Jimmy's first emotion on hearing the footstep was the crudeinstinct of self-preservation. All that he was able to think ofat the moment was the fact that he was in a questionable positionand one which would require a good deal of explaining away if hewere found, and his only sensation was a strong desire to avoiddiscovery. He made a silent, scrambling leap for the gallerystairs, and reached their shelter just as the door opened. Hestood there, rigid, waiting to be challenged, but apparently hehad moved in time, for no voice spoke. The door closed so gentlyas to be almost inaudible, and then there was silence again. Theroom remained in darkness, and it was this perhaps that firstsuggested to Jimmy the comforting thought that the intruder wasequally desirous of avoiding the scrutiny of his fellows. He hadtaken it for granted in his first panic that he himself was theonly person in that room whose motive for being there would nothave borne inspection. But now, safely hidden in the gallery, outof sight from the floor below, he had the leisure to consider thenewcomer's movements and to draw conclusions from them.

　　An honest man's first act would surely have been to switch on thelights. And an honest man would hardly have crept so stealthily.

　　It became apparent to Jimmy, as he leaned over the rail and triedto pierce the darkness, that there was sinister work afoot; andhe had hardly reached this conclusion when his mind took afurther leap and he guessed the identity of the soft-footedperson below. It could be none but his old friend Lord Wisbeach,known to "the boys" as Gentleman Jack. It surprised him that hehad not thought of this before. Then it surprised him that, afterthe talk they had only a few hours earlier in that very room,Gentleman Jack should have dared to risk this raid.

　　At this moment the blackness was relieved as if by the strikingof a match. The man below had brought an electric torch intoplay, and now Jimmy could see clearly. He had been right in hissurmise. It was Lord Wisbeach. He was kneeling in front of thesafe. What he was doing to the safe, Jimmy could not see, for theman's body was in the way; but the electric torch shone on hisface, lighting up grim, serious features quite unlike the amiableand slightly vacant mask which his lordship was wont to presentto the world. As Jimmy looked, something happened in the pool oflight beyond his vision. Gentleman Jack gave a mutteredexclamation of satisfaction, and then Jimmy saw that the door ofthe safe had swung open. The air was full of a penetrating smellof scorched metal. Jimmy was not an expert in these matters, buthe had read from time to time of modern burglars and theirmethods, and he gathered that an oxy-acetylene blow-pipe, withits flame that cuts steel as a knife cuts cheese, had been atwork.

　　Lord Wisbeach flashed the torch into the open safe, plunged hishand in, and drew it out again, holding something. Handling thisin a cautious and gingerly manner, he placed it carefully in hisbreast pocket. Then he straightened himself. He switched off thetorch, and moved to the window, leaving the rest of hisimplements by the open safe. He unfastened the shutter, thenraised the catch of the window. At this point it seemed to Jimmythat the time had come to interfere.