endicants.
Yes, the thieves themselves were sure to be with him in his present work.
The consciousness of universal support in his general activity heartened
him to grapple with the particular problem.

The problem immediately before the Chief Inspector was that of managing
the Assistant Commissioner of his department, his immediate superior.
This is the perennial problem of trusty and loyal servants; anarchism
gave it its particular complexion, but nothing more. Truth to say, Chief
Inspector Heat thought but little of anarchism. He did not attach undue
importance to it, and could never bring himself to consider it seriously.
It had more the character of disorderly conduct; disorderly without the
human excuse of drunkenness, which at any rate implies good feeling and
an amiable leaning towards festivity. As criminals, anarchists were
distinctly no class--no class at all. And recalling the Professor, Chief
Inspector Heat, without checking his swinging pace, muttered through his
teeth:

"Lunatic."

Catching thieves was another matter altogether. It had that quality of
seriousness belonging to every form of open sport where the best man wins
under perfectly comprehensible rules. There were no rules for dealing
with anarchists. And that was distasteful to the Chief Inspector. It
was all foolishness, but that foolishness excited the public mind,
affected persons in high places, and touched upon international
relations. A hard, merciless contempt settled rigidly on the Chief
Inspector's face as he walked on. His mind ran over all the anarchists
of his flock. Not one of them had half the spunk of this or that burglar
he had known. Not half--not one-tenth.

At headquarters the Chief Inspector was admitted at once to the Assistant
Commissioner's private room. He found him, pen in hand, bent over a
great table bestrewn with papers, as if worshipping an enormous double
inkstand of bronze and crystal. Speaking tubes resembling snakes were
tied by the heads to the back of the Assistant Commissioner's wooden
arm-chair, and their gaping mouths seemed ready to bite his elbows. And
in this attitude he raised only his eyes, whose lids were darker than his
face and very much creased. The reports had come in: every anarchist had
been exactly accounted for.

After saying this he lowered his eyes, signed rapidly two single sheets
of paper, and only then laid down his pen, and sat well back, directing
an inquiring gaze a