nhinged me. I was forming the habit of trusting
to pure luck and _vogue la galere_! I can't swear that I hadn't visions
of conquering all my adversaries in some miraculous single-handed
fashion, disarming them, and, as a final sweet touch of revenge, tying
them up in chairs, to keep Marie-Jeanne company and meditate on the
turns of fate.

"Here they are," I said, obligingly offering the package. "We found
them nestling behind a panel--old family hiding place, you know. I can't
vouch for their contents, not being an expert, but Miss Falconer was
satisfied. How about it, now you look at them? Do they seem all right?"

Not paying the slightest attention to my conversational efforts,
Blenheim had snatched the papers, torn them hungrily open, and run them
through. He was bristling with suspicion; but he evidently knew his
business. It did not take him long to conclude that he really had his
spoils.

Folding them up carefully, he thrust them into his coat and stored them,
displaying, however, less triumph than I had thought he would. The truth
was that he looked preoccupied, and I wondered why. For the first time
in all the hair-trigger situations that I had seen him face I sensed a
strain in him.

"So much for that. Now, Mr. Bayne, what do you think we mean to do to
you?" he asked.

"I don't know, I am sure," I answered rather absently; I was weighing
the relative merits of jiu-jitsu and my five remaining revolver-shots.
"Is there anything sufficiently lingering? Let me suggest boiling oil;
or I understand that roasting over a slow fire is considered tasty.
Either of those methods would appeal to you, wouldn't it?"

"I don't deny it!" Blenheim answered in a tone that was convincing. "You
haven't endeared yourself to us, my friend, in the last hour. But we
can't spare you yet; our plans for the evening are lively ones and they
include you. I told you, didn't I, that we were going to no man's-land
via the trenches, when we finished this affair?"

"You told me many interesting things. I've forgotten some of the
details." I was aware of a thrill of excitement. The man was worried; so
much was sure.

"You will recall them presently, or if you don't, I'll refresh your
memory. The fact is, Mr. Bayne, you have put a pretty spoke in our
wheel. It stands this way: our papers are made out for a party of four
officers, and you have eliminated Schwartzmann. Don't you owe us some
amends for that? You like disguises, I gather fro