ng it there, then all
would be over; for by their appearance I saw they were dangerous
criminals, and not men to stick at trifles. They would murder me.

As I sent down the man who had shammed illness, his two companions
dashed towards me with imprecations upon their lips; but with
lightning speed I sprang towards the door and placed my back against
it. So long as I could face them I intended to fight for life. Their
desire was, I knew, to attack me from behind, as they had already
done. I had surely had a narrow escape from their bullets, for they
had fired at close range.

At Guy's many stories have been told of similar cases where doctors,
known to wear valuable watches, diamond rings or scarf pins, have been
called at night by daring thieves and robbed; therefore I always, as
precaution, placed my revolver in my pocket when I received a night
call to a case with which I was not acquainted.

I had not disregarded my usual habit when I had placed my thermometer
and stethoscope in my pocket previous to accompanying the girl;
therefore it reposed there fully loaded, a fact of which my assailants
were unaware.

In much quicker time than it takes to narrate the incident I was again
pounced upon by all three, the man with the sponge in readiness to
dash it to my mouth and nostrils.

But as they sprang forward to seize me, I raised my hand swiftly, took
aim, and fired straight at the holder of the sponge, the bullet
passing through his shoulder and causing him to drop the anaesthetic as
though it were a live coal, and to spring several feet from the
ground.

"God! I'm shot!" he cried.

But ere the words had left his mouth I fired a second chamber,
inflicting a nasty wound in the neck of the fellow with the black
beard.

"Shoot! shoot!" he cried to the third man, but it was evident that in
the first struggle, when I had been seized, the man's revolver had
dropped on the carpet, and in the semi-darkness he could not recover
it.

Recognising this, I fired a pot shot in the man's direction; then,
opening the door, sprang down the stairs into the hall. One of them
followed, but the other two, wounded as they were, did not care to
face my weapon again. They saw that I knew how to shoot, and probably
feared that I might inflict a fatal hurt.

As I approached the front door, and was fumbling with the lock, the
third man flung himself upon me, determined that I should not escape.
With great good fortune, however, I ma