wide that he will be seized with jealousy to think of how much more
refined his profession has become since he left it, and out of mere pique
he will leave the hotel, and, to show himself still cleverer than his
modern prototypes, he will leave his account unpaid, with the result that
the affair will be put in the hands of the police, under which
circumstances a house in the immediate vicinity of the famous police
headquarters will be the safest hiding-place he can find, as was instanced
by the remarkable case of the famous Penstock bond robbery. A certain
church-warden named Hinkley, having been appointed cashier thereof, robbed
the Penstock Imperial Bank of £1,000,000 in bonds, and, fleeing to London,
actually joined the detective force at Scotland Yard, and was detailed to
find himself, which of course he never did, nor would he ever have been
found had he not crossed my path."

Hawkshaw gazed mournfully off into space, and Le Coq muttered profane
words under his breath.

"We're not in the same class with this fellow, Hawkshaw," said Le Coq.
"You could tap your forehead knowingly eight hours a day through all
eternity with a sledge-hammer without loosening an idea like that."

"Nevertheless I'll confound him yet," growled the jealous detective. "I
shall myself go to London, and, disguised as Captain Kidd, will lead this
visionary on until he comes there to arrest me, and when these club
members discover that it is Hawkshaw and not Kidd he has run to earth,
we'll have a great laugh on Sherlock Holmes."

"I am anxious to hear how you solved the bond-robbery mystery," said
Socrates, wrapping his toga closely about him and settling back against
one of the spiles of the wharf.