, panting and put his hand over the harness. Then
he picked up the reins, and, hoisting himself by the step, peered into his
van.
'You're in luck to-day, mister,' said a boy.
The man passed the back of his hand across a damp forehead, and sent
a dazed look, through the crowd.

'One of them blarsted whistles started 'em,' he said.
'That's the boy what stopped 'em,' said a woman with a basket, pointing
a finger at young Alf.
'That's awright,' muttered young Alf. 'You shut yer face.'
'Give the gentleman your name,' persisted the woman with the basket,
'and if everybody 'ad their rights-'
'Now then,' said a friendly policeman, with a hand on young Alf's
shoulder, 'you give him your name and address. You want a job, you
know. You bin out of work too long.'
Young Alf's brain must have worked very quickly for the next three
seconds, and he took the right course. He told the truth. It required an
effort. But, as the policeman seemed to know the truth, it would have
been silly to tell a lie.
The next day young Alf had the offer of employment, if he would call
at headquarters. For a day or two he hesitated. Then he decided that it
was not