The Gates of Chance

pal B

Estes I came down with typhoid and spent the next two months in the hospital. I saw little of Indiman during that time, but

ng in itself, I was sure that there was something behind it. But when I plumped the question squarely at Estes he had nothing to say except that the jewel had been slipped into his hand while he stood looking into a shop-window. Where it came from he did not

ofana-pooh! Any chemist will put it up for ten cents. Only be careful how you use it. Chemical analysis has

aking somewhat thickly, for the port had stopped with him overfre

I, who was watching him closely, saw his eyes harden. Estes had said more than one imprudent t

n had been unexceptionable and his checks were always honored at Brown Brothers. Moreover, Crawfurd had met him frequently at the Jockey Club in Paris, and there was his name on White's books for any one to read. A man of forty-five perhaps, clean-shaven, well set up, an inveterate globe-

hen the science of assassination i

ied Balencourt, carelessly. 'Th

yond the risk

rfec

he toxic poison

you l

d Crawfurd, with a

ared straight at Balencourt. A quick glance answere

desires proof,' said

I

s say b

and the 1st

y passage is booked on the Teuto

r my wedding to Miss Cather

ave obtained the decision at last,' he s

his fat cheeks, and his jaw hung loose and pendulous. 'For God's s

ows full well. So far as you and Mr. Indiman are concerned, call

s, he could still grasp at the definite idea included in the

hat either Mr. Estes or myself can intrust them to the keeping of a thir

,' I said, leaning my elbows on the table and seeking to plumb the soul-depths in the c

ould not ass

interrupted Estes. He pushed his c

omaly of this scoundrel of a Balencourt possessing the most perfect of serving-men? There never was anybody who could roll an umbrella like Jarman, and I have been around a lot in my tim

ood in the street. 'A cab?' I queried, and

sper,' said Estes. 'Jump in, Mr. Crawfurd,

as forthwith driven aw

d. 'Remember, there's Elizabe

d that I had a double right to stick in my oar. But I wasn't prepared for the depth of trouble t

member that after I left Princeton I went to Germany for a two years' cou

nod

nother, and here is where I donned the cap and bells. Y

olutionar

the "Sunrise League"-the practi

George laughed a litt

itutional government by the "Lion's Mouth" and the "Council of Ten"-a world ruled by a secret terror. But it seemed all right at the time. What was my life or an

hdrew, of

fied actively with the propaganda, but he is still subject to be called upon for a term of "s

t to me. It contained a small, red button, fashioned o

'and within three days I should have been on

efused,

etty,' said t

d once of a member. He may refuse compliance, if he chooses, but in that cas

We

, then by the agent of the "Forty" through whom the summons comes.

u know-about

urt slipped it into my hand just bef

man and you are but a boy. To take a

his life or mine,' int

kable. When he knows-but yo

asked her to marry him a week ago, just

k me all of a heap. 'The police,' I s

ently, 'and I don't think that I could put up with this sort o

, just as it is now-for at least Balencourt will ke

rd, you, and I-can't match wits with one polyglot son of the "Dawn," we might

r an instant our hands met. 'No

Scotch-and-soda. The clocks were striking three when we took Estes back to his apartments, and we both spent the

d or myself. But no; I'll correct myself there, for we had to allow him an hour and a half every evening with Betty, and I used to mount guard in the street outside, measuring the cold and unsympathetic flag-stones. And no thanks for it, either; indeed, Betty's manner was di

rst two weeks in June dragged uneventfully along; the period of stress was already half over. Then came Monday, the 15th of June, and with it a little shock. Our man-I mean Balencourt-concluded to disappear, and he did it as effectually as though there were no such thing as a 'shadow' in existence. When the head-sleuth

med part of that unknown quantity. There is always a chance of a chimney-pot tumbling about one's ears or of being run down by some reckless chauffeur. And who i

rd, a little doubtfully, but I c

'll be off by Thursday. I invite you all-for six weeks. Why, of course, George

offered. The island was small and occupied only by my own domestic establishment. It lay in the bight of Oliver's Bay, quite a mile from the nearest shore, and there was but one other bit of land anywhere around-an uninhabited islet known as 'The Thimble,' that lay a quarter of a mile due east. Surely this isolation promised security. Here, if anywhere, we m

n myself any clearer, my dear,' I ended up, rather lame

ter. "Better for George" indeed! Very good, mon oncle; I'll obey orders. But remember that it will be the worse for you later on, unless you can show good and sufficient reason

as a sou'easter on that night, but the drift-wood burned stoutly in the wide chimney-piece, with now and

erwood's back and handed her the last volume of 'Gyp,' with the pages neatly cut. A

urd put it, and laisser-faire was a good enough motto for our side

imble.' And while we didn't make any parade of our precautions, Crawfurd and I kept watch and watch, just as we used to do in the old Alert, on the China station, twenty-odd years ago. Moreover, the gardener and my boatman were men who could keep th

d dips as he circled about, possessed, as it were, with the pure joy of motion. I followed him as he sank down on a long slant to the lawn, swift as a bolt from the blue; then I rubbed my eyes in amaze. It was a pigeon of snowy whiteness that an instant before had been flying free; it was a coal-black nondescript that now fluttered feebly once or twice and then lay still on the gravelled path, close to the stone sun-dial. I ran down the steps and bent over the pitiful thing. Pfui!-the bird was but

ape of the rock was that of a lady's thimble; hence the name. Rather a picturesque object in the seascape, but, of course, utterly valueless

like a star through the close curtain of green that veiled 'The Thimble,' was the projecting end of a highly pol

ations, yet never diminished by even the ten-thousandth part of a grain-a natural force whose properties and functions were but imperfectly understood, even by the learned men who had succeeded in isolating it, an agent of such enormous potency that an ounce or two might serve to put a battle-ship out of commission-a c

weet treble. She stood at the entrance to the p

k the gravelled path at full speed. In an instant or two at the farthest he would be p

y hand. I could not have uttered a word or a cry to save my life-to save his-but instinct held true. With a ful

in time to see a sheet of palest-colored flame shoot up from the island. The dense mass of green foliage seemed to wither and consume away within the tick of a clock. Thro

our feet trembled. There was nothing to be seen, even with the glass, save a light scum covering the water and some fragments of charred tree

in the ring-but I spare you. The dear girl listened quietly, but at the end she began to tremble, and I won't say but that she cried a bit. It doesn'

three warnings, and Estes only received two of the red buttons.' W

him. It broke open in my pocket and it contained this.' She held out to us the

se nature was but partially understood, even by science. He had intended to use it to fulfil the vengeance of the 'Dawn'

t make a particularly presentable bridegroom. I carried an umbrella at the function whose incomparable rolling was remarked upon by all. Need I say that it was the same umbrella that Bal

taking chances where a nice girl like Betty is concerned. Let me see; it's still early. Do you feel up to taking that long-

e boarded a car. "Sixteen hundred and twenty-f

o lose some mon

nts that way