ng to the
police; but I was never a man of strong nerve, and I don't mind
admitting that I was mortally afraid of that cunning devil, Jezzard.

"The next thing that happened was that Hearn came and took lodgings in
Sundersley, and, in spite of my efforts to avoid him, he haunted me
continually. The yacht, too, had evidently settled down for some time at
a berth in the harbour, for I heard that a local smack-boy had been
engaged as a deck-hand; and I frequently encountered Jezzard and the
other members of the gang, who all professed to believe that I had
committed the Eastwich forgeries. One day I was foolish enough to allow
myself to be lured on to the yacht for a few minutes, and when I would
have gone ashore, I found that the shore ropes had been cast off, and
that the vessel was already moving out of the harbour. At first I was
furious, but the three scoundrels were so jovial and good-natured, and
so delighted with the joke of taking me for a sail against my will, that
I presently cooled down, and having changed into a pair of rubber-soled
shoes (so that I should not make dents in the smooth deck with my
hobnails), bore a hand at sailing the yacht, and spent quite a pleasant
day.

"From that time I found myself gradually drifting back into a state of
intimacy with these agreeable scoundrels, and daily becoming more and
more afraid of them. In a moment of imbecility I mentioned what I had
seen from the shop-window at Eastwich, and, though they passed the
matter off with a joke, I could see that they were mightily disturbed by
it. Their efforts to induce me to join them were redoubled, and Hearn
took to calling almost daily at my house--usually with documents and
signatures which he tried to persuade me to copy.

"A few evenings ago he made a new and startling proposition. We were
walking in my garden, and he had been urging me once more to rejoin the
gang--unsuccessfully, I need not say. Presently he sat down on a seat
against a yew-hedge at the bottom of the garden, and, after an interval
of silence, said suddenly:

"'Then you absolutely refuse to go in with us?'

"'Of course I do,' I replied. 'Why should I mix myself up with a gang of
crooks when I have ample means and a decent position?'

"'Of course,' he agreed, 'you'd be a fool if you did. But, you see, you
know all about this Eastwich job, to say nothing of our other little
exploits, and you gave us away once before. Consequently, you can take
it from me