‘Unless I can make it a big figure I shan’t touch it,’ answered Marston. ‘Its my last business transaction previous to retiring into private life; so I want it to be a profitable one. I shan’t think of making the attempt till I know that at least £20,000 is going down the line. That’s a sum that often goes from London to the Continent, and it is by the Continental mail we shall have to travel whenever the coup comes off.’ Brooks looked at Marston with such an admiring glance that the latter couldn’t help laughing. ‘We’d better get ashore,’ he said, presently. ‘You must take plenty of time, and have everything ready when you apply this afternoon for a box of bullion as Mr. John Dawson.’ Marston rowed towards the shore, giving his companion a few parting instructions, and, having landed, they separated. Marston went to the Lord Warden, where he was staying in first-class style, and Mr. Brooks walked quietly to his less pretentious but equally comfortable hotel, the Dover Castle. All that afternoon Mr. Barker, a clerk in the traffic superintendent’s office at Dover, rather neglected his business. He had too sharp an eye on the parcels office to be thinking of anything else. About three o’clock a train was due in. Just before it arrived an elderly gentleman stepped into the parcels office and asked if a box of bullion, forwarded from London to John Dawson, Dover, had arrived. ‘Yes, it has,’ said the clerk. ‘I am Mr. Dawson,’ said the gentleman, handing in a letter from the sender, advising its despatch to him. ‘I’ll take it, please.’ The clerk went to where the safe stood securely locked. The box of bullion was inside it. Keys of these safes are kept at each end. They are locked in London and unlocked at their destination. The keys themselves are always kept locked up. Mr. Dawson’s eyes followed the parcels clerk closely as he went to get the keys. He opened a small cupboard in the corner of the room and took down the keys that hung inside it. There were two separate locks to the safe, for increased security. He put the two keys into the safe, unlocked it, and withdrew the box of bullion, and handed Mr. Dawson a receipt to sign. At that moment, Mr. Barker, the clerk from the traffic superintendent’s office, called across the station to the parcels clerk, the train came in, and for a few minutes there was considerable confusion. Barker had called the clerk out to show him something in the station. The excuse was prearranged and plausible. In two minutes he was back again. Mr. Dawson had signed the receipt. He handed it to the clerk and took away his box of bullion. He also took away an impression in wax of the two keys that unlocked the safes which travelled up and down the line with thousands of pounds worth of gold in them. Late that evening he had a moonlight stroll along the cliffs and met Mr. Edward Marston. ‘They were double keys, guv’nor,’ said Mr. Brooks, ‘and it was jolly sharp work, I can tell you!’