d you do? You who were plastered all over with guns? Couldn't you
shoot?"

"Did you shoot when you saw Jack o' Judgment?" said the other sullenly.
"It is no good your telling me what I ought to do."

"Maybe it isn't," said the colonel. "Well, there's nothing to do now,
anyway. The girl's gone, and all your fine plans have come unstuck."

"They weren't my plans," said Pinto indignantly, "it was your scheme
throughout."

The colonel bit off the end of his cigar and contemplated the ceiling
reflectively.

"We can only wait and see what will happen," he said. "The odds are all
in favour of our being raided."

Pinto went pale.

"Yes," said the colonel, talking to himself, "I guess this is our last
day of freedom. Well, Pinto, I hope you can pick oakum."

"Oh, shut up about oakum," growled the other; "it isn't a joke."

"It is not a joke," said the colonel, "and if it is, it is one of those
jokes that make people laugh the most. And do you know the kind of joke
that makes people laugh the most, Pinto? It is when somebody gets hurt;
and we are the people who are going to get hurt."

"Do you think she'll tell the police?"

"It is extremely likely," said the colonel; "in fact, it is extremely
unlikely that she won't tell the police. I am rather glad I'm out of
it."

Pinto leaped up.

"You're out of it!" he shouted. "You're in it up to the neck!"

The colonel shook his head.

"I'm absolutely out of it, Pinto," he said, flicking the ash of his
cigar into the fireplace. "I cannot be identified with this unhappy
affair by so much as a finger-print."

The Portuguese scowled down at him.

"So that's the game, is it? You're going to double-cross us? You're
going to be out of it and we're going to be in it."

"Sit down, you fool. Double-cross you! You are easily scared at a little
leg-pulling. I'm merely pointing out that it is not a matter in which I
am greatly interested. It is a good thing for you I'm not. Who are the
police after? You and Crewe and the rest of the gang? Not on your life!
They're after me. They get the trunk and all the branches come down with
it. Do you see? There's no sense in lopping off a few branches even of
deadwood. It won't be good enough if they connect you with the case,
unless they connect me too. They're after the big horns, they're not
shooting the little bucks. If she tells the police, they're going to
nose around for two or three days, seeing how far they can connect me
with it.