s furiously
rapid.

Mr. Galpin made a calculation on his dazzling cuff.

'In three-quarters of an hour the clock will have run out,' he informed
his audience, 'and you will be able to open any locks that you've got
keys for. I shall call to-morrow morning, young man, for the swag. And
don't you forget that there's only one Jack Galpin in the world. My
address is 205, the Waterloo Road.'

He left, with his bag.

Simon rushed to Vault 39 to encourage the captive by continual knocking.

Then the messenger-boy, who had been despatched to obtain food for the
prisoners behind the various grilles, came back with the desired food,
and with a copy of the _Evening Herald_. The back page of the _Herald_
bore Hugo's immense advertisement. The front page was also chiefly
devoted to Hugo. It displayed headings such as: 'Shocking Scenes at a
Sloane Street Sale,' 'Women Injured,' 'Customers Complain of Wholesale
Swindling,' 'Scandalous Mismanagement,' 'The Hugo Safe Deposit Suddenly
Closed,' 'Reported Disappearance of Mr. Hugo,' 'Is He a Lunatic?'

And when the three-quarters of an hour had expired Simon and the patrol
unlocked the massive portal of Vault 39, and swung it open, fearful of
what they might see within. And Hugo, pale and feeble, but alive,
staggered heavily forward, and put a hand on Simon's shoulder.

'Let us get away from this,' he whispered, as if in profound mental
agony.

Ignoring everything, he passed out of the impregnable Safe Deposit, with
its flashing steel walls, on Simon's obedient arm.

CHAPTER XIV

TEA

Arrived on the ground-floor, Simon managed to avoid the busy parts of
the establishment, but he happened to choose a way to Hugo's private
lift which led past the service-door of the Hugo Grand Central
Restaurant. And Hugo, although apparently in a sort of torpor, noticed
it.

'Tea!' he ejaculated. 'If I could have some at once!'

And he directed Simon into the restaurant, and so came plump upon one of
the worst scenes in the entire place. The first day of the great annual
sale was closing in almost a riot, and there in the restaurant the
primeval and savage instincts of the vast, angry crowd were naturally to
be seen in their crudest form. The famous walnut buffet, eighty feet in
length, was besieged by an army of customers, chiefly women, who were
competing for food in a manner which ignored even the rudiments of
politeness. It would be difficult to deny that several scores of
well