With a howl of rage the colonel turned the contents upon the stone floor of the vault and raked it over with the end of his walking-stick. The diamonds were intact, and they at least were something; but the greater part of eight hundred thousand dollars was indistinguishable from any other kind of paper that had been treated with one of the most destructive acids known to chemical science. CHAPTER XXXV IN A BOX AT THE ORPHEUM The colonel wiped his burnt and discoloured hands after he had dropped the last diamond into a medicine bottle which the bank manager happened to have in the room. "That's something saved from the wreck, at any rate," he said. He had gone suddenly old, and his mouth trembled, as many a younger mouth had trembled in despair that Colonel Boundary might become a rich man. "Something saved from the wreck," he repeated slowly. The manager's grave eyes were fixed on his. "I'm not blaming you, Ferguson," said the colonel. "It was a plot to ruin me, and it succeeded." "What do you think happened?" asked the troubled Ferguson. "The second package was a box filled with a very strong acid," said the colonel. "Probably the box was made of soft metal, through which the acid would eat in a few hours. It was placed in the safe, and in time the corrosive worked through----" He shrugged his shoulders and left the room without another word. "Thirty-five years' work that represents, Crewe," he said as they were driving back to the flat; "thirty-five years of risk and thought and organisation, and ended in pulp--stinking pulp--that burns your fingers when you touch it." He began to whistle and Crewe noticed with curiosity that he chose the "Soldiers' Chorus" from "Faust" for the dirge to his lost fortune. "Jack o' Judgment!" he said wonderingly. "Jack o' Judgment! Well, he's had his judgment all right, and I'm going to have mine. You needn't tell Pinto what happened this morning. Leave him guessing. He's got a pretty thick bank-roll, and I'll agree to that grand scheme of his for sharing out." The thought seemed to cheer him, and by the time they reached the flat he was almost jovial. "Well, what's the news?" asked Pinto eagerly. "Fine," said the colonel. "Everything is as it should be." "Stop rotting," growled the other. "What is the news?" "The news, my lad," said the colonel, "is that I've decided to agree to your unselfish suggestion." "What's that?" said the unsuspicious Pinto. "That we should pool and divide." "Jack o' Judgment's got your money, too!" said Pinto, who cherished no illusions about the colonel's generosity. "How well he knows me!" said Boundary. "Now, come, Pinto, we're all in this, sink or swim. I told Crewe going down that I intended dividing; didn't I, Crewe?" "You said something like that," said Crewe cautiously.