t, and more sport, in going where they boast they're on their
guard against you. The Bank of England, for example, is the ideal
crib; but that would need half a dozen of us with years to give to the
job; and meanwhile Reuben Rosenthall is high enough game for you and
me. We know he's armed. We know how Billy Purvis can fight. It'll be
no soft thing, I grant you. But what of that, my good Bunny--what of
that? A man's reach must exceed his grasp, dear boy, or what the
dickens is a heaven for?"

"I would rather we didn't exceed ours just yet," I answered laughing,
for his spirit was irresistible, and the plan was growing upon me,
despite my qualms.

"Trust me for that," was his reply; "I'll see you through. After all I
expect to find that the difficulties are nearly all on the surface.
These fellows both drink like the devil, and that should simplify
matters considerably. But we shall see, and we must take our time.
There will probably turn out to be a dozen different ways in which the
thing might be done, and we shall have to choose between them. It will
mean watching the house for at least a week in any case; it may mean
lots of other things that will take much longer; but give me a week and
I will tell you more. That's to say, if you're really on?"

"Of course I am," I replied indignantly. "But why should I give you a
week? Why shouldn't we watch the house together?"

"Because two eyes are as good as four and take up less room. Never
hunt in couples unless you're obliged. But don't you look offended,
Bunny; there'll be plenty for you to do when the time comes, that I
promise you. You shall have your share of the fun, never fear, and a
purple diamond all to yourself--if we're lucky."

On the whole, however, this conversation left me less than lukewarm,
and I still remember the depression which came upon me when Raffles was
gone. I saw the folly of the enterprise to which I had committed
myself--the sheer, gratuitous, unnecessary folly of it. And the
paradoxes in which Raffles revelled, and the frivolous casuistry which
was nevertheless half sincere, and which his mere personality rendered
wholly plausible at the moment of utterance, appealed very little to me
when recalled in cold blood. I admired the spirit of pure mischief in
which he seemed prepared to risk his liberty and his life, but I did
not find it an infectious spirit on calm reflection. Yet the thought
of withdrawal was not to be enterta