When he put down the towel, he raised it from the toilet, where it lay.

It resembled the butt of a whip--was an inch or so longer than a drumstick, and six or seven inches of the thick end stood out in a series of circular bands or rings.

He washed the thick end of it in the basin; it seemed to have a spring in it, and Cluffe thought it was a sort of loaded baton.

In those days robbery and assault were as common as they are like to become again, and there was nothing remarkable in the possession of such defensive weapons.
Dangerfield had only run it once or twice hastily through the water, rolled it in a red handkerchief, and threw it into his drawer, which he locked.

When Cluffe was shown the whip, which bore a rude resemblance to this instrument, and which Lowe had assumed to be all that Cluffe had really seen, the gallant captain peremptorily pooh-poohed it.