t financier in the world."

"But won't we frighten Hervey's family if we take steps now?"

"Better to frighten them now than to be too late entirely. However, we
can place his house under surveillance without the knowledge of the
family for the time being. And you'd better send a couple of men to
his office in the Empire State Building to see that nothing happens
to him on the way home this evening. I talked to him by telephone and
he pooh-poohed the whole thing. Hard-headed business executives have
no imagination."

Bentley and Tyler rode uptown in the back seat of a speeding police
car driven by one of the best chauffeurs Bentley had ever ridden
behind. He edged through holes in the traffic where Bentley could
scarcely see any holes at all. He estimated the speed of cars which
might have collided with the police vehicle and slipped through with
inches to spare. In his way the man was a genius. But Bentley was yet
to see the driving of a master genius....

- - -

Far out in the residential district the police car came to a
stop. Other police cars arrived at intervals to disgorge men in
plain clothes who immediately entered upon their guard duties as
unobtrusively as possible. If Hervey's family noticed at all they
would scarcely attach any importance to the arrival of cars and the
discharging of passengers who seemed to have nothing to do except
dawdle on the sidewalks.

But all the way uptown a hunch had ridden Bentley. He had the feeling
that no matter how fast the police car traveled, no matter how
skilfully the chauffeur inched his way through the press, they would
be too late to save Hervey. The feeling became an obsession. Many
times he called through the speaking tube.

"Faster, driver, for God's sake, faster!"

Now near the home of Harold Hervey, Bentley found himself unable to
walk slowly, with the air of nonchalance, which the other police
officers wore like a cloak.

"Something's happened," said Bentley, "I'm sure of it. I feel that
Barter is so close to me that I could touch him if I knew in which
direction to extend my fingers."

Suddenly a speeding car, with horn bellowing, came crashing up the
street toward the Hervey residence. It was traveling at great speed,
careening from side to side like a ship in a storm at sea.

"There comes Hervey's car," said Tyler. "And something has happened to
make him travel like that. Old man Hervey doesn't allow his chauffeur
to go faster than