limbed on to the wharf and dodged in behind the crane. He had
something in his right hand, too, that I didn't like the look of, so I
gripped my chunk of brick mighty hard. This time he didn't wait so
long, but crept forward like a stage murderer, peeping this way and
that, but making for the car. Once he looked straight at where I was
crouching, and I was scared stiff, because a brick ain't any fair match
for one of them new-fangled pistols at six yards or so; but I guess he
was a bit nervy himself, and he didn't make out anything unusual in my
direction. Then he dodged right round the car to the back, and
returned on the side nearest to me. I suppose he reckoned all was safe
by that time, so he took hold of the crank and began to start the
engine. 'Now or never!' says I to meself, so up I gets, and my knee
joints cracked like--well, they cracked so loud that only the turning
of the crank stopped him from hearing them. With that, I let drive
with the half brick, and caught him square in the small of the back.
Down he went with a yell, and me on top of him. I had the second half
brick ready to batter his skull in if he showed fight, but the first
one had laid him out sufficient for my purpose, which was to get hold
of this."

Brodie's hand dived into a pocket, and he produced a particularly
vicious looking automatic pistol.

Then McCulloch said imperatively:

"You've got him. Where is he?"

Brodie was really an artist. Some men would have smirked with triumph,
but he merely jerked a thumb casually toward the automobile:

"In there!" he said.

The policeman ran to a door and wrenched it open. He turned the rays
of the lamp which he still held in his hand on to a figure, lying
kneeling on the floor in an extraordinary attitude. From a white face
a pair of gleaming eyes met his in a glance of hate and fear, but no
words came from the thin lips set in a line, and a moment's scrutiny
showed that the captive was bound hand and foot. Indeed, hands and
feet were fastened together with a stout cord, which had been passed
around the man's neck subsequently, so that he was in some danger of
suffocation if he endeavored to wriggle loose, or even straighten his
back, which was bent over his heels.

"He's all right," said Brodie, who had strolled leisurely after the
others. "I told him I was taking no chances, and was compelled to make
him uncomfortable, but that he wouldn't choke if he kept quiet. Of
course, h