'You have got the packet for my father?' said poor Mr Winkle. 'Of course,' said Mr Snodgrass. 'Stay calm and shoot him in the shoulder.'

Mr Winkle thought about this advice. It sounded like something which people always say to the smallest boy in a street fight. 'Go in, and win' - an excellent idea to suggest, if you only know how to do it. However, he took off his cloak in silence - it always took a long time to undo that cloak - and accepted the pistol.

The seconds stepped back, the gentleman on the camp-stool did the same, and the duellists walked up to each other.

Everyone has often said how much Mr Winkle loved other human beings. They think that he was very upset at the thought that he was now deliberately going to hurt someone else. That is why his eyes were tightly closed when he came face to face with Dr Slammer.

Because his eyes were closed, he did not see the very extraordinary and unexplainable behaviour of Doctor Slammer. The Doctor jumped back, stared, looked again, rubbed his eyes, stared again, and finally, shouted, 'Stop, stop!'

As his friend and Mr Snodgrass came running up Dr Slammer asked them 'What's all this? 'That's not the man.'