the worthy officer to
take this frightful risk.

"'Yes,' said another voice, 'they're dead enough. They've cheated us
after all. Not that I complain of that. But, my eye, sir; what a sell!
Think of all those Tommies and that machine gun. Ha! ha! Oh! Lord! I
suppose the beggars poisoned themselves when they saw the game was up.'
He laughed again and the laugh ended in a fit of coughing.

"'Not they, Sergeant,' said the other. 'It was that coke stove that gave
them their ticket. Can't you smell it? And, by Jove, it will give us our
ticket if we don't clear out. We'll just run down and report and send
for a couple of stretchers.'

"'Hadn't I better wait here, sir, while you're gone?' asked the
sergeant.

"'Lord, no, man. What for? We shall want three stretchers if you do.
Come along. Pooh! Leave the door open.'

"I listened incredulously to their retreating footsteps. It seemed
hardly possible that they should be so devoid of caution. And yet, why
not? The men were dead. And dead men are not addicted to sudden
disappearances.

"But this case was going to be an exception. I had given the specimens
up for lost when I heard the police enter; but now--

"I opened the slide, sprang through the opening, and strode over to the
mattress. One after the other, I picked up the prostrate ruffians,
carried them across and bundled them through the aperture. Then I came
through myself, shut the cupboard doors, closed both panels carefully,
shut up my own cupboard and carried the specimens down to my bedroom.
With their knees drawn up, they packed quite easily in the large
drawers. I shut them in, locked the drawers, pocketed the key, washed my
hands and went down to the parlor, where I rapidly laid the breakfast
table. At any moment now, the police might come to inspect, and
whenever they came, they would find me ready.

"I did not waste time on breakfast. That could wait. Meanwhile I fell to
work with the materials in the yard. In addition to the hand-cart, there
was now a coster's barrow, the property of a greengrocer, to whom also
belonged a quantity of lumber, including some bundles of stakes and
several hampers filled with straw. With these materials, and those that
I had borrowed from Mrs. Kosminsky, I began rapidly to build up a pair
of life-sized guys--one male and one female. I put them together very
roughly and sat them side by side in the barrow, leaning against the
wall; and to each I attached a large ticket on whic