ssy, and tyrants more
than hydrants. I guess I was brought up in a land of freedom and glory,
where the only tyrant you ever meet is a traffic cop. If this is another
croaking job, why, gents, I won't trouble you any longer."

He half-rose, but Nicholas pushed him down.

"Not even if it was the Czar?" he said calmly.

Cherry Bim gaped at him.

"The Czar?" he said, with a queer little grimace to emphasize his
disbelief in the evidence of his hearing. "What are you getting at?"

"Would you shoot the Czar for two thousand pounds?" asked Nicholas.

Cherry Bim pushed his hat to the back of his head and got up, shaking
off the protesting arm.

"I'm through," he said, "and that's all there is to it."

It was at that moment that Serganoff came through the door and Cherry
Bim remained where he stood, surprised to silence, for the face of the
newcomer was covered from chin to forehead by a black silk mask.

The door was shut behind him; he walked slowly to the table and dropped
into a broken chair, Cherry's eyes never leaving his face.

"For fifteen years," said the gun-man, speaking slowly, "I've been a
crook, but never once have I seen a guy got up like that villain in a
movie picture. Say, mister, let's have a look at your face."

Cherry Bim was not the only person perturbed by the arrival of a masked
stranger. Only three men in the room were in the secret of the
newcomer's identity, and suspicious and scowling faces were turned upon
him.

"You will excuse me," said the mask, "but there are many reasons why you
should not see me or know me again."

"And there's a mighty lot of reasons why you shouldn't know me again,"
said Cherry, "yet I've obliged you with a close-up of my distinguished
features."

"You have heard the proposition," said the man. "What do you think of
it?"

"I think it's a fool proposition," replied Cherry contemptuously. "I've
told these lads before that I am not falling for the Lucretia Borgia
stuff, and I'm telling you the same."

The masked man chuckled.

"Well, don't let us quarrel," he said. "Nicholas, give him the money we
promised."

Nicholas put his hand in his pocket and brought out a roll of notes,
which he tossed to the man on his left, and Cherry Bim, to whom tainted
money was as acceptable as tainted pheasant to the epicure, pocketed it
with a smack of his lips.

"Now, if there's anything I can do for you boys," he said, "here's your
chance to make use of me. Though I say