"That will do all right. Don't be later if you can help it. I've been let in for an unexpected appointment at four o'clock, and there are several things I'd like to talk to you about first." "Well, if it comes to that," remarked Colin, "there's something I'm pretty anxious to discuss with you." "Anything serious?" rapped out the other. "Only that somebody tried to murder me last night." "_Tried to murder you!_ Who was it?" "Seems to have been a syndicate," was the answer. "The principal parties were two gentlemen called 'Spike' Cooper and Jake Hudson, both of this parish. The third one was the same cheery sportsman who kicked you in the tummy." He heard a muttered exclamation at the other end of the telephone. "You had better not say any more now. Come along up immediately. If this is true it's of the utmost importance." "Yes," said Colin drily. "It struck me that way too." He replaced the receiver, and, turning round, found Mark and Nancy standing in the doorway. "I have been summoned to Scotland Yard at once," he informed them. "Marsden seems as anxious to see me as I am to see him." "Perhaps he's got hold of some clue about the murder?" suggested Mark. "I shouldn't wonder," said Colin. "I know he went down into the country to look up the Professor's old servant this morning, and he certainly spoke as though things were beginning to move." He turned toward the pegs and started to unhook his hat and coat. "How are you going to get there?" inquired Mark. "Oh, I've brought the car along with me. It's only round the corner at Higgins's place." "You'll promise to be careful, won't you?" said Nancy rather anxiously. "I hate to let you out of my sight until those three men have been arrested." "You needn't worry about them," returned Colin with a laugh. "They must have found out by now that they made a bloomer last night, and it's a hundred to one that the whole lot have skedaddled." "Major Fenton won't have run away," persisted Nancy. "He has no idea that you saw him talking to Cooper, and there's nothing else to connect him with the affair." "No, that's true," admitted Colin. "He must be feeling as sick as the devil, and probably in a blue funk as well, but the only thing he can do is to sit tight and hope for the best." "Anyhow, he'll be lying fairly low for the moment," agreed Mark. "You bung along off, my son, and get back as soon as possible. You'll find Nancy and me here, unless we've burst with curiosity." It was exactly on the stroke of a quarter past three when, with a sharp blast from his horn, Colin shot past the policeman on duty and pulled up neatly in the centre court of Scotland Yard. Before he could attempt to dismount two indignant constables were alongside of him. "Who are you?" demanded one. "Don't you know it's against the regulations to bring in a car without permission?"