they are straightforward thieves trying to earn a living while keeping Raffles's identity a secret. They finally volunteer for the Boer War, where Bunny is wounded and Raffles dies in battle after exposing an enemy spy. These stories were originally collected in The Black Mask, although they were subsequently published in one volume with the phase one stories. The last few stories in A Thief in the Night were set during this period as well. Raffles was never quite the same after his reappearance. The "classic" Raffles elements are all found in the first stories: cricket, high society, West End clubs, Bond Street jewellersand two men in immaculate evening dress pulling off impossible robberies. Characters A. J. Raffles Raffles is, in many ways, a deliberate inversion of Holmeshe is a "gentleman thief", living at the Albany, a prestigious address in London, playing cricket for the Gentlemen of England and supporting himself by carrying out ingenious burglaries. He is called the "Amateur Cracksman", and often, at first, differentiates between himself and the "professors"professional criminals from the lower classes. Bunny Manders Bunny Manders, a struggling journalist, is Watson to Raffles' Holmes, his partner and chronicler. They met initially at school and then again on the night Bunny intended to commit suicide after writing bad cheques to cover gambling debts. Raffles, also penniless, but thriving, persuaded Bunny to join him instead. Inspector Mackenzie The most notable recurring character in the stories aside from Raffles and Bunny is Inspector Mackenzie, a Scottish detective from Scotland Yard. Mackenzie is an adversary to Raffles and appears in "Gentlemen and Players", "The Return Match", "The Gift of the Emperor", and Mr. Justice Raffles. He is first mentioned in "A Costume Piece" and is also referenced by name in "The Chest of Silver". He is probably the "canny man at Scotland Yard" mentioned in "The Rest Cure". Mackenzie was based on Melville Leslie Macnaghten, the Chief Constable of the Criminal Investigation Department at Scotland Yard, according to Richard Lancelyn Green. Owen Dudley Edwards wrote that the character Inspector MacDonald in The Valley of Fear seems to have been inspired by Inspector Mackenzie. Though Mackenzie only directly appears in four of the Raffles stories, he is used as a more major character in several adaptations of Raffles, for example the 1977 television series Raffles. There are a few other minor recurring characters in the Raffles stories, such as the