broken only by the occasional rattle of a loose
window, the steady chink--chink of coin slipping through fingers, the
crisp rustle of bills, like new silk. And when it was done Allen leaned
back in his chair, patting the arm of it with one hand, and surveyed the
neatly piled money and the three buckskin sacks on the desk before him.
Then he stood up, very erect and stern in the yellow lamplight.

"Take those men to the guardhouse," he ordered curtly, pointing an
accusing finger at Hicks and Bevans. "Iron them securely--securely!"

He turned to me. "I regret that it will be necessary for you to wait
some little time, Flood, before your money can be restored to you," he
said in a pleasanter tone. "There will be certain formalities to go
through, you understand. You will also be required as a witness at the
forthcoming trial. We shall be glad to furnish you and Smith with
comfortable quarters until then. It is late, but MacRae knows these
barracks, and doubtless he can find you a temporary sleeping place.
And, in conclusion, I wish to compliment all three of you on the
courage and resource you displayed in tracking down these damnable
scoundrels--_damnable_ scoundrels."

He fairly exploded that last phrase. I daresay it was something of a
blow to his pride in the Force to learn that such deviltry had actually
been fathered by one of his trusted officers; something the same
sorrowful anger that stirs a man when one of his own kin goes wrong.
Then, as if he were half-ashamed of his burst of feeling, he dismissed
us with a wave of his hand and a gruff "That's all, to-night."

* * * * *

That practically was the finish of the thing. There was, of course, a
trial, at which Hicks and Bevans were convicted out of hand and duly
sentenced to be hung--a sentence that was carried out with neatness and
despatch in the near future. Also, I did manage, in the fullness of
time, to deliver La Pere's ten thousand dollars without further
gun-play.

Colonel Allen knew a good man when he saw one--he was not long in
demonstrating that fact. When everything was straightened out,
MacRae--urged thereto by Lyn--made a straightforward request for
honorable discharge But he did not get it. Instead, the gray-haired
Commissioner calmly offered him promotion to an Inspectorship, which is
equivalent to the rank of a captain, and carries pay of two thousand a
year. And MacRae, of course, accepted.

The day he cast