t
didn't turn out so. I only know that I hit one big fellow a blow that
ought to have knocked him down, and the next moment there was a crash,
and I don't know anything more about it until a lot of water was thrown
over me and one of the watch helped me to my feet. I don't know whether
the others know more than I do, but I don't think they do."

All the others protested at once that they were equally ignorant. They
had gone to earn a hundred francs. They had been told that the money was
all right, but who found it or who were the men to be attacked they had
not the least idea.

"How was it that you all had these bludgeons--there were no knives found
on any of you?"

The man who spoke before said:

"The order was 'No knives,' and before we went down to the wharf each
of us was searched and a stick given to us. I suppose from that, that
whoever paid for the job didn't want blood to be shed; it suited us well
enough, for it was a job there was sure to be a row over, and I don't
suppose any of us wanted to put his head in a noose. I know that we all
said to each other as we went out that it did not want such sticks as we
had to give a man a thrashing, but the man who hired us, whoever he was,
knew his customers better than we did."

The officer translated the man's words as they were spoken to Dick, and
on hearing the last speech, the latter said:

"Then there is still hope that Thorndyke may only have been stunned;
that is a greater reason for our losing no time in looking for him, for
I am afraid that they won't hesitate to kill him when they have got him
hidden away."

"I expect," the Lieutenant said, "they thought that if any of the watch
came upon them as they were carrying him off, they might be at once
arrested if it was found that they were carrying a dead man, whilst if
he were only stunned they would say that it was a drunken comrade who
had fallen and knocked his head against something. I agree with you,
sir; we had better start on our search at once."

"Will you pass the Hotel d'Hollande? If not, I will run and bring my
men."

"Yes, I will go that way; it will be no further."

Dick walked on fast.

"We have no news of him," he said, as he entered the room where the four
men were anxiously awaiting him, "but we and the watch are now going to
search the slums where the men who were taken prisoners all live; come
down now, and I will tell you what I have learned, before the others
come up.

"There