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Show Yes, I knew the syndicate set-up. Big George batting around the smaller club circuit, with his friend. Willie Ernst taking his duties as manager quite seriously. But Willie didn't know toe "angles" and therefore there-fore George never got near the big arenas or the big money. Furthermore, Further-more, the sharpies In the !u h-were h-were reluctant to match their pIG GEORGE was in love so D deeply and completely he was gulping for air. "I hear beUs ringing," he told me. I grinned, thinking of his business, and then wise-cracked: "You sure it's love?" He eyed me somewhat quizzically across the table. "No jokes, Fred, please," he said. "Not in the mood. ' "Okay, no jokes. Who's the gin? "Ella-May." "What'" I cried. "Ella-May: And I laughed. Not at the news, I ,vas all for that, but at its comp uwxpectedncss. I, like all TiciHis and v'rhnps, even Ella- , ,d 'un? !,:m." Eivcn t'P hope of t 'vimubuHv. 1 couldn't, however, ie--,(, a--. siiiv-.cr: "And iZnS ; ;...-.iv bati-eixd skull fin Li ..: ,.:.. ;.;Cl?" "l)!i'i.. i-.vHl," he sold quietly. I .ike : or " lii - ...ay! DlmpUtl, blonde, sen-.i. sen-.i. y. V. y, she has been ., - ,.:.n ,:iis bis lummox s ' ,,. ,. f.i'y eyes dimmed wan ' .', .1,1 'liiL-re Rore memory piu-,-:' ' j. one into "the ot Vi...-iisjl athletic lield. Bus ,'", c' a S-lctter man, cavoi ihlra 1.4 baseball, football auu T,ck Ella-May, sweet sixteen, hei sLuciu eyes following his eveiy ;' ..wiiwlv. -Everybody knew But his hope was short-lived, or some ten minutes later that young lady arrived. I took one look at the determined mouth and the fire sparking her pretty eyes and I was glad I had come. . Ella-May greeted me with a sort of half smile and then sat on a tiaight-backed chair near the win-low, win-low, hands in her lap. Prim and ;.' -weot, but obviously a girl with a on. The three of us just sat ', tense, waiting. For, what? t There was a clatter at the door t ana there, in all their sartorial glory, J were "The Three." They bustled into the room, well-fed well-fed and sleek, each mouth twistiny rn a grin around a big fat cigar. "Hi-yuh. Georgie," greeted "Monn-face "Monn-face Henry," 'apparently spoV:e. r....n for "The Three." "We do all right last night. A K. O. and 75 cees." ic Then Henry noticed Ella-May and J mvself. He looked questioningly at George. ir "They're my friends," said George. "Maybe," suggested Henry, "we better come back later, eh?" "No," said Big George nervously. "It's all right." p "Okay," answered Henry, "we'd I rather wait, but I guess it's all riitln, I eh. boys?" He turned to the oilier two. Evidently they weren't too keen either about splitting in front of strangers. vn I ' In 15-? ,'r- H ' ( evervbodv but Big George. Eua-y'ay Eua-y'ay alwa'-s near, pretty, cute and wel'l-ii'-hed, but eyes, like a rebuked oiippy's, seeking out Big George u.pina' for some sign of affection. But George was oblivious and went uis lone-hand way. A flier at semi-pro semi-pro football, then a year on the big 'ime with the Bears, and suddenly ne quit. "Too tough," he said. "Too tough." I grinned at the thought, Tor then the big gom had let some- body talk him into the fight game. : He was a natural, too, and doing '. all right. Not a champ, mind, but he had the potentialities. I snapped ; out of the reverie and looked at Big George. He didn't look very happy J for a man in love. Maybe they all look like tiiat, I wouldn't know. "Well, then," I took up the conversation con-versation again. "When did you find HENRY rudely brushed her hand aside and that was his mistake, for Ella-Muy bopped him over the head with her bair. The bills showered down. nils with Big George. He hit too hard and too often. It was after George had polished off a "name" fighter, slightly passe, at one of the smaller clubs that "The Three," as they were known In the Jacobs' Beach set, approached George with a proposition. They'd get George on the big time and in the big money, but the split had to be four ways. It was a steal arrangement, and against the law, but' they drew up a phony contract for filing with the commission and chanced a verbal agreement with George. - Big George saw his chance and signed. He bad had three or iout bouts under the direction of "The Three" and was moving up fast. Despite the fact that George was cutting in Willie Ernst for a share out of his end, he was making more money than he had made before. A few days later I met Big George again. I asked him when "The Three" usually paid off after a bout, for I had determined to sit in. "Usually next day," he said. "At my home or a hotel room, depending on how I came out of it. I never go home when I've had a shellacking. Mom don't like to see me marked." "Mind if I sit in on this one?" "No, Fred," he answered. "I'd like it, for you know Ella-May insists on being there. You might help." At noon the following Saturday I knocked at the door of Big George's room. He'd had a going over the night before. I'd seen the fight, but he'd won after a heart-bouncing thriller. George, in bath robe and plastered face, admitted me. "Glad to see you, Fred," he greeted. "Ella-May isn't here yet. Gosh. I hope she doesn't show." Henry drew a fat wallet from his pocket and extracted a sheaf of bills. He hesitated a moment, grunted, and then proceeded to count. "Two grand for Frank, two for Herman, two for me," his lips curled in a wry smile, "and fifteen hundred for Georgie. Right as rain." Then it started. Ella-May rose and advanced on Henry. "One moment, please," she said, addressing him. "How is it that George gets only fifteen hundred dollars?" "That's the agreement, Lady," said Henry, "four-way spilt. Ain't that right, Georgie?" "Four ways!" The Are was in Ella-May's eyes. "Two ways!" she said and reached for the money. Henry rudely brushed her hand aside. That was his mistake, foi Ella-May promptly bopped him ov ei the head with her bag, and Mg George moved in. A was sweet while it lasted and I thoroughly enjoyed It. I laughed right out loud when I glimpsed the coattalls of the last of "The Three" flipping out of the door. Big George bent to pick up the money scattered over the floor. "Gotta give them their share, Ell-May," Ell-May," he muttered. "It's only right "Yes, indeed," v she interrupted. "Their rightful share half!" "Gosh," said Big George, unhappily, unhap-pily, "there goes my big chance. What am I going to do now?" Ella-May walked right Into his arms, hers stealing up and around his shoulders as site tip-toed so he wouldn't have to bend too much to kiss her. j "You're going to do one thing," she said emphatically and yet sweetly. sweet-ly. "You're going to marry me and soon! And from now on you're under un-der new management." Silently I stole out and away. rt out?" "Few days ago," he answered, a puzzled expression on bifi face. "How did it happen?" "I don't know, exactly." He fumbled about mentally, seeking the answer for himself and for me. "I :ime home for supper, there she was, helping mother set table and . . ." "Mm-mm," I mm-mmed profoundly. profound-ly. "Go on." "Then it hit me. My legs went rubbery, my stomach hurt. Thought I was coming down with something." "You were." "Well, through supper I found out. Funny, Ella-May had never affected me like that before. No girl had." "Told her yet?" "Yes. That same night, walking her home. Now we're engaged." "It's about time. ' But what's so tough about that?" 7 "Nothing's tough about it, Fred, it's great. But there's my bout next Friday and there's Ella-May's insisting insist-ing she wants to be in on the payoff. pay-off. Says this syndicate Is robbing ' me. You know that set-up." |