tocky man, at sight of whom the Doctor gave a start of
surprise, but did not falter. The man was clad in the white coat of a
hospital attendant, beneath which the great, bunchy muscles of his
shoulders and upper arms were plainly visible.

"Hello, Al!" exclaimed Blaine, briskly.

The veins on the thick bull neck seemed to swell, but there was no
sign of recognition in the stolid jaw. Only the lower lip protruded as
the man set his jaw, and the little, close-set, porcine eyes
narrowed.

"You were a rubber at the Hoffmeister Baths the last time I saw you,"
went on the detective, smoothly, as he deftly inserted his foot
between the door and jamb. "You remember me, of course. I'm Henry
Blaine. My friends and I have come here to-night on a confidential
errand, and I'd like a word in private with you."

The man he called "Al" muttered something which sounded like a
disclaimer. Then he caught sight of the Doctor's face over Blaine's
shoulder, and a spasm of black rage seized him.

"Oh, it's you, is it? You've snitched, d--n you! I'll do for you, for
this!"

He lunged forward, but Blaine, with a strength of which the Doctor
would not a moment before have thought him possessed, grasped the
ex-rubber and flung him backward, advancing into the hall at the same
time, while his two operatives and the Doctor crowded in behind him.

"Al" staggered, regained his balance, and came on in a blind rush,
bull neck lowered, long, monkey-like arms taut and rigid for the first
blow. Blaine set himself to meet it, but it was never delivered. At
that instant the whirring roar of a high-powered car, unmuffled,
sounded in all their ears, and a second machine drew up at the steps.

Its single passenger flung himself out and bounded up to the door.

"What in h--l does this mean?" he bellowed. "Didn't you hear my
horn?"

He stopped abruptly in sheer amazement, for Blaine had turned, with
beaming face and outstretched hand.

"Mac Alarney!" he exclaimed. "Thank the Lord you've come! This
thick-skulled boob wouldn't give me time for a word, and every minute
is precious! Come where I can talk to you, quick!"

Then, as if catching sight of the car in which Mac Alarney had come,
for the first time his eyes widened and he seemed struggling to
suppress an outburst of mirth.

"Great guns! Is that _your_ car, yours? Do you mean to tell me it was
you I was playing with, back there on the road? When I flashed the
light in your face I was sure yo