They fell across the table, shattering the crockery, then pitched off on to the floor with Mike underneath.
He writhed over on his face and offered an opening for an elbow twist which was not neglected. There was an instant when he thought the joint would go; but he broke the hold by a headspin at the cost of infinite pain.
Mike had seen the state in which jiu jitsu wrestlers left their vanquished adversaries. Defeat at this girl's hands would probably leave him helpless and crippled for three or four hours. It was not a pleasant thought. He would have to hurt her--hurt her badly, if he could.
He was flat on his face again when suddenly he felt his automatic jerked from its holster and she sprang to her feet.
"If you move an eyelash," said Dorothy, rather breathlessly, "I'll pull the trigger!"
"If you don't drop that rod at once, I'll blow the top of your head off," declared a dispassionate voice from the doorway.
Dorothy dropped the gun.
Chapter XIV
THE DOCTOR
"And now, Mike," continued the voice, "I'd like to know how you happened to be caught napping."
Dorothy swung round to see a young woman standing in the doorway. With a gasp of consternation she found herself staring down the barrel of a revolver. For a fraction of a second her heart turned over with a sickening thud. Then she recovered her poise.