ry one of them. They won't come near me--not they."

His thin livid lips snapped together firmly. Ossipon began to argue.

"But they could send someone--rig a plant on you. Don't you see? Get
the stuff from you in that way, and then arrest you with the proof in
their hands."

"Proof of what? Dealing in explosives without a licence perhaps." This
was meant for a contemptuous jeer, though the expression of the thin,
sickly face remained unchanged, and the utterance was negligent. "I
don't think there's one of them anxious to make that arrest. I don't
think they could get one of them to apply for a warrant. I mean one of
the best. Not one."

"Why?" Ossipon asked.

"Because they know very well I take care never to part with the last
handful of my wares. I've it always by me." He touched the breast of
his coat lightly. "In a thick glass flask," he added.

"So I have been told," said Ossipon, with a shade of wonder in his voice.
"But I didn't know if--"

"They know," interrupted the little man crisply, leaning against the
straight chair back, which rose higher than his fragile head. "I shall
never be arrested. The game isn't good enough for any policeman of them
all. To deal with a man like me you require sheer, naked, inglorious
heroism." Again his lips closed with a self-confident snap. Ossipon
repressed a movement of impatience.

"Or recklessness--or simply ignorance," he retorted. "They've only to
get somebody for the job who does not know you carry enough stuff in your
pocket to blow yourself and everything within sixty yards of you to
pieces."

"I never affirmed I could not be eliminated," rejoined the other. "But
that wouldn't be an arrest. Moreover, it's not so easy as it looks."

"Bah!" Ossipon contradicted. "Don't be too sure of that. What's to
prevent half-a-dozen of them jumping upon you from behind in the street?
With your arms pinned to your sides you could do nothing--could you?"

"Yes; I could. I am seldom out in the streets after dark," said the
little man impassively, "and never very late. I walk always with my
right hand closed round the india-rubber ball which I have in my trouser
pocket. The pressing of this ball actuates a detonator inside the flask
I carry in my pocket. It's the principle of the pneumatic instantaneous
shutter for a camera lens. The tube leads up--"

With a swift disclosing gesture he gave Ossipon a glimpse of an
india-rubber tube, resembling a