on't even know
that Lollie will refuse to go in the ordinary way, but I must make
preparations."

"It is a reasonable suggestion," said Selby, after considering the
matter for a few minutes. "I'll do it, colonel."

"You'd better bring a couple of men to London who can handle Lollie if
she gives any trouble--no, no," said the colonel, raising his hand in
dignified protest, "there's going to be nothing rough. How can there be?
You'll be in charge of it all, and it is up to you as to how Lollie is
treated."

It did not occur to Selby until an hour later to ask the colonel how he
knew that his hobby was motor-boating, but by that time the colonel had
gone.

It was true, as Boundary said, that the gang was scared--and badly
scared. It was equally true that they needed only one jar before it
became a case of every man for himself. Already even the minor members
were making their preparations to break away. The red light was burning
clear before all eyes. But none knew how readily the colonel had
recognised the signs, and how, in spite of his apparent philosophy and
his contempt of danger, he, more than any of the others, was preparing
for the inevitable crash.

Jack o' Judgment, he told himself, was playing his game better than he
could play it himself. The arrest of Phillopolis had removed one of the
men who might have been an inconvenient witness against him. White was
gone, Raoul was gone. He had planned the disappearance of Selby, a most
dangerous man, and Lollie Marsh, an even more dangerous woman and there
remained only Pinto and Crewe.

When he had taken leave of his agent, the colonel walked to Westminster
and boarded a car which carried him along the Embankment to Blackfriars.
He might have been followed, and probably was, but this possibility did
not worry him. He walked across Ludgate Circus, up St. Bride Street to
Hatton Garden, and turned into the office of Myglebergs'. Mr. Mygleberg,
a very suave and polite gentleman, received him and ushered him into a
private room. This shrewd Dutchman had no illusions as to the colonel's
probity, but he had no doubt either that the big man could pay
handsomely for everything he bought.

"I'm glad you've come, colonel," he said; "I have been expecting you for
a couple of days. We have just had a wonderful parcel of stones from
Amsterdam, and I think some of them would suit you."

He disappeared and came back with a tray covered with the most beautiful
diamonds that