ed the question you put to me," he said, "but I'm
going to make a fight of it. Dan Boundary is too old in the bones and
hates exercise too much to survive the keen air and the bracing
employment of Dartmoor--if we ever got there," he said ominously.

"What do you mean?" demanded Crewe.

"I mean that, when they've photographed Selby and circulated his
picture, somebody is certain to recognise him as the man who handed the
glass of water over the heads of the crowd when Hanson was killed----"

"Was it Selby?" gasped Crewe. "I wasn't in it. I knew nothing about
it----"

The colonel laughed again.

"Of course you're not in anything," he bantered. "Yes, it was Selby, and
it is ten chances to one that the usher would recognise him again if he
saw him. That would mean--well, they don't hang folks at Dartmoor." He
looked at his watch again. "I expect Pinto will be about an hour and a
half," he said. "You will excuse me," he added with elaborate politeness
"I have a lot of work to do."

He cleared the drawers of his writing-table by the simple process of
pulling them out and emptying their contents upon the top. He went
through these with remarkable rapidity, throwing the papers one by one
into the fire, and he was engaged in this occupation when Pinto
returned.

"Back already?" said the colonel in surprise, and then, after a glance
at the other's face, he demanded: "What's wrong?"

Pinto was incapable of speech. He just put the cheque down upon the
table.

"Haven't they cashed it?" asked the colonel with a frown.

"They can't cash it," said Pinto in a hollow voice. "There's no money
there."

The colonel picked up the cheque.

"So there's no money there to meet it?" he said softly. "And why is
there no money there to meet it?"

"Because it was drawn out three days ago. I thought----" said Pinto
incoherently. "I saw Ferguson, and he told me that a cheque for the full
amount came through from the Bank of England."

"In whose favour was it drawn?"

Pinto cleared his throat.

"In favour of the Chancellor of the Exchequer," he said. "That's why
Ferguson passed it without question. He said that otherwise he would
have sent a note to you."

"The Chancellor of the Exchequer!" snarled the colonel. "What does it
mean?"

"Look here! Ferguson showed it me himself." He took a copy of _The
Times_ from his pocket and laid it on the table, pointing out the
paragraph with trembling fingers.

It was in the advertisement