back into the obscurity whence it had sprung.

He dared not attempt to answer the question himself. Everything hung
upon that insecure thread of official amenability. Such was his own
experience that he was beset by the gravest doubts. His only hope lay
in the long record of exceptional work he possessed to his credit in
the books of the police. This, and the story he had to tell them of
future possibilities in the valley of Leaping Creek.

Would Jason listen? Would he turn up the records, and count the
excellence of Inspector Fyles's past work? Or would he, with that
callous severity of police regulations, only regard the failures, and
turn a deaf official ear to the promise of the future? Supersession
was so simple in the force, it was the usual routine. Would the
superintendent in charge interest himself sufficiently to get away
from it?

These were some of the doubts with which the police officer was
assailed. These were some of the endless pros and cons he debated with
his lieutenant, Sergeant McBain, when they sat together planning their
next campaign, while awaiting Amberley's reply to both the report of
failure, and plea for the future.

But Fyles's anxieties were far deeper than McBain's, who was equally
involved in the failure. He had far more at stake. For one thing he
belonged to the commissioned ranks, and his fall, in conjunction with
his greater and wider reputation, would be far more disastrous. For
McBain, reduction in rank was of lesser magnitude. His rank could be
regained. For Fyles there was no such redemption. Resignation from the
force was his alternative to being dismissed, and from resignation
there was no recovery of rank.

At one time this would have been his paramount, almost sole anxiety.
It would have meant the loss of all he had achieved in the past. Now,
curiously enough, it took a second place in his thoughts. A greater
factor than ambition had entered into his life, a factor to which he
had promptly become enslaved. Far above all thoughts of ambition, of
place, of power, of all sense of duty, the figure of a handsome
dark-eyed woman rose before his mind's eye. Kate Seton had become his
whole world, the idol of all his thoughts and ambitions, and longings,
which left every other consideration lost in the remotest shadows far
below.

His earlier love for her had suddenly burst into a passionate flame
that seemed to be devouring his very soul. And he had a chance of
winning her. A