ed off the cap and moustache as though well
pleased with his performance. Cleek turned once more to the judge.

"My lord," he said serenely, "you have seen the man Bill Jones, and the
impersonator of Sammie Robinson is there," he pointed to Dollops. "Well,
this man Borkins--or Piggott, as he calls himself when doing his 'private
work'--engaged Dollops and me, in place of two hands in the factory who
had been given to too much tongue-wagging, and in consequence had met
with prompt punishment, God alone knows what it was! We worked there for
something just under a fortnight. Dollops, with his usual knack for
making friends in the right direction, chummed up to one of the men--whom
I have already named--Jim Dobbs. He finally asked him to come and help
with the loading up of the boats, and gave him the chance of making a
little overtime by simply keeping his mouth shut as to what went on.
I managed to get on the job too, and we did it three times in that
fortnight--and a jolly difficult task we found it, I don't mind saying.
But I felt that evidence was necessary, and while in the employ of 'the
master' we carried on many investigations. And still in his service I
made this rough map of the varied turnings of the secret passage, and the
places to which they led. You can get a better idea of the ground if you
glance at it." He handed it up to the high desk, and paused a moment as
the judge surveyed it through his spectacles. "The passage at Merriton
Towers, and also at Withersby Hall--so conveniently placed near that
particular part of the Fens, and therefore chosen by Brellier for his
work--are both of ancient origin, dating back, I should say, to the time
of the civil war.

"Whose idea it was to connect the two passages up I could not say, or
when Borkins got into the pay of Brellier and played false to a family
that he had served for twenty years. But the fact remains. The two
passages _are_ linked up, and then continued at great labour in another
direction to that field which lies off the Saltfleet Road and just at the
back of the factory. And thus was made a convenient little subway for the
carrying on of nefarious transactions of the kind which we have
discovered."

"And how did you discover that Brellier was the 'Master' in question?"
put in the judge at this juncture.

"He happened to come to the factory one day while we were at work upon
our machines. Someone said, 'Crickey! 'Ere's the Master! Funny for _'im_
to