Bendigo - The Right Fist of God by Alan Dance & David Field

Author:Alan Dance & David Field [Dance, Alan & Field, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arundel Books
Published: 2016-07-21T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

Champion of all England

Burke was first into the ring at a quarter to one, to the loud applause of the London Fancy. There was an opening act worthy of the man’s theatrical tastes when a very attractive, fashionably dressed young lady forced her way through the rapidly growing crowds, reached through the ropes and grabbed Burke affectionately by the head, before sitting demurely on a stool at the very edge of the ring where she remained for the duration of the fight. History does not record who she was but the Lambs let it be known in no uncertain terms, by their catcalls, whistles and body language, that they had no doubt as to her chosen profession.

Fifteen minutes later, the deafening roar from the rear ranks of the massive crowd presaged the arrival of Bendy himself, and he jumped lithely into the ring to the collective din of a record attendance of some fifteen thousand, drawn from as far afield as London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Coventry, Sheffield, Nottingham and Leicester, the recently opened railway between London and Liverpool having helped to swell the numbers, with special trains being laid on from both ends of the line. On the outer fringes of the crowd, the fruit and nut sellers, a publican and several local bakers were doing a roaring trade, while closer to the action the Lambs were busily selling tickets to a hastily established outer ring over which they had total control. All eyes were now to the front, where the two contestants stripped off their cloaks and turned to face each other.

Bendy seemed intrigued by something around the top of Burke’s fighting breeches, and he walked across the ring, shook his opponent warmly by the hand, and enquired. “What yer got round yer belly?”

“Itsh me truss, Mishter Bendys. I gots a ruptures whens I was a lad, and the belt holds the truss.”

Bendy called the referee over, and a lengthy argument ensued regarding the legality of the garment that Burke insisted was simply holding up his truss. The referee was minded to let Burke retain it, until Bendy’s seconds, Peter Taylor and Nick Ward, invited him to take a good look at the Lambs who were bound to riot if the fight was called off, and Bendy continued to insist that he wouldn’t fight Burke with the belt still on. Eventually it was removed, and the two men took to their corners, eyeing each other across what would shortly become the battlefield.

For once Bendy was the taller man, by an inch. He was lighter than Burke by a few pounds but it was a different few pounds. Whereas Bendy had kept rigidly to his training regime, the Londoner looked as pasty and puffy as his accustomed intake, and those bookmakers who began offering six to four on in favour of Burke had clearly not been in his company during the weeks when he had ignored all advice, and had approached the upcoming fight with haughty disdain.

The fight began

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