, interruptin' o' the day's work. 'Ere, Bindle--where's Bindle?"
he shouted into the house.

But the sergeant did not wait. He mounted his machine and disappeared
down the drive. Before Bindle came--and Bindle was uneager to
respond--he was a quarter of a mile up the road.

Sergeant Wrannock was stunned at the treatment he had received. From
such men he was accustomed to respect, deference, and blind obedience.
To be called "cockie" by a workman astonished him. Soon he became
annoyed, in time his annoyance crystallised into anger, and eventually,
passing through the alembic of professional discretion, it became
distilled into a determination to teach this man a lesson.

He had no intention of letting him know that it was a police sergeant
whom he had thus rudely treated, as if he were some ordinary person.
He could not quite understand the reference to the "bald little man
with a green apron and a red nose." The particulars seemed, however,
to tally with the description of the man of whom Sir Charles had spoken.

At six o'clock he presented himself at The Towers, told his story, and
was bidden by Sir Charles to leave the matter until the morning, when
it would probably be better to report the whole affair to the
superintendent at Lowestoft. Sir Charles had his reasons for
suggesting delay.

CHAPTER XVI

THE AMATEUR DETECTIVES

I

By nine o'clock the last pantechnicon that was going back that night
had rumbled off to Lowestoft, there to be entrained for London. One
still remained on the drive, waiting to be taken back by the horses
that would bring the first van in the morning.

With the last van went Bindle, much to his regret.

"It's like not goin' to yer own funeral," he grumbled.

Holmleigh was shut up and in darkness, save for a slit of light that
could be seen beneath the Venetian blind of the dining-room. Inside
the room sat the foreman.

He was smoking a meditative pipe, and cursing the luck that left him at
Holmleigh to play night-watchman. He was not a nervous man, but his
mind instinctively travelled back to the events of the day. Why had so
many people been desirous of seeing Bindle? He had subjected Bindle
himself to a very thorough and picturesque cross-examination. He had
told him what he thought of him, and of those responsible for his
being. He had coaxed him and threatened him, but without result.
Bindle had expressed the utmost astonishment at his sudden popularity,