Off the Mangrove Coast (Ss) (2000) Read Free Page A

sagged and he pitched forward on his face.
    The referee made the count, then turned and lifted Tandy's hand. The fighter on the floor hadn't moved.
    In the dressing room, Tandy stared bleakly at his battered face. "For this I get twenty-five bucks!" he said, grinning with swollen lips.
    "Don't worry, kid!" Gus grinned back at him. "When you hit me with your left that day in the woods, I knew you had it. It showed you could think on your feet. You'll do!"
    When they came out of the dressing room suddenly Gus stopped and his hand on Tandy's arm tightened. Two men were standing there, a small man with a tight white face and a big cigar, and a big younger man.
    "Hello, Gus," the man with the cigar said, contempt in his voice. "I see you've got yourself another punk!"
    Tandy's left snaked out and smashed the cigar into the small man's teeth, knocking him sprawling into the wall, and then he whirled on the big man, a brawny blond whose eyes were blazing with astonishment.
    "Now, you!" he snarled. His right whipped over like an arrow, but the big man stepped back swiftly and the right missed. Then, he started to step in, but Briggs ]| stopped him.
    "Back up, Stan!" he said coldly. "Back up unless you want lead for your supper! Lift that scum off the floor. It's lucky the kid didn't kill him!"
    Stan Reiser stooped and lifted his manager from the floor. The black cigar was mashed into the blood of his split lips and his face was white and shocked, but his eyes blazed with murderous fury.
    "I'll get you for this, Coe!" His voice was low and vicious. "You an' that S. O. " His voice broke off sharply as Tandy Moore stepped toward him.
    Moore glanced at Reiser. "Shut him up, Stan. I don't like guys who call me names!"
    Reiser looked curiously at Tandy. "I know you from somewhere," he said thoughtfully, "I'll remember ..."
    Tandy's face was stiff and cold. "Go ahead!" he said quietly. "It will be a bad day for both of us when you do!"
    Outside on the street, Gus shook his head. "What the hell is up with you?" he asked. "You shouldn't have done it, but nothin' ever did me so much good as your hittin' that snake. I don't believe anybody ever had nerve enough to sock him before, he's been king of the roost so long." Both Gus and Briggs looked at him quizzically.
    "It's my business," Tandy growled and would say no more.
    He said nothing but he was thinking. Now they had met again, and he did not know if he was afraid or not. Yet he knew that deep within him, there was still that memory and the hatred he had stifled so long, it was a feeling that demanded he face Reiser, to smash him, to break him.
    "How would I do with Reiser?" he asked suddenly.
    Gus looked astonished. "Kid, you sure don't know the fight game or you'd never ask a question like that. Stan is a contender for the heavyweight title."
    Tandy nodded slowly. "I guess I've got plenty to learn," he said.
    Gus nodded. "When you know that, kid, you've already learned the toughest part."

    Chapter Ill Three weeks later, after conniving and borrowing and scraping by on little food, Tandy Moore was ready for his second fight. This one was with a rough slugger known as Benny Baker.
    The day of the fight, Tandy walked toward the hotel. There would be no steak today, for they simply hadn't money enough. Yet he had been thinking of Dorinda, and wondering where she was and what she was doing.
    She was coming out of the restaurant door as he walked by. Her eyes brightened quickly.
    "Why, hello!" she greeted him. "I wondered what had happened to you. Why don't you ever come in and see me?"
    He shoved his hands in the pockets of the shabby trousers. "Looking like this? Anyway, I can't afford to eat in there. I don't make enough money. In fact" he grinned, his face flushing "I haven't any money at all!"
    She put a hand on his arm. "Don't let it bother you, Tandy. You'll do all right." She looked away, then back at him. "You're fighting again, aren't you?"
    "Tonight. It's a preliminary." His eyes