13915 'He was bare-headed, but he had a black cloak thrown over his shoulder, so that he could conceal his face in an instant if there were any alarm.
13916 He walked on tiptoe under the shadow of the wall, and when he reached the window, he worked a long-bladed knife through the sash and pushed back the catch.
13917 Then he flung open the window and, putting his knife through the crack in the shutters, he thrust the bar up and swung them open.
13918 'From where I lay I had a perfect view of the inside of the room and of every one of his movements.
13919 He lit the two candles which stand upon the mantelpiece, and then he proceeded to turn back the corner of the carpet in the neighbourhood of the door.
13920 Presently he stooped and picked out a square piece of board, such as is usually left to enable plumbers to get at the joints of the gas pipes.
13921 This one covered, as a matter of fact, the T-joint which gives off the pipe which supplies the kitchen underneath.
13922 Out of this hiding-place he drew that little cylinder of paper, pushed down the board, rearranged the carpet, blew out the candles, and walked straight into my arms as I stood waiting for him outside the window.
13923 'Well, he has rather more viciousness than I gave him credit for, has Master Joseph.
13924 He flew at me with his knife, and I had to grasp him twice, and got a cut over the knuckles, before I had the upper hand of him.
13925 He looked "murder" out of the only eye he could see with when we had finished, but he listened to reason and gave up the papers.
13926 Having got them I let my man go, but I wired full particulars to Forbes this morning.
13927 If he is quick enough to catch his bird, well and good!
13928 But if, as I shrewdly suspect, he finds the nest empty before he gets there, why, all the better for the Government.
13929 I fancy that Lord Holdhurst, for one, and Mr. Percy Phelps, for another, would very much rather that the affair never got so far as a police-court.'