way through the crowd to where Craig was speaking eagerly
to Inspector French. He stopped short and stooped down. He was near enough
to hear the former's words.

"Mr. French, you saw that man come down the rope and swing on to the
cables? That was Quest, Sanford Quest, the man who escaped from the Tombs
prison. He can't have got away yet."

Quest drew off his coat, turned it inside out, and replaced it swiftly. He
coolly picked up a hat some one had lost in the crowd and pulled it over
his eyes. He passed within a few feet of where Craig and the Inspector
were talking.

"He was hiding in the Servants' Club," Craig continued, "he had just
threatened to shoot me when the fire broke out."

"I'll send the word round," French declared. "We'll have him found, right
enough."

For a single moment Quest hesitated. He had a wild impulse to take Craig
by the neck and throw him back into the burning house. Then he heard
French shout to his men.

"Say, boys, Sanford Quest is in the crowd here somewhere. He's the man who
jumped on to the cable lines. A hundred dollars for his arrest!"

Quest turned reluctantly away. Men were rushing about in all directions
looking for him. He forced a passage through the crowd and in the general
confusion he passed the little line of police without difficulty. His face
darkened as he looked behind at the burning block. A peculiar sense of
helplessness oppressed him. His pocket wireless was by now a charred heap
of ashes. His one means of communication with Lenora was gone and the only
man who knew her whereabouts was safe under the protection of the police.

2.

The Professor swung round in his chair and greeted Quest with some
surprise but also a little disappointment.

"No news of Craig?" he asked.

Quest sank into a chair. He was fresh from the Turkish baths and was
enjoying the luxury of clean linen and the flavour of an excellent cigar.

"I got Craig all right," he replied. "He came to the Servants' Club where
I was waiting for him. My luck's out, though. The place was burnt to the
ground last night. I saved his life and then the brute gave me away to the
police. I had to make my escape as best I could."

The Professor tapped the table peevishly.

"This is insufferable," he declared. "I have had no shaving water; my
coffee was undrinkable; I can find nothing. I have a most important
lecture to prepare and I cannot find any of the notes I made upon the
subject."

Quest stare