His hot breath seemed to poison me.  It made me beside myself.  I knew he meant to take advantage of his physical superiority and attack me, by the narrow watch he kept upon the heavy walking-stick I still carried in my right hand.  He had expected I would attempt to strike with this, but my constant practice at boxing had made my fists the more natural weapon.  I was so enraged I did not notice he was too close to use my stick to advantage.  I simply acted without any thought whatever.  His attitude was such, as he hissed his venom into my face, as to enable me to give him a powerful “upper cut” under the jaw.  This, as I was so much lighter than he, was the most effective blow I could deliver; yet, although it took him off his feet, it did not disable him.  I had not succeeded in placing it as I had intended, and it had only the effect of rendering him demoniacal.  In an instant he was again upon his feet, and unsheathing a long knife.  I knew it meant death for me if he were able to close with me.  It was useless for me to call for help, for in those days this part of Malabar Hill was as deserted as a wilderness.  Now, the very spot on which we stood is highly cultivated, and forms a part of the garden of the Blasehek villa.  There, early in the eighties, as the guest of the hospitable Herr Blasehek, Professor Ernst Haeckel botanised a week, on his way to Ceylon.  Now, in response to a cry from his intended victim, an assassin might be frustrated by assistance from a dozen bungalows, but at the time of which I write, the victim, if he were wise, saved his breath for the struggle which he knew he must make unaided.

Ragobah paused, and coolly bared his right arm to the elbow.  There was a studied deliberation in his movements, which said only too plainly:  “There is no hurry in killing you, for you cannot escape.”  I grasped my stick firmly as my only hope, and awaited his onslaught.  My early military drill now stood me in good stead, and to it I owe my life.  Without the knowledge which I had derived from the use of the broadsword, I should have been all but certain to have attempted to strike him a downward blow upon the head.  This is just what he was expecting, and it would have cost me my life.  He would have had only to throw up his left arm to catch the blow, while with his right hand he plunged the knife into my heart.  My experience had taught me how much easier it is to protect one’s self from a cutting blow than from a thrust, and I determined to adopt this latter means of assault.  Ragobah advanced upon me slowly, much as a cat steals upon an unsuspecting bird.  I raised my stick as if to strike him, and he instinctively threw up his left arm, and advanced upon me.  My opportunity had come; I lowered the point of my cane to the level of his face, and made a vigorous lunge forward, throwing my whole weight upon the thrust.  As nearly as I could tell, the point of my stick caught him in the socket of the left eye, just as he sprang forward,