This might have depressed anybody else, but as Tony already knew all
there was to be known about Allen's skill with the gloves, it had no
effect upon him.

A sanguinary heavy-weight encounter was followed by the first bout of
the feathers and the second of the light-weights, and then it was
Allen's turn to fight the Harrow representative.

It was not a very exciting bout. Allen took things very easily. He knew
his training was by no means all it should have been, and it was not
his game to take it out of himself with any firework business in the
trial heats. He would reserve that for the final. So he sparred three
gentle rounds with the Harrow sportsman, just doing sufficient to keep
the lead and obtain the verdict after the last round. He finished
without having turned a hair. He had only received one really hard
blow, and that had done no damage. After this came a long series of
fights. The heavy-weights shed their blood in gallons for name and
fame. The feather-weights gave excellent exhibitions of science, and
the light-weight pairs were fought off until there remained only the
final to be decided, Robinson, of St Paul's, against a Charterhouse
boxer.

In the middle-weights there were three competitors still in the
running, Allen, Tony, and a Felsted man. They drew lots, and the bye
fell to Tony, who put up an uninteresting three rounds with one of the
soldiers, neither fatiguing himself very much. Henderson, of Felsted,
proved a much tougher nut to crack than Allen's first opponent. He was
a rushing boxer, and in the first round had, if anything, the best of
it. In the last two, however, Allen gradually forged ahead, gaining