White monarch and the Gas house pup

Here is an interesting quote from the book:

"Pity in all that square of men about the pit, there was none. And, in truth, the battle bred no pity – only wonder. The hard followers of that ancient game gathered round those eight-foot squares for another fascination than the acknowledged ones of carnage and utter savagery. They came primarily to see that thing which is perhaps the noblest attribute in dogs and men – unbreakable courage - courage in pain, and exhaustion, and heart-sickening failure after heart-sickening failure; that rose and rose to heights unbelievable with the cruel sides of those old dog pit squares; and that changed the men looking at it from a combat-thirsty horde of brutes, quiet from police fear and from a sort of shame at what they joyed in, to an awe-stricken audience, whose silence was almost that of worship."