"You say you have a
communication of great importance."

"I think it is, sir," returned the other, stiffly. "At least I have
the message which warned Brunell of your raid upon his shop. It's
another cipher, a different one this time."

"Indeed? That's good work, Guy. But how did you know it was a warning
to old Jimmy of the raid? Could you read it?"

Morrow shook his head.

"No, and I don't see how anyone else could! It must have been a
warning of some sort, for it was what caused them both, old Jimmy and
his daughter, to run away. Here it is."

He passed the cryptogram over to his chief, who studied it for a while
with a meditative frown, then laid it aside and listened in a
non-committal silence to his story. When the incidents of the day had
been narrated, Blaine said:

"That was a close call, Guy, that shot from the darkness. It must have
come from the opposite side of the street, of course, from before your
own lodgings. The bullet glanced upward in its course, didn't it?"

"No, sir. That's the funny part of it! The spot where it is embedded
in the wall is very little higher than the hole in the window pane."

"And Mrs. Quinlan's, where you board, is directly opposite?"

"Yes. It's the only house on the other side of the street for fifty
feet or more on either side."

"Then you'd better look out for trouble, Guy. That shot came from your
own house, probably from the window of your own room, if it is the
second floor front, as you say. There's a traitor in camp. Any new
lodgers to-day that you know of?"

"No, sir," Morrow replied, startled at the theory evolved by his
chief. "But how do you account for the fact that I distinctly heard
some one running away immediately after the shot was fired?"

"It was probably a look-out, or a decoy to draw investigation away
from the house had a prompt pursuit ensued. Be careful when you go
back, Guy, and don't take any unnecessary chances."

"I'm not going back, sir," the younger man returned, with quiet
determination. "I'm sorry, but I'm through. I wanted to resign before,
to protect the woman I love from just this trouble which has come upon
her, but you overruled me, and I listened and played the game fairly.
Now I've lost her, and nothing else matters under the sun except that
I must find her again and tell her the truth, and I mean to find her!
Nothing shall stand in my way!"

"And your duty?" asked Blaine quietly.

"My duty is to her first, last, and all