d from the
earth, and which is used expressly in the making of electric lamps. Our
good friend Adolph, like his brother, has the same twist of brain.
Instead of keeping the tubes, he returns them with the rather thin excuse
that they are of the wrong gauge, and fills them with this tungsten, from
the famous tungsten mines for which Belgium holds first place in the
world. And so the stuff is shipped in absolutely free of duty, while our
friend here unloads it, supplies the raw material to one or two firms in
town, trading under the name of Jonathan Brent (you see I've got the
whole facts, Brellier), and uses some himself for this factory, which is
the 'blind' for his other trading ideas. Very clever, isn't it?"

The judge nodded.

"I thought you would agree so, my Lord. Even crime can have its clever
side, and more often than not the criminal brain is the cleverest which
the world produces.

"Where was I? Ah, yes! The shipping of the stuff to Belgium. You see,
Brellier's clever there. He knows that the sudden appearance of all
this gold at his own bank would arouse suspicions, especially as the
robberies have been so frequent, so he determines that it is safer out of
the country, and as the exchange of British gold is high, he makes money
that way. Turns his hand to everything, in fact." He laughed. "But now
we're turning our hands to _him_, and the Law will have its toll, penny
for penny, life for life. You've come to the end of _your_ resources,
Brellier, when you engaged those two strange workmen. Or, better still,
your accomplice did it for you. You didn't know they were Cleek and his
man, did you? You didn't know that on that second night after we'd worked
there at the factory for you, we investigated that secret passage in the
field outside Saltfleet Road? You didn't know that while you walked down
that passage in the darkness with your man Jim Dobbs--or 'Dirty Jim,' to
give him the sobriquet by which he is known among your employees--that
we were hidden against the wall opposite to that first little niche
where the bags of sovereigns stood, and that--though I hadn't seen
you--something in your voice struck a note of familiarity in my memory?
You didn't know that, then? Well, perhaps it's just as well, because I
might not be here now to tell this story, and to hand you over to
justice."

CHAPTER XXVII

THE SOLVING OF THE RIDDLE

"For the sake of _le bon dieu_, man, cease your cruel mockery!" said
Br