Page 322 - for-the-term-of-his-natural-life

lost. He did not want to confess, because he must implicate
his friend Rex, but if he did not confess he would be given
in charge. Flight was impossible, for neither had money. In
this dilemma John Rex remembered Blicks’s compliment,
and burned to deserve it. If he must retreat, he would lay
waste the enemy’s country. His exodus should be like that
of the Israelites—he would spoil the Egyptians. The shop-
walker was allowed half an hour in the middle of the day for
lunch. John Rex took advantage of this half-hour to hire a
cab and drive to Blicks. That worthy man received him cor-
dially, for he saw that he was bent upon great deeds. John
Rex rapidly unfolded his plan of operations. The warehouse
doors were fastened with a spring. He would remain behind
after they were locked, and open them at a given signal. A
light cart or cab could be stationed in the lane at the back,
three men could fill it with valuables in as many hours. Did
Blicks know of three such men? Blicks’s one eye glistened.
He thought he did know. At half-past eleven they should be
there. Was that all? No. Mr. John Rex was not going to ‘put
up’ such a splendid thing for nothing. The booty was worth
at least £5,000 if it was worth a shilling—he must have £100
cash when the cart stopped at Blicks’s door. Blicks at first re-
fused point blank. Let there be a division, but he would not
buy a pig in a poke. Rex was firm, however; it was his only
chance, and at last he got a promise of £80. That night the
glorious achievement known in the annals of Bow Street
as ‘The Great Silk Robbery’ took place, and two days af-
terwards John Rex and his partner, dining comfortably at
Birmingham, read an account of the transaction—not in

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