t in the shrubbery of the garden next door, looking over the
wall, and, if you'll believe me, somebody was about all night long! I
don't mean the Kaffirs. I don't believe they ever get to bed at
all--poor devils! No, I mean Rosenthall himself, and that pasty-faced
beast Purvis. They were up and drinking from midnight, when they came
in, to broad daylight, when I cleared out. Even then I left them sober
enough to slang each other. By the way, they very nearly came to blows
in the garden, within a few yards of me, and I heard something that
might come in useful and make Rosenthall shoot crooked at a critical
moment. You know what an I. D. B. is?"

"Illicit Diamond Buyer?"

"Exactly. Well, it seems that Rosenthall was one. He must have let it
out to Purvis in his cups. Anyhow, I heard Purvis taunting him with it,
and threatening him with the breakwater at Capetown; and I begin to
think our friends are friend and foe. But about to-morrow night:
there's nothing subtle in my plan. It's simply to get in while these
fellows are out on the loose, and to lie low till they come back, and
longer. If possible, we must doctor the whiskey. That would simplify
the whole thing, though it's not a very sporting game to play; still,
we must remember Rosenthall's revolver; we don't want him to sign his
name on US. With all those Kaffirs about, however, it's ten to one on
the whiskey, and a hundred to one against us if we go looking for it.
A brush with the heathen would spoil everything, if it did no more.
Besides, there are the ladies--"

"The deuce there are!"

"Ladies with an _I_, and the very voices for raising Cain. I fear, I
fear the clamor! It would be fatal to us. Au contraire, if we can
manage to stow ourselves away unbeknownst, half the battle will be won.
If Rosenthall turns in drunk, it's a purple diamond apiece. If he sits
up sober, it may be a bullet instead. We will hope not, Bunny; and all
the firing wouldn't be on one side; but it's on the knees of the gods."

And so we left it when we shook hands in Picadilly--not by any means as
much later as I could have wished. Raffles would not ask me to his
rooms that night. He said he made it a rule to have a long night
before playing cricket and--other games. His final word to me was
framed on the same principle.

"Mind, only one drink to-night, Bunny. Two at the outside--as you
value your life--and mine!"

I remember my abject obedience; and the endles