sense of superiority
which induced him to raise a warning finger.
    »Give it up - whatever it is,« he said in an admonishing tone, but not so
kindly as if he were condescending to give good advice to a cracksman of repute.
»Give it up. You'll find we are too many for you.«
    The fixed smile on the Professor's lips wavered, as if the mocking spirit
within had lost its assurance. Chief Inspector Heat went on:
    »Don't you believe me - eh? Well, you've only got to look about you. We are.
And anyway, you're not doing it well. You're always making a mess of it. Why, if
the thieves didn't know their work better they would starve.«
    The hint of an invincible multitude behind that man's back roused a sombre
indignation in the breast of the Professor. He smiled no longer his enigmatic
and mocking smile. The resisting power of numbers, the unattackable stolidity of
a great multitude, was the haunting fear of his sinister loneliness. His lips
trembled for some time before he managed to say in a strangled voice:
    »I am doing my work better than you're doing yours.«
    »That'll do now,« interrupted Chief Inspector Heat, hurriedly; and the
Professor laughed right out this time. While still laughing he moved on; but he
did not laugh long. It was a sad-faced, miserable little man who emerged from
the narrow passage into the bustle of the broad thoroughfare. He walked with the
nerveless gait of a tramp going on, still going on, indifferent to rain or sun
in a sinister detachment from the aspects of sky and earth. Chief Inspector
Heat, on the other hand, after watching him for a while, stepped out with the
purposeful briskness of a man disregarding indeed the inclemencies of the
weather, but conscious of having an authorized mission on this earth and the
moral support of his kind. All the inhabitants of the immense town, the
population of the whole country, and even the teeming millions struggling upon
the planet, were with him - down to the very thieves and mendicants. Yes, the
thieves themselves were sure to be with him in his present work. The
consciousness of universal support in his general activity heartened him to
grapple with the particular problem.
    The problem immediately before the Chief Inspector was that of managing the
Assistant Commissioner of his department, his immediate superior. This is the
perennial problem of trusty and loyal servants; anarchism gave it its particular
complexion,