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268 something that neither of us got, because we kept our faces to the villains that set on us."

Paddy made a rush, but I cried:

"Don't touch the man when he 's down."

"Sure," says Paddy, "that 's when they all fell on me."

"Never strike a man when he 's down," I cried.

"Do ye mean to say we should n't hit a man when he 's down?" asked Jem Bottles.

"You knew very well you should n't," I told him. "Sure you 've been in the ring before now."

"That I have," shouted Bottles, pouncing on the unfortunate Doctor. He grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and flung him to his feet, then gave him a bat on the side of the head that sent him reeling up toward the ceiling again.

"That 's enough, Jem," I cautioned him.

"I 'm not only following the Doctor," said Jem, "but I 'm following the Doctor's advice. He told us to take a little gentle exercise and it would allay the soreness."

"The exercise you 're taking will not allay the soreness on the Doctor's part. Stop it, Jem! Now leave him alone, Paddy; he 's had enough to remember you by, and to learn that the way of the traitor is the rocky road to Dublin. Come now. Doctor, the door is open; get out into the passage as quick as you can, and I hope you have another bottle of that excellent lotion at home." The threatening attitude of both Jem and Paddy seemed to paralyse the little man with fear, and he lay on the boards glaring up at them with terror in his eyes.