had ever left the cutter's hands. The colonel went over
them slowly, examining them and putting a selected number aside.

"I'll take those," he said, and Mr. Mygleberg laughed.

"They're the best," he chuckled. "Trust you to know a good thing when
you see it, colonel!"

"What have I to pay for these?"

Mygleberg made a rapid calculation and put the figures before Colonel
Boundary.

"It is a big price," said the colonel, "but I don't think you have
overcharged. Besides, I could always sell them again for that much."

Mr. Mygleberg nodded.

"I think you are wise to put your money into stones, colonel," he said;
"they always go up and never go down in value. You can lose other
things. They're easy and they're always convertible. I always tell my
partner that if I ever become a millionaire I shall invest every penny
in stones."

The colonel paid for the gems from a thick wad of notes he took from his
hip-pocket. They were, in point of fact, the identical notes which
Maisie White had handed to him the night previous. He waited whilst the
jewels were made up into a little oblong package, heavily sealed and
inscribed with the colonel's name and address, and then, shaking hands
with Mygleberg and fixing a further appointment, he came out into Hatton
Garden, whistling a little song and apparently the picture of
contentment.

He was getting ready for flight too. This, the first of many packages
which he intended depositing in the private safe of his bank, would go
with the ever-increasing pile of American gold bonds of high
denomination which filled that steel repository. For months the colonel
had been converting his property into paper dollars. They were more
easily negotiated and less traceable than English banknotes, and they
were more get-at-able. A big balance in the books of the bank might be
creditable and, given time, convertible into cash. Then nobody knew but
himself the amount standing to his credit. He was not at the mercy of
prying bank clerks or a manager who might be got at by the police. At a
minute's notice, and without anybody being the wiser, he could demand
the contents of his safe and walk from the bank premises without a soul
being aware that he was carrying the bulk of his fortune away.

He took a cab and drove now to the bank premises. Ferguson, the manager,
received him.

"Good morning, colonel," he said. "I was just writing you a note. You
know your account is getting very low."

"Is tha