that wise?"

The note of anxiety was capitally caught; it was at once personal and
public-spirited, that of the enthusiastic savant, afraid for a national
treasure which few appreciated as he did himself. And, to be sure, the
three of us now had this treasury to ourselves; one or two others had
been there when we entered; but now they were gone.

"I'm not single-handed," said the officer, comfortably. "See that seat
by the door? One of the attendants sits there all day long."

"Then where is he now?"

"Talking to another attendant just outside. If you listen you'll hear
them for yourself."

We listened, and we did hear them, but not just outside. In my own
mind I even questioned whether they were in the corridor through which
we had come; to me it sounded as though they were just outside the
corridor.

"You mean the fellow with the billiard-cue who was here when we came
in?" pursued Raffles.

"That wasn't a billiard-cue! It was a pointer," the intelligent
officer explained.

"It ought to be a javelin," said Raffles, nervously. "It ought to be a
poleaxe! The public treasure ought to be better guarded than this. I
shall write to the Times about it--you see if I don't!"

All at once, yet somehow not so suddenly as to excite suspicion,
Raffles had become the elderly busybody with nerves; why, I could not
for the life of me imagine; and the policeman seemed equally at sea.

"Lor' bless you, sir," said he, "I'm all right; don't you bother your
head about ME."

"But you haven't even got a truncheon!"

"Not likely to want one either. You see, sir, it's early as yet; in a
few minutes these here rooms will fill up; and there's safety in
numbers, as they say."

"Oh, it will fill up soon, will it?"

"Any minute now, sir."

"Ah!"

"It isn't often empty as long as this, sir. It's the Jubilee, I
suppose."

"Meanwhile, what if my friend and I had been professional thieves?
Why, we could have over-powered you in an instant, my good fellow!"

"That you couldn't; leastways, not without bringing the whole place
about your ears."

"Well, I shall write to the Times, all the same. I'm a connoisseur in
all this sort of thing, and I won't have unnecessary risks run with the
nation's property. You said there was an attendant just outside, but
he sounds to me as though he were at the other end of the corridor. I
shall write to-day!"

For an instant we all three listened; and Raffles was right. Then I sa