constable, whose lantern had been knocked from his hand and broken, I
suddenly felt a crushing blow upon the skull. I saw a thousand stars,
and then the blackness of unconsciousness fell upon me.

* * * * *

When I again grew cognisant of what was going on about me, I found
myself lying in bed in the Richmond Cottage Hospital with a
pleasant-faced nurse bending eagerly over me. It was still night, for
the gas was burning.

She asked how I felt, remarking that I had received a nasty crack, and
had lain there unconscious for three whole days.

Presently I felt the presence of some one else near me, and gradually
made them out to be Ray and Vera.

At first they would tell me nothing, but after the doctor had seen me,
Ray in his cheery way said:

"Yours was a bit of hard luck, old fellow. The blackguards all got
away--all three of them. But we were just in time, for in that safe were
the memoranda of the Professor's experiments which, together with the
specimens of the new metal that could have been analysed, would have
undoubtedly placed the secret of the new steel in the hands of the
German Admiralty!"

"Then we really prevented them?" I said eagerly, feeling the bandages
about my head.

"Just in the very nick of time, old man," he replied. "And we did more.
We managed to save Miss Nella."

"How?" I inquired eagerly.

"She's here. She'll tell you herself." And next moment I saw her
standing before me with the Professor.

"Yes, Mr. Jacox," the girl said. "I have come to thank you. I was first
approached by the young Italian while crossing Richmond Bridge one day,
and later on he introduced me to his sister, who lived in St.
Margaret's. On the afternoon when I was induced to go there I was given
something in my tea which at once rendered me unconscious. When I
recovered, I found myself lying in a coffin secured to rings inside,
while a villainous old man, a bearded German, and an Italian woman were
about to screw down the lid. I screamed, but they took no notice, until
in fear I fainted. Ah! shall I ever forget those horrible moments? I was
alone, helpless in the hands of those fiends, all because I had allowed
myself to become attracted by a stranger! They held me there for days,
trying to learn from me the secret of my father's discovery. But I would
tell them nothing. Ah! how I suffered, believing every hour that they
would close down that lid. Then the brutes, finding me de