self to being
a medical drudge for life, when the turning-point of my struggles came
in a very extraordinary way.

One morning I had picked up the Standard and was glancing over its
contents. There was a complete absence of news, and I was about to
toss the paper down again, when my eyes were caught by an advertisement
at the head of the personal column. It was worded in this way:

"Wanted for one or more days the services of a medical man. It is
essential that he should be a man of strong physique, of steady nerves,
and of a resolute nature. Must be an entomologist--coleopterist
preferred. Apply, in person, at 77B, Brook Street. Application must be
made before twelve o'clock today."

Now, I have already said that I was devoted to zoology. Of all
branches of zoology, the study of insects was the most attractive to
me, and of all insects beetles were the species with which I was most
familiar. Butterfly collectors are numerous, but beetles are far more
varied, and more accessible in these islands than are butterflies. It
was this fact which had attracted my attention to them, and I had
myself made a collection which numbered some hundred varieties. As to
the other requisites of the advertisement, I knew that my nerves could
be depended upon, and I had won the weight-throwing competition at the
inter-hospital sports. Clearly, I was the very man for the vacancy.
Within five minutes of my having read the advertisement I was in a cab
and on my was to Brook Street.

As I drove, I kept turning the matter over in my head and trying to
make a guess as to what sort of employment it could be which needed
such curious qualifications. A strong physique, a resolute nature, a
medical training, and a knowledge of beetles--what connection could
there be between these various requisites? And then there was the
disheartening fact that the situation was not a permanent one, but
terminable from day to day, according to the terms of the
advertisement. The more I pondered over it the more unintelligible did
it become; but at the end of my meditations I always came back to the
ground fact that, come what might, I had nothing to lose, that I was
completely at the end of my resources, and that I was ready for any
adventure, however desperate, which would put a few honest sovereigns
into my pocket. The man fears to fail who has to pay for his failure,
but there was no penalty which Fortune could exact from me. I was like
th