“Alone?”

“No, with some one else, who came running up the road—just as I was able to cry out a bit,” said the doctor.

“Was it a man, or a woman?” questioned Ralph, though he was very sure which it was.

“I could not see. They only said a few words, and those in a whisper. Directly they went off I started shouting.”

Ralph set about dragging him out of the brambles. Then he said: “So he didn’t gag you?”

“Oh, yes; he did, but not successfully.”

“What with?”

“With my silk scarf.

“There is a right way of gagging, but very few people know it,” said Ralph.

He snatched the scarf from the doctor and set about showing him that right way of gagging people.