running in, but something stopped me, God knows why. 'Take your pay,'
said Heath; I heard him say it, and then I heard the door open again,
and the same sound of feet." He shivered. "They stopped outside my room,
and I caught the outline of a head, a huge head and enormous, heavy
shoulders, and then he was gone."

"Why the devil didn't you raise the alarm?" Hartley's voice was angry.
"You've got a policeman on the road. Why didn't you shout?"

"Because I was thinking of Heath," said Atkins a little stiffly. "He is
the man we have both got to think about. Some devil of a native is
blackmailing him, and Heath is one of the best and straightest men I
know. Not one item of all this mystery goes against him in my mind, but
what I want you to do, is to have the bungalow watched."

"I shall certainly do that," said Hartley with decision. "And as for
your opinion of Heath--well, it strikes me as curious that a man of good
character should be a mark for blackmail."

"I explain facts by people, not people by facts," said Atkins hotly.
"And I have told you--"

"I think it is only fair to say that you have told me something that
lays Heath under suspicion," said Hartley, slowly. "He behaved very
oddly, lately, when I asked him a simple question, and he chose to
refuse to see me when I went to his house. All that was a small matter,
but what you tell me now is serious."

"Serious for Heath, and for that very reason I particularly want him
protected. But as for suspicion, I know the man thoroughly, and that is