bestowing commendation in the right quarter. There was nothing petty or grudging about Officer Donahue.
'Ye're the lad with the head, Tim!' he exclaimed admiringly.
'It just sorta came to me,' said Mr. Cassidy, modestly.
'It's a great idea, Timmy!'
'Just happened to think of it,' said Mr. Cassidy, with a coy gesture of self-effacement.
Archie had listened to the dialogue with growing uneasiness. Not for the first time since he had made their acquaintance, he became vividly aware of the exceptional physical gifts of these two men. The New York police force demands from those who would join its ranks an extremely high standard of stature and sinew, but it was obvious that jolly old Donahue and Cassidy must have passed in first shot without any difficulty whatever.
'I say, you know,' he observed, apprehensively.
And then a sharp and commanding voice spoke from the outer room.
'Donahue! Cassidy! What the devil does this mean?'
Archie had a momentary impression that an angel had fluttered down to his rescue. If this was the case, the angel had assumed an effective disguise--that of a police captain. The new arrival was a far smaller man than his subordinates--so much smaller that it did Archie good to look at him. For a long time he had been wishing that it were possible to rest his eyes with the spectacle of something of a slightly less out-size nature than his two companions.
'Why have you left your posts?'
The effect of the interruption on the Messrs. Cassidy and Donahue was pleasingly instantaneous. They seemed to shrink to almost normal proportions, and their manner took on an attractive deference.
Officer Donahue saluted.
'If ye plaze, sorr--'
Officer Cassidy also saluted, simultaneously.
''Twas like this, sorr--'
The captain froze Officer Cassidy with a glance and, leaving him congealed, turned to Officer Donahue.
'Oi wuz standing on th' fire-escape, sorr,' said Officer Donahue, in a tone of obsequious respect which not only delighted, but astounded Archie, who hadn't known he could talk like that, 'accordin' to instructions, when I heard a suspicious noise. I crope in, sorr, and found this duck--found the accused, sorr--in front of the mirror, examinin' himself. I then called to Officer Cassidy for assistance. We pinched--arrested um, sorr.'
The captain looked at Archie. It seemed to Archie that he looked at him coldly and with contempt.
'Who is he?'
'The Master-Mind, sorr.'
'The what?'
'The accused, sorr. The man that's wanted.'
'You may want him. I don't,' said the captain. Archie, though relieved, thought he might have put it more nicely. 'This isn't Moon. It's not a bit like him.'
'Absolutely not!' agreed Archie, cordially. 'It's all a mistake, old companion, as I was trying to--'
'Cut it out!'
'Ob, right-o!'
'You've seen the photographs at the station. Do you mean to tell me you see any resemblance?'
'If ye plaze, sorr,' said Officer Cassidy, coming to life.
'Well?'
'We thought he'd bin disguising himself, the way he wouldn't be recognised.'
'You're a fool!' said the captain.
'Yes, sorr,' said Officer Cassidy, meekly.
'So are you, Donahue.'
'Yes, sorr.'
Archie's respect for this chappie was going up all the time. He seemed to be able to take years off the lives of these massive blighters with a word. It was like the stories you read about lion- tamers. Archie did not despair of seeing Officer Donahue and his old college chum Cassidy eventually jumping through hoops.
'Who are you?' demanded the captain, turning to Archie.
'Well, my name is--'
'What are you doing here?'
'Well, it's rather a longish story, you know. Don't want to bore you, and all that.'
'I'm here to listen. You can't bore ME.'
'Dashed nice of you to put it like that,' said Archie, gratefully. 'I mean to say, makes it easier and so forth. What I mean is, you know how rotten you feel telling the deuce of a long yarn and wondering if the party of the second part is wishing you would turn off the tap and go home. I mean--'
