, through which the
acid would eat in a few hours. It was placed in the safe, and in time
the corrosive worked through----"

He shrugged his shoulders and left the room without another word.

"Thirty-five years' work that represents, Crewe," he said as they were
driving back to the flat; "thirty-five years of risk and thought and
organisation, and ended in pulp--stinking pulp--that burns your fingers
when you touch it."

He began to whistle and Crewe noticed with curiosity that he chose the
"Soldiers' Chorus" from "Faust" for the dirge to his lost fortune.

"Jack o' Judgment!" he said wonderingly. "Jack o' Judgment! Well, he's
had his judgment all right, and I'm going to have mine. You needn't
tell Pinto what happened this morning. Leave him guessing. He's got a
pretty thick bank-roll, and I'll agree to that grand scheme of his for
sharing out."

The thought seemed to cheer him, and by the time they reached the flat
he was almost jovial.

"Well, what's the news?" asked Pinto eagerly.

"Fine," said the colonel. "Everything is as it should be."

"Stop rotting," growled the other. "What is the news?"

"The news, my lad," said the colonel, "is that I've decided to agree to
your unselfish suggestion."

"What's that?" said the unsuspicious Pinto.

"That we should pool and divide."

"Jack o' Judgment's got your money, too!" said Pinto, who cherished no
illusions about the colonel's generosity.

"How well he knows me!" said Boundary. "Now, come, Pinto, we're all in
this, sink or swim. I told Crewe going down that I intended dividing;
didn't I, Crewe?"

"You said something like that," said Crewe cautiously.

"Now we'll pool our money," said the colonel, "and split three ways.
I'll make a fair proposition. We'll divide it into four and the man who
puts in the most shall take two shares. Is it a bet?"

"I suppose so," said Pinto reluctantly. "What is the truth about your
money? Did Jack o' Judgment get it?"

"I hadn't any money," said the colonel blandly. "I've about a thousand
pounds hidden away in this room; that is all, if Jack hasn't been in."

He unlocked the safe and made an inspection.

"Yes, a little over a thousand, if anything. How much have you, Crewe?"

"Three thousand," said Crewe.

"That makes four thousand. Now what have you got, Pinto?"

"I've about five thousand," said Pinto, trying to appear unconcerned.

The colonel made a little whistling noise through his teeth.

"Bring fifty," he