With almost superhuman effort he freed himself from the fierce beast, and then, beside himself with pain and rage, uttered a volley of oaths and cried out that he would kill Gertie. The child, once free, darted from the room and tore down the stairs and out into the Dials, never stopping to look behind her till, white, breathless, and almost fainting, she had got clear of Little Queer Street and could pause for breath. As she did so she heard a quick patter behind her, and in another second Lion was by her side. With a cry of joy the child dropped on her knees, and, seizing his head, kissed him passionately. ‘Oh, Lion, you’ll take care of me, won’t you?’ she moaned. ‘I shall never go back home again. He would kill us both.’ The huge brute wagged his tail, then, looking up into his little mistress’s face, licked her check gently. It was lucky for Gertie that they were in a dark, quiet corner, where there was little traffic, or they would have had a crowd round them. As it was, Gertie felt safe directly Lion was with her, and, wiping away her tears, hurried along towards Oxford Street. She wanted to get out into a main thoroughfare and ask someone the nearest way to Miss Adrian’s. Josh Heckett, bleeding and half-mad with rage, ran down the stairs after Gertie. As he did so the dog followed him, and, rushing past him, bounded out of sight. The old man’s first impulse was to follow the fugitives. But he remembered his treasures lay unguarded upstairs. ‘Curse her!’ he growled, ‘Let her go. She’d ha’ robbed me; that’s what she’d ha’ done. And arter all these years as I’ve been a good friend to her, too! She wasn’t on that lay alone, though. Some of my pals has got scent of my cupboard and put her up to this. It’s lucky I spotted the game in time.’ Heckett convinced himself that he had fallen on some scheme to rob him, and he determined to nip it in the bud. All that night he lay with a loaded pistol under his head, and the next morning he made arrangements to sell his business, and to move his ‘traps’ to fresh diggings. ‘The gal can go out to starve and earn her own livin’; and a good job,’ he said to himself; ‘she was getting in the way as it was.’ But having made his arrangements, and his anger against Gertie having cooled down a little, he began to wonder where she could have gone to. Then, with the cunning of his class, he concluded that she would go to the person who had instigated her to examine his hidden treasure. ‘I’ll find her somehow,’ he said; ‘and then I shall see who’s playing double with Josh Heckett. Whoever it is ‘ll pay for it pretty handsome before I’ve done with’em.’ CHAPTER XXI. GURTH EGERTON BECOMES AMBITIOUS. Mr. Gurth Egerton, immediately after he had decided to resume his earthly career and cease to be a ghost or a drowned passenger of the _Bon Espoir_, was mush exercised in his mind as to what course he should pursue.