“You are right,” he said, “after all, in asking the question. I should have explained at the time,” he yawned, “what I meant by seeing him. Of course I was speaking figuratively. There are no such things as devils, at least not supernatural creations, as the current superstition understands them to be. The only devils to be afraid of are human devils. I know numbers of them. They are real enough. But they wear sheep’s clothing. Respectable, law-abiding fellows. I’ll see them again in a few hours, if Gypo gets to the police station with his story. They’ll drawl out slowly their sentence on me. Ha! Pretty boys. And here I am doing nothing while they are . . .” He moved rapidly up and down again, clutching his hands behind his back, jerking his body about and crunching his teeth. “I am alone,” he continued. “Alone. I stand alone. They can easily buy off the rest of the Executive Committee. They’ll be only too glad to get away free, with their lives, at any cost, if it comes to a fight. If evidence is found against me, sufficient to prove certain things, they can strike at me with impunity. My own rank and file would be the first to stone me to death. Their damn superstitions always stand in the way of revolutionary beliefs. They talk at International Head-quarters about romanticism and leftism and all sorts of freak notions. What do they know about the peculiar type of hog mind that constitutes an Irish peasant?” “How dare you?” cried Mary indignantly. He looked at her. Her eyes were flashing. She sat erect on the form. He had never seen a woman wild and imperious like that. He smiled weakly. “Sorry to hurt your feelings,” he said cynically. “But I’m beyond that. Pish! I’ve got the whole country in a fine net and I’m within the law until they find something definite to go upon. I can snap my fingers at the lot of you.” He grew fierce and arrogant. “You and your patriotic ideas! I was wrong about you. I don’t want you. I never wanted you. Do you hear? I snap my fingers at the whole world. That hulking swine can do his best. I will drain his blood before dawn. Mark my words. He’ll never reach the police station. My destiny stands against him. And——” Just then the sentry’s challenge rang out. Gallagher immediately stood stock still and listened. Then he rushed into the passage, drawing his pistol and muttering something. Two men were hurrying down the stairs. The first of them came up smartly to Gallagher and clicked his heels. He was a small, slight man, with hawk’s eyes and a long, pointed, curved nose. He wore a loose raincoat and a check cap. He was Billy Burton, an Insurance Agent, a captain in the Revolutionary Organization. Gallagher shook hands with him eagerly. “Glad they found you in, Billy,” he said. “You’re the very man I want.” He led Burton into the guardroom and rapidly explained the situation. Then he detailed a plan. He detailed the plan coolly and minutely as if he had spent weeks at it.