ry, contrary to the laws of the land.

What could he do should this crisis come upon him, Jack was asking
himself as he crouched there and counted the minutes passing by? There
was only one means for counteracting such a move on the part of the
enemy and Jack had already convinced himself the occasion was fully ripe
for it to be tried out.

On a previous occasion the same thing had handily proved its efficacy,
so why not again? Desperate cases require desperate remedies, he kept
telling himself as he groped in his pocket and extracted some small
object therefrom, holding it tightly clinched while he again moved the
orange leaves across the lower part of the window without extracting a
shot from the guardian of the shack.

Then he nerved himself to take a look and received a shock for he was
just in time to see Kearns down on his knees striking a match which he
hastened to apply to the crumpled papers.

Seeing there was not a second to waste, Jack proceeded to hurl the
tear-bomb he had been holding in his fist straight through the glass, so
as to strike against the stone chimney and be shattered, releasing its
powerful contents that would almost instantly fill the room and blind
the man whose fingers held the burning match.

CHAPTER XXX

FETCHING IN THEIR MAN

There was now no further need for caution.

Jack saw the man inside stagger to his feet, drop his gun and throw both
hands up to his face--he was starting to rub his eyes as though they had
already commenced to feel the terrible effect of the pungent acid that
would start the tears flowing in streams and render him temporarily
blind before he could exercise his brain sufficiently to unbar the door
and rush outside.

But already that tiny blaze on the open hearth was increasing, and would
presently gain such headway as to threaten the utter destruction of the
precious papers that they had come so far and braved all sorts of
dangers to get. Something must be done instantly in order to prevent
this threatening catastrophe.

So Jack, always quick to act, with one smashing blow sent the entire
window sash flying into the room. He did not even stop to learn whether
he had cut himself, but gave an upward spring, gained a precarious
knee-hold on the window-sill and allowed himself to fall inside the room
with its unseen gas contents which would of necessity act upon his eyes
even as it already had done in the case of his intended prey.

Across to the