flashing a cold fire.

"Perfectly. Always. Under every circumstance. What could stop me? Why
should I not? Why should I think twice about it?"

Ossipon gasped, as it were, discreetly.

"Do you mean to say you would hand it over to a 'teck' if one came to ask
you for your wares?"

The other smiled faintly.

"Let them come and try it on, and you will see," he said. "They know me,
but I know also every one of them. They won't come near me--not they."

His thin livid lips snapped together firmly. Ossipon began to argue.

"But they could send someone--rig a plant on you. Don't you see? Get
the stuff from you in that way, and then arrest you with the proof in
their hands."

"Proof of what? Dealing in explosives without a licence perhaps." This
was meant for a contemptuous jeer, though the expression of the thin,
sickly face remained unchanged, and the utterance was negligent. "I
don't think there's one of them anxious to make that arrest. I don't
think they could get one of them to apply for a warrant. I mean one of
the best. Not one."

"Why?" Ossipon asked.