parting.

"Yes, sir. I warned all stations and all chief constables."

"Good!" said Sir Stanley, and his last words were: "Don't
forget--Boundary is not dead!"

CHAPTER XXXIX

JACK O' JUDGMENT REVEALED

A stoutish, grey-haired man descended from a third-class carriage at
Chatham Station and inquired of a porter the way to the dockyard. He
carried a lot of carpenter's tools in a straw bag and smoked a short
clay pipe. The porter looked at the man with his white, stubby beard
critically.

"Trying to get a job, mate?" he asked.

"Why, yes," said the man.

"How old might you be?" demanded the porter.

"Sixty-four," said the other, and the porter shook his head.

"You won't get work easy. They're not very keen on us old 'uns," he
said. "Why don't you try at Markham's, the builders in the High Street?
They're short of men. I saw a notice outside their yard only this
morning."

The workman thanked the porter, shouldered his basket and tramped down
the High Street. He was respectably dressed, and policemen on the
look-out for suspicious tramps did not give him a second glance. He
spent the greater part of the day walking from yard to yard, everywhere
receiving the same answer. Late in the afternoon he had better luck. A
small firm of ship repairers were in want of a jobbing carpenter and put
him to work at once.

It was many years since Colonel Boundary had wielded a saw, but he made
a good showing. After two hours' work, however, his back was aching and
his hands were sore. He was glad when the yard bell announced the hour
for knocking off. He had yet to find lodgings, but this did not worry
him. He was careful to avoid the cheaper kind of lodging-house, and went
to one which catered for the artisan, where he could get a room of his
own and a clean bed. He paid a deposit, washed himself and left his
tools, then went out in search of some refreshment.

At seven o'clock the next morning he was back at the yard. He thought
several times during the day that he would have to throw the work up.
His back ached furiously, his arms were like lead. But he persevered,
and again another day drew to a close. By the third day he had got his
muscles into play and found the work easy. He was asked by the foreman
if he would care to go into the country to work at a house that the head
of the firm was building, but he declined. He wanted to remain in the
town where there were crowds. At the end of the week came his grea