“It must be there!” thundered Grundt, “unless one of you has stolen it.” “The Herr Doktor was himself present when we seized the Englishman,” the voice protested. “The Herr Doktor knows that nothing was found.” “Ungag them!” ordered Clubfoot. “And clear out! Warn the pilot to have the machine ready for instant departure!” The order was obeyed, a door was softly closed, and Desmond nerved himself to face what he divined was to be the crucial ordeal of his career. Never had he been in so tight a place. It wanted hours to daylight, and he was bound and helpless in a lonely district in the hands of a ruthless and remorseless enemy. “A false trail, eh?” said Grundt slowly, his nostrils twitching ominously. “You’d play tricks with me, would you, you dog? Do you know what I’m going to do with you, Okewood? I’m going to kill you, yes, and the girl as well!” Desmond felt his throat grow dry. “Not the girl,” he said in a low voice. “She’s not even of the Service, Grundt!” “It shall be a lesson to her to mind the company she keeps!” said Grundt grimly, and produced an automatic from his pocket. He bent to examine the magazine. Slowly he raised the pistol. Then the girl spoke. “I shouldn’t do anything hasty!” she said. “Kill us and your career is at an end. You speak of retiring voluntarily. One shot and your retirement will be compulsory. And Stauber takes your place!” Clubfoot recoiled. “Stauber!” he muttered, frowning. “You’ve made a mess of things in England, Grundt,” the girl continued serenely. “Your employers, the big industrialists, granted you this last chance. It rests with you whether you give your employers your own version of this affair, or whether they take it from the English newspapers. Do you understand me?” Clubfoot stared at her like a man hypnotized. In the same business-like manner Mary Brewster proceeded: “Kill us and there’ll be such a rumpus that the echoes of it are bound to reach Germany. You can’t suppress murder in England, Grundt. You’ve missed your chance of getting the jewels, and what you’ve got to do now is to put up the best explanation you can. I know that you have the reputation of being the man that commands success. If you touch us, that reputation is gone forever, for, you can take it from me, the whole story, the true story, will then come out and you’ll be saddled with the greatest failure of your career. And your rival, Stauber, gets your job . . .” “That Schafskopf!” muttered Grundt. He seemed half dazed by the vigour of the girl’s onslaught. Then, “What have you done with the jewels?” he roared suddenly, recovering himself. “They’re out of your reach!” said Mary Brewster. “But you’re not!” snarled Clubfoot. “And you shall tell me where they are. Herr Gott! You’re not the first woman whose tongue I’ve loosened!” But it seemed to Desmond that, for all his bluster, much of Clubfoot’s wonted assurance had disappeared.