o
account. The ordinary banking chambers were not even
visited; entry and exit are believed to have been effected
through the coal cellar, which is also situated in the
basement. Up to the present the police have effected no
arrest.

I sat practically paralyzed by this appalling news; and I swear that,
even in that incredible temperature, it was a cold perspiration in
which I sweltered from head to heel. Crawshay, of course! Crawshay
once more upon the track of Raffles and his ill-gotten gains! And once
more I blamed Raffles himself: his warning had come too late: he
should have wired to me at once not to take the box to the bank at
all. He was a madman ever to have invested in so obvious and obtrusive
a receptacle for treasure. It would serve Raffles right if that and no
other was the box which had been broken into by the thieves.

Yet, when I considered the character of his treasure, I fairly
shuddered in my sweat. It was a hoard of criminal relics. Suppose his
chest had indeed been rifled, and emptied of every silver thing but
one; that one remaining piece of silver, seen of men, was quite
enough to cast Raffles into the outer darkness of penal servitude! And
Crawshay was capable of it--of perceiving the insidious revenge--of
taking it without compunction or remorse.

There was only one course for me. I must follow my instructions to the
letter and recover the chest at all hazards, or be taken myself in the
attempt. If only Raffles had left me some address, to which I could
have wired some word of warning! But it was no use thinking of that;
for the rest there was time enough up to four o'clock, and as yet it
was not three. I determined to go through with my bath and make the
most of it. Might it not be my last for years?

But I was past enjoying even a Turkish bath. I had not the patience
for a proper shampoo, or sufficient spirit for the plunge. I weighed
myself automatically, for that was a matter near my heart; but I
forgot to give my man his sixpence until the reproachful intonation of
his adieu recalled me to myself. And my couch in the cooling
gallery--my favorite couch, in my favorite corner, which I had secured
with gusto on coming in--it was a bed of thorns, with hideous visions
of a plank-bed to follow!

I ought to be able to add that I heard the burglary discussed on
adjacent couches before I left. I certainly listened for it, and was
rather disappointed more than once when