he? There is your money. Adieu!"

Then came the sound of some one leaving the boat and scrambling
up the water stairs, and hard on the heels of it the first whistle of
the coming train. Narkom, glancing round, saw a slouching, ill-clad
fellow whose appearance was in distinct contrast with his voice and
manner of speaking, come into view upon the summit of the pier.
His complexion was sallow, his matted hair seemed to have gone for
years uncombed; a Turkish fez, dirty and discoloured, was on his
head, and over his arm hung several bits of tapestry and shining
stuff which betokened his calling as that of a seller of Oriental
draperies.

This much Narkom saw and would have gone on his way, giving the
fellow no second thought, but that a curious thing happened. Moving
away toward the footpath which led from the pier to the town, the
pedler caught sight suddenly of the man standing at the gangplank;
he halted abruptly, looked round to make sure that no one was
watching, then, without more ado, turned round suddenly on his
heel, walked straightway to the gangplank and boarded the boat.
The Mauravanian took not the slightest heed of him, nor he of the
Mauravanian. Afterward, when the train had arrived, Narkom thought
he knew why. For the present he was merely puzzled to understand why
this dirty, greasy Oriental pedler who had been at the pains to
cross the Channel in a fisher's boat should do so for the apparent
purpose of merely going back on the packet to Calais.

By this time the train had arrived, the pier was alive with people,
porters were running back and forth with luggage, and there was
bustle and confusion everywhere. Narkom looked along the length of
the vessel to the teeming gangway. The Mauravanian was still there,
alert as before, his fixed eyes keenly watching.

A crowd came stringing along, bags and bundles done up in gaudy
handkerchiefs in their hands, laughing, jostling, jabbering together
in low-class French.

"Here they are, guv'ner--the Apaches!" said Dollops in a whisper.
"That's the lot, sir. Keep your eye on them as they come aboard,
and if they are with him--Crumbs! Not a sign; not a blessed one!"
For the Apaches, stringing up the gangplank by twos and threes and
coming within brushing distance of the waiting man, passed on as the
Oriental pedler had passed on, taking no notice of him, nor he of
them, nor yet of how, as they advanced, the pedler slouched forward
and slipped into the thick of th