His first thought was for the men under him, but he found that an ambulance had been sent along by a thoughtful authority, and Red Cross men were already tending the casualties. Six of the constables were killed, and a number were more or less seriously wounded. Then he went along to the room where the thirteen unlucky ones were under guard awaiting the arrival of a van. Their spirit left nothing to be desired. "You might as well let us go, guvnor," said one hefty specimen. "It'll only mean trouble if you take us to the station." "Yeh!" agreed Storm ironically. "And the trouble will be right up under your hats!" The man looked at him queerly. "D'you really think you'll get us to the station?" he asked, and Storm showed his teeth. "I'll think more than that, for your benefit," he said unpleasantly. "I think in about two months' time you will all hang by your necks until you are dead!" Teal, on a round of inspection, stopped Storm to air a theory. The detective was taking the set-back with great patience. He stripped the wrapping from a wafer of chewing-gum and inserted the sweet in his mouth with care. "Has it occurred to you," he said, "that even a lot of thugs like that bunch wouldn't be armed to the teeth, every man of 'em, in the ordinary way, if they'd thought they were all snug and chummy?" This was a far-fetched suggestion, Storm opined, but Teal's confidence was undamped. He went to the telephone in the hall and called Exchange. "Central-Inspector Teal," he introduced himself. "Has this number been called in the last hour? ... Thank you.... Ah! ... public call box at Monument Station you said? ... Thanks." "Three bluffs were put over in this shack to-night," Storm murmured thoughtfully as Teal replaced the receiver. "I don't think it matters which one that call gave away." He looked at the detective sombrely. "Teal! This is Hell's own song and dance act! They were waiting for us, and they guessed they could make a slick enough getaway when the time came; they just stayed on to liven things up a bit for us. That's nerve! I wish the swine didn't seem so damned sure of themselves." "You surprise me--after that speech of yours at the Enquiry," Teal said drily. Shortly afterwards one of the Flying Squad's vans arrived with the detachment which had guarded the Bank Station. The officers were unloaded, and the captured members of the Triangle shipped instead, with two armed men for company. A third armed man rode beside the driver. Huge drays with their attendant school of porters were already about, blocking the narrow street, and the van made slow progress. Storm watched it go with a frown, for the confident words of one of the prisoners stuck in his head. A second van arriving at that moment, he sent it on the trail of the first for additional security, but by that time there was a thick jam of slow traffic between the two, and in those circumstances he had some doubts of the efficiency of his precaution.