ribes it. But it's bad, whichever it is, and I've got my Winchester
outside ready cocked, and I brought this too." He shoved a pocket Bible
under my nose. At one time in his life it had been his inseparable
companion.

"One's useless and the other's dangerous," I replied under my breath,
conscious of a keen desire to laugh, and leaving him to choose. "Safety
lies in following our leader--"

"I'm not thinking of myself," he interrupted sharply; "only, if anything
happens to Joan to-night I'm going to shoot first--and pray afterwards!"

Maloney put the book back into his hip-pocket, and peered out of the
doorway. "What is he up to now, in the devil's name, I wonder!" he
added; "going round Sangree's tent and making gestures. How weird he
looks disappearing in and out of the fog."

"Just trust him and wait," I said quickly, for the doctor was already on
his way back. "Remember, he has the knowledge, and knows what he's
about. I've been with him through worse cases than this."

Maloney moved back as Dr. Silence darkened the doorway and stooped to
enter.

"His sleep is very deep," he whispered, seating himself by the door
again. "He's in a cataleptic condition, and the Double may be released
any minute now. But I've taken steps to imprison it in the tent, and it
can't get out till I permit it. Be on the watch for signs of movement."
Then he looked hard at Maloney. "But no violence, or shooting, remember,
Mr. Maloney, unless you want a murder on your hands. Anything done to
the Double acts by repercussion upon the physical body. You had better
take out the cartridges at once."

His voice was stern. The clergyman went out, and I heard him emptying
the magazine of his rifle. When he returned he sat nearer the door than
before, and from that moment until we left the tent he never once took
his eyes from the figure of Dr. Silence, silhouetted there against sky
and canvas.

And, meanwhile, the wind came steadily over the sea and opened the mist
into lanes and clearings, driving it about like a living thing.

It must have been well after midnight when a low booming sound drew my
attention; but at first the sense of hearing was so strained that it was
impossible exactly to locate it, and I imagined it was the thunder of
big guns far out at sea carried to us by the rising wind. Then Maloney,
catching hold of my arm and leaning forward, somehow brought the true
relation, and I realised the next second that it was only a few