Investors flocked to invest heavily in the San Podino Gold Company on the strength of a glowing prospectus. The prospectus glowed far more brightly than the "Fool's Gold" (iron pyrites) which was what the mine eventually yielded, and the shareholders swiftly found themselves holding the bag.

Oddly, the two partners in the ill-fated enterprise escaped financially unscathed, a fact that did not go unremarked. Berrenton and Fallon were, indeed, hauled into court for fraud, but were finally acquitted for lack of evidence.

Both men felt sure that the whole unfortunate incident would, in time, blow over. In time, contrariwise, it blew up.

The receipt of threatening notes was given emphasis by a car crash that nearly finished off Berrenton, and then by a knifing that did finish off Fallon. Clearly, it had become a case for the Yard-more specifically, a case for Chief-Inspector Poole, whose talents for relentless and impeccable investigation had seldom been so strenuously tested.

As is usual with Mr. Wade, much of the excitement of the his story stems from his intimate familiarity with actual police procedure.

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