This time Lady Ruth does not say "coward," but her face expresses the
fine contempt she feels. With that mother's shrieks in her ears, what
can she think of a man who will hesitate to save a sweet child, even
at the risk of meeting the most terrible death known to the world?

She turns to face the man who a short time before positively refused to
risk his life because Miss Caprice desired it.

What can she hope from him?

As she thus turns she discovers that John Craig is no longer there,
though three seconds before his hand was on her arm.

A shout comes from the street, where, when last she looked, not a living
thing could be seen but the advancing mad dog and the kneeling child. A
shout that proceeds from a strong pair of lungs, and is intended to turn
the attention of the brute toward the person emitting it. A shout that
causes hope to thrill in many hearts, to inspire a confidence that the
innocent may be saved.

The young doctor from Chicago is seen bounding to meet the maddened
brute, now so terribly close to the child.

None knows better than John Craig what the result of a bite may be.
He has seen more than one hydrophobia patient meet death in the most
dreadful manner known to the profession.

Yet he faces this fate now, the man who was thought too cowardly to
crawl out along that bleak rock and secure a white flower for a girl's
whim.