Snooper did not look up until the door had closed behind the baffled Lew. And when he spoke he made no mention of the incident; but its effect was not lost on his audience. Only Morini was not awed--but then, Gat Morini was nearly as intelligent as Snooper himself. "The bomb goes off in about two hours," said Mr. Brome. "So keep clear of Piccadilly Circus on your way home. It'll be the crowning stroke--and the beauty of it is that we can go on dealing out crowning strokes for weeks. We've fought off the police, we've rescued prisoners twice, and we're killing those we've threatened as well. At midnight we shall have caused an explosion which will startle the country." He stopped, intent on the vision of power that retrospection gave him. The others, only half understanding, waited for him to speak again. "Arden must go--and the girl. Those are the Apex's orders. I'll arrange that to-morrow--they're dangerous." He tugged at the ornate fob which graced the southwest of his abdomen, and brought into view a gold repeater. "The Triangle's about due to speak to you himself. I've heard all he's got to say, and I've got some work to do to-night, so I'll move off. I'll be back later. Morini can fix the telephone." He departed, and Morini rose to obey. The telephone stood on a small corner table. Morini took up the instrument and pulled out the flex from the wall plug into which it fitted. He carried it over to a side shelf and brought back instead a polished box lidded with ebonite, on the surface of which was an engraved dial and two frosted bulbs. From the centre protruded the curved horn of a loud-speaker. He plugged the terminals of a piece of flex, which ran from the rear of the box, into the slots at the end of the permanent telephone wiring, and connected two other wires between the amplifier and an accumulator which he fetched from a cupboard. The ordinary installation had now been converted into a loud-speaking telephone, and the flat nickelled button of a small but supersensitive microphone let into the front of the amplifier case acted as the receptive part of the instrument. Then the men sat round the table, conversing desultorily, to await the voice of their leader. It is a good example of the cautious foresight of the Apex, that orders which, if they were definitely traced to him, would be of great assistance to the Public Prosecutor, were invariably given by a palpably disguised voice speaking to his subordinates from none knew where. Presently the loud-speaker broke into that sizzling mumble which denotes the opening of the circuit, and a moment later it spoke, with the muffled harshness that is inseparable from electrically transmitted speech. "Who is there?" They gave their names, one by one, and the numbers they held in the organisation. There followed a pause, as though the speaker was checking the list. Then: