each other with their fists at Pelican Clubs; he has only the occasional
street fight to delight his soul, and the spectacle of two maddened women
tearing each other is not one to be ungrateful for.

Having pulled off their hats and stripped them to their corsets, their
friends and backers released them with encouraging words and slaps on the
back, just as dog-fighters set their dogs on each other. Again there were
yells and curses, tearing of hair and garments, and a blind, mad rain of
blows; until Long 'Liza, striking her foot on the curb, measured her
length on the stones, and instantly her adversary was down on her chest,
pounding her face with clenched fists.

Groans and shouts of protest arose from the onlookers, and then several
of them rushed in and dragged her off, after which the two women were set
on their feet and encouraged to renew the fight. Round after round was
fought with unabated fury, invariably ending by one going down, to be
stamped on, beaten, and kicked by her opponent until rescued by the
spectators, who wished only to prolong the contest. But the last round
ended more disastrously; locked in a close tussle, 'Liza exerted her
whole strength to lift her antagonist from the ground and hurl her down,
and succeeded, falling heavily on her, then quickly disengaging herself
she jumped on her as if with the object of trampling her life out, when
once more the spectators rushed in and dragged her off, still struggling
and yelling with baffled rage. But the fallen woman could not be roused;
the back of her head had struck the edge of the kerbstone; she was
senseless, and her loosened hair becoming saturated with fast-flowing
blood.

Fan, sobbing and pressing her hands together in anguish and terror, was
no longer kept back; as if by magic the crowd had dissipated, while half