Spring Street | Page 6

said Murphy.
And Murray hurried out, leaving John wondering, in Murphy's hands.
* * * * *
It was just before the main event that Murray came down the aisle and
climbed into the ring, brushing the referee announcer, seconds and
others into the corners. He stood in the center of the ring and held up
his hand for silence. The crowd quieted.
"What is it, Charlie?" someone shouted.
"It's this, boys," he said. "I've just had a talk with the Gallant kid, who
was knocked kicking a few minutes ago by Battling Rodriguez. You
saw the fight he put up and you know it's only a good, game kid that
can fight like that.
"I don't know how many of you saw it, but the Gallant kid--that's his
real name, John Gallant--was crying when he went out of this ring and
he wasn't bawling because he got licked, either.
"I'll tell you what he told me back there in the dressing rooms. Do you
know why he was here fighting, tonight? He was here to get enough
money to pay for his father's funeral. He had to have the money given

to the winner and he lost. He didn't tell his poor little mother he was
coming out here. He wanted to surprise her.
"Now, boys, the only surprise he'll take home to her is a battered face
unless you want to surprise him with--"
A silver dollar spun through the smoke-filled air and hit the canvas at
Murray's feet. That started it. For a full two minutes the air was thick
with flying coins. They clinked and rolled around in the ring. Bills
weighted with coins caromed along the canvas floor.
Murray and a few others collected the money and counted it, standing
in the ring.
"Is it enough?" asked a voice from the crowd.
Murray looked up with a broad smile. His hat, held in his hands, was
brimming with the money picked from the floor of the ring.
"Five hundred and fifty-six dollars and sixty cents," he said.
"Where's the kid?" someone demanded.
"That's the idea, show us the kid," shouted the crowd.
* * * * *
When John was brought back into the ring, embarrassed, awkward,
trying to smile through his swollen lips, the "house" was quiet. Murphy
pushed him to the center, where Murray was waiting for him.
"That's for you, Mr. Gallant, with the compliments of the boys out here
who know a good, game kid when they see one and whose hearts are
always in the right place," he said, handing him the hat full of money.
He felt the tears coming back in his eyes.
"I don't--I can't----" he said hoarsely.

"Oh, yes, you can," interrupted Murray. "You take it and forget about
it."
The crowd cheered. A thick-shouldered individual pushed himself
through the ropes into the ring.
"For the keed, Meester Murray," said the newcomer, handing him a $20
bill. "Hee's a gude keed, maybe I help."
It was Battling Rodriguez. He crossed over and taking John's hand
grinned out at the crowd.
John felt the tears coming again and was thankful when Murray led him
to a corner and helped him down out of the ring.
"One of the newspaper men wants to speak to you," he said. "Here's
your man, Morton."
He shook hands with the newspaper man.
"You're not a fighter by profession, though you're game enough to be a
champion. How are you fixed for a job?" asked Morton.
"I need one," John replied.
"Tell you what you do, then," said the other, who seemed to take John's
answer for granted. "You come down and see me tomorrow and I'll see
if I can't find something for you to do. How would you like to get into
newspaper work?"
How would he like it? John felt that nothing in the world would he like
better.
"Tomorrow, then, ask for me," said Morton, turning to watch the two
boxers who entered the ring to fight the main event.
As he went up the aisle men reached out and shook hands with him.
Some of them dropped money into the hat brimming with bills and
coins that he still held in his hand. He filled his pockets with the money

and handed the hat to Murphy to be returned to that prince of men,
Charlie Murray.
* * * * *
With the money given him by the crowd, the $20 bill Battling
Rodriguez added to it and the $50 he received as the loser's end of the
purse in his bout, he had more than $625 as he boarded the car from
Vernon to the city to return home. His happiness was dimmed, however,
by the thought of facing his mother, who, he knew, would be waiting
up for