‘Give ’em a warm reception, Captain. Leave that to me.’
‘Yes, yes. Warm reception. Good. Have some of your men in hiding, eh, Mr Inspector?’
‘Half a dozen of ’em, Captain.’
‘Just so, just so. And I’ll be in hiding too. I’ve a horse-pistol up-stairs nearly as long as my arm.’
‘Shan’t need that, sir.’
‘No good having a horse-pistol if one doesn’t make use of it now and then.’
‘Half-a-dozen men—three inside the house, and three out,’ remarked the inspector as he wrote down the particulars in his book.
‘And I’ll make the seventh—don’t forget that!’ cried the Captain, looking as fierce as some buccaneer of bygone days. ‘If there’s one among the burglars more savage than the rest, leave him for me to tackle.’
‘My poor, dear nunky, if you only knew!’ murmured Elsie under her breath.
‘Perhaps I had better lend you a pair of these, Captain; they might prove useful in a scuffle,’ remarked the inspector as he produced a pair of handcuffs from the tail-pocket of his coat. ‘The simplest bracelets in the world. The easiest to get on, and the most difficult to get off—till you know how. Allow me. This is how it’s done. What could be more simple?’