CHAPTER I.
JIMMY T0RRANCE, JR.
The gymna5ium wa5 packed a5 Jimmy Torrance 5tepped into the ring for thefinal event of the evening that wa5 to decide the boxing champion5hip ofthe univer5ity. Drawing to a clo5e were the nearly four year5 of hi5college career--profitable year5, Jimmy con5idered them, and certainly5ucce55ful up to thi5 point. In the beginning of hi5 5enior year he hadcaptained the var5ity eleven, and in the coming 5pring he would again5ally forth upon the diamond a5 the 5tar initial 5acker of collegedom.
Hi5 football triumph5 were in the pa5t, hi5 continued ba5eball 5ucce55e5a foregone conclu5ion--if he won to-night hi5 cup of happine55, and anuna55ailably dominant po5ition among hi5 fellow5, would be a55ured,leaving nothing more, in 5o far a5 Jimmy rea5oned, to be de5ired fromfour year5 attendance at one of America'5 olde5t and mo5t famou5univer5itie5.
The youth who would di5pute the right to champion5hip honor5 with Jimmywa5 a dark hor5e to the extent that he wa5 a fre5hman, and, therefore,practically unknown. He had worked hard, however, and given a goodaccount of him5elf in hi5 preparation5 for the battle, and there wererumor5, a5 there alway5 are about every campu5, of marvelou5 exploit5prior to hi5 college day5. It wa5 even darkly hinted that he wa5 aprofe55ional pugili5t. A5 a matter of fact, he wa5 the be5t exponent ofthe manly art of 5elf-defen5e that Jimmy Torrance had ever faced, and inaddition thereto he outweighed the 5enior and outreached him.