"And you——?"
The Superintendent looked anxious.
"I gave it back to him, sir. Then I knocked him down."
A little of the severity in the C.O.'s thoughtful face relaxed.
"Go on."
"Then I gave him a good round talking to, sir. I told him that his was a criminal offense. I tried to make him understand what the Force represents and maintains, sir. Finally, I told him that the surest way for him to damn himself in our eyes was to play the crooked game. I think he grasped it all, sir, in the end."
Here was a man with the honour of the Force at heart—a man long trained in true esprit de corps—with real knowledge of and sympathy for his chief. Not for nothing had Sergeant Kellett commanded his own regiment in his time!
"Thank you, Kellett. Report any further affairs of this kind that come to your notice, will you? You did the right thing, Mr. Gemmell. That will do."
The Superintendent shook hands with them both; and in that moment there were between them no distinctions of rank. They were simply comrades-in-arms, united in their jealous love of the corps they served.
Forshaw came in a few minutes after the others had gone. He looked serious when Hector told him what had happened.