danger of his life. I hated to
have to refuse him, but I had very good reasons, which I intended to
keep to myself, too, for not putting my life into danger too often. So I
told him point-blank that if he wanted to hire a bodyguard he'd have to
go somewhere else. He wasn't as put out at my reply as I would have
expected. Instead he smiled up at me--for all his bulk I towered over
him--and there was a touch of gameness in that smile that I rather
liked. I couldn't help telling him just what I thought.

"I don't think you want anyone to look after you," I said. "You're as
game as they make 'em. I'm pretty used to reading men--I've been in
places where my life depended on my ability in that direction--and when
I see a fellow smile like you're smiling now, you can take it from me
that he's grit all through."

"They'll get me yet," he said with a sigh. "I'm handicapped, you see. I
couldn't have sprinted along the beach the way you did. I'd have
wheezed. Bellows gone and all that, you know. Too much fat, the doctor
says."

"Now, you're just about right there. I don't like to be personal, but
now you mention it, you don't seem to have the cut of an athlete."

"And you have," he said, as he insinuated himself into his collar. It
was a trifle too small for his neck, and he had to coax it a lot before
he got both ends to meet. "You're the type of man I take to instantly,
Mr. ----."

He asked me a question with his eyes.

"Well," I said in answer, "if it's any use to you my name's Carstairs,
Jimmy Carstairs at that, and I'm an explorer by inclination, gentleman
by instinct, and the rolling-stone-that-gathers-no-moss by sheer force
of unlovely circumstance. Now you know all that I intend to tell you
about myself."

"Um!" he said again. "I had better introduce myself, I suppose. I fancy
my card-case's in my coat pocket."

"Don't trouble about a card," I said airily. "I'm not at all fussy. I'm
quite willing to take your word for it."

There was a twinkle in his eye, as he replied, that showed he rather
appreciated my cheap wit. "Bryce is my name," he said. "You may have
heard of it?"

"Can't say I have," I told him, "though I'm pretty certain to see it
often if you make a practice of keeping up this guerilla warfare."

It wasn't a nice thing to say, but then I'm never very particular, and
if my listeners don't like my remarks they're always welcome to change
the subject. When all's said and done there was more in that l