The sailor entered the store and advanced toward the rear, which was dimly lighted by a yellow jet of gas, the daylight which came through the dusty glass in front not penetrating into the back of the long room. There, on a high stool at a standing desk, bent over the pages of a great book of accounts, was a man with iron-gray hair and stooping shoulders. He glanced up as the two men approached, and Nick made a mental note of the keenest black eyes he had ever seen under a mass of gray hair. The sailor stepped up to the desk and laid his arm insolently on a pile of books at the merchant’s elbow. Then he steadied himself and glared at the figure before him. “You are here again, are you?” asked the merchant impatiently. “I told you to keep away from here.” “You know wot I come for,” said the sailor sullenly. “Who is that with you?” demanded the diamond merchant suspiciously. “A mate I picked hup out ’ere.” “If your mate has influence with you,” said the merchant, “I advise him to use it in getting you aboard ship as soon as possible.” “Hartley is playing a bold game,” thought Nick. “’And hout hour coin, then,” said the sailor, “an’ we’ll go soon enough.” “We have had enough of this,” said Hartley. “You must cease to persecute me or take the consequences. However, this is no matter to discuss before a third party. Come with me, and you, matey, remain where you are.” Hartley moved toward a rear door, accompanied by the sailor, and Nick stepped back to a chair which stood at the end of the counter, hidden from the front by a stack of boxes and books. The clerk in front walked back and saw that the detective was in the chair, and returned to the front, seemingly to watch through the door for customers. The thing for Nick to do now was to listen to the conversation which was to take place between the men who had just left him. But how? There were two doors opening from the room to the rear. One was at about the middle of the store, and the other was close to the wall at the left, and about opposite the chair in which Nick sat. Hartley and the sailor had passed through the centre door, so this probably led to another room. The other door, being near the wall, undoubtedly led to a hallway running to the rear of the building. Nick resolved to investigate. Seeing that his weapons were handy, he moved toward the side door, being careful to keep below the top of the long desk. The clerk was apparently busy in front, and did not hear the door open, as Nick supposed, and so the detective stepped into a dark passage and prepared to bring his flash into use. Then, before he could take the lantern from his pocket, he heard a sharp click, like the movement of a metallic spring, and dropped into the darkness.