'You blackguard!' he cried, 'you damnable blackguard!' And he
flung himself on me like a wild-cat.

I had got my answer. He did not believe me, he knew me for a
spy, and he was determined to do me in. We were beyond finesse
now, and back at the old barbaric game. It was his life or mine.
The hammer beat furiously in my head as we closed, and a fierce
satisfaction rose in my heart.
He never had a chance, for though he was in good trim and had
the light, wiry figure of the mountaineer, he hadn't a quarter of my
muscular strength. Besides, he was wrongly placed, for he had the
outside station. Had he been on the inside he might have toppled
me over the edge by his sudden assault. As it was, I grappled him
and forced him to the ground, squeezing the breath out of his body
in the process. I must have hurt him considerably, but he never
gave a cry. With a good deal of trouble I lashed his hands behind
his back with the belt of my waterproof, carried him inside the cave
and laid him in the dark end of it. Then I tied his feet with the
strap of his own knapsack. I would have to gag him, but that could wait.

I had still to contrive a plan of action for the night, for I did not
know what part he had been meant to play in it. He might be the
messenger instead of the Portuguese Jew, in which case he would
have papers about his person. If he knew of the cave, others might
have the same knowledge, and I had better shift him before they
came. I looked at my wrist-watch, and the luminous dial showed
that the hour was half past nine.

Then I noticed that the bundle in the corner was sobbing.