sitting under one's own rooftree. This place would have been wasted on
Spiller; he would not have appreciated it properly."

Mike was finishing his tea. "You're a jolly useful chap to have by you
in a crisis, Smith," he said with approval. "We ought to have known each
other before."

"The loss was mine," said Psmith courteously. "We will now, with your
permission, face the future for a while. I suppose you realize that we
are now to a certain extent up against it. Spiller's hot Spanish blood
is not going to sit tight and do nothing under a blow like this."

"What can he do? Outwood's given us the study."

"What would you have done if somebody had bagged your study?"

"Made it jolly hot for them!"

"So will Comrade Spiller. I take it that he will collect a gang and make
an offensive movement against us directly he can. To all appearances we
are in a fairly tight place. It all depends on how big Comrade Spiller's
gang will be. I don't like rows, but I'm prepared to take on a
reasonable number of assailants in defense of the home."

Mike intimated that he was with him on the point. "The difficulty is,
though," he said, "about when we leave this room. I mean, we're all
right while we stick here, but we can't stay all night."

"That's just what I was about to point out when you put it with such
admirable clearness. Here we are in a stronghold; they can only get at