ognize the
impossibility, and to think of Raffles and the asthmatic alike without
a qualm. I could play the game by them both, for it was one and the
same game. I could preserve thieves' honor, and yet regain some shred
of that which I had forfeited as a man!

So I thought as we stood face to face, our ears straining for the least
movement below, our eyes locked in a common anxiety. Another muffled
foot-fall--felt rather than heard--and we exchanged grim nods of
simultaneous excitement. But by this time Medlicott was as helpless as
he had been before; the flush had faded from his face, and his
breathing alone would have spoiled everything. In dumb show I had to
order him to stay where he was, to leave my man to me. And then it was
that in a gusty whisper, with the same shrewd look that had
disconcerted me more than once during our vigil, young Medlicott froze
and fired my blood by turns.

"I've been unjust to you," he said, with his right hand in his
dressing-gown pocket. "I thought for a bit--never mind what I
thought--I soon saw I was wrong. But--I've had this thing in my pocket
all the time!"

And he would have thrust his revolver upon me as a peace-offering, but
I would not even take his hand, as I tapped the life-preserver in my
pocket, and crept out to earn his honest grip or to fall in the
attempt. On the landing I drew Raffles's little weapon, slipped my
right wrist through the leathern loop, and held it in readiness over my
right shoulder. Then, down-stairs I stole, as Raffles himself had
taught me, close to the wall, where the planks are nailed. Nor had I
made a sound, to my knowledge; for a door was open, and a light was
burning, and the light did not flicker as I approached the door. I
clenched my teeth and pushed it open; and here was the veriest villain
waiting for me, his little lantern held aloft.

"You blackguard!" I cried, and with a single thwack I felled the
ruffian to the floor.

There was no question of a foul blow. He had been just as ready to
pounce on me; it was simply my luck to have got the first blow home.
Yet a fellow-feeling touched me with remorse, as I stood over the
senseless body, sprawling prone, and perceived that I had struck an
unarmed man. The lantern only had fallen from his hands; it lay on one
side, smoking horribly; and a something in the reek caused me to set it
up in haste and turn the body over with both hands.

Shall I ever forget the incredulous horro