His appreciation of her thoughtfulness was unspoken, but nevertheless sincere. The three men were within fifty yards. ‘Slip off behind and into the hedge,’ he ordered. ‘We shall do better from that shelter if there is to be a row.’ She obeyed, and they cowered under the hedge side by side. ‘Get further away from me,’ he said imperatively. ‘You may be in danger just here.’ But she would not move. ‘Whose car is this?’ cried a voice out of the gloom--a rough, bullying voice that Richard did not recognise. ‘Never mind whose car it is!’ Richard sang out. ‘Keep away from it. That’s my advice to you, whoever you are. I can see you perfectly well, and I will shoot the first man that advances another step.’ ‘Why?’ returned the same voice. ‘What’s all this bluster for? We only want a bit of indiarubber for a ripped tyre.’ ‘It doesn’t take three of you to fetch a bit of indiarubber. Let two of you get back, and then I’ll talk to the third.’ ‘Get on, my lads,’ another voice cried, and this time Richard knew the voice. It was Simon Lock’s; the financier was covered with a long overcoat; he was the rearmost of the three. Richard, without the least hesitation, aimed at Simon’s legs and fired. He missed. At the same instant the middle figure of the three flung some object sharply towards the hedge in the direction whence the revolver-shot had proceeded, and Richard felt a smashing blow on the head, after which he felt nothing else whatever. He had vague visions, and then there was a blank, an absolute and complete blank. The next thing of which he was conscious was a sense of moisture on his head. He opened his eyes and saw in the sky the earliest inkling of dawn. He also saw Teresa bending over him with a handkerchief. ‘You are better,’ she said to him softly. ‘You’ll soon be all right.’ Richard shook his head feebly, as he felt a lump over his eye. He had a dizzy sensation. ‘Yes, you will,’ Teresa insisted. ‘It was very unfortunate, your being hit with that stone. You gave an awful groan, and those men thought you were dead; they certainly thought you were alone. I would have shot them, every one, but you dropped the revolver in the grass by this bit of a gutter here, and I couldn’t find it till they’d gone. D’you know, they’ve gone off with our car? There was a man among them who seemed to understand it perfectly. I’m awfully glad now I didn’t show myself, because I couldn’t have done anything, and I can do something now. Oh, Dick! I saw them pull father out of their car--it’s a big Panhard--and put him into ours. He was all tied with ropes. It will be a heavy load for that little car, and they can’t go so very fast. We must mend their car, Dick, and go on as quickly as possible.’ ‘Can we mend it?’ Richard asked, amazed at this coolness, courage, and enterprise. ‘Yes, of course. Look, you can see from here; it’s only a puncture.’ ‘But didn’t one of them say they’d got no indiarubber?’ Teresa laughed.