Cole he should give it up and go abroad.

But soon after this some pressure or other was brought to bear on
Grotait, and Cole, knowing this, went to him, and asked him whether Bolt
and Little were to be done or not.

"It is a painful subject," said Grotait.

"It is a matter of life and death to us," said Cole.

"That is true. But mind--the place, and not the man." Cole assented, and
then Grotait took him on to a certain bridge, and pointed out the
one weak side of Bob and Little's fortress, and showed him how the
engine-chimney could be got at and blown down, and so the works stopped
entirely: "And I'll tell you something," said he; "that chimney is built
on a bad foundation, and was never very safe; so you have every chance."

Then they chaffered about the price, and at last Grotait agreed to give
him L20.

Cole went to Coventry, and told how far Grotait would allow him to go:
"But," said he, "L20 is not enough. I run an even chance of being hung
or lagged."

"Go a step beyond your instructions, and I'll give you a hundred
pounds."

"I daren't," said Cole: "unless there was a chance to blow up the place
with the man in it." Then, after a moment's reflection, he said: "I hear
he sleeps in the works. I must find out where."

Accordingly, he talked over one of the women in the factory, and gained
the following information, which he imparted to Mr. Coventry:

Little lived and slept in a detached building recently erected, and
the young woman who had overpowered Hill slept in a room above him. She
passed in the works for his sweetheart, and the pair were often locked
up together for hours at a time in a room called the "Experiment Room."

This information took Coventry quite by surprise, and imbittered his
hatred of Little. While Cole was felicitating him on the situation of
the building, he was meditating how to deal his hated rival a stab of
another kind.

Cole, however, was single-minded in the matter; and the next day he took
a boat and drifted slowly down the river, and scanned the place very
carefully.

He came at night to Coventry, and told him he thought he might perhaps
be able to do the trick without seeming to defy Grotait's instructions.
"But," said he, "it is a very dangerous job. Premises are watched: and,
what do you think? they have got wires up now that run over the street
to the police office, and Little can ring a bell in Ransome's room, and
bring the bobbies across with a rush in a moment