w just what, that is
unusual, is to be required of me. I assume that you want me to take
command of the men policing your grounds--and immediate property?"

"Er--yes. That will have to be put in shape at once--at once." He leaned
suddenly forward in his chair, his hairy hands clutching at his knees,
while he blurted out with a kind of relieved tension, "No one must come
near the house at night. No one, you understand----"

"I understand, sir----" said Peter, waiting patiently for a revelation.

"There'll be no excuse if any one gets near the house without my
permission," he snarled. And then almost sullenly again--"You
understand?"

"Perfectly. That should not be difficult to----"

"It may be more difficult than you think," broke in McGuire, springing
to his feet again, and jerking out his phrases with strange fury.

"Nothing is to be taken for granted. Nothing," he raged. Peter was
silent for a moment, watching McGuire who had paced the length of the
room and back.

"I understand, sir," he said at last. "But doesn't it seem to you that
both I and the man under me could do our work with more intelligence if
we knew just who or what is to be guarded against?" Mr. McGuire stopped
beside him as though transfixed by the thought. Then his fingers
clutched at the back of a chair to which he clung for a moment in
silence, his brows beetling. And when he spoke all the breath of his
body seemed concentrated in a hoarse whisper.

"You won't know that. You understand, I give the orders. You obey them.
I am not a man who answers questions. Don't ask them."

"Oh, I beg your pardon. So long as this thing you fear is human----"

"Human! A ghost! Who said I was afraid? Sheldon? Let him think it. This
is _my_ business. There are many things of value in this house," and he
glanced towards the safe. "I'm using the right of any man to protect
what belongs to him."

"I see," said Peter.

The man's tension relaxed as he realized Peter's coolness.

"Call it a fancy if you like, Mr. Nichols----" he said with a shrug. "A
man of my age may have fancies when he can afford to gratify 'em."

"That's your affair," said Peter easily. "I take it then that the
systematic policing of the grounds is the first thing I am to consider."

"Exactly. The systematic policing of the grounds--the dividing of your
men into shifts for day and night work--more at night than in the day.
Three more men come to-morrow. They will all look to you for ord