"But we shall have to look for desperate knaves; men who are already under a ban, and to whom it will matter little to have another item added to their indebtedness to the law should they fall into its talons.

How soon shall you require this forlorn company ?" "By to-morrow night." "I wonder----" mused Ercole.

He was counting on his fingers, and appeared to have lapsed into mental calculations.

"I could get half-a-score or a dozen within a couple of hours.

But a score----" Again he paused, and again he fell to thinking.