om a broken-down European
loafer; a gentleman who had lost every single thing in the wide
world--self-respect, money, friends and wits--through drugs and nothing
else; he could not keep away from them unless he was chained up, but he
wanted to save others from his own wretched fate."

"That was very splendid of the loafer!" remarked Mr. Krauss, and
leaning back in his chair he beckoned to a waiter and said: "Boy,
champagne!" When the champagne was brought, he said: "Let us all drink
the health of this noble loafer, who cannot help himself but helps
others. Here's to the benevolent informer! Let us hope he will meet
with his reward--even in this life," and he raised a brimming glass.

"I'm afraid there's not much chance of that, poor chap," murmured
Shafto, "for if he is a man I know, he is down and under--his case is
hopeless."

Mrs. Pomeroy, who had been slowly drawing on her gloves, now pushed
back her chair and rose and, with sudden unanimity, the company broke
up and dispersed.

Little did Fuchsia suppose, as she chattered unguardedly and gave away
a confidence, that, in doing so, she had signed what was neither more
nor less than a sentence of death.

CHAPTER XXV

THE LATE RICHARD ROSCOE

Two days after the ball, as Shafto was passing through the veranda,
Roscoe met him, took him by the arm, accompanied him into his room, and
solemnly closed the door.

"Anything up?"

"Well, yes, there is," replied Roscoe gravely, "and I thought I'd tell
you when we were by ourselves. That cousin of mine, Dirk Roscoe, has
been done for. He was found this morning in a back drain, in one of
the gullies, with the stab of a _dah_ in his back."

"Oh, poor chap!" exclaimed Shafto.

"Well, he hadn't much of a life to lose, had he? However, such as it
was, he laid it down for others."

"Then I suppose it was he who put FitzGerald on the track of this
splendid haul--six hundred ounces of cocaine?"

"It was--yes, although he knew the risk he ran. He sent FitzGerald a
line and warned him that there would be two sampans in Bozo creek; that
one sampan would be a decoy, loaded with stones, but that they would
find what they wanted in the other, which would attempt to clear off
whilst they were examining the dummy. It's a pretty big loss to some
people, and cocaine will be scarce for a week or two--and dear."

"It beats me to understand how these beggars manage to find the money?"

"Oh, they prowl round at night