One man volunteered, and with a final warning to the others to wait in patience Tom moved off. With the aid of his knife the detective set himself to dispose of the remainder of his bonds. He dropped them at last noiselessly to his side, and marked one of Billy Bungey’s associates as the first object of attack.

Inch by inch holding to the shadows as far as possible he edged towards his man. Speed was of the essence of his plan. If he guessed wrong he knew himself as good as dead.

Suddenly he leapt. The full weight of his heavy body was behind his fist which caught his man full on the point. The fellow fell like a sack and almost simultaneously Labar was by the unconscious body feeling feverishly in the right hand jacket pocket for the weapon he believed to be there. His judgment was right and as he pulled himself upright a heavy automatic was in his hand. He squeezed the trigger and a spurt of flame and a heavy report which reverberated lengthily in the confined space, told the others almost before they knew what had happened that he was armed.