Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 6).djvu/51

"Why, good gracious," exclaimed the superintendent, "it's the Count!"

"Yes," I said, "the Count, and Antoine, and Madame; all three of them."

"It's a big haul," said the sergeant, "and such blackguards deserve all they get. But I'm afraid you gentlemen will get into trouble for killing them."

"No fear of that," said Macpherson. "Just get them across to the lock-up, and I'll come and bring them to life again. Will you come over and see the fun, Armstrong? It won't take more than half an hour or so."

"Thanks, old fellow, but not with that hole in the wall. I think I had better remain on the bank premises."

"And I'll send a couple of men to look after the house next door," said the sergeant.

The three insensible men were removed on stretchers: a grim procession. Macpherson followed them to the police-station, but instead of the anticipated half-hour, it was more than three hours before he returned, and he looked completely exhausted. "I have had an awful fright," he said. "The other blackguards came round in twenty minutes or so; but the young one, the sham madame, I really thought he was done for. He had a longer dose of the gas than the other two, and it was just touch and go with him. All's well that ends well, and it's been an extremely interesting experiment from a scientific point of view, but I really think, the next time I want to capture a burglar, I shall drop science and call in the police to collar him."

Which is decidedly my own intention.