e have no Scotland Yard in Tokio. To be
frank with you, the necessity for such an institution has become a real
thing with us only during the last few years. Do you read history, Mr.
Jacks?"

The Inspector was doubtful.

"I can't say, sir," he admitted, "that I have done much reading since I
left school, and that was many years ago."

"Well," the Prince said, "it is one of the axioms of history, Mr. Jacks,
that as a country becomes civilized and consequently more prosperous,
there is a corresponding growth in her criminal classes, a corresponding
need for a different state of laws by which to judge them, a different
machinery for checking their growth. We have arrived at that position in
Japan, and in my latest despatches from home comes to me a request that
I send them out a man who shall reorganize our entire police system. I
am a judge of character, Mr. Jacks, and if I can get the man I want,
I do not need to ask my friends at Downing Street to help me. I should
like you to accept that post."

The Inspector was scarcely prepared for this. He allowed himself to show
some surprise.

"I am very much obliged to you, Prince, for the offer," he said. "I am
afraid, however, that I should not be competent."

"That," the Prince reminded him, "is a risk which we are willing to
take."

"I do not think, either," the detective continued, "that at my time
of life I should care to go so far from home to settle down in an
altogether strange country."

"It must be as you will, of course," the Prince declared. "Only
remember, Mr. Jacks, that a great nation like mine which wants a
particular man for a particular purpose is not afraid to pay for him.
Your work out there would certainly take you no more than three years.
For that three years' work you would receive the sum of thirty thousand
pounds."

The detective gasped.

"It is a great sum," he said.

The Prince shrugged his shoulders.

"You could hardly call it that," he said. "Still, it would enable you to
live in comfort for the rest of your life."

"And when should I be required to start, sir?" the Inspector asked.

"That, perhaps," the Prince replied, "would seem the hardest part of
all. You would be required to start tomorrow afternoon from Southampton
at four o'clock."

The Inspector started. Then a new light dawned suddenly in his face.

"Tomorrow afternoon," he murmured.

The Prince assented.

"So far as regards your position at Scotland Yard," he sai