or death."

Some fragments of the conversation had penetrated to the office where
the physician was giving a final injunction to his patient. He threw
open the door and came out into the vestibule.

"What is the matter?" he asked.

"Doctor" said the strange visitor as he presented a card, "one of the
workmen at P. O'Sullivan's ice house at Lake View, has met with an
accident and been terribly injured about here" (indicating the abdomen
by a wave of his hand). "Unless a doctor sees him at once," he went on
in his hurried, nervous, manner, "he will die. O'Sullivan is out of
town, but he has spoken so often of you and said that you should be
called in case of an accident that I thought I'd better come to you."

Dr. Cronin glanced at the card. It was a fac-simile of this.

[Illustration]

For a moment he twirled it between his finger and thumb. Then he looked
at his watch. It was near the hour for the meeting, in the proceedings
of which he was liable to take a prominent part. But the humane
instincts of the profession quickly overcame all other considerations.

"One moment" he ejaculated, "and I will be with you."

"I have a buggy and fast horse down stairs" called out the stranger.

Dr. Cronin darted into his office. Hastily gathering up his surgical
instruments, he packed them into their case. A package of lint and
absorbent cotton was pushed down into his pocket. Then he reappeared and
with the remark "I am ready," made for the stairs. The unknown went down
in advance and the doctor followed. At the curb, with a white horse in
the shafts, was the buggy that was to take the physician on his supposed
errand of mercy. As he reached the street, he came _vis-a-vis_ with
Frank T. Scanlan, Jr., a prominent young Irish-American, who had
previously arranged to call for and accompany him to the meeting.

"Are you ready" the latter asked.

"No," was Dr. Cronin's reply. "I'm called away on an accident case."

The stranger was already in the buggy. "There's no time to lose," he
called out, and the ejaculation caused Scanlan to turn his head in that
direction. He was startled for a moment by the look of fiendish rage
with which the fellow was regarding him. Before he could say a word,
however, Dr. Cronin had taken his seat in the vehicle. A whip cut
through the air and descended on the animal's back, and as it started
off the physician called out to his friend, who still stood on the
sidewalk:

"I may get down tow