The drawing of the curtain threw everything into gloom until lamps were brought in from somewhere behind the hall. It was in this short interval of twilight that the ugly Chink made a sudden slight gesture, as if to somebody at the far side of the room. So unobtrusive was the movement that had I not been on the alert I should certainly not have noticed it at all. As it was, the handsome fellow looked to be totally unaware of anything wrong, for he plunged again into talk as earnest as ever, while his companion answered him with an air of unshaken determination. Then I realised the game. A third figure was edging nearer and nearer the two, and I saw that this man was carrying, half hidden in his ample sleeve, a stout, heavy bottle. The ugly Chink, clearly, was talking to hold the attention of the handsome one while the accomplice approached him from behind--with intent there was no mistaking. I called sharply to the prospective quarry, but too late. At this very instant the lamps were obscured for another act on the stage. The man with the bottle glided forward and aimed a savage blow at the good-looking Chink. It fell on the back of his black skull-cap, with a horrible hollow crack, and the man went down like a log. In a flash the other had pounced upon him, tearing at his long robe as if to get at something in the inner folds. Now I knew well enough that in places of this kind, which are none too wholesome for a European at the best, it would be sheer lunacy to interfere in any and every quarrel that might break out between natives. The only thing to do then is to get into the street, on your belly if there's shooting or knife-throwing, in any case the quicker the better. But there was a cold brutality and treachery about this assault that set my blood boiling and stirred every ounce of the sense of fair play that was in me. Moreover, I had taken a queer sort of fancy to the handsome Chinaman. Perhaps it was because he left his enemies so far behind in the way of looks, but I think also I was attracted by the air of decency and straightforwardness which he had and the others certainly had not. Anyway, I had thrown prudence to the winds in an instant, and taken shares in the row to the full amount of my capital. I sprang on to the ugly Chink and flung him off his victim, then picked up the stunned man and backed towards the door with him in my arms; but the tables and the thick crowd were all against escape that way. Besides, the bottle man had edged round behind me, and there I stood, carrying a helpless stranger, midway between two of the ripest looking scoundrels in Asia. I saw that my one chance would be to get my back to the wall and hold on until I could attract help, if any, from outside. It was a slender hope, but the best that occurred to me at the moment.