into the gleaming muzzle of a revolver.

"Because if you don't, you die," was the quick reply. "Whether
you've read that document or not, I want it. If you've read it, you
know the sort of men you've got to deal with. If you haven't, take
my word for it that we waste no time. The document! Will you give
it me?"

"Do I understand that you are threatening me?" Laverick asked,
retreating a few steps.

"You may understand that this is a repeating revolver, and that I
seldom miss a half-crown at twenty paces," his visitor answered.
"If you put out your hand toward that bell, it will be the last
movement you'll ever make on earth."

"London isn't really the place for this sort of thing," Laverick
said. "If you discharge that revolver, you haven't a dog's chance
of getting clear of the building. My clerks would rush out after
you into the street. You'd find yourself surrounded by a crowd of
business men. You couldn't make your way through anywhere. You'd
be held up before you'd gone a dozen yards. Put down your revolver.
We can perhaps settle this little matter without it."

"The document!" the man ordered. "You've got it! You must have it!
You took that pocket-book from a dead man, and in that pocket-book
was the document. We must have it. We intend to have it."

"And who, may I ask, are we?" Laverick inquired.