at I shall do_!"

"What? You will go?" I exclaimed. "But you mustn't--the danger! We'd
better both go together."

Hewitt smiled. "Why not forty of us?" he said. "No. Here is a chance of
bagging our man, for, however I am to be arranged for--whether by shot,
steel, or the tourniquet, I make no doubt it is Mayes himself who is to
do it. You shall come, however, you and Plummer at least. But we will
not go in a bunch--you shall follow me and watch, ready to help when
needful. This Channel Marsh is an empty, dark space between two channels
of the Lea. It is among the Hackney Marshes, lying between Stratford and
Homerton, and I fancy there is a deserted house there, though I can't
remember ever having seen it. Do you know it?"

"No; not in the least."

"Well, I must reconnoitre to-day, and that with a lot of care. I think I
told you I was convinced of being watched, and that is a thing you can't
prevent in a place like London, if it is skilfully done. Now, Brett, you
have done very well this morning. If you want to be on the scene of
action to-night at twelve, you must get leave from your editor, mustn't
you? How's your wrist?"

It was still extremely stiff, and I told Hewitt that I doubted my
ability to hold a pen for two or three days.

"Very well, then; get off and convey your excuses as soon as you please.
I shall have a talk with Plummer, and then I shall take a few hours to
myself, by myself, in somebody else's clothes. Be in your rooms all the
evening, for you may expect a message."

IV

It was at a little past nine in the evening that I next saw Hewitt. He
came into my rooms in an incongruous get-up. He wore corduroy trousers,
a very dirty striped jersey, a particularly greasy old jacket, and a
twisted neckcloth; but over all was an excellent overcoat, and on his
head a tall hat of high polish.

"Brought to me by Kerrett," he said, in explanation of the hat and
overcoat. "He's been waiting with them for a long time in a court by
Milford Lane. A good hat and overcoat will cover anything, and I
preferred to enter this building in my own character. I've been wearing
that this afternoon," and he pulled out of his pocket an old peaked cap
with ear-pieces tied over the top.

"You mustn't bring your best clothes," he went on, "or you'll spoil
them scrambling about boats and groping in ditches. I have done my
ditch-groping for the day, and I'm going to change. You had best be
putting on older things whil