256 SPORTING STORIES 



round with his right arm disabled and causing him the 

 acutest pain. 



It was in stopping a tremendous blow of Heenan's in the 

 sixth round that his right arm — "the auctioneer," as he 

 always called it — was so seriously injured as to be of very 

 little further use to him. That was the critical moment ol 

 the battle. Sayers, with an ugly bruise on his cheek-bone 

 and a ragged cut over his right eyebrow, came up to fight 

 one of the most sensational rounds ever seen in the Ring. 

 Tom was very wily: he skipped away from Heenan's futile 

 lunges, and danced about him, reminding many of the 

 antics by which he bewildered the Tipton Slasher. The 

 Benicia Boy lost his temper, and let drive his left at Tom's 

 head — an awful hit, had it gone home — but Sayers guarded, 

 sprang in before the American could recover himself, and 

 gave him a terrific smash in the eye, splitting the cheek 

 and sending his huge antagonist reeling back into his 

 corner. 



Heenan, when he recovered his balance, stood like a man 

 dazed, and in a few seconds could hardly be recognised as 

 the same man, so swollen and disfigured were his features. 

 He never quite recovered from that astonishing blow. If 

 Tom could hit thus with his left, he doubtless wondered 

 what " the auctioneer " was like. For the " Boy " was not 

 at all sure that he had disabled Tom's dexter fin, and was 

 in momentary expectation of having it driven like a sledge- 

 hammer into his contused and lacerated visage. 



Everyone knows that the great battle of Farnborough 

 ended in a draw, after two hours and twenty minutes of 

 most determined fighting, and to this day it is a disputed 

 question which man had the best of it at the finish. What 

 really happened at the end I suppose no one knew for 

 certain. All that anybody could swear to was that 

 Heenan, almost blind, caught Sayers round the neck, 

 dragged him to the ropes, and deliberately tried to strangle 

 him there. The ropes were cut, and several so-called 

 rounds were scrambled through somehow in the midst of a 

 howling horde of ruffians, with no umpire or referee to see 

 fair play. One thing, however, may be positively asserted, 

 and that is that Heenan did not win the fisrht. Whether 



