eyes rested
on Hawke's eager face as he laughed.

"And you want to marry her, to keep others from her, or run her off at
the worst, you say? That's your little game."

"I will have either the girl, or those jewels! By God! I will! I've got
money to work with, plenty of it--not here," cautiously said Hawke, "but
there's your hundred and fifty. Do you stand in?"

"To the death--if you do the handsome thing, my boy!" said the handsome
ruffian, pocketing the notes. "When do I start?"

"Take the midnight train to Southampton, and go at work at once. I fear
they may send some damned spies over there! Now, what's your plan?"
Major Hawke watched his old pal in a brown study.

Jack Blunt had smoked half his cigar, when he brought his white hand
down with a whack. "I have it! A combination of gentleman artist and
literary gent! 'The Mansion Homes of Jersey,' to illustrate a volume for
the use of tourists--London and Southwestern Railway's enterprise. I'll
sneak in and do the grand. You want a correct sketch and map of house
and grounds, and the whole lay out?" Artist Blunt was delightfully
interested in his Jersey tour now.

"Yes!" cried Alan Hawke, his eyes growing wolfish, and he leaned over
to his companion and whispered for a few moments. "That's the trick,
Governor," nodded Jack Blunt, "You work on the double event. And--I get
my money--play or pay?"

"Yes. Put up in good notes--only you are not to bungle!"

"Do you think I would fool around with a 'previous conviction' against
me? The next is a lifer, and I've got to use the knife or a barker, if
I run up against trouble, for I'll never wear the Queen's jewelry again!
I've sworn it!" The man's eyes were gleaming now like burning coals,
"I'll do the grand, and then, take off my beard and change my garb! I
look twenty years older in a stubble chin. I can watch them from the
public at Rozel Pier. I used to do a neat little bit of cognac, silk,
and cigar smuggling. I know every crag of Corbiere Rocks, every shady
joint in St. Heliers, every nook of St. Aubin's Bay. Oh! I'm fly to the
whole game!"

"Could you not get a good boat's crew there?" anxiously demanded Major
Hawke.

"Ah! My boy! I am 'king high' with a set of daring fishermen, who can
smell out every rock from Dover to Land's End; and, from Calais to
Brest, in the blackest night of the channel, if it pays."

"Then, Jack, your fortune is made, if you stand in. We'll pull it
off, in one way or the other. Y