him. Three times the colonel fired
and the man slid in an inert heap to the ground.

"Might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb, Tom," said the colonel,
replacing the weapon; and turning the body over, he took the scarf-pin
from his own tie and fastened it in that of the dead man. Then he took
his watch and chain from his pocket and slipped it in the waistcoat of
the other. He had a signet ring on his little finger and this he
transferred to the finger of the limp figure.

Then he began opening the boxes of old films and twined their contents
about the floor, pinning them to the curtains, twining them about the
legs of the chairs, all the time whistling the "Soldiers' Chorus." He
found a candle in the butler's pantry and planted it with a steady hand
in the heap of celluloid coils. This he lighted with great care and went
out, closing the door softly behind him. Half an hour later, Albemarle
Place was blocked with fire engines and a dozen hoses were playing in
vain upon the roaring furnace behind the gutted walls of Colonel Dan
Boundary's residence.

* * * * *

Stafford King was an early caller at Doughty Street, and Maisie knew,
both by the unusual hour of the visit and by the gravity of the visitor,
that something extraordinary had happened.

"Well, Maisie," he said, "there's the end of the Boundary Gang--the
colonel is dead."

"Dead?" she said, open-eyed.

"We don't know what happened, but the theory is that he shot himself and
set light to the house. The body was found in the ruins, and I was able
to identify some of the jewellery--you remember the police had it when
he was arrested, and we kept a special note of it for future reference."

She heaved a long sigh.

"That's over, at last; it is the end of a nightmare," she said, "a
horrible, horrible nightmare. I wonder----"

"What do you wonder?"

"I wonder if this is also the end of Jack o' Judgment?" she asked. "Or
whether he will continue working to bring to justice those people whom
the law cannot touch."

"Heaven only knows," said Stafford, "but I'll admit that Jack o'
Judgment has been a most useful person so far as we are concerned. We
should never have collected Pinto or Selby, or even the colonel, but for
Jack. By the way, there is no news of Crewe and the girl."

"I suppose they've reached their destination by now?" she asked.

"Oh, rather," said Stafford; "hours and days ago. Where were they going,
by the