The minister was in no hurry. Indifferent to his surroundings he made his
way, with no apparent interest in the paths he took. At last he turned
into a dark stretch and for the moment was lost to sight in the night.

Suddenly the shadow darted forward. Orme hurried his own pace, and in a
moment he heard the sounds of a short, sharp struggle--a scuffling of
feet in the gravel, a heavy fall. There was no outcry.

Orme broke into a run. At a point where the path was darkest he checked
himself for an instant. A little distance ahead a man lay flat on the
ground, and bending over him was a short, stocky figure.

Orme leaped forward and swung his cane. The stick was tough and the blow
was hard enough to send a man to earth, but the robber had heard Orme's
approach, and looked up from his victim just in time. With a motion
indescribably swift, he caught with one hand the descending cane and
wrenched it from Orme's grasp. Then he crouched to spring.

At this instant Orme heard footsteps behind him. A turn of the head
showed a threatening figure at his back. There had been four men in that
procession through the park!

By a quick leap to one side, Orme placed himself for the moment out of
danger. His two assailants, moving too fast to stop, bumped together.
They faced about for another spring at him. And then there was a short
scratching sound, and in the hand of the man on the ground flared a
match.

"Ha!" exclaimed the prostrate Alcatrante, "I thought so!"

Orme found himself looking into the contorted faces of two Japanese.

Discovery was evidently the last thing the hold-up men desired, for they
disappeared like a flash, diving through the shrubbery behind them. Orme,
dazed and breathing hard, attempted no immediate pursuit. He stepped
quickly to Alcatrante and helped him to his feet.

"I am not hurt," said the South American. "When the man threw me to the
ground, I feigned that I was stunned. It is wiser not to resist a thug,
is it not so?" He brushed the dust from his clothing with his
handkerchief. Orme handed him his hat, which had rolled to one side. The
minister rubbed it carefully with his coat-sleeve. "See," he laughed,
nodding at the ground, "my cane is broken. I must have fallen on it."

"Since you're not hurt," said Orme, "we'd better get after the thieves."

"Bah!" replied Alcatrante. "What is the use? They are already far
away--and they got nothing." He laughed. "Is it not always better to
avoid n