came in?" pursued Raffles.

"That wasn't a billiard-cue! It was a pointer," the intelligent
officer explained.

"It ought to be a javelin," said Raffles, nervously. "It ought
to be a poleaxe! The public treasure ought to be better guarded
than this. I shall write to the Times about it--you see if I
don't!"

All at once, yet somehow not so suddenly as to excite suspicion,
Raffles had become the elderly busybody with nerves; why, I
could not for the life of me imagine; and the policeman seemed
equally at sea.

"Lor' bless you, sir," said he, "I'm all right; don't you bother
your head about ME."

"But you haven't even got a truncheon!"

"Not likely to want one either. You see, sir, it's early as
yet; in a few minutes these here rooms will fill up; and there's
safety in numbers, as they say."

"Oh, it will fill up soon, will it?"

"Any minute now, sir."

"Ah!"