Clifford Ashdown

“ I had stood my cycle in the front garden of the little red-brick building, almost too pretty for a police station, and when I came out I was disgusted to find that the back tyre was nearly flat, the valve washer I had put in over-night having failed me. The sergeant, a true cyclist, lent a ready hand, and between us we soon had the machine upside down, when I found, in addition, a thorn sticking tightly in the rubber. I was commencing to remove the tyre with my fingers when I suddenly remembered my new lever, and fished it out of the tool-bag. ”

“ As there was no one to meet me at the station I left my bag in the cloak-room, and cycled up through the town. Dr. Ringmer had said, according to Adamson, that he did much of his work on a cycle, and the "C.T.C." road-book spoke highly of the going thereabouts. The station-master had directed me to the house opposite the fire-station. "You can't miss it; it's a straight road," said he. So it was, but he forgot to add that it was a sharp down-grade all the way, and although I jammed on the brake the machine nearly ran away with me, and I had shot by the fire-station before I noticed it. ”

“ Well, you'll have to be as tactful as you can with the Duchess, who'll probably have hysteria if she finds the Duke has got 'em again. You know what hysteria is, too, I suppose?"
"Influenza."
"Good; you know more about private practice than I gave you credit for. Well, hurry up, for goodness sake." ”

“ Ringmer was certainly very careless with his tools, for I raked out a new file and a perfectly good chuck from the heap, and just before I found the nut, I turned up a twisted thing, formed out of a single piece of very stout wire. I had never seen anything like it before, and it was so odd-looking that I was about to ask Mrs. Carpenter if she knew what it was used for, when it occurred to me that it was just the thing I wanted for a tyre-lever; so, telling myself that it was of no value, I put it in my tool-bag incontinently. ”

“ As I have said, it was only about half-way down the drawers that the instruments began—the usual assortment of knives and general tools for minor surgical work, all in very bad condition; but when I went lower I came on the queerest-looking set of things imaginable, the like of which I had never seen outside a museum of surgical instruments, and not even there! For if they were indeed surgical they must have belonged to some dead and gone era—the Saxon Heptarchy perhaps; none but a barbarian would nowadays use such things upon a human being. ”

“ They reminded me of veterinary instruments more than anything else. But those I knew they were not. I happen to know something about veterinary practice, as a fellow-student took it into his head there was more money to be made out of horses than men, and before he qualified as a "vet." I spent some very interesting mornings with him in Great College Street, Camden Town. Quite characteristically, Ringmer seemed to keep his carpentering tools mixed up with the antiquities, and I noticed some drills, and even a collar from the lathe, jumbled together with them. ”

“ Ringmer seemed very excited over it, and, I learnt, had asked for me a dozen times.
"Look here!" he commenced, the moment I entered the room. "The Duke of Hammersmith is my best patient. It's just my luck to be laid up when I'm wanted—most likely he's got D.T. There's a strain of hereditary alcoholism in the family, and he was drinking like a fish last week. You know, by the by, that there's no such thing in private practice, don't you?" ”

“ She had been told it was a very fine lathe; the ironmonger said it had cost a lot of money. My cycle must have cost a lot too. She had heard they sold for as much as five pounds in the town. The doctor used to ride out a lot on his machine; he always took it at nights, and never called up the groom. There had been a lot of night-work lately; no wonder he was laid up. He was a real clever man, and very handy with tools; many was the hour he used to spend in his workshop ”

“ Cave had put the machine in an outhouse where Ringmer kept his own cycle, and, better still, his lathe. I soon found the reason of the brake's failure; as I expected, the damage had been done in the railway van, the lever being bent so as to lose half its power. I have always prided myself on being a practical cyclist, so it was not long before I had the whole affair off, and a very little gentle persuasion from Ringmer's vice soon put it right again. Mrs. ”

“ You see, the soil is sandy, and the rain soaks in at once. By the by, you must be careful if you ride out after dark; the police are beastly keen about lamps being lit up, I can tell you. Cave—my man, you know—mostly rides my machine ”