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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Spies of the Kaiser, by William Le Queux
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Spies of the Kaiser
+       Plotting the Downfall of England
+
+Author: William Le Queux
+
+Release Date: July 31, 2010 [EBook #33298]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPIES OF THE KAISER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Moti Ben-Ari and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+    _Spies of the Kaiser
+    Plotting the Downfall of England_
+
+    _By William Le Queux: Author of
+    "The Invasion of 1910"_
+
+
+    Contents
+
+    IF ENGLAND KNEW
+    THE PERIL OF ENGLAND
+    CHAPTER I: HOW THE PLANS OF ROSYTH WERE STOLEN
+    CHAPTER II: THE SECRET OF THE SILENT SUBMARINE
+    CHAPTER III: THE BACK-DOOR OF ENGLAND
+    CHAPTER IV: HOW THE GERMANS ARE PREPARING FOR INVASION
+    CHAPTER V: THE SECRET OF THE NEW BRITISH AEROPLANE
+    CHAPTER VI: THE SECRET OF THE NEW ARMOUR-PLATES
+    CHAPTER VII: THE SECRET OF THE IMPROVED "DREADNOUGHT"
+    CHAPTER VIII: THE GERMAN PLOT AGAINST ENGLAND
+    CHAPTER IX: THE SECRET OF OUR NEW GUN
+    CHAPTER X: THE SECRET OF THE CLYDE DEFENCES
+    CHAPTER XI: THE PERIL OF LONDON
+    CHAPTER XII: HOW GERMANY FOMENTS STRIFE
+    CHAPTER XIII: OUR WIRELESS SECRETS
+    CHAPTER XIV: PLAYING A DESPERATE GAME
+
+
+
+
+    HURST & BLACKETT'S
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+    Each cloth bound, with picture
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+    PADDY, THE NEXT BEST THING  246th Thousand
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+    THE SILENT RANCHER          135th Thousand
+    THE GREAT SPLENDOUR         140th Thousand
+    THE RHODESIAN               139th Thousand
+
+    By AMELIE RIVES
+    (Princess Troubetzkoy)
+    World's End
+
+    By MAURICE LEBLANC
+    The Teeth of the Tiger
+
+    By RICHARD STARR
+    Married to a Spy
+
+    By MARGARET PETERSON
+    To Love
+    Butterfly Wings
+
+    By WILLIAM LE QUEUX
+    The Man from Downing Street
+
+    By WILLIAM LE QUEUX
+    Secrets of the Foreign Office
+    The House of the Wicked
+
+    By BEATRICE GRIMSHAW
+    Red Rob of the Islands
+      A Story of New Guinea
+
+    By COUNTESS BARCY[`N]SKA
+    The Honey Pot
+
+    By EDNA LYALL
+    Donovan  300th Thousand
+    We Two   250th Thousand
+
+    London: HURST & BLACKETT Ltd., Paternoster House. E.C.
+
+
+
+
+    _Spies of the Kaiser
+    Plotting the Downfall of England_
+
+    _By William Le Queux: Author of
+    "The Invasion of 1910"_
+
+    [Illustration]
+
+    _LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LTD.
+    PATERNOSTER HOUSE, E.C._
+
+
+
+
+IF ENGLAND KNEW
+
+
+No sane person can deny that England is in grave danger of invasion by
+Germany at a date not far distant.
+
+This very serious fact I endeavoured to place vividly before the public
+in my recent forecast, _The Invasion of 1910_, the publication of which,
+in Germany and in England, aroused a storm of indignation against me.
+
+The Government, it will be remembered, endeavoured to suppress its
+publication, because it contained many serious truths, which it was
+deemed best should be withheld from the public, and on its
+publication--in defiance of the statements in the House of Commons, and
+the pressure brought upon me by the Prime Minister--I was denounced as a
+panicmonger.
+
+But have not certain of my warnings already been fulfilled?
+
+I have no desire to create undue alarm. I am an Englishman, and, I hope,
+a patriot. What I have written in this present volume in the form of
+fiction is based upon serious facts within my own personal knowledge.
+
+That German spies are actively at work in Great Britain is well known to
+the authorities. The number of agents of the German Secret Police at
+this moment working in our midst on behalf of the Intelligence
+Department in Berlin are believed to be over five thousand. To each
+agent--known as a "fixed-post"--is allotted the task of discovering some
+secret, or of noting in a certain district every detail which may be of
+advantage to the invader when he lands. This "fixed-agent" is, in turn,
+controlled by a travelling agent, who visits him regularly, allots the
+work, collects his reports, and makes monthly payments, the usual
+stipend varying from L10 to L30 per month, according to the social
+position of the spy and the work in which he or she may be engaged.
+
+The spies themselves are not always German. They are often Belgians,
+Swiss, or Frenchmen employed in various trades and professions, and each
+being known in the Bureau of Secret Police by a number only, their
+monthly information being docketed under that particular number. Every
+six months an "inspection" is held, and monetary rewards made to those
+whose success has been most noteworthy.
+
+The whole brigade of spies in England is controlled by a well-known
+member of the German Secret Police in London, from whom the travelling
+agents take their orders, and in turn transmit them to the
+"fixed-posts," who are scattered up and down the country.
+
+As I write, I have before me a file of amazing documents, which plainly
+show the feverish activity with which this advance guard of our enemy is
+working to secure for their employers the most detailed information.
+These documents have already been placed before the Minister for War,
+who returned them without comment!
+
+He is aware of the truth, and cannot deny it in face of these
+incriminating statements.
+
+It is often said that the Germans do not require to pursue any system of
+espionage in England when they can purchase our Ordnance maps at a
+shilling each. But do these Ordnance maps show the number of horses and
+carts in a district, the stores of food and forage, the best way in
+which to destroy bridges, the lines of telegraph and telephone, and the
+places with which they communicate, and such-like matters of vital
+importance to the invader? Facts such as these, and many others, are
+being daily conveyed by spies in their carefully prepared reports to
+Berlin, as well as the secrets of every detail of our armament, our
+defences, and our newest inventions.
+
+During the last twelve months, aided by a well-known detective officer,
+I have made personal inquiry into the presence and work of these spies,
+an inquiry which has entailed a great amount of travelling, much
+watchfulness, and often considerable discomfort, for I have felt that,
+in the circumstances, some system of contra-espionage should be
+established, as has been done in France.
+
+I have refrained from giving actual names and dates, for obvious
+reasons, and have therefore been compelled, even at risk of being again
+denounced as a scaremonger, to present the facts in the form of
+fiction--fiction which, I trust, will point its own patriotic moral.
+
+Colonel Mark Lockwood, Member for Epping, sounded a very serious warning
+note in the middle of 1908 when he asked questions of the Minister for
+War, and afterwards of the Prime Minister, respecting the presence of
+German spies in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and elsewhere. He pointed out
+that for the past two years these individuals, working upon a carefully
+prepared plan, had been sketching, photographing, and carefully making
+notes throughout the whole of East Anglia.
+
+With truth, he declared that this organised system of espionage was for
+one reason alone, namely in preparation for a sudden raid upon our
+shores, for "the Day"--as it is known in Germany--the Day of the
+Invasion of England.
+
+The replies given by His Majesty's Ministers were colourless, though
+they both actually confessed themselves unable to deal with the
+situation! Under our existing law it seems that a foreign spy is free
+to go hither and thither, and plot the downfall of England, while we,
+ostrich-like, bury our head in the sand at the sign of approaching
+danger.
+
+The day has passed when one Englishman was worth ten foreigners. Modern
+science in warfare has altered all that. All the rifle-clubs in England
+could not stop one German battalion, because the German battalion is
+trained and disciplined in the art of war, while our rifle-clubs are
+neither disciplined nor trained. Were every able-bodied man in the
+kingdom to join a rifle-club we should be no nearer the problem of
+beating the German invaders if once they landed, than if the spectators
+in all the football matches held in Britain mobilised against a foreign
+foe. The Territorial idea is a delusion. Seaside camps for a fortnight a
+year are picnics, not soldiering. The art of navigation, the science of
+engineering, or the trade of carpentering cannot be learned in fourteen
+days annually--neither can the art of war.
+
+In response, we have held up to us the strength of our Navy. But is it
+really what it is represented by our rulers to an already deluded
+public?
+
+Only as recently as March 29, 1909, Sir Edward Grey, replying to Mr.
+Balfour's vote of censure in the House of Commons, was compelled to
+admit that--
+
+     "A new situation is created by the German programme. When it is
+     completed, Germany, a great country close to our own shores,
+     will have a fleet of thirty-three Dreadnoughts, and that fleet
+     will be the most powerful which the world has ever yet seen. It
+     imposes upon us the necessity of rebuilding the whole of our
+     fleet. That is the situation."
+
+Germany is our friend--for the moment. But Prince Buelow now admits that
+the Kaiser's telegram to President Kruger was no personal whim, but the
+outcome of national policy!
+
+What may happen to-morrow?
+
+    WILLIAM LE QUEUX.
+
+
+
+
+THE PERIL OF ENGLAND
+
+WHO IS RIGHT?
+
+
+SIR EDWARD GREY
+
+_In the House of Commons, March 29, 1909._
+
+We have been informed verbally, but quite definitely, that Germany will
+not accelerate her naval programme of construction, and will not have
+thirteen ships of the _Dreadnought_ type, including cruisers, till the
+end of 1912.
+
+
+PRINCE BUELOW
+
+_In the Reichstag, March 29, 1909._
+
+Great Britain has never made any proposals which the German Government
+regarded as a suitable basis for negotiations. Germany regards the
+question of limitation of armaments as outside the range of practical
+politics.
+
+
+WHAT THE KAISER SAYS:
+
+His Imperial Majesty the German Emperor declared:--
+
+_The prevailing sentiment among large sections of the middle and lower
+class of my own people is not friendly to England.--Daily Telegraph,
+October 28, 1908._
+
+
+
+
+SPIES OF THE KAISER
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+HOW THE PLANS OF ROSYTH WERE STOLEN
+
+
+"But if the new plans for our naval base at Rosyth have already been
+secured by Germany, I don't see what we can do," I remarked. "What's the
+use of closing the stable-door after the horse has been stolen?"
+
+"That's just what we generally do in England, my dear old Jack," replied
+my friend. "We still think, as in the days of Wellington, that one
+Englishman is worth ten foreigners. But remember the Boer War, and what
+our shameful ignorance cost us in men and money. Now, as I explained
+last night in London, the original plans of Rosyth leaked out some time
+ago, and were actually published in certain Continental papers. In
+consequence of this, fresh plans have been prepared and adopted by the
+Lords of the Admiralty. It is one of these which Reitmeyer informs my
+father is already in German hands."
+
+"But is not Reitmeyer a German himself?" I asked.
+
+"He's a naturalised Englishman," replied my friend Ray Raymond, drawing
+hard at his pipe as he stretched himself lazily before the fire of the
+inn-parlour. "It was he who gave the guv'nor a good deal of the
+information upon which he based those questions he asked in the House."
+
+"The Government refused to admit that German spies are at work in
+England," I said.
+
+"Yes, Jack. That's just why I'm down here on the Firth of Forth--in
+order to accomplish the task I've set myself, namely, to prove that
+German secret agents are at this moment actively at work amongst us. I
+intend to furnish proof of the guv'nor's statements, and by exposing the
+methods of these inquisitive gentry, compel the Government to introduce
+fresh legislation in order that the authorities may be able to deal with
+them. At present spies may work their will in England, and the law is
+powerless to prevent them."
+
+I was standing with my back to the fire facing my friend, who, a
+barrister like myself, shared with me a set of rather dismal chambers in
+New Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn, though he had never had occasion to
+practise, as I unfortunately had.
+
+As he sat, his long, thin legs outstretched towards the fire, he
+presented the appearance of the typical athletic young Englishman, aged
+about thirty, clean-shaven, clean-limbed, with an intelligent and
+slightly aquiline face, a pair of merry grey eyes, and light brown hair
+closely cropped. He was an all-round good fellow, even though his life
+had been cast in pleasant places. Eldest son of Sir Archibald Raymond,
+Bart., the well-known Cardiff coal-owner who sat for East Carmarthen, he
+had been with me at Balliol, we had read together, and though he now
+shared those dingy London chambers, he resided in a prettily furnished
+flat in Bruton Street, while I lived in rooms round in Guilford Street,
+Bloomsbury, in my lonely bachelordom.
+
+He had been adopted as candidate for West Rutland at the next election,
+and his party predicted of him great things. But the long-wished-for
+General Election was still afar off, therefore, with commendable
+patriotism, he had taken up the burning question of German spies in
+England, which had been so lightly pooh-poohed by both the Prime
+Minister and the Minister for War. His intention was, if possible, to
+checkmate their activity, and at the same time reveal to the public the
+fool's paradise in which we are living now that "the Day"--as they call
+it in Germany--is fast approaching--the day of the invasion of Great
+Britain.
+
+     -- Miles N.E. of Dockyard. Half-closed redoubt for
+     infantry--Platforms for machine-guns at angles--Wrought-iron
+     palisading at bottom of ditch.
+
+     G (in plan.) "Ferry Hills" Fort--Earth and concrete--Very deep
+     ditches, flanked by counterscarp galleries and a stone
+     caponier--Casemated--Probable armament--Two 9.2-inch guns, six
+     7.5-inch guns--Wrought-iron fraise below counterscarp.
+
+     H (in plan). Evidently intended for use against torpedo-boats
+     and destroyers--To mount ten 4-inch quick-firing
+     guns--Wrought-iron palisading in ditch well covered from
+     seaward--Gorge closed by stone wall (two tiers of loopholes for
+     musketry), flanked by caponiers with machine-guns.
+
+     I. A large and formidable work armed with--
+
+     Portion of translation of the German spy's report upon the new
+     naval base at Rosyth.
+
+After Sir Archibald had put the questions in the House, the purport of
+which most readers will remember, he had been the recipient of many
+letters pointing out the presence of spies--letters which, if published,
+would have no doubt created a great sensation. Many of these statements
+Ray and I had, during the past two months, closely investigated on the
+spot, and what we had discovered held us both amazed and alarmed.
+Indeed, we had secured evidence that although spies were openly at work
+in certain of our eastern counties collecting all sorts of information
+which would be of incalculable importance to an invader, yet the chief
+constables of those counties had actually been instructed from
+head-quarters to close their eyes to the movements of inquisitive
+foreigners!
+
+In the investigations upon which Ray Raymond had embarked with such
+enthusiasm, and which I am now permitted to chronicle in these pages, he
+had taken only two persons into his confidence--myself and Vera, the
+pretty, fair-haired daughter of Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Vallance, the
+Admiral-Superintendent of Portsmouth Dockyard, to whom he was engaged.
+
+Indeed, from the first I suspected that it had been her influence that
+had roused him to action; she who had promised him her assistance, and
+who had pointed out how, by watching and unmasking the spies, he might
+render his King and country signal service.
+
+At dusk that day we had, on arrival from King's Cross, left our baggage
+with the hall porter of the North British Hotel in Edinburgh, had
+travelled from the Waverley Station to Dalmeny, and descending the
+hundred or so steps to the comfortable Hawes Inn, at the water's edge,
+had dined there. Thence we had taken the old ferry-boat over to North
+Queensferry, on the opposite shore, where, in the rather bare parlour of
+the little Albert Hotel, directly beneath the giant arms of the Forth
+Bridge, we were resting and smoking.
+
+Outside the November night was dark and squally with drizzling rain;
+within the warmth was cheerful, the fire throwing a red glow upon the
+old-fashioned mahogany sideboard with its profuse display of china and
+the two long tables covered with red cloths.
+
+[Illustration: PORTIONS OF MAP OF NEW NAVAL BASE AT ROSYTH DISCOVERED IN
+POSSESSION OF A SPY.
+
+The notes, here translated from German, were written on the British
+Ordnance Map.]
+
+From my boyhood days, I, John James Jacox, barrister-at-law, had always
+been fond of detective work; therefore I realised that in the present
+inquiry before us there was wide scope for one's reasoning powers, as
+well as a great probability of excitement.
+
+I was thoroughly wiping my gold pince-nez, utterly failing to discover
+Ray's reason in travelling to that spot now that it was admitted that
+the Germans had already outwitted us and secured a copy of at least one
+of the plans. Suddenly, glancing up at the cheap American clock on the
+mantelshelf, my friend declared that we ought to be moving and at once
+struggled into his coat and crushed on his soft felt hat. It then wanted
+a quarter to ten o'clock.
+
+In ascending the short, steep hill in the semi-darkness, we passed the
+North Queensferry post office, beside which he stopped short to peer
+down the dark alley which separated it from the Roxburgh Hotel. I
+noticed that in this alley stood a short, stout telegraph-pole, carrying
+about sixty or so lines of wire which, coming overhead from the north,
+converged at that point into a cable, and crossed to the south beneath
+the mile-broad waters of the Forth.
+
+Ray was apparently interested in them, for glancing overhead he saw
+another set of wires which, carried higher, crossed the street and ran
+away to the left. This road he followed, I walking at his side.
+
+The way we took proved to be a winding one, which, instead of ascending
+the steep hill with its many quarries, from the summit of which the
+wonderful bridge runs forth, skirted the estuary westward past a number
+of small grey cottages, the gardens of some of which appeared to run
+down to the broad waters whence shone the flashing light of the Beamer
+and those of Dalmeny, the Bridge, and of South Queensferry.
+
+The rain had ceased, and the moon, slowly struggling from behind a big
+bank of cloud, now produced a most picturesque effect of light and
+shadow.
+
+The actions of Ray Raymond were, however, somewhat mysterious, for on
+passing each telegraph-pole he, by the aid of a small electric torch he
+carried in his pocket, examined it carefully at a distance of about six
+feet from the ground.
+
+He must have thus minutely examined at least fifteen or sixteen when, at
+the sharp bend of the road, he apparently discovered something of which
+he was in search. The pole stood close beside the narrow pathway, and as
+he examined it with his magnifying-glass I also became curious. But all
+I distinguished were three small gimlet holes set in a triangle in the
+black tarred wood about four inches apart.
+
+"Count the wires, Jack," he said. "I make them twenty-six. Am I
+correct?"
+
+I counted, and found the number to be right.
+
+Then for some moments he stood in thoughtful silence, gazing away over
+the wide view of St. Margaret's Hope spread before him.
+
+Afterwards we moved forward. Passing along, he examined each of the
+other poles, until we descended the hill to the Ferry Toll, where the
+high road and wires branched off to the right to Dunfermline. Then,
+taking the left-hand road along the shore, where ran a line of
+telephone, we passed some wharves, gained the Limpet Ness, and for a
+further couple of miles skirted the moonlit waters, until, of a sudden,
+there came into view a long corrugated-iron building lying back from the
+road facing the Forth and fenced off by a high spiked-iron railing. The
+entrance was in the centre, with nine long windows on either side, while
+at a little distance further back lay a small bungalow, evidently the
+residence of the caretaker.
+
+"This," exclaimed my friend without halting, "is the much-discussed
+Rosyth. These are the Admiralty offices, and from here the tracing of
+that plan was obtained."
+
+"A rather lonely spot," I remarked.
+
+"Over yonder, beyond that ruined castle out on the rocks, where Oliver
+Cromwell's mother was born, is the site of the new naval base. You'll
+get a better view from the other side of the hill," he said in a low
+voice.
+
+"Who lives in the bungalow?" I inquired.
+
+"Only the caretaker. The nearest house is on top of the hill, and is
+occupied by the second officer in charge of the works."
+
+Continuing our way and passing over the hill, we skirted a wood, which I
+afterwards found to be Orchardhead Wood, passed a pair of lonely
+cottages on the right, until we reached a lane running down to the
+water's edge. Turning into this lane, we walked as far as a gate which
+commanded the great stretch of broad, level meadows and the wide bay
+beyond. Leaning over it, he said:
+
+"This is where the new naval base is to be. Yonder, where you see the
+lights, is Bruce Haven."
+
+"Tell me the facts regarding the stolen plan as far as is known," I
+said, leaning on the gate also and gazing away across the wide stretch
+of moonlit waters.
+
+"The facts are curious," replied my friend. "As you know, I've been away
+from London a fortnight, and in those fourteen days I've not been idle.
+It seems that when the first plan leaked out and was published abroad,
+the Admiralty had two others prepared, and into both these a commission
+which came down here has, for several months, been busily at work
+investigating their feasibility. At last one of the schemes has been
+adopted. Tracings of it are kept in strictest secrecy in a safe in the
+offices down yonder, together with larger-scale tracings of the various
+docks, the submarine station, repairing docks, patent slips, and
+defensive forts--some twenty-two documents in all. The details of the
+defensive forts are, of course, kept a profound secret. The safe has two
+keys, one kept by the superintendent of the works, Mr. Wilkinson, who
+lives over at Dunfermline, and the other by the first officer, Mr.
+Farrar, who resides in a house half a mile from the offices. The safe
+cannot be opened except by the two gentlemen being present together. The
+leakage could not come from within. None of the plans have ever been
+found to be missing and no suspicion attaches to anybody, yet there are
+two most curious facts. The first is that in July last a young clerk
+named Edwin Jephson, living with his mother in Netley Road, Shepherd's
+Bush, and employed by a firm of auctioneers in the City, was picked up
+in the Thames off Thorneycroft's at Chiswick. At the inquest, the girl
+to whom the young man was engaged testified to his strangeness of manner
+a few days previously; while his mother stated how, prior to his
+disappearance, he had been absent from home for four days, and on his
+return had seemed greatly perturbed, and had remarked: 'There'll be
+something in the papers about me before long.' On the body were found
+fourteen shillings in silver, some coppers, a few letters, and a folio
+of blue foolscap containing some writing in German which, on
+translation, proved to be certain details regarding a fortress. A
+verdict of suicide was returned; but the statement in German, placed by
+the police before the Admiralty, proved to be an exact copy of one of
+the documents preserved in the safe here, at Rosyth."
+
+"Then the Admiralty cannot deny the leakage of the secret?" I remarked.
+
+"No; but the mystery remains how it came into the young fellow's
+possession, and what he was about to do with it. As far as can be
+ascertained, he was a most exemplary young man, and had no connection
+whatever with any one in Admiralty employ," replied Ray; adding, "the
+second fact is the one alleged by Reitmeyer, who was, in confidence,
+shown a photograph of one of the larger plans."
+
+"Then spies are, no doubt, at work here," I said.
+
+"That cannot be denied," was his reply. "This neighbourhood opens up a
+wide field of investigation to the inquisitive gentry from the
+Fatherland. Knowledge of the secrets of the defences of the Firth of
+Forth would be of the utmost advantage to Germany in the event of an
+invasion. The local submarine defences and corps of submarine miners
+have been done away with, yet the entrance of the estuary is commanded
+by strong batteries upon the island of Inchkeith, opposite Leith; the
+Forth Bridge is defended by masked batteries at Dalmeny at the one end
+and at Carlingnose at the other, while upon Inchgarvie, the rock beneath
+the centre of the bridge, is a powerful battery of six-inch guns. The
+true strength of these defences, and the existence of others, are, of
+course, kept an absolute secret, but Germany is equally anxious to learn
+them, as she is to know exactly what our plans are regarding this new
+naval base and its fortifications."
+
+"But if the new base were established, might not the Forth Bridge be
+blown into the water by the enemy, and our fleet bottled up by the
+wreckage?" I ventured to remark.
+
+"That's just the point, Jack," my friend said; "whether the Rosyth works
+are carried out or not, the Germans would, without doubt, use their
+best endeavours to blow up the bridge; first in order to cut direct
+communication between north and south, and secondly, to prevent British
+ships using St. Margaret's Hope as a haven of refuge."
+
+"And even in face of the document discovered upon the auctioneer's
+clerk, the Government deny the activity of spies!"
+
+"Yes," said Ray in a hard voice. "A week ago I was up here, and examined
+the safe in the offices we've passed. I was only laughed at for my
+pains. I must admit, of course, that no document has ever been missing,
+and that the safe has not been tampered with in any way."
+
+"A complete mystery."
+
+"One which, my dear Jack, we must solve," he said, as we retraced our
+steps back to North Queensferry station, where we luckily caught a train
+back to Edinburgh.
+
+Next morning we travelled again to Dalmeny, and in the grey mist hired a
+boat at the slippery landing-stage opposite the Hawes Inn. Refusing the
+assistance of the boatman, Ray took off his coat and commenced to row to
+the opposite shore. His action surprised me, as we could easily have
+gone over by the steam ferry. It was high tide, and by degrees as we got
+into mid-stream he allowed the boat to drift towards one of the sets of
+four circular caissons in which the foundations of the gigantic bridge,
+with its bewildering masses of ironwork, were set.
+
+Against one of them the boat drifted, and he placed his hand upon the
+masonry to prevent a collision. As he did so, his keen eyes discerned
+something which caused him to pull back and examine it more closely.
+
+As he did so, a train rumbled high above us.
+
+With curiosity I followed the direction of his gaze, but what I saw
+conveyed to me nothing. About two feet above high-water mark a stout
+iron staple had been fixed into the concrete. To it was attached a piece
+of thin wire rope descending into the water, apparently used by the
+bridge workmen to moor their boats.
+
+Having carefully examined the staple, Ray rowed round to the other three
+caissons, a few feet distant, but there discovered nothing. Afterwards,
+with my assistance, he pulled back to the Dalmeny side, where, at the
+base of one of the high square brick piers of the shore end of the
+bridge, the third from the land, he found a similar staple driven. Then
+we returned to the pier and crossed to North Queensferry.
+
+My friend's next move was to enter the post office and there write upon
+a yellow form a telegram in German addressed to a person in Berlin. This
+he handed to the pleasant-faced Scotch postmistress, who, on seeing it
+in a strange language, regarded him quickly.
+
+Ray remarked that he supposed she did not often transmit messages in
+German, whereupon she said:
+
+"Oh, yes. The German waiter up at the Golf Club sends them sometimes."
+
+"Is he the only German you have in North Queensferry?" he inquired
+casually.
+
+"I've never heard of any other, sir," replied the good woman, and then
+we both wished her good-day and left.
+
+Our next action was to climb the Ferry Hill at the back of the post
+office, passing the station and Carlingnose Fort, until we reached the
+club-house of the Dunfermline Golf Club, which commands a fine prospect
+over the wide estuary eastward.
+
+No one appeared to be playing that morning, but on entering the club we
+were approached by a fair-headed, rather smart-looking German waiter.
+His age was about thirty, his fair moustache well trained, and his hair
+closely cropped.
+
+I made inquiry for an imaginary person, and by that means was enabled to
+engage the man in conversation. Ray, on his part, remarked that he would
+be staying in the neighbourhood for some time, and requested a list of
+members and terms of membership. In response, the waiter fetched him a
+book of rules, which he placed in his pocket.
+
+"Well?" I asked, as we descended the hill.
+
+"To me," my friend remarked, "there is only one suspicious fact about
+that man--his nationality."
+
+The afternoon we spent out at the naval offices, where I was introduced
+to the Superintendent and the second officer, and where I stood by while
+my friend again examined the big green-painted safe, closely
+investigating its lock with the aid of his magnifying glass. It was
+apparent that those in charge regarded him as a harmless crank, for so
+confident were they that no spy had been able to get at the plans that
+no night watch had ever been kept upon the place.
+
+Through five consecutive nights, unknown to the caretaker, who slept so
+peacefully in his bungalow, we, however, kept a vigilant watch upon the
+place. But in vain. Whatever information our friends the Germans wanted
+they seemed to have already obtained.
+
+Ray Raymond, however, continued to display that quiet, methodical
+patience born of enthusiasm.
+
+"I'm confident that something is afoot, and that there are spies in the
+neighbourhood," he would say.
+
+Nearly a fortnight we spent, sometimes in Edinburgh, and at others
+idling about North Queensferry in the guise of English tourists, for the
+Forth Bridge is still an attraction to the sightseer.
+
+Upon the German waiter at the Golf Club Ray was keeping a watchful eye.
+He had discovered his name to be Heinrich Klauber, and that before his
+engagement there he had been a waiter in the basement cafe of the Hotel
+de l'Europe, in Leicester Square, London.
+
+His movements were in no way suspicious. He lived at a small cottage
+nearly opposite the post office at North Queensferry with a widow named
+Macdonald, and he had fallen in love with a rather pretty dark-eyed girl
+named Elsie Robinson, who lived with her father in the grey High Street
+of Inverkeithing. As far as my observations went--and it often fell to
+my lot to watch his movements while Ray was absent--the German was
+hardworking, thrifty, and a pattern of all the virtues.
+
+One evening, however, a curious incident occurred.
+
+Ray had run up to London, leaving me to watch the German's movements.
+Klauber had returned to Mrs. Macdonald's about eight, but not until
+nearly eleven did he come forth again, and then instead of taking his
+usual road to Inverkeithing to meet the girl Robinson, he ascended the
+hill and struck across the golf-course until he had gained its highest
+point, which overlooked the waters of the Forth towards the sea.
+
+So suddenly did he halt that I was compelled to throw myself into a
+bunker some distance away to escape detection. Then, as I watched, I saw
+him take from his pocket and light a small acetylene lamp, apparently a
+bicycle-lamp, with a green glass. He then placed it in such a position
+on the grass that it could be seen from far across the waters, and
+lighting a cigarette, he waited.
+
+The light on the Oxcars was flashing white and red, while from distant
+Inchkeith streamed a white brilliance at regular intervals. But the
+light of Heinrich Klauber was certainly a signal. To whom?
+
+He remained there about half an hour, but whether he received any
+answering signal I know not.
+
+Next night and the next I went to the same spot, but he failed to put in
+an appearance. Then, in order to report to Ray, I joined the morning
+train from Perth to London.
+
+On arrival at New Stone Buildings I telephoned to Bruton Street, but
+Chapman, his valet, told me that his master had slept there only one
+night, had received a visit from a respectably dressed middle-aged
+woman, and had gone away--to an unknown destination. Therefore I waited
+for a whole week in anxiety and suspense, until one morning I received a
+wire from him, despatched from Kirkcaldy, urging me to join him at once
+at the Station Hotel in Perth.
+
+Next morning at nine o'clock I was seated on the side of his bed,
+telling him of the incident of the lamp.
+
+"Ah!" he exclaimed after a pause. "My surmises are slowly proving
+correct, Jack. You must buy a bicycle-lamp down in the town and a piece
+of green glass. To-night you must go there at the same hour and show a
+similar light. The matter seems far more serious than I first expected.
+The enemy is no doubt here, in our midst. Take this. It may be handy
+before long," and he took from his kit-bag a new .32 Colt revolver.
+
+By this, I saw that he had resolved upon some bold stroke.
+
+That evening, after an early dinner at the hotel, we took train to North
+Queensferry, and on alighting at the station he sent me up to the
+golf-links to show a light for half an hour; promising to meet me later
+at a certain point on the road to Rosyth.
+
+I gained the lonely spot on the golf-course and duly showed the light.
+Then I hastened to rejoin my friend at the point he indicated, and found
+him awaiting me behind some bushes.
+
+Almost at the moment we met, a female figure came along beneath the
+shadow of a high wall. She was a poorly dressed girl, but the instant
+she addressed my friend I recognised by her refined voice that it was
+Vera, the dainty daughter of the Admiral Superintendent.
+
+"Elsie is waiting down by the Ferry Barns," she said quickly, in a low
+whisper, after greeting me. "Heinrich has not kept his appointment with
+her."
+
+"You have the note?" he asked. "Recollect what I told you concerning the
+man Hartmann."
+
+"Yes," she replied. Then, addressing me, she said, "Take care of these
+people Mr. Jacox. They are utterly unscrupulous"; and she again
+disappeared into the darkness.
+
+Ray and I turned and again walked back in the direction of Rosyth. But
+when we had gone a little distance he told me to approach the naval
+offices carefully, conceal myself in the bushes, and watch until he
+joined me. On no account was I to make any sign, whatever I might
+witness.
+
+Though intensely cold the night was not very dark, therefore I was not
+long in establishing my position at a spot where I had a good view of
+the offices. Then I leaned upon a tree-trunk and waited in breathless
+expectation. I touched my father's old repeater which I carried and
+found it to be a quarter past midnight.
+
+For over an hour I remained there, scarce daring to move a muscle.
+
+Suddenly, however, upon the mud at the side of the road I heard soft
+footsteps, and a few moments later two figures loomed up from the
+shadow. But when about forty yards from the offices they halted, one of
+the men alone proceeding.
+
+With great caution he climbed the spiked railing, and crossing rapidly
+to the main door of the offices he unlocked it with a key and entered,
+closing the door after him. As far as I could distinguish, the man wore
+a short beard, and was dressed in tweeds and a golf cap. Holding my
+breath, I saw the flashing of an electric torch within the building.
+
+Fully twenty minutes elapsed before he reappeared, relocked the outside
+door, and clambering back over the railings, rejoined his waiting
+companion, both being lost next second in the darkness.
+
+I longed to follow them, but Ray's instructions had been explicit--I was
+to wait until he arrived.
+
+Half an hour later, hearing his low whistle, I emerged from my
+hiding-place to meet him and tell him what I had seen.
+
+"Yes," he said, "I know. We have now no time to lose."
+
+And together we hurried back over the road towards North Queensferry.
+
+At the same spot where Vera had met us, we found her still in hiding. My
+friend whispered some words, whereupon she hurried on before us to the
+sharp bend in the road where stood the telegraph-pole which had
+attracted Ray on the night of our first arrival.
+
+We drew back in the shadow, and as we did so I saw her halt and pull the
+bell beside a small gate in a high wall. Behind stood a white-washed
+cottage, with a good-sized garden at the rear. One end of the house
+abutted upon the pathway, and in it was one small window commanding a
+view of the road.
+
+Vera, we saw, had some conversation with the old woman who answered her
+ring, and then went in, the gate being closed after her.
+
+Together we waited for a considerable time, our impatience and
+apprehension increasing. All was silent, except for a dog-cart, in
+which we recognised Mr. Wilkinson driving home from the station.
+
+"Curious that Vera doesn't return," Ray remarked at last, when we had
+waited nearly three-quarters of an hour. "We must investigate for
+ourselves. I hope nothing has happened to her."
+
+And motioning me to follow, he very cautiously crept along the muddy
+path and tried the gate. It had been relocked.
+
+We therefore scaled the wall without further ado, and, standing in the
+little front garden, we listened breathlessly at the door of the house.
+
+"Get back there in the shadow, Jack," urged my friend; and, as soon as I
+was concealed, he passed his hand along the lintel of the door, where he
+found the bell-wire from the gate. This he pulled.
+
+A few moments later the old woman reappeared at the door, passing out
+towards the gate, when, in an instant, Ray and I were within, and
+flinging open a door on the left of the narrow passage we found
+ourselves confronted by the exemplary waiter Klauber and a companion,
+whose short beard and snub nose I recognised as those of the man who so
+calmly entered the naval offices a couple of hours before.
+
+For them our sudden appearance was, no doubt, a dramatic surprise.
+
+The elder man gave vent to a quick imprecation in German, while Klauber,
+of course, recognised us both.
+
+In the room was a large camera with a flashlight apparatus, while pinned
+upon a screen before the camera was a big tracing of a plan of one of
+the chief defensive forts which the spies had that night secured from
+Rosyth, and which they were now in the act of photographing.
+
+"A lady called upon you here an hour ago," exclaimed Ray. "Where is
+she?"
+
+"No lady has called here," replied the bearded German in very good
+English, adding with marvellous coolness, "To what, pray, do we owe this
+unwarrantable intrusion?"
+
+"To the fact that I recognise you as Josef Scholtz, secret agent of the
+German Naval Intelligence Department," answered my friend resolutely,
+closing the door and standing with his back to it. "We have met before.
+You were coming down the steps of a house in Pont Street, London, where
+lives a great friend of yours, Hermann Hartmann."
+
+"Well?" asked the German, with feigned unconcern, and before we could
+prevent him he had torn the tracing from the screen, roughly folded it,
+and stuffed it into his pocket.
+
+"Hand that to me," commanded my friend quickly.
+
+But the spy only laughed in open defiance.
+
+"You intended, no doubt, to replace that as you have done the others
+after photographing them. Only we've just spoilt your game," Raymond
+said. "Both Mr. Wilkinson and Mr. Farrar are, I see from the list,
+members of the Golf Club where you"--and he looked across to the
+waiter--"are employed. On one occasion, while Mr. Wilkinson was taking a
+bath after a game, and on another while Mr. Farrar was changing his coat
+and vest, you contrived to take wax impressions of both the safe keys
+and also that of the door of the offices. The keys were made in Glasgow,
+and by their means the plans of our new naval base and its proposed
+defences have been at your disposal."
+
+"Well--there's no law against it!" cried Scholtz. "Let me pass."
+
+"First give me that tracing," demanded my friend resolutely.
+
+"Never. Do your worst!" the German replied, speaking with a more
+pronounced accent in his excitement, while at the same moment I saw that
+he held a revolver in his hand.
+
+In an instant Ray drew his own weapon, but, instead of covering the spy,
+he pointed it at a small, strong wooden box upon the floor in the
+opposite corner of the room.
+
+"Gott--no!" gasped the man, his face blanching as he realised Ray's
+intention. "For Heaven's sake don't. I--I----"
+
+"Ah!" laughed my friend. "So it is as I thought. You two blackguards,
+with some of your friends, I expect, have been secretly preparing
+for the destruction of the Forth Bridge on 'the Day'--as you are
+so fond of calling it. The staples are already driven in, and the
+unsuspicious-looking wire ropes, attached to which the boxes of
+gun-cotton and other explosives are to be sunk between the four
+caissons, are all in readiness. The boat from a German merchant vessel
+off Leith, signalled at intervals by your assistant Klauber, has been
+bringing up box after box of that dangerous stuff and landing it at the
+bottom of this garden; so that within an hour of receiving the code-word
+from your chief, you would be able to wreck the whole bridge and blow it
+into the water!"
+
+The spy endeavoured to pass, but seeing Ray's determined attitude, held
+back, and my friend compelled him to lay down his weapon.
+
+"Jack," said my friend, "just see what's in that box."
+
+I at once investigated it, and discovered within only innocent-looking
+tin boxes of English biscuits. The three tins at the top I lifted out
+and placed on the floor, but those below I found were filled with
+circular cakes of what looked like felt, about an inch in thickness,
+each with a hole through it, and with a small cavity for the reception
+of the detonator. I showed it to Ray, pointing out that, packed with
+it, were several smaller tins, like boxes of cigarettes.
+
+"Yes. I see!" he exclaimed as I opened one. "Those are the detonators,
+filled with fulminate of mercury."
+
+"Let us pass!" cried both the spies.
+
+"Not before you are searched shall you leave this house!" was the quick
+reply. "If you resist, I shall fire into one of those boxes of
+detonators, and blow you to atoms."
+
+"And yourselves also!" remarked Klauber, his face pale as death.
+
+"It will at least prevent our secrets falling into your hands, and at
+the same time bring the truth home to the British Government!" was my
+friend's unwavering answer.
+
+Next moment both men made a dash towards the door, but I had drawn my
+weapon and was upon my guard. There was a flash, followed by a deafening
+report, as Ray fired at the box, aiming wide on purpose.
+
+Then the two spies, seeing that they had to deal with a man who was a
+patriot to his heart's core, realised that their game was up.
+
+Sullenly Scholtz put down his weapon, and I searched both men.
+
+From the pocket of the exemplary waiter I drew forth a rough plan,
+together with some scribbled notes in German, which afterwards proved to
+be a description of the forts on Inchkeith, while from the pocket of
+Scholtz I secured the tracing he had stolen from Rosyth.
+
+Then we allowed both the secret agents of the Kaiser to pass out, much
+to the consternation and alarm of the deaf old Scotchwoman, who had, at
+their request, posed as the occupier of the cottage, but who, in perfect
+ignorance of what was in progress, had acted as their housekeeper.
+
+A swift examination of the premises revealed no trace of Vera. But we
+found in the cellar below the room where we had found the spies a great
+store of gun-cotton and other high explosives of German manufacture,
+intended for the wrecking of the bridge; while in an old battered
+portmanteau in one of the upstairs rooms we also found, all ready for
+conveyance to Germany, a quantity of prints from the photographic
+negatives in the room below--photographs of nearly the whole of the
+plans of Rosyth, and more especially of its proposed forts--which the
+men had been in the habit of abstracting at night and replacing in the
+safe before dawn.
+
+Ray Raymond was in active search of something else besides, and at
+length discovered what he sought--two German military telegraph
+instruments, together with a complete and very ingenious arrangement for
+the tapping of wire.
+
+"By Jove!" exclaimed my friend, who took a keen interest in all things
+electrical. "This will now come in very handy!"
+
+And on going outside to the telegraph pole against the wall, he
+clambered up it and attached wires to two of the insulators. Then
+descending, he screwed a little brass box upon it into those same three
+holes in the black wood which had attracted him on the night of our
+arrival, and a moment later began manipulating the key.
+
+"Good!" he exclaimed at last. "I've picked up Inverkeithing, and asked
+them to send the police over at once. We mustn't leave the place and
+risk the spies returning for any of their paraphernalia. The
+disappearance of Vera, however, worries me. I sent her here with a note
+purporting to come from the chief of the German Secret Service in
+England, Hermann Hartmann; but she has vanished, and we must, as soon
+as the police arrive, go in search of her."
+
+So completely had we unmasked the spies that I stood puzzled and amazed.
+
+Ray, noticing my attitude, made explanation.
+
+"Several of my surmises in this case proved entirely correct," he said.
+"My first suspicion was aroused that if spies were about, they would
+probably prepare for tapping the telegraph lines, and, as you know, I
+soon discovered evidence of it. Then those staples in the foundations of
+the bridge gave me a further clue to the work in progress, a suspicion
+greatly strengthened by the signal light shown by the man Klauber. The
+two men who held the safe keys being members of the Golf Club aroused a
+theory which proved the correct one, and on tracing back the career of
+the waiter I made a remarkable discovery which left no doubt as to his
+real profession. It seems that while employed at the Cafe de l'Europe in
+London, he lodged at the house of Mrs. Jephson, in Shepherd's Bush, and
+became extremely friendly with the widow's son. Now you'll remember that
+a few days before the poor fellow's death he was absent mysteriously,
+and on his return he told his mother in confidence that there would
+shortly be something in the papers about himself. Well, the truth is now
+quite plain. During his absence he evidently came up here. Young
+Jephson, who knew German, had found out that his German friend was a
+spy, and had no doubt secured the document afterwards found upon him as
+evidence. Klauber was ignorant of this, though he suspected that his
+secret was out. In deadly fear of exposure, he then plotted to silence
+the young Englishman, inducing him to walk along the towing-path between
+Hammersmith and Barnes, where he no doubt pushed him into the river.
+Indeed, I have found a witness who saw the two men together in King
+Street, Hammersmith, on the evening of the poor fellow's disappearance.
+The plan which Reitmeyer saw is, I find, fortunately one of the
+discarded ones."
+
+"Extraordinary!" I declared, absorbed by what he had related. "But while
+you've wrested from Germany the secrets of some of our most important
+defences, you have, my dear Ray, temporarily lost the woman you love!"
+
+"My first duty, Jack, is to my King and my country," he declared,
+sitting on the edge of the table in the spies' photographic studio. "I
+have tried to perform it to-night, and have, fortunately, exposed the
+German activity in our midst. When the police arrive to view this spies'
+nest, we must at once search for her who is always my confidante, and to
+whose woman's wits and foresight this success is in no small measure
+due."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE SECRET OF THE SILENT SUBMARINE
+
+
+"It's a most mysterious affair, no doubt," I remarked. "Has anything
+further been discovered?"
+
+"Yes, Jack," replied my friend Ray Raymond, rolling a fresh cigarette
+between his fingers. "On investigation, the mystery grows more
+complicated, more remarkable, and--for us--much more interesting."
+
+We were seated together in our dismal chambers in New Stone Buildings,
+Lincoln's Inn, one wet afternoon about six weeks after the Forth Bridge
+affair. With us, lolling in the shabby old easy chair beside the fire,
+sat Vera Vallance, in a big black hat, with her muff and coat thrown
+aside. Her disappearance at North Queensferry had been of only brief
+duration, for we had discovered her hiding at the bottom of the long
+garden, close to the water's edge, watching the landing of two small
+boxes from a boat. It appeared that the two men, Scholtz and Klauber, on
+receipt of the note purporting to come from their director, Hermann
+Hartmann, in London, had asked her to wait in an adjoining room while
+they wrote a reply. But from there she had slipped out, and concealed
+herself in the garden to wait and watch.
+
+Half an hour ago she had come to my gloomy chambers with her fiance, in
+order, as he explained, to consult with us. She was at present on a
+visit to her married sister who lived in Argyll Road, near Kensington
+High Street, hence they were daily in each other's company.
+
+"You see, Jack, very little has been allowed to leak out to the papers,"
+Ray exclaimed as he lit his cigarette and took up a position with his
+back to the fire. "As soon as I read of the discovery I ran down to
+Scotland Yard, saw Evans, and explained my theory. He was inclined to
+agree with me, and at once gave orders that no facts were to be given to
+the Press. Upon complete secrecy, our success now depends."
+
+"I only know what I've read in the papers," I remarked.
+
+"Tell us the whole facts, Ray," urged the pretty fair-haired girl, who
+sat with her veil raised and her long white gloves laid across her
+knees.
+
+"Well, dear, they are briefly as follows," he replied, with an
+affectionate glance at her. "Last Thursday afternoon, on the arrival at
+4.51 of a train from Guildford at Vauxhall, the ticket-collector
+discovered lying on the floor of a third-class compartment a
+middle-aged, respectably dressed man in an apparently dying condition.
+The police were called, and he was conveyed to St. Thomas's Hospital,
+where it was found that he was suffering from a severe fracture of the
+skull, the wound having been inflicted probably with a loaded stick or a
+life-preserver. There was a severe cut over the right eye and a great
+gash down the left cheek. The man was unconscious, and still remains so.
+The doctors have grave doubts whether, even if he recovers, his mind
+will not be permanently affected. In all probability he will never
+regain his right mind."
+
+"Terrible!" ejaculated Vera.
+
+"Yes. A case of attempted murder, no doubt," he said. "But what first
+attracted my notice was the statement that the man had been identified
+as Max Steinheim, a German hairdresser employed in a shop in New Bond
+Street, who had been missing for nearly two months. He resided in
+Hargwynne Street, Stockwell, and as he owed a considerable sum to his
+landlady, she had given notice to the police of his disappearance. It
+was she who had identified him in the hospital."
+
+"That's as far as the information conveyed by the newspapers carries the
+affair," I remarked.
+
+"Exactly. But we are able to proceed a little farther, to a matter which
+must be closely investigated," continued Raymond. "On the arrival of the
+train at Waterloo the compartment, which showed signs of a desperate
+struggle, was searched, and under the seat was discovered a small piece
+of paper tightly screwed up into a small ball as though somebody wished
+to get rid of it unobserved. Upon it, in a distinctly foreign hand, and
+in violet ink--which, by the way, is seldom used by Englishmen--were
+traced some cryptic memoranda, a copy of which I have here," and he
+handed for our inspection a piece of paper which presented this
+appearance:
+
+    J 11864!        19505
+                 Kingscliffe
+    12.15 train St. Pancras
+    M.R. Weldon and Corby 1 mile
+          Royal Pier 18
+        6.11
+           248 and 392
+             Harpur Street 2.30
+    ? 8.88 M. 88
+         Elmar 39        X clock.
+
+"You've endeavoured to decipher it, of course," I remarked, as both Vera
+and I gazed at the puzzling array of numerals and words.
+
+"I have. For the past three days I've indeed done nothing else.
+Unfortunately the result is not very reassuring," he answered.
+"Deciphered by one of the little-known codes, the figures 19505 stand
+for 'January 24th,' which is four days before the murderous assault.
+Kingscliffe is the name of a village in Northamptonshire, on the North
+Western line between Peterborough and Rugby. The 12.15 from St. Pancras
+is a restaurant train for Derby, and takes passengers to Weldon and
+Corby station, by changing at Kettering, and the distance '1 mile' would
+bring the traveller to the village of Great Weldon."
+
+"Royal Pier sounds like the name of a hotel," I remarked.
+
+"No doubt. But there are a good many Royal Pier hotels in England, so
+there we are confronted with a difficulty. To what 6.11 refers I cannot
+conceive, while Harpur Street, which is off Theobalds Road, I visited
+yesterday, but I find there are no such numbers as 248 or 392. The next
+line is unintelligible, but if I read the last line aright it is an
+appointment made beneath the clock at Charing Cross Station at six."
+
+I drew hard at my pipe. That strange document presented to me a very
+complicated puzzle.
+
+"It seems to refer to some district in Northamptonshire, yet he was
+attacked coming up from Guildford, on the South Western line!" Vera
+remarked. "Is your only suspicion based upon the fact of the injured
+man's nationality, Ray?"
+
+"That, combined with other circumstances," he replied. "As soon as I
+read the first announcement in the papers, I went down to Guildford and
+there ascertained that the injured man arrived at the Angel Hotel in a
+motor-car about one o'clock. The chauffeur remarked to the ostler that
+he had come up from the south coast, and after having a drink he started
+off on the return journey. Steinheim had luncheon upstairs, took his
+coffee and cigarette in the little room below, and idled about, telling
+the lady bookkeeper of the hotel that he was expecting a friend. The
+friend in question did not, however, arrive, therefore he walked down to
+the station, and left at 4.13 for London. A porter remembers seeing him
+alone in the compartment, and it seems quite certain that, on starting
+from Guildford, he was still alone. The train was an express, and timed
+not to stop anywhere from Guildford to Vauxhall, but, from the railway
+officials, I find that it was pulled up by signal about a mile from
+Esher, in which time he may have been joined by some one from the
+adjoining compartment."
+
+"Then your theory is that the man who attacked this mysterious German
+got back again to his carriage, and alighted at Vauxhall," I said.
+
+"I certainly think so, for the driver says that outside Clapham Junction
+the signals were against him, and he pulled up."
+
+"It's a pity he has not sufficiently recovered to make any statement."
+
+Ray smiled grimly.
+
+"He would never do that, I think," he said. "It is to his advantage to
+conceal the facts, if my deductions prove correct."
+
+"Are those all the known circumstances?" I inquired, much interested.
+
+"There is one other. A week after the man's disappearance from
+Stockwell, his landlady received a letter bearing the postmark of
+Crawley in Sussex, telling her not to trouble on his account. He wrote:
+'I am engaged upon an important mission, but shall return home within
+ten days, when I will pay all I owe you. Do not trouble after me. Burn
+this letter as soon as you have read it.--MAX STEINHEIM.' The other fact
+I learned from the man's employer, an Englishman in New Bond Street. It
+appears that to the establishment there often came a stout,
+well-dressed, prosperous-looking German gentleman who waited for
+Steinheim to shave him, or cut his hair, and on such occasions it was
+noticed that they exchanged whispered words in their own tongue."
+
+"Well?" asked Vera, looking up at her lover.
+
+"The stout German's description tallies exactly with that of Hermann
+Hartmann."
+
+"Ah! I see," I remarked. "You've certainly not been idle, Ray." And with
+my eyes fixed upon that puzzling array of figures and words, I added,
+"If we could only decipher the whole of these we might elucidate the
+truth."
+
+"The injured man's knowledge of Hartmann, the crafty chief of the German
+Secret Service in London, is certainly suspicious," Vera remarked. "But
+cannot some information be gathered from the landlady at Hargwynne
+Street? He may have had visitors there."
+
+"And if he did, they would speak in German, which the good lady could
+not understand," her lover replied thoughtfully, contemplating the end
+of his cigarette.
+
+"There could be no harm in seeing the good lady," the girl remarked.
+"I'll go over to-morrow and have a chat with her."
+
+"And in the meantime Jack and I will pursue another line of inquiry,"
+remarked my friend.
+
+Vera rose, a tall, fair-haired, and sweet-faced figure in black, and
+seating herself at the table, served us our tea. She was no stranger at
+our chambers, and as an Admiral's daughter, the question of German spies
+in England, which her lover had taken up so strongly, interested her
+most keenly. The Forth Bridge peril had already impressed a great and
+serious truth upon the Government, but Ray Raymond's success had only
+whetted his appetite for further exploration and discovery.
+
+Therefore on the following morning I called at his chambers in Bruton
+Street--a tastefully furnished bachelor suite, the art green and blues
+of which were scarcely in keeping with his serious, earnest
+character--and together we drove in a taxi-cab to St. Thomas's Hospital,
+where, in the accident ward, we stood at the bedside of the mysterious
+Steinheim. His head was enveloped in surgical bandages, but during the
+night he had regained consciousness. To the questions we put to him,
+however, we obtained no satisfactory replies. His mind seemed to be a
+perfect blank as to what had occurred.
+
+Ray read the copy of those cryptic figures upon the scrap of paper found
+in the railway carriage. When my friend pronounced the name of the
+station "Weldon and Corby," the invalid's big grey eyes started from his
+head as he exclaimed in German:
+
+"Ah! Yes--yes. At Weldon. She was at Weldon!"
+
+Who was "she"? In vain we tried to wring from him some reply to this
+question, but, alas! in vain.
+
+Mention of Hermann Hartmann, the ingenious and fearless secret agent who
+controlled so cleverly the vast army of German spies spread over our
+smiling land of England, brought no responsive expression to the man's
+white, drawn face. It was indeed apparent that his intention was to hold
+back at all hazards the truth regarding the murderous attack upon him.
+Perhaps he himself was guilty of some offence, or perhaps he intended to
+hold his peace then and to retaliate at a moment when his assailant
+thought himself most secure.
+
+He was a big, burly, strong-featured man, just the type of heavy-limbed
+German who might be expected to bear a murderous malice against any who
+did him injury.
+
+"I feel more than ever convinced that Hartmann is at the bottom of the
+curious affair," Ray declared, as we walked together across Westminster
+Bridge and I crossed with him to the St. Stephen's Club, at the corner
+of the Embankment. "As far as I can discover, the man was always in
+possession of ample funds. Yet to his landlady he was careful never to
+reveal that he had money. There was, no doubt, some hidden reason for
+this, as well as for the letter he wrote to the woman after his
+departure."
+
+"The mystery surrounding the affair grows more fascinating as we
+proceed," I declared.
+
+"And if the deduction I have made this morning proves to be the correct
+one, Jack, the mystery will still increase. There's some very crooked
+business in progress, depend upon it."
+
+That afternoon I had to make an application in the Chancery Court,
+therefore it was not until after dinner that I again sat in one of the
+green velvet chairs in his art-green sitting-room.
+
+Contrary to his usual habit, he had not dressed, but still wore the
+brown tweed suit which he had had on in the morning.
+
+"You've brought what I asked you over the 'phone?" he inquired, as soon
+as I entered.
+
+"Yes," I replied, opening the well-worn leather brief bag which I
+carried, and displaying a dark lantern, a coil of strong silk rope, and
+a small but serviceable jemmy. All that burglarious outfit belonged to
+my friend.
+
+"Right," he exclaimed, stroking his smooth-shaven chin. "Have a pipe.
+We'll leave here about ten. We are going to spend the night in Pont
+Street." And he pointed to a silver flask and a paper of sandwiches upon
+the sideboard. "Vera has seen the landlady in Stockwell, but can make
+nothing of her. She's as deaf as a post. She returned home to Portsmouth
+to-night."
+
+We smoked together until ten, he consuming cigarette after cigarette in
+that quick, nervous manner which showed the volcano of excitement raging
+within him.
+
+"I can't think why the mention of Weldon and Corby should have so
+excited our friend this morning. To me it seemed as though he retained
+rather bitter memories of the place."
+
+"And there was a woman in the case, without a doubt."
+
+"I think, Jack, I shall go down there and have a look round as soon as I
+have a chance. From the ordnance map this place seems quite a small one.
+The station is at Corby, while Little Weldon and Great Weldon are about
+a mile distant."
+
+"There's just a chance, of course, that you might pick up something
+there," I remarked.
+
+"And yet what I surmise leads me in entirely an opposite direction.
+There are no defences or secrets in Northamptonshire, remember."
+
+Once more he took from his writing-table the piece of paper whereon was
+a copy of the strange array of figures found in the railway carriage at
+Waterloo. But at last he shook his head and laid it aside with a sigh.
+The mystery remained as complete as ever.
+
+"There's a good deal that's suspicious about Hartmann. I suppose that's
+why we are going to Pont Street?" I remarked.
+
+"Yes. As I've explained, he's believed to be a money-lender with an
+office in Cork Street, and is registered as such, in order that no one
+should be surprised at the constant callers at his house. He receives
+visits from all sorts and conditions of men--and women, but observation
+which I have placed upon the house has convinced me that the majority of
+these people are German agents of whom he is the guiding spirit and
+paymaster, and among whom he is all-powerful. Payment is made through
+him for all confidential services rendered to the Fatherland."
+
+"And the police do not suspect it?"
+
+"My dear fellow, have not the police received orders from our Government
+to close their eyes to the doings of these gentry? England is the
+paradise of the spy, and will remain so until we can bring pressure to
+bear to compel the introduction of fresh legislation against them."
+
+Soon after half-past ten a taxi-cab deposited us in Sloane Street, and
+together we turned into Pont Street, walking leisurely past a
+medium-sized red-fronted house approached by a flight of steps leading
+to a deep portico. There was a light in the first-floor window of what
+was evidently the drawing-room but the rest of the house of the arch-spy
+of Germany was in darkness.
+
+As we passed the house, my friend examined its highly respectable
+exterior. Then we passed on to the end of the thoroughfare, in order to
+attract no attention. A constable passed us, and in order to avoid being
+noticed we walked together for some distance. Presently, however, Ray
+turned back, and gaining the house adjoining Hartmann's, ran swiftly up
+the steps into the shadow of the portico, I following at his heels.
+
+In a few seconds he had opened the door with a latch-key he carried in
+his hand, and next moment we were within the wide, echoing hall, for the
+house was empty, and to let.
+
+"I called upon the agent, and had a look over this place a few days
+ago," he explained. "On that occasion, I had the key in my hand for a
+moment, and obtained an impression of it," and switching on his electric
+torch he showed the square hall with the flight of stairs ascending from
+it.
+
+Gaining the big drawing-room, Ray crossed to the long French window on
+the left and gazed cautiously out upon the street below.
+
+As he did so I noticed the figure of a man in a dark overcoat and felt
+hat cross from the opposite pavement and ascend the stairs of the house
+next door. Ray glanced at his watch, which he could see by the light of
+the street lamp outside. Noticing the time, he became reassured.
+
+"You see, Jack, that from here runs a balcony leading to that of
+Hartmann's house. We must creep along it and try and get a peep of our
+friend at home. I've watched that drawing-room window for a long time,
+and I believe that he makes it his business room."
+
+Carefully he unfastened the French window, and bending low so as to
+escape the observation of any person passing by, we both crept along
+the narrow balcony until, by swinging from one balustrade to the other,
+we found ourselves standing over Hartmann's portico.
+
+Even from where we stood we could hear voices. Forward we crept again
+until we were outside the windows of the drawing-room, crouching so that
+no inquisitive policeman could detect us.
+
+The blind of the window at which I listened did not fit well, therefore,
+through the small crack, I was enabled to peer within. The room was a
+large, well-furnished one with a fire burning brightly; near it stood a
+large roll-top writing-table at which sat a fat, flabby, sardonic-faced
+man of about fifty-five. He had grey eyes full of craft and cunning, a
+prominent nose, and a short-cropped grey beard. Ray whispered that it
+was the great Hartmann.
+
+Near the fire, seated nervously on the extreme edge of a chair, was a
+respectably dressed man, a German evidently, with his hat in his hand.
+The man presented the appearance of a hard-working mechanic, and was
+obviously ill at ease.
+
+We watched them in conversation, but could not distinguish one single
+word of what was said. All we could gather was that the fat man was
+overbearing in his manner, and that the visitor was most humble and
+subservient against his will.
+
+For a full half-hour we watched, but unable to gather anything further,
+we were compelled to return to the house next door and regain the
+street, where for still twenty minutes longer we waited for the
+visitor's exit. When at last he came forth we followed him to the corner
+of Knightsbridge, opposite the Hyde Park Hotel, where he boarded a
+motor-bus, from which he eventually descended at the corner of Gray's
+Inn Road walking thence to a house in Harpur Street, Bloomsbury, where
+we later on discovered he lodged, under the name of Leon Karff.
+
+The nature of the mission entrusted to this man, if one had actually
+been entrusted to him, was a mystery, yet it was a curious fact that
+"Harpur Street" appeared upon that scrap of paper which to us was such
+an enigma.
+
+Next morning at six o'clock, I was already idling, at the corner of
+Harpur Street and Theobalds Road, but not until three hours later did
+the foreigner emerge and walk toward Holborn. Thence he took a motor-bus
+back to Sloane Street, and calling upon Hartmann, spent another half an
+hour with him.
+
+And afterwards he went straight home. It was then about noon, and having
+an engagement in Court, I was compelled to relinquish my vigil. But at a
+little after five Ray entered our chambers, exclaiming:
+
+"As I expected! That man Karff has been to see Steinheim in the
+hospital. I was there awaiting him, believing that he might visit him.
+Apparently the injured man has given him certain instructions."
+
+"About what?"
+
+Ray shrugged his shoulders in blank ignorance. Then he said, "We have
+advanced one step toward the solution of the problem, my dear Jack. But
+we have not gone very far."
+
+He took the copy of the cryptogram from my writing-table and again
+examined it. The figures "6.11" puzzled him. Many times he referred to
+them.
+
+Four days passed, during which we kept strict observation upon Karff and
+followed him wherever he went. On the fifth day, Ray having spent all
+the morning watching him, to relieve him I walked along the Theobalds
+Road a few minutes before one and paused, as usual, before the oil shop
+at the corner. There was no sign of my friend, and though I waited
+through the whole of that cold afternoon and evening, continuing my
+wearisome vigil till midnight, yet he did not come.
+
+Much surprised, I returned to New Stone Buildings, where I found a
+telegram from Ray, sent from Waterloo Station at three o'clock, telling
+me that all was right, and urging me to await further information.
+
+This I did. For a whole week I possessed myself in patience, not knowing
+where Ray was or what had befallen him. That he was on the trail of a
+solution of the mystery was evident, but he sent me no word of his
+whereabouts.
+
+It was apparent, however, that he was no longer in London.
+
+Eleven days after his disappearance I one afternoon received another
+telegram, which had been handed in at Chichester, asking me to go at
+once to the Queen's Hotel at Southsea, where he would meet me at ten
+o'clock that night.
+
+At the hour appointed I awaited him in my bedroom overlooking Southsea
+Common and the harbour, and at last he joined me. I saw by the serious
+expression upon his face that something unusual had happened.
+
+"The fellow Karff has realised that I'm following him, Jack. Therefore
+you must take the matter up. He's in the service of a greengrocer in
+Queen Street, close to the Hard. I haven't yet discovered his game."
+
+Thus there was left to me a very difficult matter, a mystery which I
+exerted every effort to unravel. For the next fortnight I watched the
+fellow incessantly, being relieved sometimes by the pretty daughter of
+the Admiral Superintendent, whose home was fortunately in the Dockyard.
+In all weathers and at all times we watched, but we failed to discover
+anything. Ray remained at the hotel impatient and inactive, and I must
+admit that more than once I was inclined to believe that he had been
+mistaken in his surmises. Leon Karff was, as far as we could discover, a
+hard-working foreigner, driven by force of circumstances into adopting
+the lowly calling of a greengrocer's assistant. His employer supplied
+with fruit and vegetables the officers' messes of several of the ships
+in the Dockyard, and on infrequent occasions he drove in the light cart
+with his master when on his rounds taking orders.
+
+This round at last he was in the habit of making three times a week.
+
+One Saturday morning, as I was idling along the Hard, I saw Karff and
+his master, a man named Mitchell, drive in past the policeman at the
+main gate. But though I waited for over three hours to watch their exit,
+they did not reappear.
+
+Much surprised at this, I walked round to the Unicorn Gate, at Landport,
+where, on making judicious inquiries of the policeman on duty, I learnt
+that Mitchell had driven out--but alone! His assistant, he said, had
+been sent back on foot with a message through the main gate just when
+the dockyard men or "maties," as they are called, were leaving work at
+midday.
+
+Now having stood at that gate when the throngs had poured forth, I was
+quite certain he had not emerged. But I kept my own counsel, and
+returned to Southsea, deep in my own reflections.
+
+On taking counsel with Ray, he at once telephoned to Vera at Admiralty
+House, and an hour later we all three discussed the situation, it being
+arranged that the Admiral's daughter should contrive to admit us to the
+Dockyard that night, when all was quiet, in order that we might
+institute a search for the missing German.
+
+Therefore, just before half-past eleven, we halted before the small
+private door in the Dockyard wall, used by the Admiral-Superintendent
+and his household, and as the clock struck the door opened, revealing
+Vera. Next instant we were within the forbidden zone.
+
+The night was frosty and a good deal too bright to suit our purpose.
+Vera gave some instructions to her lover, pointing to a row of long,
+dark sheds with sloping roofs on the opposite side of the Dockyard,
+saying:
+
+"If he's inside, he's almost certain to be hidden somewhere near No. 4
+shed. But be careful of the police; they are very watchful over yonder."
+
+And after refastening the gate she disappeared into the darkness.
+
+In the deep shadows we both crept noiselessly forward, negotiating in
+safety a pair of lock-gates in the open, and pursuing our way until in
+the vicinity of the shed which the Admiral's daughter had pointed out we
+discovered an old boiler, in which we both secreted ourselves.
+
+Hardly had we crept inside when we heard the measured tramp of a
+policeman, who passed actually within a few feet of us. From the round
+hole in which we lay we could see Gosport--a pale row of lamps across
+the harbour.
+
+We waited there, scarcely daring to whisper, until at last the clock
+struck one. If Karff was in the vicinity of that shed beside which we
+were secreted, he made no sign. All was silent. Once the shrill siren of
+a ship out at Spithead broke the quiet. Then its echoes died away.
+
+"I really think we might have a careful look round," Ray suggested after
+a long silence.
+
+With great care, therefore, we both emerged from our hiding-place, and
+keeping well within the shadows, passed round shed No. 4, which we found
+was completely closed in from view, its door being strongly barred and
+padlocked.
+
+Unable to see anything, we decided to halt in the darkness behind a heap
+of scrap-iron and to listen for any sound of movement.
+
+The cutting wind chilled us both to the marrow, for a white rime had
+gathered on the ground. The only sound we heard was that of the measured
+footsteps of another constable, which advanced and then died away again.
+There was, however, no sign of the German spy.
+
+"To get in by the door yonder would be impossible. Therefore, he would
+try the roof," my companion remarked.
+
+"You're right," I said. "You remain down here and watch while I try and
+get up above."
+
+So I left him, and after considerable difficulty succeeded in gaining
+the roof of the shed adjoining, crouching in the gutter between the
+sloping roofs of the two sheds.
+
+On each side of me sloped upwards skylights which lighted the interiors
+of the building-sheds, but all were thickly coated with a composition of
+dockyard dust and soot, which had been poured forth from many a
+warship's funnel as well as from the dozens of furnaces around. All was
+dark below; therefore I could see nothing.
+
+I had been in my elevated position for fully twenty minutes before I was
+prompted to creep along to the further end of the gulley, where, to my
+surprise, I saw that close to where I stood two panes of glass had been
+neatly removed and laid aside.
+
+Through the hole I gazed down into the interior of the shed, when I was
+startled to see the small glow of an electric lamp in the hand of the
+man of whom we were in search.
+
+He was standing beside the long, spindle-shaped hull of a new submarine
+boat which lay on a very elevated set of stocks on the far side of the
+shed. Another boat similar, but not so nearly complete, lay at the
+bottom of the dock alongside her.
+
+As Karff with his electric lamp moved slowly and noiselessly along,
+carefully examining England's newest submarine, which rumour had said
+was the most silent and perfect craft of its kind, I was able to make
+out vaguely that, differing considerably from photographs of other
+submarines I had seen, the boat on the elevated stocks had a bow which
+ran out into a kind of snout, while instead of the usual small circular
+or oval conning-tower she had what looked like a long, narrow
+superstructure running along the greater part of her length. This,
+however, was much higher forward than aft. She seemed, too, to have a
+great number of propellers.
+
+I watched the man Karff making some rapid memoranda, and so occupied was
+he with his work that he never looked upward. Had he done so, he would
+certainly have detected my head against the sky.
+
+In a manner which showed him to be fully acquainted with the
+construction of submarine vessels, he moved to and fro, examining both
+boats. Then, after about half an hour's minute investigation, he seated
+himself upon a bench and with his little lamp shaded to throw no
+reflection he took out a piece of paper and leisurely made a rough
+sketch of England's newest war-craft, both side and horizontal views.
+
+Leaving him thus occupied, I descended to Ray, and finding him secreted
+near the water's edge, described what I had discovered.
+
+"Good!" he exclaimed. "So I was not mistaken in that cryptogram after
+all! We will allow the fellow to complete his work and then compel him
+to disgorge his notes. They will furnish us with very excellent
+evidence."
+
+So we waited, keeping our eyes fixed upon the spot where he must
+descend, and hardly daring to breathe lest we should prematurely alarm
+him.
+
+The Dockyard clock chimed three, but the spy had not emerged. After
+another half-hour of watchful silence I saw that Ray began to be
+anxious. At last the bell rang out four, and scarcely had the last sound
+died away when we were startled by a splash near us, and next moment
+discerned a man in white shirtsleeves swimming away.
+
+"Why! That's him!" I gasped. "He's cut a way out of the side of the
+shed!"
+
+But next moment a boat shot forth from the darkness pulled by a woman
+who had apparently been waiting close by. The woman was Vera!
+
+In a moment we were both down the steps and pulling in the boat towards
+the swimming man, who, we saw, was being rapidly approached by a second
+boat which had also been in waiting until the chiming of the clock.
+
+The spy was exerting every muscle to reach the boat, but we soon
+overtook him.
+
+Ray called upon him in German to surrender, but he refused, and kept on.
+Quickly, however, we cut him off from the boat which he was trying to
+reach, while the rower, seeing the discovery of his friend, pulled away
+into the darkness.
+
+For some time the spy struggled on, but at last, abandoned and
+exhausted, he was compelled to obey us and come aboard in order to save
+his life.
+
+Half dead and helpless he submitted to our search, when in his belt,
+preserved in an oilskin pocket, we discovered the memoranda and the
+drawing which I had seen him prepare.
+
+The man, sullen and half drowned, refused to make any statement, though
+he could speak English well and write it perfectly, as shown by the note
+on his plan of the new boat; therefore we landed him at the Stony Steps
+across at Gosport. Before we left him we gave him to understand that if
+he did not at once leave the country he would be arrested. Yet so absurd
+is our law that I doubt whether we could have given him in charge even
+though we had wished!
+
+[Illustration: LEON KARFF'S ROUGH DRAWING OF THE NEW BRITISH SUBMARINE.
+
+The letters refer to the notes which were also found, and which ran as
+follows: AA, Conning Tower; BB, Telephone Buoys; CC, Hatchways; D,
+Lifeboat (detachable); E, Rudder; FF, Wells with Horizontal Propellers;
+GG, Planes; H, Hatch from Diving Chamber; II, Wheels in Recesses; K,
+Detachable Safety Weight in Recess; L, Tiller; T T T T, Torpedo Tubes; P
+P P P, Propellers.
+
+I. Side View (in awash position). II. Horizontal position (from above).
+Scale, 1/2 inch to 12 feet.]
+
+We rowed back across to the landing-stage at Portsmouth Harbour Station,
+and after we had seen Vera safely home we returned together to the
+"Queen's" at Southsea, where, in the secrecy of Ray's bedroom, we
+examined the spy's plan of the new submarine, and read his memoranda,
+which were in German, but which translated were as follows:
+
+     "REPORT BY LEON KARFF, LATE FOREMAN-FITTER AT KIEL DOCKYARD, ON
+     SUBMARINE 'F 2,' NOW BUILDING IN SHED NO. 4, PORTSMOUTH
+     DOCKYARD.
+
+     "This boat would appear to me to be of about 700 tons
+     displacement when complete, possibly rather over. She is, as
+     far as I am able to measure, about 180 feet long with an
+     extreme beam a little forward of amidships of 20 feet. She is
+     fitted with three propeller shafts with three small four-bladed
+     propellers on each. As she is provided with what appear to me
+     to be some kind of turbine engines, I imagine that the centre
+     shaft is for going astern only. The propellers on this shaft
+     seem to be attached in such a way that they could be
+     'feathered' by suitable gearing on board so as not to retard
+     the vessel's way when going ahead. The engines of this boat are
+     of a type which I have never before seen. I imagine that they
+     are a combination of the new 'gas-producer' engine and the
+     turbine system, the explosion of the combined gas and air
+     being split up and passing into the turbine through a number
+     of different channels simultaneously. This would be a very
+     economical system if the necessary power can be obtained,
+     and would be much safer for use below than petrol engines.
+
+     "The boat is evidently intended to operate a good deal in an
+     'awash' position, for there is fairly thick armour-plating over
+     the greater part of the upper side of the bow, while the fore
+     end of the superstructure is made of two 6-inch Krupp steel
+     plates meeting at an acute angle, and so forming a kind of stem
+     when the boat is moving in this way. The space enclosed between
+     these two plates is evidently intended to be used as the
+     conning-tower. Here there are a periscope, steering-wheel,
+     voice-tubes, and everything necessary for the control of the
+     vessel. There are two horizontal propellers or fans, which seem
+     to be driven by electricity derived from an installation of
+     accumulators, and which are certainly intended to secure
+     horizontal immersion, so the vessel will not plunge or dive,
+     but immerse herself horizontally by means of these propellers,
+     which, by the way, work in vertical shafts running completely
+     through the boat, one forward and the other aft, as was the
+     case in the _Nordenfeldt_, _Waddington_, and other early
+     submarines.
+
+     "Forward there is an air-lock and diving-chamber, as in the
+     'Lake' boats, so that divers can get in and out of the vessel
+     whilst under water. It would also afford a means of escape for
+     the crew in the case of accident. This is further provided for
+     by a detachable boat or caisson at the after end of the
+     superstructure capable of holding ten men, I should say, or
+     possibly a dozen. There are also appliances which I suppose are
+     telephone buoys for communicating with the surface. There are
+     six torpedo tubes fitted, one forward, one aft, and the others
+     two on either broadside. And there seems to be provision for
+     six other torpedoes of the 18-inch type.
+
+     "There is a long rudder for ordinary steering, and four
+     horizontal ones or planes which are placed abreast the
+     horizontal screws and which, I imagine, act automatically in
+     conjunction with them, as they seem to gear up with the shafts
+     for these propellers. There is a big safety detachable weight
+     which fits loosely into a recess amidships, and four broad
+     wheels with ball bearings which do not fold up as in the 'Lake'
+     boats, but always protrude nearly half their diameter. After
+     all they would not obstruct her way when water-borne more than
+     a keel--or very little more. They are quite independent and
+     unconnected with the interior of the vessel, which while
+     resting on them would receive forward impetus from her
+     propellers. In the 'awash' position she would offer a very
+     small and almost invulnerable target."
+
+"Well," I said, marvelling at what we had translated. "What induced you
+to believe that the cryptogram had any reference to the new submarine."
+
+"Those figures '6.11' puzzled me greatly," he replied; "but at last I
+deciphered them as 'F. 2'--F being the sixth letter of the alphabet--the
+number of our newest and most formidable submarine, which was being kept
+such a strict secret by the Admiralty. 'Royal Pier' is the name of the
+hotel in which Steinheim stayed at Southsea, and 18 the number of his
+room. From facts I elucidated, it was made plain that Max Steinheim was
+about to embark upon the investigation, being in secret communication
+with Hartmann, and was to meet Karff at Charing Cross Station. This
+Steinheim had already, by an ingenious device, secured from a private of
+engineers named James Ward--whom I have seen--certain information
+regarding the new boom defences of Portsmouth Harbour. Ward, whose home
+is at Great Weldon, suddenly discovered to his horror that the man was a
+German spy, followed him to Guildford, attacked him in the train, and
+left him for dead. For that reason Steinheim has refused to make any
+statement to the police. When I saw Ward a week ago, he explained how
+innocently he had fallen into the trap which the cunning Steinheim had
+laid for him."
+
+"The evidence you have here in black and white will surely prove
+convincing," I remarked. "You will go and see Steinheim again, I
+suppose? He is still in the hospital."
+
+"No. We shall remain silent. To show our hand will only place Hartmann
+on the alert. To do that is needless. We have prevented the plan of our
+new submarine going to Germany, and for the present that is sufficient."
+
+And my friend drew up the blind and gazed out upon the rosy dawn across
+the water.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE BACK-DOOR OF ENGLAND
+
+
+"Well, that's rather curious," I remarked, closing the door of the old
+oak-panelled smoking-room at Metfield Park, and returning to where my
+friend Ray Raymond was seated.
+
+"Was anyone outside the door?" he asked, quickly on the alert.
+
+"Mrs. Hill-Mason's German maid. You remember, Vera pointed her out
+yesterday."
+
+"H'm! and she was listening--after every one else has gone to bed!" he
+remarked. "Yes, Jack, it's curious."
+
+It was past one o'clock in the morning. Two months had passed since the
+affair down at Portsmouth, but we had not been inactive. We were sitting
+before the great open fireplace where the logs were blazing, after the
+rest of the men had taken their candles and retired, and had been
+exchanging confidences in ignorance of the fact that the door remained
+ajar. I had, however, detected the _frou-frou_ of a woman's skirt, and
+creeping across to the door had seen the maid of one of the guests
+disappearing down the stone passage which led to the great hall now in
+darkness.
+
+Metfield Park, three miles from Melton Constable, in Norfolk, the seat
+of the Jocelyns, was a fine old Tudor place in the centre of a splendid
+park, where the pheasant shooting was always excellent. Harry Jocelyn,
+the heir, had been with us at Balliol, hence Ray and I usually received
+invitations to the shooting parties. On this occasion, however, Vera
+Vallance with her aunt, Mrs. Mortimer, had been invited, much to Ray's
+satisfaction.
+
+Among the party was a well-known naval officer, captain of a first-class
+cruiser, two military officers, and several smart women, for both Sir
+Herbert and Lady Jocelyn moved in a very smart set. Several of the
+ladies had joined us in the smoking-room for cigarettes, and the
+conversation around the fire had been mainly the usual society chatter,
+until at one o'clock every one had left for bed except our two selves.
+
+Over the great fireplace were the arms of the Jocelyns carved in stone,
+with the date 1573, and in the corner near the window was a stand of
+armour upon which the dancing flames glinted ever and anon. Through the
+long uncurtained window shone the bright moon from over the park, and
+just as I reseated myself the stable clock chimed the half-hour.
+
+We had been there four days, and the sport had been excellent. On the
+previous day Ray had excused himself on account of the bad weather, and
+had spent the hours mostly with Vera.
+
+It was of how he had employed his time that he had been telling me when
+I had discovered the eavesdropper.
+
+"I wonder why our conversation should prove so interesting to that
+maid?" he remarked thoughtfully, gazing into the fire. "She's rather
+good-looking for a German, isn't she?"
+
+"Yes," I said. "But who is this Mrs. Hill-Mason? She seems a rather loud
+and buxom person, fond of the display of jewellery, dark, somewhat
+oleaginous, and devoted to bridge."
+
+"Harry says his mother met her in Cairo last winter. She's one of the
+Somerset Masons--half-sister to the Countess of Thanet."
+
+"Oh, she is known, then?"
+
+"Of course. But we must get Vera to make some inquiry to-morrow as to
+where she obtained her maid," declared Ray. "The woman is interested in
+us, and we must discover the cause."
+
+"Yes, I somehow mistrust her," I said. "I met her crossing the hall just
+before dinner, and I detected a curious look in her eyes as she glanced
+at me."
+
+"Merely your fancy, Jack, old chap--because she's German," he laughed,
+stretching his long legs.
+
+"Well, what you were telling me about Vera and her discovery has alarmed
+me," I said, tossing away the end of my cigar.
+
+"Yes, she only returned last week from Emden, where she's been visiting
+her old German governess, who, it seems, is now married to an official
+in the construction department of the German Admiralty. From her friend
+she was able to learn a lot, which will, no doubt, cause our Lords of
+the Admiralty a bad quarter of an hour."
+
+"What would the British public think if they were told the truth--that
+Germany is rapidly building a secret fleet?" I said.
+
+"Why, my dear fellow, the public would simply say you were a liar," he
+laughed. "Every Englishman fancies himself top-dog, even though British
+diplomacy--apart from that of our excellent King--is the laughing-stock
+of the Powers. No," he added, "the truth is out. All yesterday I spent
+with Vera, preparing the information which she forwarded to the
+Admiralty to-night. I registered the letter for her at the village post
+office. The authorities owe her a very deep debt for succeeding in
+obtaining the information which our secret service has always failed to
+get. She, an admiral's daughter, is now able to furnish actual details
+of the ships now building in secret and where they are being
+constructed."
+
+"A matter which will, no doubt, be considered very seriously by the
+Government," I said.
+
+"Oh, I suppose they treat the whole thing lightly, as they always do. We
+invite invasion," he sighed as he rose, adding: "Let's turn in now.
+To-morrow we'll keep an eye upon that unusually inquisitive maid."
+
+That night the eyes of the German maid haunted me. I could not rid
+myself of their recollection. Was it that this hunting down of German
+spies was getting on my nerves?
+
+Next day we were shooting Starlings Wood, about five miles distant, but
+Ray having "cried off" one day, could not do so again. Therefore, at his
+suggestion, I made an excuse and remained at home with the ladies. The
+morning I spent walking through the park with Vera, a smart, sweet-faced
+little figure in her short tweed skirt and furs, with her bright and
+vivacious chatter. From her I learnt some further details concerning her
+visit to Emden.
+
+"Ray is most excited about it, Mr. Jacox," she was saying. "Of course, I
+had to make my inquiries with great caution and discretion, but I
+managed to find out what I wanted, and I sent all the details to the
+Admiralty yesterday."
+
+Then as we went along the wide beech avenue I told her of the curious
+incident in the smoking-room on the previous evening.
+
+"Ray was telling me about it just before breakfast," she said, turning
+her splendid eyes to mine. "I have already made some inquiries of Mrs.
+Hill-Mason, and it appears that the maid Erna Stolberg was recommended
+to her by a friend when she was in Dresden last year. She's a most
+exemplary person, and has a number of friends in England. She was
+previously with a French _baronne_."
+
+"Mrs. Hill-Mason often moves in a military set, doesn't she?" I
+remarked. "Somebody last night stated that she's the widow of a general,
+and is well known down at Aldershot."
+
+"I believe so."
+
+"If Mrs. Hill-Mason visits at the houses of military officers, as it
+seems she does, then this inquisitive maid would be afforded many
+opportunities for gathering information. I intend to watch her," I said.
+
+"And so will I, Mr. Jacox," replied the admiral's daughter, drawing her
+astrachan collar tighter about her throat.
+
+Half an hour later we drove in the wagonette out to the shooting-party
+in the woods, where a merry luncheon was served in a marquee. I,
+however, returned to the house before the rest of the party and haunted
+the servants' hall. With Williams the butler I was on friendly terms,
+and finding him in the great hall, began to make inquiries regarding the
+guests' servants.
+
+"You've got a German woman among them, haven't you?" I remarked.
+
+"Yes, sir," was his reply. "A rather funny one she is, I fancy. She goes
+out alone for walks after she's dressed her mistress for dinner, and is
+out sometimes till quite late. What she does wandering about in the dark
+nobody knows. But it ain't for me to say a word, sir; she's a visitor's
+maid."
+
+I held my own counsel, but resolved to watch.
+
+Tea in the great hall, over which Lady Jocelyn presided, proved the
+usual irresponsible function, but when I went to my room to dress for
+dinner I became convinced that certain papers in my suit-case had been
+turned over and investigated.
+
+That night I did not go in to dinner. I heard the gong sound, and when
+the company had gone in, I put on thick boots, overcoat, and cap, and
+passed through the back way along the old wing of the house, through the
+smoking-room, and out upon the drive.
+
+Behind some holly bushes where I could see any one leave by the great
+paved courtyard where the servants' entrance was situated, I concealed
+myself and waited in patience. The night was dark and overcast. The
+stable chimes had rung out half-past eight, but I still remained until,
+about twenty minutes later, footfalls sounded, and from out the arched
+entrance to the courtyard came a female figure in a close-fitting hat
+and long dark ulster.
+
+She passed close by me, under the light of the lamp, and I saw it was
+the fair-haired woman for whom I was waiting.
+
+Instead of walking straight down the avenue to the lodge-gates, she
+struck along a footpath which led for a mile across the park, first
+skirting the lake--the fishpond of the monks who lived there before the
+Dissolution; then, passing under the dark shadow of a spinney, led to a
+stile by which the high park wall could be negotiated and the main road
+to East Dereham reached.
+
+As she went forward so I followed. I knew the path well. I watched her
+ascend the stile and cross the wall into the road. Then I crept up and
+peered over into the darkness. She had turned to the right, and I could
+discern her waiting at the roadside about thirty yards away.
+
+From my place of concealment I could hear her slow footsteps as she
+idled up and down in the darkness, evidently waiting for some one.
+
+I think about ten minutes passed when I heard the whir of a motor-car
+approaching, its big glaring headlamps shedding a stream of white
+brilliance over the muddy road. As it approached her it slowed down and
+stopped. Then I distinguished it to be a big Limousine, the occupant of
+which opened the door, and she entered with a word of greeting.
+
+I stood peering into the darkness, in surprise and disappointment at not
+catching sight of the person with whom she was keeping these nightly
+appointments. As soon as the door had banged the driver drove across the
+road, backed, and turning, sped away in the direction he had come.
+
+But while he was turning I had gained the road, advancing beneath the
+hedgerow in an endeavour to see the number of the car. But I was
+baffled. It was covered with mud.
+
+Afterwards, much disappointed, and certainly hungry, I made my way back
+across the park to the Hall, where, after managing to get a snack from
+Williams, I joined the party at bridge.
+
+That night the woman Stolberg returned at five minutes to eleven, and
+later, when Ray went upstairs with me, I described what I had seen.
+
+Next night, instead of following her out, I waited at the spot at
+half-past ten, when, sure enough, the car returned ten minutes later and
+deposited her. The number plates, however, were obliterated by the mud
+both front and back--purposely it seemed to me. The man within shook her
+hand as she alighted, but I could not see his face. Was he some secret
+lover? Apparently she went no great distance each evening, going and
+coming from the direction of Holt.
+
+On the following day I took several opportunities of watching the woman
+at close quarters. Her eyes were peculiarly set, very close together,
+her lips were thin, and her cheek-bones rather high. Otherwise she was
+not bad-looking. Mrs. Hill-Mason had, of course, no idea of her maid's
+nocturnal motor-rides.
+
+Whether the woman had any suspicion that she was being watched I know
+not; but on the next night when Ray took a turn at keeping an eye upon
+her, she did not go out, but on the next she went, and Ray followed her
+to the park wall, but saw nothing more than I had done.
+
+All this time, of course, Vera was greatly interested in the result of
+our observations. Through her own maid, Batson, she discovered the room
+occupied by the German, and to this I made my way, at considerable risk,
+one morning while the maid was busy attending upon her mistress. I had a
+good look through her belongings, finding in her trunk a small, flat
+tin box, japanned dark green, strong, and secured by a lock of
+well-known make. What, I wondered, did it contain?
+
+Could I have but seen the number of the mysterious car I could have
+discovered the identity of her nocturnal visitor.
+
+The same day that I discovered the tin box in her trunk, Mrs.
+Hill-Mason, however, returned to London, taking with her the mysterious
+Fraeulein.
+
+Three days more went by, and I was about to dismiss the affair as a
+combination of curious circumstances. Vera and her aunt had left to pay
+a visit in Worcestershire, and Ray I were due to go up to town that
+morning, when he entered my room, saying abruptly:
+
+"I'm not going to London yet, Jack. I shall go over to Cromer instead."
+
+"Cromer!" I echoed. "Hardly the time of year for the seaside."
+
+That same grey chilly afternoon, in the grey falling light, we sat upon
+one of the seats of the pier at Cromer gazing seaward, towards where the
+German coast lay beyond the indistinct horizon. The place was deserted
+save for ourselves. On the cliff behind us stood the long red facade and
+many gables of the Hotel de Paris, where we had put up, while in the
+background rose the square old church tower, the landmark of mariners
+from Haisborough Gat to the Dowsing.
+
+"There's just a chance of us falling upon something interesting about
+here," Ray was saying, as he pressed the tobacco into his pipe, and by
+the expression upon his keen clean-shaven face I saw that he had scented
+the presence of spies. "Has it never struck you," he went on, "that the
+east coast, where we now are is the most vulnerable spot in England, and
+the first objective of the Kaiser's army? Every soldier and sailor in
+Germany dreams of 'the Day'--the day when he will set foot upon this
+shore. For some years past our Intelligence Department has known of the
+German plans for our invasion. There are several, but in each one a
+dash, and a surprise landing along this coast of Norfolk and of Suffolk
+and Essex is the first step. Knowledge of this prompted Lord Roberts to
+resign his seat on the National Defence Committee and make those
+stirring speeches pointing out our country's peril."
+
+"And what thanks did the country give him?" I interrupted. "People only
+laugh at him for his trouble!"
+
+"Yes," said my friend bitterly, "the public are ignorant, therefore they
+do not heed. They talk glibly about the strength of our navy, forgetful
+that the German diplomacy is the cleverest and most cunning in the
+world. When 'the Day' dawns there will be no suspicion of war, and
+certainly no declaration of hostilities. Before we have realised that
+war is in the air, the enemy will have their feet firmly planted upon
+British soil."
+
+"And if the enemy intend landing along this shore, it is certain that
+spies are active here, gathering all information likely to be of service
+to the invader."
+
+"That's exactly why I've come here, my dear Jack," my friend said. "We
+know that our eastern counties have been divided into districts by the
+Germans, and in each one or more secret agents are busily at work taking
+notes of food supplies, forage, blacksmiths' shops, motor-cars for
+transport, the destruction of telegraphs and telephones, positions for
+artillery, and the best mode of advance south to London. One may rest
+assured that the ordnance map is being very much amplified just now."
+
+That evening we spent idly in the hotel, and next day, hiring a
+motor-car, we drove through Runton to Sheringham and over the hills
+three miles further towards the back-door of England--the place
+neglected by those responsible for our defences, and by the public
+alike--Weybourne.
+
+The road from Sheringham ran down a steep hill, called the Fox Hill, to
+the little village that lay cosily at some distance from the sea.
+Passing the church we turned sharply to the right, and in a few minutes
+found ourselves against a large front with a wide open beach beyond.
+
+Having alighted, we walked along beside the surf for some distance, out
+of hearing of our chauffeur, when my friend exclaimed:
+
+"Here is one of the spots which the Germans have chosen for landing.
+Look at it! Everything is in favour of a hostile force. That range of
+hills we've just come over at the back would be occupied by the landing
+force at once, and thus they would command the whole country from
+Kelling, which you see to the right, away south beyond Cromer, down to
+Baxton beyond Mundesley."
+
+With my back to the long rolling breakers I gazed away landward at the
+long line of hills stretching in each direction. It was, indeed, an
+ideal spot for an enemy to effect a landing, with deep water right up to
+the land.
+
+"Because of the confidence we have in our fleet and our wonderful
+diplomacy this place is no longer watched," Raymond remarked, standing
+beside me muffled in his motor-coat, for the wind was intensely cold.
+"Yet in days gone by, by reason of the facilities which nature has
+provided for the landing of hostile forces, it was carefully guarded
+whenever the invasion of England was believed to be imminent."
+
+After we had strolled some distance along the beach, where the
+grey-green waters were breaking into foam, my friend suddenly halted
+and, taking a piece of paper from his pocket, stood with his back to the
+sea and made a sketch of the irregular contour of the blue hills facing
+him from the coastguard at Salthouse on the right to the rising ground
+behind Upper Sheringham on the left--the positions which are to be first
+occupied by the enemy in their attack upon us.
+
+He made no explanation of the reason of his action, therefore I stood by
+watching in silence.
+
+At last we returned to the car and drove inland to Weybourne village, a
+sleepy old-world little place from which the sea has receded. As we
+turned into the main road he ordered the man to pull up, and,
+descending, looked about him, first at the lines of telegraph-wire
+running beside the road, and then we both strolled through the village.
+My companion's eyes were everywhere. He appeared to be making mental
+notes of every feature of the obscure little place.
+
+Just as we were returning to the car he suddenly halted, saying:
+
+"You go on. A thought has just occurred to me." And, turning, he walked
+back to the small village post office situated next door to an inn, and
+was absent for nearly a quarter of an hour.
+
+"As I suspected!" he remarked beneath his breath as he rejoined me.
+"That inn is kept by a German!"
+
+Then we travelled along to Cley-next-the-Sea, and thence by way of
+Candlestick Hill and through the wooded country around Holt, back to
+Sheringham, where we lunched at the "Burlington."
+
+His manner had changed. He had again become serious and thoughtful. A
+cycling map of the district which he had bought in Cromer that morning
+he brought out, and as we sat together in the smoking-room he spread it
+upon the table and began measuring distances with a slip of folded
+paper.
+
+The car was at the door at four o'clock, and we were in the act of
+moving off, when by mere chance I looked up at the second floor of the
+hotel. What I saw caused me to hold my breath.
+
+A face was at one of the windows watching us.
+
+I nudged my friend, and cried, "Look!"
+
+But when he raised his head it had gone. Indeed, the white face had only
+showed there for a single instant, yet it was a countenance that I too
+well remembered, it was unmistakable--that of Fraeulein Stolberg!
+
+I told Ray as we whirled along into the town. But he only grunted in
+surprise, and remarked that we were going to Beccles.
+
+Why was that woman there instead of being with her mistress, who, we had
+ascertained, was now visiting at Cheltenham?
+
+Our way lay first back to Cromer, where we joined the direct Norwich
+road by way of Aylsham, but about four miles after passing Cromer the
+road divided. The left-hand one ran to our destination, but at Ray's
+orders we took the right-hand one, and in the darkening twilight struck
+across a wide heath, which I afterwards learnt was called Roughton
+Heath, until we passed an old windmill, and entered the small crooked
+village of Roughton. We passed beyond the place for a quarter of a mile,
+and then descending, walked forward until we came to a good-sized,
+comfortable, old-fashioned house, probably of the days of Queen Anne,
+that lay behind a high red-brick wall.
+
+Through the iron gates I noticed, as we paused, a wide lawn in front,
+with steps leading up to a portico, and behind a large orchard and
+meadow. The blinds were already down, but in several of the windows
+lights showed, and the place looked well kept up.
+
+It differed but little from hundreds of other old-fashioned houses in
+the country, but it evidently held considerable attraction for Ray,
+because as we passed beyond the gates, and out of sight of any one in
+the house, he took out his electric torch and carefully examined the
+muddy roadway.
+
+"See!" he exclaimed, pointing to tracks that ran in and out of the
+gateway. "The car's home is here!"
+
+"What car?"
+
+"The car which used to meet the German maid at Metfield," was his
+matter-of-fact reply. "For the present we know sufficient. We must look
+sharp if we are to be in Beccles before eight. If we're not there
+before, it will be of no use."
+
+So we hurried back to our own car, and our driver, by taking a by-path,
+brought us out upon the main road again at Thorpe Market, and just after
+half-past seven we pulled up before the hotel in the old Suffolk market
+town of Beccles, under the shadow of the stumpy square old church tower.
+
+The car was garaged, and after a drink we went forth for a walk along
+the quiet old-world streets, until suddenly upon a corner we came to the
+post office, a large old-fashioned two-storied house with steep tiled
+roof.
+
+"Wait about here," my companion said; "a dark-haired man in a light grey
+overcoat and golf-cap will probably come to post a letter just before
+eight. He has a dark brown beard, and usually wears a white muffler.
+When he comes follow him, and see where he goes. He may know me, so I
+must keep out of sight."
+
+Therefore I lit my pipe, and idled up and down, keeping the letter-box
+in view. In the window, directly above it, was a clock which showed it
+then to be a quarter to eight. I took a pretended interest in the small
+shops near, until about four minutes to the hour a closed motor-car
+swung round from the direction of the Public Hail, and pulled up before
+the post office.
+
+From it two men alighted--one a youngish fair-haired man, and the other,
+dark-bearded and much older, wore a thick grey overcoat and a white
+muffler. He was the man of whom I was in search.
+
+I entered the office directly after the pair, on pretence of buying
+stamps, but already the elder of the two had handed in a letter to be
+registered, the address of which I failed to discern.
+
+Both seemed to be in a great hurry, for as soon as the receipt was
+written out they re-entered the car and drove back in the direction they
+had come, leaving me standing helpless on the opposite side of the road.
+
+Immediately I returned to the hotel where Ray was waiting, and reported
+to him, whereupon he seized his hat, and walking with me back to the
+post office halted in the centre of the road examining the wheel-tracks,
+which were still quite plain upon the damp roadway.
+
+Then, as he walked back, he said:
+
+"Do you know, Jack, that this town Beccles has been decided upon by the
+Germans as the head-quarters of the Army Corps which lands at Weybourne?
+It's a natural position, standing upon high ground and commanding the
+whole of the surrounding country. Signals made from that church tower
+yonder could be seen very far afield."
+
+Then, as we sat together in the coffee-room of the hotel, eating a hasty
+meal, he remarked:
+
+"We'll go back to Cromer to-night, but I shall go to town to-morrow.
+You'll wait till my return, won't you?"
+
+So I was left alone for nearly a week; and on his return he announced
+that we must at once shift our quarters to Lowestoft. So south we went
+that same night, arriving at midnight, and putting up at the
+many-balconied Empire Hotel.
+
+The town interested my companion not at all, but from there we went
+forth each day on long motor excursions, scouring the whole country as
+far south as Aldborough and as far west as Bury St. Edmunds. All the
+roads round Southwold, Bungay, Saxmundham, Stow Market, and many other
+towns we reconnoitred, apparently always with the same object--to
+discover wheel-tracks of a mysterious car.
+
+The garages of every town Ray visited alone, but his inquiries always
+met with the same negative result.
+
+Late one afternoon, however, when on the road between Wymondham and
+Diss, he suddenly shouted to the driver to stop, and jumping out,
+examined the track of wheels. The road, however, was hard at that spot,
+and it was some time before he could decide whether the car had
+travelled north or south.
+
+"They've gone north!" he declared with satisfaction; therefore we
+continued to follow them towards Wymondham, where they had drawn up at
+the "Old Green Dragon," and gone forth again, striking into a by-road
+which led to Bracon Ash.
+
+"Ha!" he cried, when he saw this, "so they're busy at work--that's
+plain!"
+
+But by this time the light had faded, and much to our chagrin we were
+again compelled to give up the hunt, and find our way over by Hempnall,
+and so through Bungay back to Lowestoft.
+
+Next day we were early back again at the spot, but heavy rain had
+unfortunately fallen all night, so the tracks had been obliterated.
+
+After another week of unsuccessful journeying we were, one day, about
+half-way between Norwich going towards Aylsham, when my friend's keen
+eyes caught sight of a wheel-track coming out of a narrow by-road.
+
+We halted, and descending he examined them minutely, declaring that they
+were what we were in search of, and quite fresh.
+
+Therefore, considerably excited, we were soon upon the trail, following
+the car through Aylsham and North Walsham until, on the road that led
+towards the sea at Happisburgh, it suddenly turned into another byway.
+
+Here Ray decided to pull up and follow on foot, which we did for nearly
+two miles, until we saw before us the railway line which runs between
+North Walsham and Yarmouth. We had left the road, for there, pulled up
+before us, was the car I had seen at Beccles, and on ahead were the two
+men, one of whom I recognised by his grey coat and white muffler.
+
+They were beneath the railway bridge, carefully examining it.
+
+"They're marking that down on their plan for destruction," remarked Ray
+between his teeth. "All these connections will be destroyed when they
+land. But, by heaven! we'll be even with them yet!"
+
+We watched them in secret for a full half-hour, as they examined the
+railroad at several points, and when they had driven off we followed
+them along a road where ran six lines of telegraph into Happisburgh.
+
+"Those wires," remarked Ray, "form one of the direct cables to Germany.
+They pass through Beccles, so you may rest assured that they've surveyed
+it well!"
+
+At Happisburgh the tracks turned to the left, and thence again to the
+right to Walcot, but just as we were passing over a low hill we saw that
+the car on before us had stopped. The two men were photographing the
+country from Paston, inland towards Witton.
+
+We drew up and watched their movements.
+
+Then they went on, and we followed, parting company with their tracks at
+the cross-roads, they going westward, while we struck north, until we
+found ourselves once again in Cromer for the night.
+
+That evening we made an amazing discovery at the hotel. Erna Stolberg
+was staying there alone under the name of Madame Hirsch! Ray first saw
+her seated in the reading-room, and called me. I peered in at the door
+and recognised her in a pale blue silk blouse and black net skirt, lying
+back in a chair reading an illustrated paper. She was evidently quite
+unsuspicious of our presence.
+
+Ray was sorely puzzled. Next morning he sent a wire to Mrs. Hill-Mason's
+house in Charles Street, and before noon had received a reply from her
+at Bournemouth saying that Fraeulein Stolberg had left her service a
+fortnight before.
+
+"German spies are pretty active in East Anglia, old chap, as you've seen
+with your own eyes," he remarked to me.
+
+In order that the woman should not notice us, we told the chauffeur to
+meet us out on the Norwich road, after which we travelled to quaint old
+Aylsham, where we idled away the day, spending the afternoon playing
+billiards at the "White Horse."
+
+More than once during the day my companion examined the road outside for
+traces of wheel-tracks, but there were none like those of the car of
+those secret agents of Hermann Hartmann.
+
+I noticed that Ray had brought with him a small brown brief-bag, an
+unusual thing for him to carry. But that morning he had placed it in the
+car with instructions to the chauffeur to move it on no account.
+
+At four o'clock that afternoon he received a telegram, which he read
+through twice, and placed on the fire, remarking:
+
+"From Vera. She's received the thanks of the Admiralty for her report.
+They promise to make inquiry. Probably they'll send somebody over who
+can't speak a word of German!"
+
+We dined at half-past six off cold meat and pickles, but not until
+midnight did we set out upon the road, travelling north in the direction
+of Cromer, until we came to the cross roads at Hanworth, where we halted
+and Ray got down to examine the road. Wheel-tracks were there leading
+back to Roughton, and these we followed until, near the entrance to the
+village, now in complete darkness, we descended, Ray lifting out his
+precious bag.
+
+"You've got your revolver?" he asked, when we had gone a hundred yards
+or so.
+
+I replied in the affirmative, for nowadays I always carried it.
+
+"Well, we are going to get into that house at Roughton I pointed out to
+you," he said. "I intend to have a look round."
+
+"You mean to break in? Suppose we're caught!" I exclaimed.
+
+"Bah! Spies are always cowards. Leave that to me."
+
+So we went on until, having passed through the silent village, we
+entered a road where the bare trees met overhead, rendering it almost
+pitch-dark, and presently approached the house.
+
+Not a light showed anywhere. Whoever were its occupants, they had
+retired.
+
+For nearly half an hour we concealed ourselves in the bushes opposite,
+watching in patience, for the night was as yet young. In the distance we
+fancied we heard the sound of wheels, but they did not advance;
+therefore we agreed that it was only fancy.
+
+After waiting what seemed to me hours, Ray switched on his electric lamp
+to see the time. It was then nearly two o'clock, so we decided to take
+another step forward.
+
+We crossed the road and tried the iron gate. It was locked.
+
+There was nothing for it but to scale it, and as I was in the act of
+clambering up I was startled by a strange voice behind me--a woman's
+voice raising an alarm!
+
+Ray, who was standing behind me, closed with the unwelcome stranger in
+an instant, and placed his hand forcibly over her mouth while I sprang
+back to assist him. That moment was an exciting one.
+
+"Put your handkerchief in her mouth, man!" he cried. "Don't you see who
+it is--the woman Stolberg!"
+
+Quick as thought I took out my handkerchief and stuffed it into her
+mouth while he held her. Then I gripped her arms, while Ray produced the
+thin silk rope which he usually carried on such expeditions and with it
+bound her tightly hand and foot.
+
+She struggled violently, cursing us in German the while, but all in
+vain. So at length we disposed of her comfortably against a tree-trunk
+in a field opposite, to which Ray very deftly secured her. She had
+evidently driven over from Cromer on some important errand to her
+friends and had stopped the cart some distance away from the house.
+
+Cautiously we negotiated the high iron gate, and creeping noiselessly
+across the lawn, gained the window on the left of the entrance. Ray
+flashed his light upon it, and noting that the fastening was only an
+ordinary one, promptly commenced work upon it by inserting one of his
+burglarious tools between the sashes. In a few moments it sprang back
+with a click, and lifting the sash slowly and pushing aside the holland
+blind, he swung himself into a comfortably furnished sitting-room, I
+following quickly at his heels.
+
+In that dead silence I could hear my heart throbbing.
+
+We were actually in the house of the spies!
+
+The room, which contained nothing of interest to us, smelt strongly of
+tobacco, while upon the table lay a big German pipe. Still gripping his
+leather bag Ray carefully opened the door, and crossing the wide
+old-fashioned hall, opened another door, when we found ourselves in an
+old-fashioned dining-room, the sideboard of which was decorated with
+some very nice antique blue china. From this apartment we visited the
+drawing-room and another smaller reception-room, and then, creeping on
+tiptoe, we ascended the old well staircase which once creaked horribly
+beneath me.
+
+Here we were confronted with a serious problem. We knew not in which
+room the spies were sleeping.
+
+Ray halted at the top of the stairs to take his bearings, and after some
+hesitation resolved to first investigate the room over the one by which
+we had entered. He tried the door. It was locked on the inside. Somebody
+was within.
+
+So we crept across to the opposite side. Here the door was also locked,
+but a flash from the torch revealed that there was no key inside. It was
+a locked room, and Ray determined to see what lay beyond.
+
+Therefore, with infinite care not to make a sound, he drew from his
+pocket some skeleton keys, one of which slid back the bolt, and in a
+moment we were within.
+
+The torch, an instant later, revealed an amazing state of things. Pinned
+down to the large deal table before the window was a huge map of the
+district from Weybourne towards Yarmouth, about five feet square, made
+up of various sections of the six-inch ordnance map, and literally
+covered with annotations and amplifications in German, written in red
+ink. Upon strings stretched across one end of the room were a number of
+photographic films and prints in process of drying, while strewn about
+the place were rough military sketches--the result of the labours of
+many months--a couple of cameras, measuring tapes, a heliograph
+apparatus, a portfolio full of carefully drawn plans with German
+explanations beneath, and a tin box, which, when opened, we found to
+contain a number of neatly written reports and memoranda in German, all
+ready for transmission to Berlin!
+
+Ray seized a whole handful of these papers--a translation of one of
+which is here reproduced--and stuffed them into his pocket, saying:
+
+"These will prove interesting reading for us later on, no doubt."
+
+     EAST COAST OF ENGLAND--DISTRICT VI.
+
+     Memoranda by Captain Wilhelm Stolberg, 114th Regiment
+     Westphalian Cuirassiers, on special duty February,
+     1906--December, 1908.
+
+     WEYBOURNE--Norfolk--England. (Section coloured red upon large
+     scale map. Photographs Series B, 221 to 386.)
+
+     In Sheringham and Cromer comprised in this District are
+     resident forty-six German subjects, mostly hotel servants,
+     waiters, and tradesmen, who have each been allotted their task
+     on "the Day."
+
+     ARMS:--a store of arms is in a house at Kelling Heath, where on
+     receipt of the signal all will secretly assemble, and at a
+     given hour surprise and hold up the coastguard at all stations
+     in their district, cut all telegraph and telephones shown upon
+     the large map to be destroyed, wire in pre-arranged cipher to
+     their comrades at Happisburgh to seize the German cable there,
+     and take every precaution to prevent any fact whatsoever
+     leaking out concerning the presence of our ships.
+
+     MEN:--Every man is a trained soldier, and has taken the oath of
+     loyalty to your Imperial Majesty. Their leader is Lieutenant
+     Bischoffsheim, living in Tucker Street, Cromer, in the guise of
+     a baker.
+
+     EXPLOSIVES FOR BRIDGES:--These have been stored at Sandy Hill,
+     close to Weybourne Station, marked on map.
+
+     LANDING PLACE:--Weybourne is the easiest and safest along the
+     whole coast. The coast-guard station, on the east, has a wire
+     to Harwich, which will be cut before our ships are in sight. In
+     Weybourne village there is a small telegraph office, but this
+     will at the same time be seized by our people occupying an inn
+     in the vicinity, a place which will be recognised by the
+     display of a Union Jack.
+
+     WIRES:--Eight important wires run through here, five of which
+     must be cut, as well as the trunk telephone. Direct
+     communication with Beccles is obtained.
+
+     BEACH:--Hard, and an excellent road runs from the sea to the
+     highway south. For soundings, see notes upon British soundings.
+     Admiralty Chart No. 1630 accompanying.
+
+     FORGE:--There is one at the end of the village.
+
+     PROVISIONS:--Grocers' shops in village are small, therefore do
+     not contain much stock. There are plenty of sheep and oxen in
+     the district towards Gunton. (See accompanying lists of amount
+     of live stock upon each farm.)
+
+     MOTOR-CARS:--(List of owners and addresses attached)...
+
+     A specimen of the notes of German spies.
+
+But just at that moment in stepping back I unfortunately knocked over a
+frame containing some glass negatives, which fell from a shelf with a
+loud crash.
+
+We both stood breathless. There was a quick movement in the room
+adjoining, and we heard men's voices shouting to each other in German.
+
+"Stay here," Ray said firmly. "We must not show the white feather now."
+
+Almost as the words left his mouth we were confronted by the two men
+whom we had seen surveying the railway line.
+
+"Well!" cried Ray, gripping his precious bag and facing them boldly,
+"you see we've discovered your little game, gentlemen! Those notes on
+the map are particularly interesting."
+
+"By what right, pray, do you enter here?" asked the bearded man,
+speaking in fairly good English.
+
+"By the right of an Englishman, Herr Stolberg," was Ray's bold reply.
+"You'll find your clever wife tied up to a tree in the field opposite."
+
+The younger man held a revolver, but from his face I saw that he was a
+coward.
+
+"What do you mean?" demanded the other.
+
+"I mean that I intend destroying all this excellent espionage work of
+yours. You've lived here for two years, and have been very busy
+travelling in your car and gathering information. But," he said, "you
+were a little unwise in putting upon your car the new Feldmarck
+non-skids, the only set, I believe, yet in England. They may be very
+good tyres, but scarcely adapted for spying purposes. I, for instance,
+noticed the difference in the tracks the wheels made one evening when
+you met your wife outside Metfield Park, and that is what led me to
+you."
+
+"You'd destroy all my notes and plans!" he gasped, with a fierce oath in
+German. "You shall never do that--you English cur!"
+
+"Then stand aside and watch!" he cried, withdrawing from the room on to
+the landing. "See, look here!" and he opened his bag. This caused both
+men to withdraw from the room to peer inside his bag.
+
+With a quiet movement, however, Ray flung a small dark object into the
+centre of the room, and in an instant there was a bright blood-red
+flash, and the whole place was one mass of roaring flames, which,
+belching from the door, caused us all to beat a hasty retreat. In a
+moment the place was a furnace.
+
+The spies shouted, cursed, and fired their revolvers at us through the
+thick smoke, but we were quickly downstairs and out in the road.
+
+"That will soon drive out the rats," laughed Ray, as we watched the
+flames burst through the roof and saw the two men escape half dressed
+through the window we had opened.
+
+And as, with the red glare behind us, we hurried back to the spot where
+we had left our car, Ray remarked, with a laugh of triumph:
+
+"Stolberg bought that place two years ago with money, no doubt, supplied
+from Berlin, so he's scarcely likely to come upon us for incendiarism, I
+think. It was the only way--to make one big bonfire of the whole thing!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+HOW THE GERMANS ARE PREPARING FOR INVASION
+
+
+"We're going down to Maldon, in Essex," Ray Raymond explained as we
+drove along in a taxi-cab to Liverpool Street Station late one grey
+snowy afternoon soon after our return from Norfolk.
+
+He had been away from London for three weeks, and I had no idea of his
+whereabouts, except that one night he rang me up on the telephone from
+the Cups Hotel, at Colchester.
+
+An hour ago he had returned to New Stone Buildings in the guise of a
+respectable mechanic in his Sunday clothes, and, full of bustle and
+excitement, urged me to run across to Guilford Street and assume a
+similar disguise. Then, each with his modest bag, we had hailed a
+motor-cab and given the man instructions to drive to the Great Eastern
+terminus.
+
+"You've read the affair in this evening's paper, I suppose?" my
+companion asked; "the mystery at Button's Hill?"
+
+"Yes," I replied. "Are we about to investigate it?"
+
+"That's my intention, my dear Jacox," was his quick reply, as he handed
+me his cigarette-case. Then, ten minutes later, when we were seated
+together alone in a third-class carriage slowly leaving London, he
+turned to me, and with a deep earnest look upon his face, said:
+
+"There's much more behind what appears in the papers regarding this
+curious affair--depend upon it, old chap. I've wired to Vera to be
+prepared to come to Maldon on receipt of a telegram. The facts, as far
+as are at present known, are these," he went on as he slowly lit another
+cigarette: "At an early hour this morning a farm labourer, on his way to
+work between Latchingdon and Southminster, discovered, lying in a ditch,
+the body of James Pavely, aged forty-three, a well-known fisherman and
+pilot. His head had been crushed by savage blows, his clothes were
+soaked with blood, and he was nearly buried beneath the snow. The
+labourer alarmed the police, and the body was conveyed to Southminster.
+Pavely, who was very popular at the waterside at Maldon, was unmarried,
+and until recently had been rather well-to-do, but for the past few
+months bad luck is said to have persistently pursued him, and he had
+been left without a boat, even without a share in a boat, and more
+recently he had been out of a job altogether. Now," he added, with a
+keen look, "I want to fix that point in your mind. For months, ever
+since the summer, he has been known to be on the verge of starvation,
+yet the police have found in his trousers' pocket a handkerchief in
+which, carefully tied up, were forty-nine sovereigns!"
+
+"His savings?" I suggested.
+
+"No," declared my companion conclusively.
+
+"But if he was murdered, why wasn't the money taken?" I queried.
+
+Ray smiled, his face assuming that sphinx-like expression by which I
+knew that he had formed some theory--a theory he was about to put to the
+test.
+
+"The reason we have to discover, Jacox," he said vaguely. "The dead man
+is a pilot," he added; "and in Maldon are many German spies."
+
+"But I don't see that the fact of Pavely pursuing the honourable calling
+of pilot would arouse the enmity of any secret agent," I remarked.
+
+"We shall see," was my friend's response; and he became immersed in his
+paper.
+
+On reaching the prosperous little town of Maldon we left our bags in the
+cloak-room. The snow was lying thickly, but it was no longer falling. A
+sharp frost had set in, rendering the roads very slippery. In the
+darkness infrequent lights glimmered here and there in the quaint old
+streets and among the barges and coasting vessels which lay along the
+Hithe. The tide was nearly full, and the river covered with
+half-congealed snow and ice. Few passengers were abroad that wintry
+evening, but as we passed a small low-built public-house called the
+"Goat and Binnacle," at the waterside, we could hear that there were
+many customers within, all of whom seemed to be talking at once.
+
+The red-curtained windows reflected a ruddy chequer upon the trampled
+snow, and men were coming up by twos and threes from the river craft,
+one and all wending their way to that low-browed house which seemed to
+be doing such a roaring trade.
+
+"Let's take a look inside," Ray suggested in a whisper. "We might hear
+something."
+
+So together we turned back, and entered the low-built, old-fashioned
+place.
+
+Within, we found them all discussing the mysterious death of Jim Pavely.
+
+Mostly English were the bronzed, weather-beaten men of the sea and the
+longshoremen who were smoking and drinking, and talking so earnestly,
+but a few foreigners were among them. There were two or three Frenchmen,
+dapper fellows in well-made pea-jackets and berets, who had rowed ashore
+from the big white yawl flying the tricolour, which had been lying off
+Heybridge waiting, so we heard, for a change from the present icy
+weather before going to sea again; and there were also a fair number of
+Swedes and Norwegians from the two timber-ships whose spars, we had
+noticed, towered above the rows of smaller and stumpier masts belonging
+to the local and coasting craft which lay alongside the Hithe. Then
+there was the first mate of one of the timber-ships, supposed by most of
+those present to be a German. At any rate, he seemed to be trying hard
+to carry on a conversation with the fair-haired landlord, an undoubted
+immigrant from the Fatherland.
+
+From one of the seafaring customers with whom I began to chat, I learned
+that the keeper of the place was named Leopold Bramberger, and that he
+had been established in that little river-side hostelry rather more than
+a year, and was now a well-known and more or less respected inhabitant
+of the borough of Maldon. He had made a little money--so it was
+generally understood--in the course of some years' service at the
+Carlton Hotel in London as waiter. And a good waiter he certainly was,
+as many people living in that part of the country could testify; since
+he found time to go out as "an extra hand" to many a dinner-party; his
+services being much appreciated and bringing him in quite a comfortable
+little addition to what he made by the sale of drink down by the
+Blackwater. But he did not seem very anxious to talk with his
+compatriot; indeed, so frequent were the demands made for "another pot
+of four 'arf," "two of gin 'ot," "another glass of Scotch," and other
+delectable beverages, that he and his better half had all they could do
+to grapple with the wants of their customers.
+
+From the conversation about us we gathered that the dead man, though
+previously somewhat abstemious, had lately become rather a constant
+frequenter of the "Goat and Binnacle," and though no one had seen him
+actually drunk, there were not a few who could testify to having seen
+him in a state very nearly approaching, in their opinion, to
+"half-seas-over."
+
+"Well, I' give suthing to lay my 'ands on the blackguard as 'as done for
+pore Jim," remarked a burly longshoreman to his neighbour. "'E'd never
+done no one a bad turn, as I knows on, and a better feller there wasn't
+between 'ere an' 'Arwich."
+
+"No there wasn't," came quite a chorus. Jim Pavely, whatever his
+misfortunes, was evidently a favourite.
+
+"And no one wouldn't have any idea of robbin' pore Jim," interposed
+another customer; "every one knows that there's bin nothin' on 'im wuth
+stealin' this many a day--pore chap."
+
+"Except that forty-nine pound," remarked the German landlord, in very
+good English.
+
+"As for that," exclaimed a little man sitting in the chimney-corner, "I
+see Belton, the constable, as I were a-coming down here a quarter of an
+hour ago, an' he says as how there wasn't no signs of any attempt at
+robbery. Jim had his old five-bob watch in 'is pocket, not worth
+pawnin'; the sovereigns and some silver were in his trousers."
+
+"Ah! That's the mystery!" exclaimed more than one in surprise. "Why no
+one wouldn't have thought as Jim 'ad seen the colour o' gold this three
+months past."
+
+"Come on in and shut the door," cried some one, as a new-comer entered
+the tap-room, followed by an icy blast and a shower of snow, which was
+again falling.
+
+"Why, it's Sergeant Newte!" exclaimed the publican, as a burly man in a
+dark overcoat entered, carefully closed the door, and moved ponderously
+towards the bar. A sudden hush fell upon the assembly, all eyes and ears
+being turned towards the representative of the law. All felt that the
+plain-clothes man bore news of the tragedy, and waited anxiously for
+the oracle to speak.
+
+"Well, sir," asked Bramberger, "and what can I have the pleasure of
+serving you with? It isn't often we have the honour of your company down
+here."
+
+"I won't have anything to-night, thanks," answered the man. "It isn't a
+drink I'm after, but just a little information that I fancy you, or some
+of these gentlemen here, may be able to give me. Every one knows that
+James Pavely was a pretty frequent customer of yours, and what I want to
+find out is, when he was last in here?"
+
+"Let me see. Last night about seven, wasn't it, Molly?" returned the
+landlord, turning to his wife. "No, by the by, he came in and had
+something about a quarter to nine. That's the last we saw of him, poor
+fellow."
+
+The sergeant in plain clothes produced his notebook. "Who else was in
+the bar with him?"
+
+"Nobody in particular. Some of the hands from the barges, I fancy. He
+just had his drink and passed the time of day, as you may say, and was
+off in five or ten minutes."
+
+"Eh, but you're making a mistake there, Mr. Bramberger," spoke up a
+voice near by; and the officer turned sharply in the direction of the
+speaker.
+
+Urged on by those standing round him, Robert Rait, a big longshoreman,
+came slowly to the front. All eyes were upon him, which caused him to
+assume a somewhat sheepish aspect.
+
+"Well, Sergeant, true as I'm standing 'ere, I see pore Jim come out of
+this 'ere bar just after twelve last night along with that young gent as
+is learnin' farming over Latchingdon way."
+
+At this every one grew interested.
+
+"Are you sure of what you say?" asked the officer sharply.
+
+"Sartin sure. I were sittin' on my barge a-smokin' my pipe, an' I 'eard
+the clock over at the church, behind 'ere, strike twelve. I don't know
+why, but I remember I counted the strokes. Five minutes later out come
+Pavely with the young gent, who I've often seen in this bar afore, an'
+they walked off round by the Marine Lake. They never took no notice o'
+me. They was too busy a' talkin'."
+
+As the policeman slowly rendered this into writing, most eyes sought
+Bramberger, who, feeling that he was the object of an attention perhaps
+not too favourable, remarked:
+
+"Ah, yes. I believe I'm wrong, after all. It was twelve o'clock I
+meant--not nine."
+
+"And what about this young gent?" queried the constable quickly. "Who is
+he, anyway? Was he here with Pavely?"
+
+"He might have gone out with him, I didn't take particular notice of
+him," the German replied.
+
+"But who is he?"
+
+"Oh, you know him well enough. He's often in Maldon. It's young Mr.
+Freeman, who's learning estate work with Mr. Harris, near Southminster.
+He does drop in here now and again."
+
+"Yes, I know him. A fellow-countryman of yours, ain't he?"
+
+"No; he's English. I'd know a German well enough."
+
+"Well, I've heard him speak. Mr. Jones, the schoolmaster, told me once
+he thought he spoke with a German accent," replied the officer.
+
+"So he do, Sergeant," spoke up a sailorman, "now you mention it. I'm
+often in Hamburg, an' I know the German accent."
+
+"You don't know anything about that forty-nine pounds, I suppose?" asked
+the blundering local sergeant of police, for, as is usually the case,
+the aid of New Scotland Yard had not been invoked. The police in our
+small country towns are always very loath to request assistance from
+London, as such action is admission of their own incompetence. Many a
+murder mystery could be solved and the criminal brought to justice by
+prompt investigation by competent detectives. But after blunt inquiries
+such as those now in progress, success is usually rendered impossible.
+
+Raymond exchanged glances with me and smiled. How different, I
+reflected, were his careful, painstaking, and often mysterious methods
+of investigation.
+
+"Those sovereigns in 'is 'andkerchief are a puzzle," declared the man
+Rait, "but somehow I fancy there's been a bit o' mystery about pore Jim
+of late. Teddy Owen told me a week ago 'e see 'im up in London,
+a-talkin' with a foreigner on the platform at Liverpool Street."
+
+"Where is Owen?" asked the sergeant eagerly.
+
+"Gone over to Malmoe on a Swedish timber-ship," was Robert Rait's reply.
+"'E won't be back for a couple of months, I dare say."
+
+This statement of the man Owen was to Raymond and myself very
+significant and suspicious. Could it be that the pilot Pavely had sold
+some secret to a foreign agent, and that the money he carried with him
+on the previous night was the price of his treason? It was distinctly
+curious that the assassin had not possessed himself of that handkerchief
+full of sovereigns.
+
+We lingered in the low-pitched inn for yet another half-hour, my
+companion accounting for our visit by telling one of the men a
+fictitious story that we had been sent to install the electric light in
+some new premises at the back of the old church. We heard several more
+inquiries made by the sergeant, and many were the wild theories advanced
+by those seafaring loungers. Then, having listened attentively to all
+that passed, we retraced our steps to the station, obtained our bags,
+and drove to the King's Head Hotel, where we duly installed ourselves.
+
+"There's something very big behind the cruel murder of the pilot--that's
+my belief!" declared Raymond before we parted for the night. "Nobody
+here dreams the truth--a truth that will be found as startling as it is
+strange."
+
+I told him of my suspicions that the publican Bramberger was a spy. But
+he shook his head, saying:
+
+"Don't form any immature conclusions, my dear Jacox. At present the
+truth is very cunningly concealed. It remains for us to lift the veil
+and expose the truth to the police and the public. Good-night."
+
+Three days passed. Ray Raymond remained practically inactive, save that
+we both attended the inquest at Southminster as members of the public
+and listened to the evidence. The revelation that a man apparently in a
+state of great destitution carried forty-nine sovereigns upon him struck
+the coroner as unusual, and at his direction the jury adjourned the
+inquiry for a week, to allow the police to make further investigation.
+
+As soon as this was decided my companion at once became all activity. He
+found the man Rait, a big, clumsy seafarer, and questioned him. But from
+him he obtained nothing further. With the publican Bramberger he
+contrived to strike up a friendship, loudly declaring his theory that
+the motive of the murder of poor Pavely was jealousy, it being now known
+that he had been courting the pretty daughter of an old boatman over at
+Burnham.
+
+My position was, as usual, one of silent obedience. Hither and thither I
+went at his bidding, leaving to his, the master mind, the gradual
+solution of the mystery. He was one of those secretive men who
+delighted in retaining something up his sleeve. The expression upon his
+face was never indicative of what was passing within his mind.
+
+The adjourned inquest was held at last, and again we were both present
+at the back of the room. The police practically admitted their inability
+to solve the mystery, and after a long deliberation the twelve tradesmen
+returned a verdict of "wilful murder," leaving the constabulary to
+further prosecute their inquiries.
+
+Nearly a fortnight had passed since the sturdy North Sea pilot had been
+so cruelly done to death, and many were the new theories advanced
+nightly in the smoke-room of the "Goat and Binnacle."
+
+I still remained at the "King's Head," but Raymond was often absent for
+whole days, and by his manner I knew the spy-seeker to be busy
+investigating some theory he had formed.
+
+He had been absent a couple of days, staying over at the "White Hart" at
+Burnham-on-Crouch, that place so frequented by boating men in summer,
+when one afternoon I ran over to Chelmsford to call upon a man I knew.
+It was about ten o'clock at night when I left his house to walk to the
+station to catch the last train, when, to my surprise, I saw close to
+the Town Hall a smart female figure in a black tailor-made gown and big
+black hat, walking before me, accompanied by a tall, thin, rather
+well-dressed young man in breeches and gaiters, who seemed to be
+something of a dandy.
+
+The girl's back struck me as familiar, and I crossed the road and went
+forward so as to get a glance at her face beneath the street-lamp.
+
+Yes, I was not mistaken. It was Vera Vallance! Her companion, however,
+was a complete stranger to me--a well-set-up, rather good-looking young
+fellow, with a small black moustache, whose age I guessed to be about
+twenty-eight or so, and whose dark eyes were peculiarly bright and
+vivacious. He walked with swaggering gait, and seemed to be of a
+decidedly horsey type.
+
+From their attitude it appeared that they were intimate friends, and as
+they walked towards the station, I watched his hand steal into her
+astrachan muff.
+
+The incident was certainly puzzling. Was this man Vera's secret lover?
+It certainly seemed so.
+
+Therefore, unseen by her, I kept close vigilance upon the pair, watching
+them gain the platform where stood the train by which I was to travel
+back to Maldon. He entered a first-class carriage, while she remained
+upon the platform. Therefore it was evident that she was not
+accompanying him.
+
+The train moved off, and, with a laugh, she actually kissed her hand to
+the stranger. Then I sat back in my corner greatly puzzled and
+disturbed. Surely Ray Raymond could not know of these clandestine
+meetings?
+
+I was well aware how devoted my friend was to her. Surely she was not
+now faithless to her vow!
+
+It was not my place to speak, so I could only patiently watch the
+progress of events.
+
+The dark-eyed man alighted with me at Witham, but did not enter the
+Maldon train. Therefore I lost sight of him.
+
+Three days later I caught sight of him in the main street at Maldon,
+still in gaiters and riding-breeches, and wearing a black and white
+check coat and crimson knitted vest. Unnoticed, I watched him come forth
+from a saddler's shop, and after making several purchases, he strolled
+to my hotel, the "King's Head," where he was met by an elderly
+clean-shaven man of agricultural type, with whom he had luncheon in a
+corner of the coffee-room.
+
+Ray was still absent. Would that he had been present, and that I dared
+to point out to him the man who had apparently usurped his place in
+Vera's heart!
+
+At three o'clock, after his friend had left, the young man sat for some
+time writing a letter in the smoking-room, and afterwards called the
+boots and gave it to him, with orders to deliver it personally.
+
+Then he left for the station apparently on his return to Witham.
+
+After I got back to the "King's Head" I sought James, the boots, and
+inquired the addressee of the letter.
+
+"I took it round to Mr. Bramberger at the 'Goat and Binnacle,' sir," was
+the servant's reply.
+
+"You know the young gentleman--eh?"
+
+"Oh yes, sir. He's Mr. Freeman, from Woodham Ferris. He's what they call
+a 'mud-pupil' of Mr. Harris, Lord Croyland's agent. He's learning
+estate-work."
+
+"And he knows Mr. Bramberger?"
+
+"I suppose so. I've often taken notes for him to the 'Goat and
+Binnacle.'"
+
+I was silent, recollecting the curious allegation made by the man Rait,
+that he had seen the dead man in Freeman's company.
+
+Some other questions I put to the boots, but he could tell me but little
+else, only that young Freeman was undoubtedly a gentleman, that he spent
+his money freely, and possessed a large circle of friends in the
+district.
+
+I learned that he lived in a small furnished cottage outside the dull
+little town of Woodham Ferris, and that he had an elderly man-servant
+who generally "did" for him.
+
+Had I been mistaken in Vera's motive? Had she become acquainted with him
+as part of a preconceived plan, some ingenious plan formed by that
+fearless hunter of the Kaiser's spies, who was my most intimate friend?
+
+Yes, I could only think that I had sorely misjudged her.
+
+Hearing nothing from Raymond on the following day, and noticing that the
+sensation caused by the death of the pilot had, by this time, quite
+subsided, I went again over to Chelmsford and lunched at the
+old-fashioned "Saracen's Head."
+
+To my satisfaction, I learned that Vera had been staying there for the
+past ten days, and was still there. Whereupon I left the hotel and
+watched it during the remainder of that afternoon.
+
+At dusk she came forth neat and pretty as usual, her face with its soft
+fair hair half concealed by her flimsy veil. At the door of the hotel
+she hesitated for a second, then she strolled to the other side of the
+town, where, at an unfrequented corner, she was joined by the dark-eyed
+man Freeman.
+
+From the warm manner of his greeting it was apparent that he was charmed
+by her, and together they strolled along the quiet byways, she allowing
+him to link his arm in hers.
+
+Knowing her ready self-sacrifice wherever the interests of her lover
+were concerned, I could only surmise that her present object was to
+watch this man, or to learn from him some important facts concerning the
+mystery which Ray was so silently investigating. Therefore, fearing to
+be observed if I followed the pair along those quiet thoroughfares, I
+turned on my heel, and half an hour later left Chelmsford for Maldon.
+
+That same night, soon after eleven, Ray Raymond returned to the "King's
+Head," arriving by the last train from London.
+
+"We must keep a wary eye upon that publican Bramberger, Jacox," he
+whispered when we were alone together in my bedroom. "You must deal with
+him. Frequent the 'Goat and Binnacle,' and see what's in progress
+there."
+
+"Vera is at Chelmsford, I see," I remarked casually.
+
+"Yes," he said, "she's already on friendly terms with Freeman. You've
+seen her, I suppose?"
+
+I responded in the affirmative.
+
+"Well, to-morrow I shall leave here again, to reappear in Maldon as a
+river-side labourer," he said. "You will retain your role of
+electrician, and patronise the homely comforts of our friend
+Bramberger's house."
+
+He spoke with that clear decision which characterised all his actions,
+for in the investigation of any suspicion of the presence of spies, he
+first formed his theory, and then started straight away to prove it to
+his own satisfaction.
+
+Next day soon after one o'clock I re-entered the low-built little
+river-side inn and found within a few bargemen and labourers gossiping,
+as such men will gossip. The landlord who served me eyed me up and down
+as though half inclined to recognise me, so I recalled the fact that I
+had been in his house a week or so ago.
+
+Whereupon he immediately became communicative, and we had a friendly
+glass together. I told him that I had concluded my job--in order to
+account for my hours of idleness in the days that were to follow--and I
+then became a regular customer, seldom leaving before the house closed.
+
+Bramberger was one day visited by the German mate of the timber-ship
+which had just come in, the man of his own nationality who had been in
+the bar on the night of our arrival at Maldon, and who seemed to be well
+known to his usual customers, for apparently he made regular visits from
+across the North Sea.
+
+I noticed that during the afternoon they were closeted together in the
+landlord's private room, and during the evening they drank in company.
+
+The return of this German at once aroused my suspicions, therefore at
+ten o'clock, instead of returning to the "King's Head," I concealed
+myself at the waterside and there waited. It was an intensely cold
+vigil, and as the time crept by, and the church clock struck hour after
+hour, I began to fear that my suspicions were unfounded.
+
+At last, however, from the timber-craft lying in the Blackwater came a
+boat noiselessly into the deep shadow, and from it landed two men, each
+carrying a heavy box upon his shoulder. They walked straight over to the
+"Goat and Binnacle," the side door of which opened noiselessly, and
+having deposited their loads, they returned to the boat. This journey to
+and fro they repeated four times. Then they rowed away, and though I
+waited the greater part of the night, they did not return.
+
+I reported this in a note I sent round to Ray at his lodging in the
+poorer quarter of the town, and in reply I received a message that he
+would meet me at the river-side at eleven that night.
+
+Part of that evening I spent smoking in the inn, and an hour after
+closing-time I came upon my friend with whispered greeting at the
+appointed spot.
+
+"Have you seen Freeman?" was his first question, and when I replied in
+the negative, he told me that he had just been admitted by Bramberger.
+
+"You've got your revolver, I suppose?" he asked.
+
+"I always carry it nowadays," was my reply.
+
+"Well, old chap, to-night promises to be exciting."
+
+"Why!" I exclaimed. "Look! There are three men lurking under that wall
+over yonder!"
+
+"I know," he laughed. "They're our friends. To-night we shall avenge the
+death of the poor pilot Pavely. But remain silent, and you'll see!"
+
+I noted that the three dark figures concealed near us were water-side
+labourers, fellows whose rough-looking exteriors were the reverse of
+reassuring. Yet I recollected that every man who worked on the
+Blackwater or the Crouch was a patriot, ready to tear the mask from the
+spies of England's enemies.
+
+We must have waited in patience fully three hours, when again from the
+timber-ship lying in the Blackwater came the laden boat, and again were
+similar boxes landed and carried in the shadow up to the inn, the door
+of which opened silently to receive them. Wherever the Customs officers
+or police were, they noticed nothing amiss.
+
+The two men had made their second journey to the "Goat and Binnacle,"
+when Ray Raymond suddenly exclaimed:
+
+"We're going to rush the place, Jacox. Have your gun ready"; and then he
+gave a low whistle.
+
+In a moment fully a dozen men, some of whom I recognised as Customs
+officers in mufti and police in plain clothes, together with several
+longshoremen, emerged from the shadow, and in a moment we had surrounded
+the public-house.
+
+The door had closed upon the two men who carried up the boxes, and a
+demand that it should be reopened met with no response. Therefore a long
+iron bar was procured from somewhere, and two policemen working with it
+soon prised the door from its hinges.
+
+The lights within had all been suddenly extinguished, but finding myself
+in the little bar-parlour with two others of the party, I struck a vesta
+and relit the gas.
+
+Two of the mysterious wooden cases brought from the ship were standing
+there.
+
+We heard loud shouts in German, and a scuffle upon the stairs in the
+darkness, followed by a shot. Then a woman's scream mingled with the
+shouts and curses of my companions, and I found myself in the midst of a
+wild melee, in which furniture and bottles were being smashed about me.
+My friends were trying to secure Bramberger and Freeman, while both were
+fighting desperately for their lives.
+
+Ray made a sudden spring upon the young man who had been so attracted by
+Vera Vallance, but for his pains received a savage cut in the arm from a
+knife.
+
+The man stood at bay in the corner of the smoke-room with half a dozen
+of us before him. The fellow had set his jaws fiercely, and there was
+murder in his black eyes. Bramberger, however, had already been secured,
+and handcuffs had been slipped upon him by the police.
+
+"Now," cried Ray Raymond, "tell your story, Richardson. These two
+blackguards must hear it before we hand them over." And I noticed that
+near me were two policemen, who had covered Freeman with their
+revolvers.
+
+From among us a rough man in a shabby pea-jacket, whom I had seen once
+or twice in that inn, came forward, and without a word of preliminary
+exclaimed:
+
+"Jim Pavely, the poor fellow whom these accursed foreigners murdered,
+was my brother-in-law. The night before he was killed he slept at my
+house. He was drunk, but he told me something that at first I didn't
+believe. He told me that on the previous day, spending so much time
+about this place, he had stumbled on the fact that a certain German
+timber-ship was in the habit of bringing up among its cargo a quantity
+of saccharine which was smuggled ashore at night and stored in the
+cellars below here. He had had words with the landlord Bramberger, but
+the latter had made him promise to keep his secret till next morning,
+when he would pay him a certain sum to say nothing to the Customs
+officers. Next afternoon at four o'clock he went to the 'Goat and
+Binnacle' to receive the money, and I entered after him, intending to
+assist him in getting all he could out of the German. But that fellow
+Freeman, yonder--whom I know to be also a German--was with his
+compatriot, and the three had consultation together in the back room.
+Half an hour later Jim Pavely came back to my house and showed me fifty
+pounds, and a written agreement signed by Bramberger to pay one hundred
+and fifty pounds more in gold in Calais, on condition that he remained
+abroad and held his tongue."
+
+Then the informer paused.
+
+"Go on," I urged. "What then?"
+
+"Pavely told me something--something he had discovered. But I foolishly
+laughed his statement to scorn. He added that he was to sail in a French
+schooner that night, and that Freeman, who was in partnership with
+Bramberger, was to go over to Latchingdon with him that evening and
+introduce him to the skipper, who would land him at Calais. When he had
+gone, the story he had told me struck me as very astounding; therefore I
+resolved to follow him. I saw him come with Freeman out of this place
+just after midnight, and I followed them. When they got to Button's
+Hill, on that lonely stretch of road, I saw with my own eyes Freeman
+suddenly attack him with a life-preserver, and having smashed his skull
+before I could interfere, he stole the German's undertaking from his
+pocket."
+
+At this, the man accused, standing in the corner covered by several
+revolvers, turned livid. He tried to protest, but his voice was only
+faint and hollow before the living witness of his crime.
+
+He had collapsed.
+
+"My first impulse was to denounce the assassin, but what the dead man
+had told me caused me to hesitate, and I resolved to first get at the
+truth, which I have done with Mr. Raymond's aid," Richardson went on.
+"The story of the schooner was true," he added, "except that it was a
+steam schooner-rigged yacht which was about to land some stuff for
+another depot at Burnham."
+
+"What stuff?" I asked quickly.
+
+"Ammunition ready for the German army when it lands upon this coast. It
+was that fact which Pavely had discovered and told me. After agreeing to
+keep the secret of the saccharine, it seems that he discovered that the
+boxes really contained cartridges, a fact which he urged me to
+communicate to the War Office after he had secured the German's bribe."
+
+"Yes," declared Raymond, "the extensive cellaring under this place is
+packed to the ceiling with ammunition ready for the Day of Invasion. See
+this, which has just been brought!"
+
+After prising open one of the boxes, many rounds of German
+rifle-cartridges were revealed. "That man Freeman before you, though
+brought up in England and passing as an Englishman, is, I have
+discovered, a German agent, who, in the guise of estate-pupil, has been
+busy composing a voluminous report upon supplies, accommodation, forage,
+possible landing-places, and other information useful to the invader.
+His district has been the important country between the Blackwater and
+the Crouch, eastward of Maldon and Purleigh. Bramberger, who is also in
+the German Secret Service, has been accumulating this store of
+ammunition as well as forwarding his coadjutor's reports and plans to
+Berlin, for, being German, it excited no suspicion that he posted many
+bulky letters to Germany. He is often in direct communication with our
+friend in Pont Street. My secret investigations revealed all this,
+Jacox, hence I arranged this raid to-night."
+
+"You'll never take me!" cried Freeman in defiance. But next moment these
+men, all of them constables in plain clothes, closed with him.
+
+For a moment there was another desperate struggle, when with startling
+suddenness a shot rang out, and I saw Bramberger drop to the floor like
+a stone at my feet.
+
+Freeman had wrested a weapon from one of his assailants and killed his
+fellow-spy; while, next instant, without reflection, he turned the
+revolver upon himself, and, before they could prevent him, had put a
+shot through his own brain, inflicting a wound that within half a minute
+proved mortal.
+
+When we searched the cellars of the "Goat and Binnacle" we found no
+fewer than eighty-two cases of rifle cartridges; while next morning, in
+a small cottage within a stone's-throw of the "White Hart" at Burnham,
+we discovered sixty-odd cases of ammunition for various arms, together
+with ten cases of gun cotton and some other high explosives. Also we
+found six big cases full of proclamations, printed in English,
+threatening all who opposed the German advance with death. The document
+was a very remarkable one, and deeming it of sufficient interest, I have
+reproduced it in these pages.
+
+     DECREE CONCERNING THE POWER OF COUNCILS OF WAR.
+
+     WE, GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF EAST ANGLIA, by virtue of the powers
+     conferred upon us by His Imperial Majesty the German Emperor,
+     Commander-in-Chief of the German Armies, order, for the
+     maintenance of the internal and external security of the
+     counties of the Government-General:--
+
+
+     ARTICLE I.--Any individual guilty of incendiarism or of wilful
+     inundation, of attack, or of resistance with violence, against
+     the Government-General or the agents of the civil or military
+     authorities, of sedition, of pillage, of theft with violence,
+     of assisting prisoners to escape, or of inciting soldiers to
+     treasonable acts, shall be PUNISHED BY DEATH.
+
+     In the case of any extenuating circumstances, the culprit may
+     be sent to penal servitude with hard labour for twenty years.
+
+     ARTICLE II.--Any person provoking or inciting an individual to
+     commit the crimes mentioned in Article I. will be sent to penal
+     servitude with hard labour for ten years.
+
+     ARTICLE III.--Any person propagating false reports relative to
+     the operations of war or political events will be imprisoned
+     for one year, and fined up to L100.
+
+     In any case where the affirmation or propagation may cause
+     prejudice against the German army, or against any authorities
+     or functionaries established by it, the culprit will be sent to
+     hard labour for ten years.
+
+     ARTICLE IV.--Any person usurping a public office, or who
+     commits any act or issues any order in the name of a public
+     functionary, will be imprisoned for five years, and fined L150.
+
+     ARTICLE V.--Any person who voluntarily destroys or abstracts
+     any documents, registers, archives, or public documents
+     deposited in public offices, or passing through their hands in
+     virtue of their functions as government or civic officials,
+     will be imprisoned for two years, and fined L150.
+
+     ARTICLE VI.--Any person obliterating, damaging, or tearing down
+     official notices, orders, or proclamations of any sort issued
+     by the German authorities will be imprisoned for six months,
+     and fined L80.
+
+     ARTICLE VII.--Any resistance or disobedience of any order given
+     in the interests of public security by military commanders and
+     other authorities, or any provocation or incitement to commit
+     such disobedience, will be punished by one year's imprisonment,
+     or a fine of not less than L150.
+
+     ARTICLE VIII.--All offences enumerated in Articles I.--VII. are
+     within the jurisdiction of the Councils of War.
+
+     ARTICLE IX.--It is within the competence of Councils of War to
+     adjudicate upon all other crimes and offences against the
+     internal and external security of the English provinces
+     occupied by the German Army, and also upon all crimes against
+     the military or civil authorities, or their agents, as well as
+     murder, the fabrication of false money, of blackmail, and all
+     other serious offences.
+
+     ARTICLE X.--Independent of the above, the military jurisdiction
+     already proclaimed will remain in force regarding all actions
+     tending to imperil the security of the German troops, to damage
+     their interests, or to render assistance in the Army of the
+     British Government.
+
+     Consequently, they will be PUNISHED BY DEATH, and we expressly
+     repeat this, all persons who are not British soldiers and--
+
+     (_a_) Who serve the British Army or the Government as spies, or
+     receive British spies, or give them assistance or asylum.
+
+     (_b_) Who serve as guides to British troops, or mislead the
+     German troops when charged to act as guides.
+
+     (_c_) Who shoot, injure, or assault any German soldier or
+     officer.
+
+     (_d_) Who destroy bridges or canals, interrupt railways or
+     telegraph lines, render roads impassable, burn munitions of
+     war, provisions, or quarters of the troops.
+
+     (_e_) Who take arms against the German troops.
+
+     ARTICLE XI.--The organisation of Councils of War mentioned in
+     Articles VIII. and IX. of the Law of May 2, 1870, and their
+     procedure are regulated by special laws which are the same as
+     the summary jurisdiction of military tribunals. In the case of
+     Article X. there remains in force the Law of July 21, 1867,
+     concerning the military jurisdiction applicable to foreigners.
+
+     ARTICLE XII.--The present order is proclaimed and put into
+     execution on the morrow of the day upon which it is affixed in
+     the public places of each town and village.
+
+     THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF EAST ANGLIA.
+
+     Copy of the German Proclamation found in the Secret Store of
+     Arms at Burnham-on-Crouch.
+
+The affair caused the greatest consternation at the War Office, at whose
+instigation it was instantly hushed up by the police for fear of
+creating undue panic.
+
+But the truth remains--a very bitter, serious, and significant truth--of
+Germany's hostile intentions at a not distant date, a date when an
+Englishman's home will, alas! no longer be his castle.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE SECRET OF THE NEW BRITISH AEROPLANE
+
+
+"If we could only approach the Military Ballooning Department we might,
+perhaps, learn something," I remarked. "But I suppose that's quite out
+of the question?"
+
+"Quite," declared Ray. "We should receive no information, and only be
+laughed at for our trouble."
+
+"You don't think that the new Kershaw aeroplane can be the one now being
+tried by the Royal Engineers with so much secrecy on the Duke of
+Atholl's estate?"
+
+"I think not," was his prompt reply. "My reason briefly is because I
+have discovered that two Germans stayed at the Blair Arms Hotel, at
+Blair Atholl, for six weeks last summer, and then suddenly
+disappeared--probably taking with them the plans of the airship about
+which there has been so much secrecy."
+
+"I don't quite follow you," I said.
+
+"No, there is still another fact. A month ago there arrived in England a
+man named Karl Straus, a lieutenant of the Military Ballooning
+Department of the German Army stationed at Duesseldorf. He paid several
+visits to our friend Hartmann in Pont Street, and then disappeared from
+London. Now, why did he come on a special mission to England? For one
+reason. Because of the failure of Germany's hope, the Zeppelin airship,
+combined with the report that our new Kershaw aeroplane is the most
+perfect of the many inventions, and destined to effect a revolution in
+warfare. The Kershaw, which was only completed at South Farnborough two
+months ago, is now being tried in strictest secrecy. Vera was told so by
+an engineer officer she met at a dance at Chatham a short time ago."
+
+"And it is being tried here in the north somewhere," I added, as
+together, seated in a "forty-eight Daimler," we ascended Glen Garry from
+Blair Atholl--which we had left a couple of hours before--and sped along
+over the wild, treeless Grampians towards Dalwhinnie. The March morning
+was bitterly cold, and snow covered the ground, rendering the Highland
+scenery more picturesque and imposing. And as we preferred an open car
+to a closed one, the journey was very cold.
+
+Our inquiries in Blair Atholl had had a negative result. In the long,
+old-fashioned Blair Arms Hotel Ray had made a number of searching
+inquiries, for though two officers of the Ballooning Department lived
+there, and had been conducting the experiments in Blair Park, it was
+plain that the machine had never yet taken flight. So the pair of
+mysterious Germans, whose names we discovered in the visitors' book, had
+either obtained the details they wanted or had left the neighbourhood in
+disgust.
+
+It was at my friend's suggestion that we had hired the car from Perth,
+and had now set out upon a tour of discovery in the wildest and least
+frequented districts of the Highlands--some of which are in winter the
+most unfrequented in all Great Britain. Something--what I know not--had
+apparently convinced him that the tests were still in progress.
+
+"And where the trials are taking place we shall, I feel certain, find
+this inquisitive person Karl Straus," he declared. "From Berlin, through
+a confidential source, I hear that it was he who obtained the German
+General Staff photographs and plan of the new French aeroplane that was
+tried down in the Basque country last May. He's an expert aeronaut and
+engineer, and speaks English well; our object is to discover his
+whereabouts."
+
+In pursuance of this quest we visited the various hotels on our way
+north. The "Loch Ericht" at Dalwhinnie we found closed, therefore we
+went on to Newtonmore, and by taking luncheon at the hotel there
+ascertained that there were no visitors who might be either British
+military officers or German spies.
+
+In the gloomy, frosty afternoon we, a month after the affair down at
+Maldon, sped up the Speyside through dark pine forests and snow-covered
+moorland till we found ourselves in the long grey street of Kingussie,
+where we halted at the Star Hotel, a small place with a verandah, very
+popular in summer, but in winter deserted.
+
+Leaving me to warm myself at the fire, Ray crossed to the telegraph
+office to despatch a message, and afterwards I saw him enter a small
+shop where picture post-cards were sold. For a quarter of an hour he
+remained inside, and then went to another shop a few doors further down.
+
+Afterwards he rejoined me, and as we remounted into the car I saw that
+his face wore a dark, puzzled expression.
+
+"Anything wrong?" I inquired, as we sped away through the firs towards
+Loch Alvie and Aviemore.
+
+"No," he replied. Then, after a pause, he asked, "You once used to ride
+a motor-cycle, didn't you, Jack?"
+
+I replied in the affirmative; whereupon he said that it would be
+necessary for me to hire one, an observation which somewhat mystified
+me. And for the next hour we roared along over the loose, uneven road
+through Aviemore, where the chief hotel was, of course, closed, and on
+over Dulnan Bridge, that paradise of the summer tourist; then turning to
+the right past the post office, until we were soon "honk-honking" up the
+wide main street of Grantown.
+
+Here in summer and autumn the place is alive with tourists; but in
+winter, with its tearing winds and gusty snowstorms, the little place
+presents a very different appearance. The excellent "Grant Arms,"
+standing back from the road at the further end of the town, is, however,
+one of the few first-class hotels in the Highlands open all the year
+round. And here we put up, both of us glad to obtain shelter from the
+sleet which, since the twilight had faded, had been cutting our faces.
+
+While I sat before the big smoking-room fire with a cigarette, after we
+had been to our rooms to remove the mud from our faces, Ray was bustling
+about the hotel, eagerly scanning the visitors' book, among other
+things.
+
+Our quest was a decidedly vague one, and as I sat staring into the
+flames I confess I entertained serious misgivings.
+
+When I went forth into the hall to find my friend, I was told that he
+had gone out.
+
+A quarter of an hour later he returned, saying:
+
+"I've seen a garage along the street; come with me and hire a
+motor-cycle. You'll probably want it."
+
+"Why?" I asked.
+
+"Wait and see," was his response; therefore I put on my hat and coat and
+walked with him to the garage, about half-way along the street, where I
+picked out a good strong machine which was duly wheeled back to the
+hotel.
+
+That night, among the eight or nine guests assembled for dinner, there
+was not one who had any resemblance either to a German spy or an officer
+of the Military Balloon Factory at South Farnborough.
+
+In the days following we used our map well, scouring the whole of the
+Spey side to the Bridge of Avon, and on to Rothes, while westward we
+drove by Carrbridge, over the Slochd Mor to Loch Moy and across to
+Daviot. We explored the steep hills of Cromdale and Glen Tulchan,
+surveyed the rugged country from the summit of Carn Glas, and made
+judicious inquiry in all quarters, both among village people, shepherds,
+and others. Nowhere however could we gather any information that any
+trials of an airship were in progress.
+
+Sometimes in leggings, mackintosh, and goggles, I went forth alone on my
+motor-cycle, negotiating the rougher byways and making confidential
+inquiry. But the result was ever a negative one and always
+disheartening.
+
+On one occasion I had been out alone and reached the hotel, when, some
+hours later, our chauffeur returned with the car empty, and handed me a
+hastily scribbled note to explain that Ray had left suddenly for the
+south and instructing me to remain at Grantown till his return.
+
+By that I imagined that he had made some discovery. Or had he gone south
+to see Vera, his well-beloved?
+
+Curiously enough, next day a foreigner--probably a German--arrived at
+the hotel, and, as may be imagined, I at once took steps to keep him
+under the strictest observation. He was a quiet, apparently inoffensive
+person about thirty-five, who, among his impedimenta, brought a
+motor-cycle and box camera. Before he had been in the place twenty-four
+hours I had convinced myself that he was the spy Straus.
+
+This fact I wired to Bruton Street in the code we had long ago arranged,
+hoping that the message would find my friend.
+
+To my surprise, all the reply I got was: "Be careful that you have made
+no mistake."
+
+What could he mean? I read and re-read the message, but remained much
+puzzled, while my excitement increased.
+
+Each day the new arrival, who had written the name of "F. Goldstein" in
+the visitors' book, went forth on his cycle to explore the beauties of
+the Highlands, the thaw having now cleared the roads, and on each
+occasion I managed by dint of many subterfuges to watch his proceedings.
+His gaze was ever in the distance, and each time he gained high ground
+he swept the surrounding country with a pair of powerful prismatic
+field-glasses.
+
+I confess I was rather annoyed at Ray's conduct in thus abandoning me at
+the very moment of my discovery, for here was the ballooning expert
+Straus bent upon seeing and photographing our newest arm of defence.
+
+As the days passed I exerted every precaution, yet I followed him
+everywhere, sometimes using the car, and at others the motor-cycle.
+
+The spy, a bespectacled, round-faced Teuton who spoke with a strong
+accent, was ever active, ever eager to discover something in the air.
+Yet, to my intense satisfaction, he seemed to be utterly unaware that I
+was keeping so strict a watch upon his movements. Purposely I avoided
+speaking to him in the hotel, for fear of arousing his suspicions.
+
+One day Mr. Goldstein did not appear, and in response to my inquiry the
+waiter informed me that he had caught cold and was confined to his room.
+
+A spy with a cold! I laughed within myself, and the afternoon being
+bright, I took a run south through the Abernethy Forest down to Loch
+Pityoulish. On my return I crossed Dulnan Bridge, where the turbulent
+Dulnan River hurtles along over the stones on its way down to the Spey.
+I dismounted, hot and tired, and propped up my cycle against the parapet
+to rest and admire the dark pine-clad gorge which opened to the north.
+
+My reflections were suddenly cut short by a loud humming sound which
+seemed to come from the road which I had just traversed. Instinctively I
+looked round for the approaching motor-car. The sound came nearer, but
+instead of a car, I saw in the air, above the tops of the firs against
+the distant hill in the background, a splendid aeroplane with two men
+aboard. Swiftly it swept over the stream with the ease and majesty of an
+enormous albatross!
+
+Next instant it had disappeared from my gaze. Yet in that brief moment I
+had had ocular demonstration that the secret trials were in progress in
+the neighbourhood.
+
+I waited on tiptoe with excitement. Again the whirring sound came
+nearer, the occupants of the neighbouring cottages being undisturbed,
+believing it to be a motor-car. Once again I saw the new aeroplane
+circling above the tree-tops to the north, after which it turned
+suddenly and made off in a bee-line south, in the direction whence I had
+travelled.
+
+I had actually seen the new invention!
+
+Scarcely, however, had I recovered from my surprise when I heard, coming
+from the direction of Grantown, the "pop-pop-pop" of a motor-cycle, and
+across the bridge like a flash, in the direction the aerial machine had
+taken, came the spy whom I had only that morning left an invalid in bed.
+
+That evening, while writing a letter in the hotel, I had a surprise; I
+was called to the telephone, and heard Ray's voice asking me to send the
+car to him.
+
+He told me that he was staying as Mr. Charles Black at the Star Hotel in
+Kingussie, about twenty-eight miles distant, and promised to come over
+to see me shortly.
+
+I told him what I had seen that afternoon, and how the spy had been on
+the alert, but to my surprise he only replied:
+
+"Good! Keep on the watch. If what I expect is true, then we're on a big
+thing. Keep in touch with me on the 'phone, and have a continuous eye on
+your Mr. Goldstein."
+
+I replied that I would, and that our friend had just returned.
+
+Then he rang off.
+
+Why was he at Kingussie, instead of assisting me?
+
+Next day I was early astir, and before luncheon had covered many miles
+on the motor-cycle. Ray had not asked me over to Kingussie. If he wanted
+me, he would have said so.
+
+Goldstein had not appeared downstairs, therefore after luncheon, I went
+forth again, taking the road northward from Grantown, and just as I was
+passing beneath the castellated railway-bridge about a mile and a half
+from the hotel, I again suddenly saw straight before me the wonderful
+Kershaw aeroplane. The car looked like a long, thin cylinder of bright
+silvery metal, which I took to be aluminium, and in it I discerned two
+men.
+
+It travelled in a circle several times over the tree-tops, and then, just
+as at Dulnan Bridge, it dived straight away over the dark pine forest
+towards the lonely moors of Cromdale. Without a second's hesitation I
+mounted and rode full speed after her, keeping her well in sight as I
+went towards Deva.
+
+Yet scarcely had I gone half a mile when I again heard behind me the
+"pop-pop-pop" of another cycle, and turning, saw to my satisfaction the
+man Goldstein, who had evidently seen the aeroplane, and was now bent
+upon obtaining all details of it.
+
+Going up the hill I drew away from him, but as we descended he passed
+me, and in order to pose as an excited onlooker, I shouted to him my
+surprise in seeing such an apparatus in the air.
+
+He evidently knew more of the new invention than I did. And yet Ray held
+aloof from me.
+
+Next day, having been out for a stroll, I returned to the hotel about
+noon, when a few moments later my friend entered the reading-room.
+
+"Let's go to your room," he suggested; therefore we ascended the stairs,
+and I opened the door with my key.
+
+As soon as I had done so, he made a swift tour of the apartment,
+examining both the carpet and the red plush-covered chairs without
+uttering a word.
+
+Then he stood in the centre of the room for a moment, and slowly
+selected a cigarette from his case. Ray Raymond was thinking--thinking
+deeply.
+
+"Your friend Goldstein has a visitor," he remarked at last.
+
+"Not to my knowledge," I said.
+
+"He occupies room No. 11 in this hotel," he went on. "This is 16,
+therefore he must be quite near you."
+
+"But who's the visitor?"
+
+"A friend of Goldstein's. Downstairs you can discover his name."
+
+I descended and found that on the previous evening there had certainly
+arrived at the hotel a Mr. William Smith, who occupied room No. 11.
+
+But how was Ray aware of it?
+
+I returned to my room, and found him staring out of the window into the
+roadway below. I saw that he was unusually agitated.
+
+"My dear Jack," he said, turning to me when I told him the name of the
+occupant of No. 11, "how horribly stuffy this room is! Do you never have
+the window open?"
+
+"Of course," I said, crossing to open it as usual. But I found that it
+had been jammed down tightly, and that felt had been placed in the
+crevices by the hotel people to exclude the draught.
+
+Ray noticed it, and a curious smile crossed his aquiline countenance.
+
+"I'd remove all that, if I were you," he exclaimed. "And I'd also pull
+out all that stuffing I see up the chimney. You never have a fire here,
+I suppose."
+
+"I hate a fire in my bedroom," I answered. "But what has that to do with
+our friend Goldstein?"
+
+"A good deal," was his reply. "Take my advice and have a fire here;" and
+by his look I saw that he had discovered more than he wished at that
+juncture to tell me. Had I known the astounding truth, I certainly
+should not have taken his words so calmly.
+
+He appeared to evince an interest in my room, its position and its
+contents, but when I remarked upon it he pretended unconcern. He rang
+the bell and inquired of the waiter for Mr. Goldstein and Mr. William
+Smith, but the man informed him that both gentlemen were out. "I
+believe," added the waiter, "that Mr. Goldstein is leaving us this
+evening or to-morrow, sir."
+
+"Leaving!" I echoed as soon as the man had closed the door. "Shall I
+follow?"
+
+"No. It really isn't worth while," Ray replied, "at least not just at
+present. Remain here and have a care of yourself, Jack."
+
+What did he mean? We ate a hasty lunch, and then, mounting into the car,
+my companion ordered the chauffeur to drive south again past Dulnan
+Bridge to Duthil, where we turned up to the right and ascended the
+thickly wooded hill of Lochgorm on that stony road that leads out upon
+the desolate Muirs of Cromdale. After we had cleared the wood he ordered
+the man to pull up, for the road was so bad. Descending, we climbed the
+steep ascent to the summit of a hill, where, after sweeping the
+surrounding country with a small pair of powerful glasses I carried, I
+at last discerned the aeroplane heading westward some ten miles
+distant.
+
+Unfortunately, however, the clouds came down upon us, and we quickly
+found ourselves enveloped in a gradually thickening Scotch mist, while
+the aeroplane, soon but a faint grey shadow, quickly faded from our
+gaze.
+
+Ray Raymond was ever a dogged person. He decided to descend, and this we
+did, passing over the other side of the hill for half an hour, progress
+of course being slow on account of the clouds.
+
+Presently a puff of cold wind came up out of the east, and patches of
+dun-coloured moorland began to appear below through the rents of the
+fast-breaking clouds; when presently our watchful eyes caught the dull
+leaden gleam of a sheet of water about three miles ahead, which a look
+at my map enabled me to recognise as Lochindorb.
+
+And just as we were able to locate the spot we again saw the big
+white-winged aeroplane as she swooped down to the surface of the loch,
+upon which she floated swanlike and majestic.
+
+"Well?" I asked, turning and looking him in the face.
+
+"Well, Jack, I've seen it in flight just as you have," he said, "but
+I've never yet approached it. I've had reasons for keeping away. After
+to-day, however, there is no longer much necessity for hesitation."
+
+"I hardly follow you, old chap," I declared, my eyes still fixed through
+the glasses upon the aeroplane sailing along the surface of the distant
+lake.
+
+"Probably not," he laughed, "but you'll see the motive of my actions
+before a few days are over, I hope. Let's go back." And returning to the
+car he carried me as far as the entrance to Grantown, where he deposited
+me, and then turning, ordered the man to drive with all speed back to
+Kingussie.
+
+When I re-entered my comfortable hotel I learnt that Goldstein had left
+by the afternoon train for the south. My interest therefore lay in the
+new arrival in No. 11, but though I waited up till midnight, he did not
+return.
+
+Just as I was returning to bed I made a curious discovery in my room.
+Running from the top of the high, old-fashioned mahogany wardrobe, with
+its heavily ornamented cornice, was a long piece of strong, black cord,
+which, passing down the side panel, was placed close to the wainscoting,
+so as to avoid notice, the end being placed beneath the mat outside the
+door.
+
+At once I suspected a practical joke, but on mounting one of the
+old-fashioned chairs, I looked along the top of the wardrobe, but
+discerned nothing.
+
+So I gathered up the piece of cord, held it in my hand with curiosity
+for a few moments, and then wondering who had any object in playing such
+a prank, turned in and slept soundly till morning.
+
+I had scarcely sat down to breakfast in the small upstairs
+coffee-room--which is used in winter--when I was summoned to the
+telephone, where Ray predicted that the mysterious Mr. Smith would soon
+return, and if he did, I was to betray no interest in him whatsoever,
+and above all, avoid any friendship.
+
+Such instructions mystified me. But I had not long to wait for the
+return of the man who called himself Smith, for he arrived just as it
+was growing dusk.
+
+After dinner I was seated in front of the blazing fire in my room,
+smoking and reading the _Courier_, when I heard a man in heavy boots
+pass my door, and recognised his low, hacking cough as that of the
+occupant of No. 11.
+
+I opened the door, and peering forth saw that he was dressed in his
+loose mackintosh and cap and carried a stout stick. He was going forth
+for a night walk!
+
+Therefore I slipped on my thick boots and coat and followed. He had
+turned to the right on leaving the hotel, but in the silence of the
+night it was difficult, nay, almost impossible, to watch his movements
+unobserved.
+
+For about two miles I went forward, following the sound of his footsteps
+in the dark night in the direction of Dava Moor, until we entered the
+forest of Glaschoile, where the footsteps suddenly ceased.
+
+I halted to listen. There was a dead silence. The man had realised that
+he was being followed, and had plunged into the forest.
+
+So, disappointed, I was compelled to retrace my steps to the hotel.
+
+I tried to telephone to Ray, but was told that late the previous night
+he had gone out on the car and had not returned.
+
+Therefore I remained there, impatient and helpless, the mysterious Smith
+being still absent.
+
+At three o'clock that afternoon the car pulled up before the door and
+Ray descended.
+
+"Put on your coat and come with me," he said briefly. And a few minutes
+later we were tearing along over the same road which the mysterious
+Smith had taken in the darkness--the direct road which leads north by
+way of Dava, away to Forres.
+
+Just past the little school house of Dava we left the main road, and
+striking across the wide, bleak, snow-covered moor for about a mile,
+suddenly came into view of a wide and lonely expanse of dark water in
+the centre of the desolate landscape. It was Lochindorb, where, in the
+distance, we had seen the Kershaw aeroplane alight and sail along the
+surface.
+
+As we reached the edge of the loch I saw out upon a small islet in the
+centre a ruined castle, a long, almost unbroken, grey wall of uniform
+height, without turrets or battlements, occupying the whole of the
+islet. Below the walls a few bushes grew from the water's edge, but it
+was as dreary and isolated a spot as I had ever seen. Beyond stretched
+the big, dull sheet of water, backed only by the low, uninteresting
+moorland, the only break in the all-pervading flatness and monotony
+being afforded by a few wind-stunted trees on the right of the road, and
+a small dark plantation ahead.
+
+When the car had stopped and we had got out and walked a few yards, Ray
+said:
+
+"Yonder is the old castle of Lochindorb, Jack. Behind those walls is the
+shed which shelters the Kershaw aeroplane. Look!"
+
+And gazing in the direction he indicated, I saw a skiff with three
+occupants coming across from the shadows on the left towards the island.
+The man steering was a corporal of engineers in khaki.
+
+"It appears," Ray went on, "that the machine takes her flight from the
+open surface of the loch, which, as you see, is about two miles long.
+She enters and leaves the shed by water."
+
+As we were speaking, a bearded gillie of gigantic stature came up from
+nowhere and promptly ordered us away, an order which we were very
+reluctantly compelled to obey.
+
+At last, however, we had discovered the obscure spot where the secret
+trials were in progress.
+
+"I knew from the first that the tests must be in progress in this
+district," Ray said, "for a month ago that motor engineer in Grantown of
+whom you hired your cycle made a small part of a new motor for a man who
+was a stranger. The part was broken, and the stranger ordered another to
+be made. I learnt that the first night we were in Grantown."
+
+He resolved to spend that night at Grantown, therefore we dined
+together, and when we rose from table he went to his room in order to
+obtain his pipe.
+
+[Illustration: THE NEW BRITISH ARMY AEROPLANE: ROUGH SKETCH DRAWN BY
+LIEUT. KARL STRAUS, OF THE GERMAN SECRET SERVICE.]
+
+Ten minutes later he returned, saying:
+
+"Just come with me for a moment, Jack."
+
+I rose and followed.
+
+We ascended the stairs, and passing along the corridor he halted before
+the door of No. 11 and tapped at it quietly.
+
+It opened, and Smith stood upon the threshold.
+
+"I wish to speak with you a moment," Ray said, facing him determinedly.
+
+The man's face fell. We both entered, but so surprised was he that he
+could utter no protest.
+
+We saw that on the table beneath the lamp was spread a number of
+photographs and papers.
+
+He had been writing upon a sheet of foolscap and the writing was in
+German.
+
+"Yes," exclaimed Ray in a tone of satisfaction as he bent over to glance
+at the first few lines. "I see. You report: 'The upper plane is somewhat
+curved, with an----'"
+
+"What's my business to do with you, pray?" the man asked defiantly in
+excellent English.
+
+"Well, your business has interested me greatly, Herr Straus," calmly
+replied my companion, "and I congratulate you upon the ingenious method
+by which you got a sight of the Kershaw aeroplane at an early hour this
+morning. I was at Lochindorb with you--and rather cold waiting, wasn't
+it?"
+
+The man now recognised gave vent to a quick imprecation.
+
+"I see you've just developed that photograph you took in secret as she
+sailed within twenty yards of you! But I shall trouble you to give it
+over to me, together with the rough sketch I see, and your written
+description of our new military invention," he said, with mock
+politeness.
+
+"I don't know you--and I shall do nothing of the sort."
+
+"I know you, Karl Straus, as a spy of Germany," exclaimed my friend,
+with a grin. "Your reputation for ingenuity and cunning reached us from
+France"; and snatching up the sheet of foolscap he turned to me, saying,
+"Listen to this, Jack," and while the German agent stood biting his lips
+in chagrin at being discovered at the eleventh hour, my friend read
+aloud the spy's report, as follows:
+
+     "The upper plane of the Kershaw aeroplane is somewhat curved,
+     with an upward curve at the front. The side planes are composed
+     of a light framework covered with a number of small squares of
+     some light material, each stretched on a light frame hinged to
+     the main frame at the rear end of each. To the front end is
+     fastened a strong silken cord. These cords are all fastened at
+     their lower ends to a large ring. To this is attached a wire
+     rope, which passes over a pulley-wheel at the end of a species
+     of outrigger, and thence into the cigar-like body of the car.
+     From what I have observed when the machine is in flight, it is
+     evident to me that the steersman (who sits at the fore part of
+     the car) is able to manipulate these by means of levers, so
+     that the numerous flaps forming the surface of the side planes
+     can be opened and closed at will.
+
+     "Thus suppose the machine to be diving; slackening these ropes,
+     the pressure of the air underneath causes the flaps to open. As
+     soon as this happens their inclination upwards tends to make
+     the machine rise so long as the propellers are driving her
+     forward, the angle of ascent being controlled by the angle to
+     which they are allowed to open. If the machine inclines to lean
+     over to right or left, the opening and closing of the flaps on one
+     side or the other can be used to counteract it and restore the
+     balance. With all kept tightly closed she can go forward or dive.
+     With them open, and engines stopped, she dives quickly. The rudder
+     is of box-kite form, and fastened to the after end of the
+     cigar-like car, which apparently contains the engines, petrol
+     tanks, etc., and enough air space to render the machine buoyant
+     when water-borne. The propellers, which are placed on hollow
+     shafts, whose bearings are supported on horizontal braces
+     between the two V-shaped aluminium lattice girders attaching
+     the planes to the car, are driven by separate endless chains,
+     which come up out of the centre of the cylinder. They seem to
+     be made either of aluminium, or more probably magnalium.
+
+     "My drawing has rather exaggerated the diameter of the cylindrical
+     car. There is a light wooden foot-board at either side, which also
+     helps to steady the machine when on the water and two small floats
+     at the end of the outriggers for the same purpose. There are also
+     three small wheels fitted, I presume for facilitating ascent from
+     dry ground.
+
+          "KARL STRAUS."
+
+The spy laughed a low, hollow laugh of defiance. What could he say? He
+had been outwitted just at the supreme moment of his success.
+
+"I admit, my friend, that you were extremely clever in putting forward
+Goldstein as the spy, and thus misleading my friend Jacox," Ray said in
+triumph, as he laid his hand upon the rough sketch of the Kershaw
+invention. "But for a very timely discovery, too, my friend would have
+met with the terrible fate which you and your accomplice planned with
+such devilish ingenuity. So if you don't wish to be arrested for
+conspiracy and murder you'd better make yourself scarce out of England
+quickly."
+
+"What do you mean, Ray?" I cried.
+
+"I'll show you," he answered as he gathered up the whole of the spy's
+papers while the German stood helpless. "Come along to your room with
+me."
+
+When inside he pointed to the old red-plush-covered chairs, and said:
+
+"Do you recollect my arrival after Straus's visit? I examined those
+chairs, and saw upon one the traces of chalk. The shoes of the occupant
+of room No. 11 had been chalked by the boots with his number, and upon
+the chair I saw traces, and knew that he had stood there to gain the top
+of your wardrobe."
+
+"For what reason?" I asked.
+
+For answer he turned up the gas and pointed to the cornice of the
+ceiling behind the wardrobe, where I saw that upon the leaden gas-pipe
+running along it was a long, narrow strip of what looked like paper
+which had been pasted.
+
+"Those men meant to kill you, Jack," he said. "On the morning I came
+here Straus had entered, climbed up to the gas-pipe, and with his
+clasp-knife cut a hole in it. Over that he, as you see, placed several
+thicknesses of medical plaster, attaching to it a piece of strong black
+cord, and carrying it outside the door. After that they plugged up your
+window and chimney, so that when you were asleep all they had to do was
+to just pull the string, which would strip off the plaster, allow the
+gas to escape into the room, and thus asphyxiate you. The plaster could
+be dragged beneath the door into the passage outside."
+
+"Great heavens!" I gasped, staring astounded at the white medical
+plaster on the gas-pipe along the cornice. "What a narrow escape I've
+had!"
+
+"Yes. While I was in London, Vera went up with her maid and stayed at
+the 'Star' at Kingussie, where she overheard the two men in
+conversation, and learnt the clever trick they were playing with
+Goldstein as the spy. She suspected that they intended to rid themselves
+of your unwelcome surveillance, and returned at once to me in London.
+Fortunately I discovered the dastardly plot, and that morning I cut the
+cord."
+
+"That fellow Straus is a much more desperate character than he looks."
+
+"Yes. But we'll just go back and you can tell him your opinion of him,"
+he laughed.
+
+We went together along to No. 11. The spy had already left, but
+ascending the stairs was Vera, in a long travelling-coat, her maid
+following with the wraps.
+
+She had just arrived from London, and after she had greeted us in her
+usual merry manner, told us that she was the bearer of very important
+news--news of the activity of spies in another quarter.
+
+We quickly told her how we had managed to outwit Straus, while I, on my
+part, thanked her warmly for having made that startling discovery which
+had, no doubt, saved me from falling a victim to that dastardly plot
+formed by one of the most ingenious of the many unscrupulous spies of
+the Kaiser.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE SECRET OF THE NEW ARMOUR-PLATES
+
+
+"I wonder if that fellow is aware of his danger?" remarked Ray, speaking
+to himself behind the paper he was reading before the fire in New Stone
+Buildings, one afternoon not long after we had returned from Scotland.
+
+"What fellow?" I inquired.
+
+"Why Professor Emden," he replied. "It seems that in a lecture at the
+London Institution last night, he announced that he had discovered a new
+process for the hardening of steel, which gives it no less than eight
+times the resisting power of the present English steel!"
+
+"Well!" I asked, looking across at my friend, and then glancing at Vera,
+who had called and was seated with us, her hat still on, and a charming
+figure to boot.
+
+"My dear fellow, can't you see that such an invention would be of the
+utmost value to our friends the Germans? They'd use it for the
+armour-plates of their new navy."
+
+"H'm! And you suspect they'll try and obtain Emden's secret--eh?"
+
+"I don't suspect, I'm confident of it," he declared, throwing aside the
+paper. "I suppose he's a bespectacled, unsuspicious man, like all
+scientists. _The Times_ is enthusiastic over the discovery--declaring
+that the Admiralty should secure it at once, if they have not already
+done so. It's being made experimentally at Sheffield, it seems, and has
+been tried in secret somewhere out near the Orkneys. Admiralty experts
+are astounded at the results."
+
+"Who is Emden?" I asked. "Just look at 'Who's Who?' It's by your elbow,
+old chap."
+
+Ray proceeded to search the fat red book of reference, and presently
+exclaimed:
+
+"It seems he's a Fellow of the Royal Society, a very distinguished
+chemist, and a leading authority on electro-metallurgy and ferro-alloys.
+He has improved upon the Kjellin furnace as installed at Krupp's at
+Essen, and at Vickers, Sons, and Maxim's at Sheffield, and by this
+improvement, it seems, has been able to invent the new steel-making
+process."
+
+"If he has improved upon any of the machinery or processes at the Krupp
+works," remarked Vera, glancing across at me, "then, no doubt, our
+friends across the North Sea will endeavour to filch the secret from
+him."
+
+"Yes," I agreed, "he certainly ought to be warned of his danger. As soon
+as Hartmann sees the announcement in the papers, there's certain to be a
+desperate attempt to get hold of the secret."
+
+"That mustn't be allowed, my dear fellow," Ray exclaimed. "With such
+steel as this the British Navy will have a splendid and distinct
+advantage over that of our friend 'William the Sudden.' This is a great
+and important secret which England must keep at all hazards."
+
+"Certainly," declared Vera. "Really, Ray, you ought to see Professor
+Emden and have a chat with him."
+
+"His address is given at Richmond," was my friend's reply, "but I have
+to go up to Selkirk early to-morrow, and shall be away nearly a week."
+
+"Then shall I run down and see him this evening?" I suggested. And
+agreeing with my idea, he wrote the address for me. Then we made a cup
+of tea for Vera, who always delighted in the rough-and-ready bachelordom
+of a barrister's chambers. Afterwards Ray took his fiancee home to her
+aunt's, while I went back to my rather dismal lodgings in Guilford
+Street, Russell Square.
+
+At nine o'clock that evening I rang at a pleasant, good-sized, modern
+house, which overlooked the beautiful Terrace Gardens and the river
+lying deep below at Richmond--a house which, perhaps, commanded the
+finest view within twenty miles of London.
+
+The door was upon that main road which leads from the town up to the
+"Star and Garter," but the frontage faced the Gardens. The dark-eyed
+maid who opened the door informed me that the Professor was at home,
+and took my card upstairs. Then, a few moments later, I was ushered up
+to a cosy den, the study of a studious man, where I found the
+distinguished scientist standing in expectation, with his back to the
+fire.
+
+He was a strange-looking man of sixty-five, his hair unusually white and
+slightly bald on top. Tall beyond the average, he wore a moustache and
+slight pointed beard, while his countenance seemed very broad in the
+forehead tapering to a point. His face was, indeed, almost grotesque.
+
+I commenced by apologising for my intrusion, but explained that I had
+called on a purely confidential matter. When the door was closed, and we
+were alone, I said:
+
+"My mission, Professor, is a somewhat curious one"; and I went on to
+explain our fears that German secret agents might obtain knowledge of
+the new process to which he had referred at the London Institution on
+the previous night.
+
+For a moment he stroked his pointed white beard thoughtfully. I detected
+that he was as eccentric as he was curious-looking. Then, with a light
+laugh, he replied:
+
+"Really Mr.--Mr. Jacox, I can't see your motive, or that of your
+friends, in thus interfering in my private affairs!"
+
+"But is not this splendid discovery of yours of national importance?" I
+protested. "Will it not give us an enormous advantage over our enemies?
+Therefore, is it not more than probable that you have already attracted
+the attention of these spies of Germany?"
+
+"My dear sir," he laughed, "I tell you quite frankly that I don't
+believe in all these stories about German spies. What is there in
+England for Germany to discover? Nothing; they know everything. No, Mr.
+Jacox, I'm an Englishman, a patriot, and I still believe in England's
+power. We have nothing whatever to fear from Germany."
+
+"Your theory is hardly borne out by facts, Professor," I said,
+proceeding to tell him of our discovery at Rosyth, and how we had
+outwitted the spies regarding the new submarine, and also the airship at
+Lochindorb.
+
+But the strange-looking old scientist, distinguished as he was, only
+laughed my fears to scorn.
+
+"I'd like to see any German trying to learn my secret," he said
+defiantly.
+
+"Then I would urge you to take every precaution. These agents employed
+by the German Secret Police on behalf of the General Staff are bold and
+unscrupulous."
+
+"And do you allege that there are actually German spies in England?"
+asked the strange man.
+
+"Most certainly. We have in England and Scotland more than five thousand
+fixed agents, men of almost every nationality except German, and in
+every walk of life, from humble labourers to men and women in good
+positions, all of whom are collecting information at the order of the
+German travelling agents, who visit them from time to time, collect
+their reports, and pay them their salaries. French, Swiss, and Italians
+are mostly employed," I said. "At the present time my friend Raymond has
+under observation a German band, seven young fellows all army officers,
+who are playing in the streets of Leeds, and at the same time making a
+secret map of the water-mains of that city, in order that when 'the Day'
+of invasion comes, the enemy will be able to suddenly deprive a densely
+populated area of water."
+
+"But have you any actual proof of this?" he inquired.
+
+As he spoke the door opened, and there entered a pretty dark-haired girl
+of twenty-two, wearing a light skirt and a pale pink evening blouse.
+
+"Oh, dad!" she exclaimed, halting suddenly, "I'm sorry I didn't know you
+had a visitor."
+
+"I shan't be a moment, Nella dear," the curious-looking old man said,
+and after a quick, inquisitive glance at me the girl withdrew.
+
+"Well," exclaimed the Professor, with a smile, "I'm really very obliged
+to you for troubling to come here to warn me, but I think, my dear sir,
+that warnings are quite unnecessary. I haven't the slightest fear that
+any attempt will ever be made to secure my secret"; and he rose
+impatiently.
+
+"Very well," I replied, shrugging my shoulders. "I have warned you,
+Professor Emden. The Government will not admit the presence of spies
+amongst us, and for that reason we are now collecting indisputable
+evidence."
+
+"Ah!" he laughed, "and you want me to help you, eh? Well, sir, I don't
+believe in a word of this scare--so I must decline that honour."
+
+"And you will take no unusual precaution to keep the truth out of the
+hands of our enemies, eh?"
+
+"I leave it to Joynson's of Sheffield," he said. "They've paid me a
+large sum down and a royalty for the secret of my process, and it is
+scarcely likely that they'll allow it to fall into other hands, is it?"
+
+"They will not, but you, a private individual, may," I said.
+
+"I think not," he laughed, and a moment later I descended the stairs,
+passing his pretty daughter Nella on the way out.
+
+That night I called on Ray at Bruton Street, but he was out at the
+theatre with Vera. At half-past eleven they called as they went back to
+the girl's aunt's, and as they sat before the fire, Vera with her
+opera-cloak thrown back revealing a pretty pale blue corsage a trifle
+_decollete_, I reported the non-success of my mission.
+
+"He's a pig-headed old ass!" I declared. "One of millions of others in
+England. They close their eyes to the dangers of this horde of spies
+among us, and will only open them when the Germans come marching up the
+street and billet themselves in their houses. But he's a strange man,
+Ray, a very strange man," I added.
+
+"You're right, Mr. Jacox," the girl declared. "Instead of teaching boys
+how to scout and instructing young men in the use of popguns, we should
+strike first at the root of all things. Cut off the source of this
+secret information which daily goes across the North Sea. Such hidebound
+patriots as the Professor are a peril to the nation!"
+
+"If he refuses to help himself, Jacox, we must protect him ourselves,"
+Ray declared. "I leave it to you and Vera to keep an open eye until I
+return from Selkirk next Monday. I'm bound to go down and see my sister.
+She seems very ill indeed."
+
+And so a very important and delicate affair was thus placed in my hands.
+
+Vera Vallance announced herself ready and eager to assist me, and that
+night I walked back to Bloomsbury much puzzled how next to act.
+
+That the Germans would attempt to secure the secret of the new steel was
+absolutely certain. But to us, success meant the keeping of it to
+Britain, and the armouring of our new _Dreadnoughts_ with a resisting
+power eight times that of our enemies.
+
+Next day I journeyed down to Sheffield and called upon the manager of
+Messrs. Joynson and Mackinder, the great steel-makers, who, as you know,
+hold the contracts for making the armour-plates of our improved
+_Dreadnoughts_. He told me how the firm had just constructed six of the
+new Emden electrical furnaces, and had also taken over the wonderful new
+process which the Professor had invented.
+
+He then courteously took me across to that portion of the great grimy
+works, with its wonderful steel melting and refining furnaces, to where
+the Emden process was about to be carried out.
+
+"I suppose you have no fear of the new method being learnt by any of
+your rivals--by any German firm, for instance?" I asked.
+
+"Not in the least," laughed the manager, a bluff, grey-bearded man,
+speaking in his broad Hallamshire dialect; "we take good care of that.
+Each workman only does a part, the whole of the process being only known
+to myself. It wouldn't do for us to give Professor Emden forty thousand
+pounds for the secret and then allow it to fall into foreign hands. The
+Germans would, of course, give anything for it," he added. "Emden is a
+patriotic Englishman even though he is very eccentric, and if he liked
+he could have got almost anything he cared to ask from Krupp's."
+
+"That's just the point," I said; and then, as we walked back to the
+office, I explained my fears. But, like the Professor himself, he only
+laughed them to scorn. So that evening I again returned to London filled
+with anxiety and disappointment.
+
+Just before eleven that same night I strolled past the house of Hermann
+Hartmann, in Pont Street, vaguely wondering what I could do to prevent a
+theft which must, I knew, shortly be committed. In all probability the
+ingenious Hartmann already had a secret agent in Joynson's works, but
+even if he had, he would certainly not be able to discover the secret.
+I had quite satisfied myself upon that point.
+
+No, the peril lay in the Professor himself--the strange old pig-headed
+patriot.
+
+Scarcely had I passed Hartmann's house, the exterior of which I knew so
+well, when I heard the front door close and saw a man coming down the
+steps. As he walked in my direction I halted beneath a lamp to light a
+cigarette, and by so doing I obtained a glimpse of his face as he
+passed.
+
+He was a young, good-looking, smartly dressed man, with dark eyes and
+hair and a rather sallow complexion. I put him down to be an Italian,
+but I had never set eyes upon him before. No doubt he was one of
+Hartmann's travelling agents--a man who went up and down England
+visiting the fixed spies of Germany, or "letter-boxes," as they are
+known in the bureau of secret police in Berlin--collecting their reports
+and making payments for information or services rendered.
+
+Knowing so much of the ways of the German secret agent, curiosity
+prompted me to follow him. He strolled as far as the corner of Sloane
+Street and Knightsbridge, and then boarded a motor-bus as far as
+Piccadilly Circus. Thence he walked to the German beer-hall, the
+Gambrinus, just off Coventry Street, where he joined a tall, thin,
+grey-moustached man, an Italian like himself, who was seated awaiting
+him. I idled across to a table close by, called for beer, and sat
+smoking a cigarette and straining my ears to catch their conversation,
+which was in Italian, a language I know fairly well.
+
+I discovered the following facts. The thin-faced man was called
+Giovanni, while the elegant young fellow was Uberto, and they were
+discussing the arrival of somebody. Giovanni seemed dubious about
+something, while the man who had left Hartmann's seemed enthusiastic.
+
+After a quarter of an hour Uberto glanced at his watch, made some remark
+to his companion, and they rose and went out together, driving in a
+taxicab westward, I following in another, which I fortunately found
+just in time. Through Kensington we went, over Hammersmith Bridge,
+through Barnes, and across the Common.
+
+Then I realised we were going to Richmond.
+
+The chase grew exciting. Before me I could see the red back-lamp of the
+taxi as it sped forward, and half an hour later we were crossing
+Richmond Bridge, where, a short distance along the road to Twickenham,
+they suddenly swung round to the left into St. Margaret's and pulled up
+before a good-sized detached house which stood back in its own grounds,
+in which were several big trees. The thoroughfare was, I noted, called
+Brunswick road.
+
+My taxi-driver proved himself no fool. I had told him to follow;
+therefore, unable to pull up sharply, he swept past, and did not stop
+until we were round the bend in the quiet suburban road and thus out of
+sight.
+
+I ordered him to remain, and, alighting, strolled back past the house in
+question. About its dark exterior was a distinct air of mystery. The
+pair had entered, and the taxi was awaiting them. The house was an
+old-fashioned one, solid and substantial in character, and apparently
+the residence of some prosperous City man; yet I wondered why its owner
+should have visitors at that hour. Surely great urgency had compelled
+the pair to come all the way from Piccadilly Circus to consult him.
+
+But a surprise was in store for me.
+
+After lurking about in the shadows with that expert evasiveness which I
+had now acquired, I presently saw the pair make their exit, but, to my
+surprise, they were accompanied out to the kerb by a woman--apparently
+a lady in black evening dress, the bodice of which was cut low.
+
+About her shoulders she had wrapped a pale blue shawl, and as the young
+Uberto entered the taxi I heard her exclaim in Italian:
+
+"_Addio!_ To-morrow at one then, at Prince's."
+
+As she moved I saw her countenance by the light of the cab lamp, a
+handsome, well-cut face, typical of a woman of Piedmont, for she had
+spoken in a dialect unmistakably that of Turin. The Turinese are more
+French than Italian, and are as different in both temperament and
+language from those of the south as the people of the Ardennes differ
+from those of Paris.
+
+Both men shook hands with her warmly, bade her "_Addio_," and entering
+the taxi, drove away back to London, while I stood still watching.
+
+And as I gazed I saw as she walked back to the house, in the doorway,
+silhouetted against the light, an old man coming forward towards her.
+
+"_Dio!_" she cried, half in alarm at seeing him. Then in Italian, she
+added, "Why do you risk being seen, you imbecile? Why didn't you keep
+where you were?"
+
+Then the door closed, and seeking my taxi I also returned to Bloomsbury.
+
+But that incident had aroused a good deal of doubt and suspicion within
+me. Who was that handsome young Italian woman whom the spies had visited
+at that late hour? And, above all, who was that man with whom she had
+been annoyed for showing himself?
+
+Next day proved conclusively that some crooked business was in progress,
+for while I sat alone eating my lunch in a corner of the big room at
+Prince's Restaurant in Piccadilly, I was amazed to see the well-dressed
+young Italian--the man whom I had seen emerge from Hartmann's in Pont
+Street, enter with no other person than Nella Emden.
+
+Surely the spies had already made considerable progress! My indignation
+was such that I could have walked over to the table where the pair had
+seated themselves, and denounced that elegant Italian as a spy of the
+Kaiser. But I foresaw that by patience I might yet discover more that
+would be of interest.
+
+From my corner I watched the pair unnoticed. The girl was certainly
+extremely good-looking, young, and by her manner I could see that she
+was shy at being with a male companion alone in a public restaurant. He,
+on his part, was exercising over her all the fascination of his nation.
+Once or twice I saw him smile covertly across behind me, and when I had
+an opportunity to glance round I realised, to my surprise, that the man
+whom he had called Giovanni was lunching with the handsome Italian woman
+from St. Margaret's.
+
+It seemed that they were watching the young pair. For what reason, I
+wondered?
+
+I remained on the alert, but that day discovered nothing more, though I
+followed the young pair back to Richmond and saw the Italian part
+affectionately from Nella Emden near her father's house.
+
+For some days I prosecuted an unceasing vigil, for already I had
+recognised the seriousness of a secret falling into the enemies' hands
+which would undoubtedly give them the advantage in the coming struggle.
+
+One afternoon Vera Vallance met me at Waterloo Station, and together we
+went down to Richmond, where I showed her the Professor's house, and
+together we waited for the coming of Nella. Vera, enthusiastic as ever,
+and ingenious at keeping observation, followed the girl, while in fear
+of being recognised I went back to London.
+
+Next day she called at New Stone Buildings, smart, neat, and altogether
+sweet and winning.
+
+"Well, Mr. Jacox," she said, seating herself by my fire, "I had a
+curious experience after I left you yesterday afternoon. Nella went
+first by tram to Twickenham, and near the Town Hall there met the young
+Italian, who had a companion--Hartmann himself!"
+
+"Hartmann!" I gasped. "Then our suspicions are surely well grounded!"
+
+"Of course they are," she said. "I at once drew back, fearing that our
+clever friend of Pont Street should notice me. Fortunately he did not,
+therefore I was able to watch and ascertain where they went--to the
+house in St. Margaret's where you saw that Italian woman. They
+apparently stayed there to tea, for about half-past five the young man
+came out and walked in the direction of Richmond Bridge. I, however,
+remained behind, and though I waited for hours, until long after dark,
+neither Hartmann nor the girl made their reappearance. But at nine a
+very remarkable incident occurred."
+
+"What?" I inquired eagerly.
+
+"Three men came along the road in the darkness carrying something. When
+they drew near me and turned into the gate of the house, I stood aghast.
+Upon their shoulders was a coffin!"
+
+"A coffin!" I echoed, staring at her.
+
+"Yes. And though I waited until midnight, Hartmann did not come forth,
+neither did the Professor's daughter. What do you make of it?" she
+asked, looking into my eyes.
+
+I admitted that the affair was a mystery, and suggested that we might
+ascertain whether Nella had returned to her home.
+
+"Yes," she said. "Go down to Richmond and see."
+
+This I did without delay. I watched the house during that afternoon, and
+just at dusk saw the dark-eyed maid-servant emerge to post a letter. I
+followed her up the hill to the pillar-box, and by the application of a
+couple of half-crowns obtained some information.
+
+"No, sir," replied the girl, "Miss Nella's not come home. The master's
+in a great state about her. She went out for a walk yesterday afternoon,
+and though he's been to the police, nobody seems to have seen her."
+
+"She was her father's assistant in his experiments, I've heard?"
+
+"Yes, sir, she was. Ever since poor Mrs. Emden died, two years ago,
+she's been her father's right hand."
+
+"Had she a lover?"
+
+"Well"--and the girl hesitated. "We in the kitchen have our suspicions.
+Davis the cook saw her last Sunday walking over in Teddington with a
+dark young man, who looked like a foreigner. But," she added, "why do
+you want to know all this?"
+
+"I'm trying to trace the young lady," I said, in the hope that she would
+believe me to be a detective. "Tell me," I urged; "does the Professor
+make any experiments at home?"
+
+"Oh yes, sir; his laboratory is up on the top floor--fitted up with an
+electric furnace and lots of funny appliances."
+
+"Has he any friends who are foreigners?" I inquired.
+
+"Not that I know of," was the girl's reply. And I thought she regarded
+me rather strangely. Why, I could not conceive. Her name was Annie
+Whybrow, she told me, and then, unable to detain her longer I allowed
+her to re-enter the house.
+
+Vera's story of the coffin being taken into that mysterious house in
+Brunswick Road, combined with the non-return of the pretty Nella, was
+certainly mystifying.
+
+I returned to London, saw Vera, and we resolved to wire to Ray at
+Selkirk asking him to return to London as soon as possible.
+
+That night, and the next, I haunted the usual resorts of foreigners in
+the West End, the underground Cafe de l'Europe, the Spaten beer-hall in
+Leicester Square, the Cafe Monico, the Gambrinus, and other places, in
+order to discover the young Italian. On the second evening I was
+successful, for I saw him in the Monico, and on inquiring of a man I
+knew, I learnt that his name was Uberto Mellini, that until recently he
+had lived in Paris, and that at the present moment he was staying in a
+house in Dean Street, Soho.
+
+At midnight, when I returned to Bloomsbury, I found Vera and Ray
+anxiously awaiting me. The latter had only arrived in London from
+Scotland an hour before, and his fiancee had evidently told him of the
+curious events which had transpired and the sinister mystery surrounding
+the young girl's disappearance.
+
+"I can see no reason for it at all," he declared, when we commenced to
+discuss the situation. "It's quite plain that our friends the enemy are
+actively at work, but surely the fact that Nella is missing would put
+the Professor upon his guard. This young Italian Mellini is evidently a
+new importation, and has pretended to form an attachment for Nella for
+some ulterior object."
+
+"Certainly," I said. "But what do you make of the incident of the
+coffin?"
+
+"There has been no funeral from that house in Brunswick Road?"
+
+"Not as far as I can gather."
+
+"The Registrar of Deaths would be able to inform us," he said
+reflectively. "We must inquire."
+
+Next day all three of us returned to Richmond, and while Ray and Vera
+crossed the bridge to the opposite side of the Thames to find the
+Registrar's office, I lingered and watched in the vicinity of the
+Professor's house.
+
+I waited for many weary hours in the wet--for rain fell the whole
+day--but Ray did not return, which caused me considerable misgivings. I
+was compelled to resort to all sorts of subterfuges in order not to
+attract attention; but as my friend had directed me to remain and watch,
+I waited patiently at my post.
+
+Just after the street lamps were lit, a telegraph messenger arrived, and
+ten minutes after he had gone the girl Annie came out with hat and
+jacket on, and turning to the left hurried in my direction.
+
+As she passed I spoke to her, and, recognising me, she explained that
+she was going for a cab to convey the Professor to the station.
+
+"Miss Nella is at Liverpool," she added excitedly. "The master has had a
+wire from her, asking him to go there at once. She's very ill, it seems.
+The poor master is greatly excited. He's just telephoned to the police
+saying that Miss Nella has been found."
+
+And then the girl hurried away, down the hill to the foot of the bridge,
+where there was a cab-stand.
+
+Nella at Liverpool! What could possibly have occurred?
+
+Later on I watched the Professor, carrying only a handbag, enter a cab
+and drive rapidly to the station, while Annie returned to the house and
+closed the front door.
+
+It was then about six o'clock, and I had been watching there for nearly
+eight hours. Therefore I decided to go in search of Ray, who was over at
+St. Margaret's, and who, I thought, would most probably be watching the
+house to which the coffin had been taken.
+
+In this I was not mistaken, for I found him idling at the end of that
+quiet, dark suburban road. He was on the alert the instant he recognised
+me, and in a few rapid sentences I told him what had occurred.
+
+It puzzled him greatly.
+
+"I've ascertained that Hartmann is back at Pont Street," he said. "But
+why the coffin should be in yonder house is still a mystery. The
+Registrar has had no intimation of any death in Brunswick Road for the
+past eight months. I've, however, found the local undertaker, who says
+that a plain coffin was ordered for a gentleman and that they duly
+delivered it. They did not see the body, being told that the funeral was
+to be undertaken by a big West End firm, and that the body was to be
+conveyed for burial somewhere near Leicester."
+
+"Have you found out anything further regarding the occupants of the
+house?"
+
+"No, only that it was taken furnished by a gentleman a month ago--a
+foreigner whose description exactly tallies with that of Hartmann--for
+an old man and his daughter--both Italians. They've kept themselves very
+much to themselves, therefore the neighbours know practically nothing
+about their business."
+
+"Well, Nella Emden was enticed in there. I'm certain of that," I said.
+"Yet the fact that she's in Liverpool rather negatives my first theory
+of foul play," I added.
+
+"Yes. But we must still remain watchful. Vera has gone to make some
+inquiries for me over at Mortlake. I expect her back in half an hour.
+You return and keep a watchful eye upon the Professor's place. One never
+knows what crooked business may be on hand!"
+
+So back I went, and through the whole evening waited there, chilled to
+the bone, in vain expectancy.
+
+I had noticed from Ray's manner that he had become very suspicious. He
+somehow scented the presence of spies at times when, I confess, I felt
+calm and reassured. And his natural intuition was seldom, if ever,
+wrong.
+
+The church bells across the river had chimed midnight, the Professor's
+servants had put out the lights and retired, and the thoroughfare was
+now deserted. Hungry and tired out, I was contemplating relaxing my
+vigil when Ray suddenly turned a corner and joined me, saying
+breathlessly:
+
+"Uberto and his friend are coming up the hill with another man. Vera and
+I have seen them call at Brunswick Road, and they are now on their way
+here. We must keep a strict watch. Something is up!"
+
+We separated, and concealing ourselves in the basements of the houses
+opposite, we witnessed that which caused our heart-beats to quicken.
+
+The three men came along in silence in the night, for they evidently
+wore rubber heels on their boots. The constable was then some distance
+down the hill, therefore they passed him.
+
+As they approached the house, the man whom I had heard addressed as
+Giovanni hurried forward, and slipping suddenly into the narrow front
+garden, approached the kitchen window. Inserting something between the
+sashes, he pushed back the latch, carefully drew back the blind, and was
+within the house almost before the two others had entered the garden.
+
+Then, without a sound, the pair followed him. Indeed, the three spies
+had entered the premises so quickly that we could scarcely believe our
+own eyes.
+
+"The police!" whispered Ray. "We must get the constable. Slip down the
+hill and tell him. We'll make a fine capture this time!"
+
+Down the hill I sped, and five minutes later was back with the
+constable, having briefly explained to him our suspicions.
+
+"I don't know anything about German spies, sir, but whoever's inside is
+liable for burglariously entering, and we'll have 'em," whispered the
+officer.
+
+Silently we entered just as the spies had done, passing through the
+kitchen, and up the stairs. The laboratory was at the top of the house I
+knew, and was always kept locked. Therefore we crept forward, without
+the slightest sound.
+
+Once or twice, we listened. The spies were absolutely silent--well
+trained to that sort of nocturnal investigation, no doubt.
+
+As Ray and I got to the door of the big room, which, by the light of the
+flash-lamp used by the intruders, we could see was fitted with all sorts
+of appliances, we witnessed through the crack that they had secured a
+number of specimens of metals and were all three at that moment engaged
+in drilling a hole in the big dark green safe standing in the corner.
+
+"Now," whispered the constable, "let's rush them." And with a loud shout
+we dashed in upon them, revolvers in hand.
+
+In an instant we were in total darkness. Deep curses in Italian sounded,
+and I heard a desperate struggle taking place. Somebody grabbed at me,
+but it was our friend the constable. Then, by the red flash of a
+revolver which somebody fired, I distinguished the flying form of one of
+the intruders through the doorway.
+
+Next second, in the darkness, I felt a man brush past me, and instantly
+I closed with him. We fell together, and as I gripped the fellow's
+throat he ejaculated a loud imprecation in Italian. Then we rolled over
+in desperate embrace, but as I forced him beneath me, shouting to the
+constable, whose lantern had been knocked from his hand and broken, I
+suddenly felt a crushing blow upon the skull. I saw a thousand stars,
+and then the blackness of unconsciousness fell upon me.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When I again grew cognisant of what was going on about me, I found
+myself lying in bed in the Richmond Cottage Hospital with a
+pleasant-faced nurse bending eagerly over me. It was still night, for
+the gas was burning.
+
+She asked how I felt, remarking that I had received a nasty crack, and
+had lain there unconscious for three whole days.
+
+Presently I felt the presence of some one else near me, and gradually
+made them out to be Ray and Vera.
+
+At first they would tell me nothing, but after the doctor had seen me,
+Ray in his cheery way said:
+
+"Yours was a bit of hard luck, old fellow. The blackguards all got
+away--all three of them. But we were just in time, for in that safe were
+the memoranda of the Professor's experiments which, together with the
+specimens of the new metal that could have been analysed, would have
+undoubtedly placed the secret of the new steel in the hands of the
+German Admiralty!"
+
+"Then we really prevented them?" I said eagerly, feeling the bandages
+about my head.
+
+"Just in the very nick of time, old man," he replied. "And we did more.
+We managed to save Miss Nella."
+
+"How?" I inquired eagerly.
+
+"She's here. She'll tell you herself." And next moment I saw her
+standing before me with the Professor.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Jacox," the girl said. "I have come to thank you. I was first
+approached by the young Italian while crossing Richmond Bridge one day,
+and later on he introduced me to his sister, who lived in St.
+Margaret's. On the afternoon when I was induced to go there I was given
+something in my tea which at once rendered me unconscious. When I
+recovered, I found myself lying in a coffin secured to rings inside,
+while a villainous old man, a bearded German, and an Italian woman were
+about to screw down the lid. I screamed, but they took no notice, until
+in fear I fainted. Ah! shall I ever forget those horrible moments? I was
+alone, helpless in the hands of those fiends, all because I had allowed
+myself to become attracted by a stranger! They held me there for days,
+trying to learn from me the secret of my father's discovery. But I would
+tell them nothing. Ah! how I suffered, believing every hour that they
+would close down that lid. Then the brutes, finding me defiant, and
+believing that no one was aware of their existence, hit upon another
+device--sending a false telegram to my father from Liverpool, and thus
+taking him away from the house in order to be afforded a clear field for
+their investigations. Of this I, of course, knew nothing until your
+friends entered the house forcibly with the police and found me still
+imprisoned--ah! yes! ready for death and burial."
+
+And then the strange old Professor, stepping forward, seized my hand
+warmly in his, saying:
+
+"To you and your two good friends, Mr. Jacox, the country owes a great
+and deep debt of gratitude. I was foolish in disregarding your timely
+warning, for my dear daughter very nearly lost her life, because the
+blackguards knew she had assisted me in my experiments and had made the
+notes at my dictation, while Britain very nearly lost the secret upon
+which, in the near future, will depend her supremacy at sea."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE SECRET OF THE IMPROVED "DREADNOUGHT"
+
+
+The road was crooked and narrow, and the car was a nondescript "ninety,"
+full of knocks and noise.
+
+By appointment I had, for certain reasons that will afterwards be
+apparent, met, in the American Bar of the "Savoy," two hours before, the
+Honourable Robert Brackenbury, the dark, clean-shaven young man now
+driving, and he had engaged me, at a salary of two pounds ten per week,
+to be his chauffeur. I had driven him out through the London traffic,
+until, satisfied with my skill, he had taken the wheel himself, and we
+were now out upon the Great North Road, where he had a pressing
+engagement to meet a friend.
+
+Beyond Hatfield we passed through Ayot Green, and were on our way to
+Welwyn, when suddenly he swung the powerful car into a narrow stony
+by-road, where, after several sharp turns, he pulled up before a
+pleasant, old-fashioned, red-roofed cottage standing back in a large
+garden and covered with ivy and climbing roses.
+
+A big, stout, clean-shaven, merry-faced man, with slightly curly fair
+hair, standing in the rustic porch, waved his hand in welcome as we both
+descended.
+
+I was invited into the clean cottage parlour, and there introduced to
+the stout man, who, I found, was named Charles Shand, and by whose
+speech I instantly recognised an American.
+
+"Good!" he exclaimed. "So this is the new chauffeur, eh?" he asked,
+looking me up and down with his large blue eyes. "Say, young man," he
+added, "you've got a good berth if you can drive well--and what's more
+important, keep a still tongue."
+
+I glanced from one to the other in surprise. What did he mean?
+
+Both saw that I was puzzled, whereupon he hastened to allay my surprise
+by explaining.
+
+"My friend and I run a car each. He has a six-cylinder 'sixty' here, and
+we want you to look after both. No cleaning. You are engineer, and will
+drive occasionally. Come and see the other car." And taking me to the
+rear of the premises, they showed me, standing in a newly built shed,
+one of the latest pattern six-cylinder "Napiers" fitted with every
+modern improvement. It was painted cream, and upon the panels an
+imposing crest. A big searchlight was set over the splash-board. It was
+fitted with the latest lubrication, and seemed almost new. To me, motor
+enthusiast as I am, it was a delight to have such a splendid car under
+my control, and my heart leapt within me.
+
+"My friend, Mr. Brackenbury, will be liberal in the matter of wages,"
+remarked Shand, "provided that you simply do as you are bid and ask no
+questions. Blind obedience is all that we require. Our private business
+does not concern you in the least--you understand that?"
+
+"Perfectly," I said.
+
+"Then if you make a promise of faithful and silent service, we shall pay
+you three pounds ten a week instead of the two ten which we arranged
+this morning," said Brackenbury.
+
+I thanked them both, and returning to the house Shand produced some
+whisky and a syphon, gave me a drink and a cigar, and told me that if I
+wished to stroll about for an hour I was at liberty to do so.
+
+The afternoon was a warm one in July, therefore I passed out into a
+field, and beneath the shade of a tree threw myself down to smoke and
+reflect. For nearly four months, though Ray and I had been ever
+watchful, we had discovered but little. We had had our suspicions
+aroused, however, and I had resolved to follow them up. Both men seemed
+good fellows enough, yet the glances they had exchanged were meaning,
+and thereby increased my suspicions.
+
+When, an hour later, I re-entered the house and knocked at the door of
+the room, I found the pair with a map spread out on the table. They had
+evidently been in earnest consultation.
+
+"Fortunately for you you are not married, Nye," exclaimed the Honourable
+Robert, whom I strongly suspected to be of German birth, though he spoke
+English perfectly and had appeared to have many friends among the
+habitues of the "Savoy." Nye was the name I had given. "You'll have two
+places of residence--here with Shand, and with me at my little place
+over at Barnes. You know the main roads pretty well, you told me?"
+
+"I did a lot of touring when I was with Mr. Michelreid, the novelist," I
+said. "He used to be always in search of fresh places to write about. We
+always went to the Continent a lot."
+
+"Well," he laughed, "you'll soon have an opportunity of putting your
+knowledge of the road to the test. To be of any real service to us,
+you'll have to be able to find your way, say, from here to Harwich in
+the night without taking one wrong turning."
+
+"I've been touring England for nearly five years, off and on," I said,
+with confidence; "therefore few people know the roads, perhaps, better
+than myself."
+
+"Very well, we shall see," remarked Shand; "only not a word--not even to
+your sweetheart. My friend and I are engaged in some purely private
+affairs--in fact, I think there is no harm in telling you--now that you
+are to be our confidential servant--that we are secret agents of the
+Government, and as such are compelled on occasions to act in a manner
+that any one unacquainted with the truth might consider somewhat
+peculiar. Do you understand?"
+
+"Perfectly," I said.
+
+"And not a word must pass your lips--not to a soul," he urged. "For each
+success we gain in the various missions entrusted to us you will receive
+from the Secret Service fund a handsome honorarium as acknowledgment of
+your faithful services."
+
+Then he walked away, gaily singing the gay chanson of Magda at the
+Ambassadeurs:
+
+    "Sous le ciel pur ou le ciel gris
+    Des que les joyeux gazouillis
+    Des oiselets se font entendre,
+    Une voix amoureuse et tendre
+    Par la fenetre au blanc rideau
+    Lance les couplets d'un rondeau;
+    C'est la voix d'une midinette
+    Qui fait, en chantant, sa toilette.
+    Ah! le joli reveil-matin,
+    Quand il faut partir au turbin!
+    Bientot, de la chambre voisine,
+    Repond une voix masculine.
+    Paris! Paris! Gai paradis!
+    Voila les chansons de Paris!"
+
+Much gratified at securing such a post, I drove the Honourable Robert
+back to London and waited for him in the courtyard of the Hotel Cecil
+while he was inside for a quarter of an hour. Then, getting up beside me
+he directed me to drive to Hammersmith Bridge, where, at a big block of
+red-brick flats overlooking the river, called Lonsdale Mansions, we
+pulled up, and he took me up to his small cosily furnished flat, where
+William, the clean-shaven and highly-respectable valet, awaited him.
+
+The "ninety" was garaged, I found, almost opposite, and when I returned
+to the flat the Honourable Robert was at the telephone in the
+dining-room talking to the man we had left near Welwyn.
+
+The elderly woman who acted as cook showed me my room, gave me my
+dinner, and I sat smoking with William for an hour or so afterwards.
+
+The valet was a very inquisitive person, and I could not fail to notice
+how cleverly he tried to pump me concerning my post. He, however, failed
+to obtain much from me.
+
+"The guv'nor is one of the best fellows alive--a thorough sportsman," he
+informed me. "Respect his confidence, and don't breathe a word to any
+one as to his doings, and you'll find your place worth hundreds a year."
+
+"But why these strict injunctions regarding silence?" I inquired, in the
+hope of learning something.
+
+"Well--because he's compelled to mix himself up with queer affairs and
+queer people sometimes, and in his position as the younger son of a peer
+it wouldn't do if it leaked out. I simply act as he bids, and seek no
+explanation. You'll have to do the same."
+
+Hardly had he ceased speaking when "the guv'nor," in dinner-jacket and
+black tie, entered, and said:
+
+"William, I want you to take a letter for me to Raven at Nottingham by
+the next train. It leaves St. Pancras at 10.45. You'll be there at 2.30
+in the morning. He's at the 'Black Boy.' Get an answer and take the 5.50
+back. You'll be here again soon after nine in the morning."
+
+"Very well, sir," answered the valet, taking the letter from his
+master's hand; and ten minutes later he went downstairs to catch his
+train.
+
+This incident showed that Robert Brackenbury was essentially a man of
+action. His keen, dark aquiline face, bright, sharp eyes, and quick,
+almost electric movements combined to show him to be a man of nerve,
+resource, and rapid decision. The square lower jaw betokened hard
+determination, while at the same time his manner was easy, nonchalant,
+and essentially that of a born gentleman.
+
+William returned next morning, and a few days passed uneventfully. Both
+morning and evening each day, at hours prearranged, he "got on" to
+Shand, but their conversations were very enigmatical. Several times I
+happened to be in the room, but could learn nothing from the talk, which
+seemed, in the main, to refer to the rise and fall of certain mining
+shares.
+
+Each day I drove him out in the "ninety." The car, a four-cylinder, had
+no flexibility, and was a perfect terror in traffic. The noise it caused
+was as though it had no silencer, while the police everywhere looked
+askance as we crept through the Strand, dodged the motor-buses in Oxford
+Street, or put on a move down Kensington Gore.
+
+While Bob Brackenbury--as he was known to his friends of the
+"Savoy"--was out one day, I was in his bedroom with William, when the
+latter opened one of the huge wardrobes there. Inside I saw hanging a
+collection of at least fifty coats of all kinds, some smart and of
+latest style, others old-fashioned and dingy, while more than one was
+greasy, out-at-elbow, and ragged. I made no remark. Never in my life had
+I seen such an extensive collection of clothes belonging to one man.
+Surely those ragged coats were kept there for purposes of disguise! Yet
+would it not be highly necessary for a member of the Secret Service to
+possess certain disguises, I reflected!
+
+William noticed my interest, and shut the doors hurriedly.
+
+I drove Brackenbury hither and thither to various parts of London, for
+he seemed to possess many friends. Once we took two pretty young ladies
+from Hampstead down to the "Mitre" at Hampton Court, and on another
+afternoon we took a young French girl and her mother from the "Carlton"
+down to the "Old Bridge House" at Windsor.
+
+To me it was apparent that Bob Brackenbury was very popular with a
+certain set at the Motor Club, at the Automobile Club, and at other
+resorts.
+
+My duties were not at all arduous, and such a thoroughgoing sportsman
+was my master that he treated me almost as an equal. When out in the
+country he compelled me to have lunch at his table "for company," he
+said. My people, I told him, had been wealthy before the South African
+War, but had been ruined by it, and though I had been at Rugby and had
+done one year at Balliol College, Oxford, I hid the fact now that I was
+compelled to earn my living as a mere chauffeur. He had no idea that I
+was a barrister, with chambers in New Stone Buildings.
+
+One morning after breakfast Mr. Brackenbury called me into the little
+dining-room, wherein stood his capacious roll-top desk against the wall,
+with the telephone upon it, and inviting me to a seat opposite the
+fireplace, said in a voice which betrayed just the faintest accent:
+
+"Nye, I want to speak confidentially to you for a few minutes. You
+recollect that the day before yesterday when down at Windsor I was
+speaking with a police-inspector in uniform, who called at the hotel to
+see me, eh?"
+
+"Yes. He looked round the car and spoke to me. I thought he'd come to
+take our name for exceeding the limit on the Staines road."
+
+"You'd remember him again if you saw him?"
+
+"Certainly," was my prompt reply.
+
+"Well, don't forget him," he urged, "because you may, before long, be
+required to meet him. And if you should chance to mistake the man, a
+very serious _contretemps_ would ensue."
+
+"I'd recognise him again among a thousand!" I declared.
+
+"Good. Now listen attentively to me for a few minutes," he said,
+lighting a fresh cigarette and fixing his dark, penetrating eyes upon
+mine. "I and my friend Shand have a very difficult task. A certain
+Colonel von Rausch, of the German Intelligence Department, is, we have
+discovered, in England on a secret mission. It is suspected that he is
+here controlling a number of spies who had been engaged in staff-rides
+in the eastern counties, and to receive their reports. My object is to
+learn the truth, and it can only be done by great tact and caution. I
+tell you this so that any orders I give you may not surprise you. Obey,
+and do not seek motive. Am I clear?"
+
+"Certainly," I answered, interested in what he told me. It was curious
+that he, undoubtedly a German, was at the same time antagonistic to the
+colonel of the Kaiser's army.
+
+"Well, I'm leaving London in an hour. Await orders from me, and obey
+them promptly," he said, dismissing me.
+
+Through that day and the next I waited. He had taken William with him
+into the country, and left me alone in the flat. Once or twice the
+telephone rang, but to the various inquirers I replied that my master
+was absent.
+
+Inactivity there was tantalising. I was naturally fond of adventure, and
+I had taken on the guise of chauffeur surely for the unmasking of a
+foreign spy.
+
+On the third day, about two in the afternoon, I received a trunk call on
+the 'phone. The post office at Market Harborough called me up, and the
+voice which I heard was that of my master.
+
+"Oh! that's you, Nye!" he said. "Well, I want you to start in the car
+in an hour, and run her up to Peterborough. When in the Market Place,
+inquire the road to Edgcott Hall. It's about six miles out on the
+Leicester road. Inquire for me there as Captain Kinghorne--remember the
+name now. Do you hear distinctly?"
+
+I replied in the affirmative.
+
+"Recollect what I told you before I left. I shall expect you about six.
+Good-bye," he said, and then rang off.
+
+Full of excitement, I got out the car from the garage, filled the petrol
+tank, saw to the carbide, and then set out across the suspension bridge
+at Hammersmith, and went through Kensal Green and Hampstead over to
+Highgate, where I got upon the North Road.
+
+It had been raining, and there was plenty of mud about, but the big,
+powerful car ran well notwithstanding the terrific noise it created.
+Indeed, she was such a terror and possessed so many defects that little
+wonder its maker had not placed his name upon her. As a hill-climber,
+however, she was excellent, and though being compelled constantly to
+change my "speeds," I did an average of thirty miles an hour after
+getting into the open country beyond Codicote.
+
+Through crooked old Hitchin I slowed up, then away again through Henlow
+and Eton Socon up Alconbury Hill and down the broad road with its many
+telegraph lines, I went with my exhaust open, roaring and throbbing,
+through Stilton village into the quiet old cathedral town of
+Peterborough. Inquiry in the Market Place led me across a level crossing
+near the station and down a long hill, then out again into a flat
+agricultural district until I came to the handsome lodge-gates of
+Edgcott Hall.
+
+Up a fine elm avenue I went for nearly a mile, until I saw before me in
+the crimson sunset a long, old Elizabethan mansion with high twisted
+chimneys and many latticed windows. The door was open, and as I pulled
+up I saw within a great high wall with stained windows like a church and
+stands of armour ranged down either side.
+
+A footman in yellow waistcoat answered my ring, and my inquiry for
+Captain Kinghorne brought forth my master, smartly dressed in a brown
+flannel suit and smiling.
+
+"Hulloa, Nye!" he exclaimed. "Got here all right, then. Newton will show
+the way to the garage," and he indicated the footman. "When you've put
+her up, I want to see you in my room."
+
+The footman, mounted beside me, directed me across the park to the
+kennels of the celebrated Edgcott hounds, and behind these I found a
+well-appointed garage, in which were two other cars, a "sixteen" Fiat of
+a type three years ago, and a "forty" Charron with a limousine body, a
+very heavy, ponderous affair.
+
+A quarter of an hour later I found myself with the Honourable Bob in a
+big, old-fashioned bedroom overlooking the park.
+
+"You understood me on the 'phone, Nye?" he asked when I had closed the
+door and we were alone. "Shand is guest here with me under the name of
+Pawson, while, as you know, I'm Captain Kinghorne, D.S.O. This is
+necessary," he laughed. "The name of Bob Brackenbury would, in an
+instant, frighten away our friend the German. The people here, the
+Edgcotts, don't know our real names," he added. "All you have to do is
+to remain here and act as I direct."
+
+A moment later the stout American entered and greeting me, turned to his
+friend, saying:
+
+"I suppose Nye knows that Charles Shand is off the map at present, eh?"
+
+"I've just been explaining," my master replied.
+
+"And you'd better spread a picturesque story among the servants, too,
+Nye," the American went on--"the bravery of Captain Kinghorne at
+Ladysmith, and the wide circle of financial friends possessed by
+Archibald Pawson, of Goldfields, Nevada. The Edgcotts must be filled up
+with us, and that infernal Dutchman mustn't suspect that we have
+anything to do with Whitehall."
+
+At that moment William, the valet, came in.
+
+"Von Rausch met a strange man this afternoon in a little thatched inn
+called the 'Fitzwilliam Arms,' over at Castor. They were nearly half an
+hour together. One of the grooms pulled up there for a drink and saw
+them."
+
+"Suppose he met one of his secret agents," remarked my master, with a
+glance at his friend. "We've got to have our eyes open, and there
+mustn't be any moss on us in this affair. To expose this man and his
+spying crowd will be to teach Germany a lesson which she's long wanted.
+We shall receive the private thanks of the Cabinet for our services,
+which would be to us, patriotic Englishmen as we all are, something to
+be proud of."
+
+"Guess two heads are better than one, as the hatter said when twins
+entered his shop," laughed the broad-faced American.
+
+We both agreed, and a few moments later I left the room.
+
+The Edgcotts seemed to be entertaining quite a large house-party, all of
+them smart people, for that evening after dinner I caught sight of
+pretty women in handsome dresses and flashing jewels. Being a warm
+night, bridge was played in the fine old hall, where the vaulted roof
+echoed back the well-bred laughter and gay chatter of the party, which
+included Mr. Henry Seymour, Civil Lord of the Admiralty, and several
+well-known politicians.
+
+Essentially a sporting crowd, many of them were men and women who hunted
+in winter with the Cottesmore, the Woodland Pytchley and the Edgcott
+packs. William and I peeped in through the crack of one of the doors,
+and he pointed out to me a tall, fair-haired, middle-aged man whose
+soft-pleated shirt-front and the cut of whose dress-coat betrayed him to
+be a foreigner. At that moment he was leaning over the chair of a pretty
+little dark-haired woman in pale blue, who struck me as a foreigner
+also, and who wore twisted twice around her neck a magnificent rope of
+large pearls.
+
+"That's von Rausch," William explained. "And look at the guv'nor!" he
+added. "He seems to be having a good time with the thin woman over
+there. He's talking in French to her."
+
+My eyes wandered in search of Pawson, and I saw that he was seated at
+one of the bridge-tables silently contemplating his hand.
+
+The German spy was evidently a great favourite with the ladies. Perhaps
+his popularity with the fair sex had gained for him entry to that little
+circle of the elegant world. Two young girls approached him, laughing
+gaily and slowly fanning themselves. He then chatted with all three in
+English which had only a slight trace of Teutonic accent.
+
+And that man was, I reflected, the head of a horde of secret agents
+which the German War Office had flung upon our eastern coast. To expose
+and crush them all was surely the patriotic duty of any Englishman.
+
+The magnificent old mansion with its splendid paintings, its antique
+furniture, its armour, its bric-a-brac, old silver, and splendid
+heirlooms of the Edgcotts rang with the laughter of the assembly as two
+young subalterns indulged in humorous horse-play.
+
+The appearance of the old sphinx-like family butler, however, compelled
+us to leave our point of observation, and for an hour I strolled with
+William out in the park in the balmy moonlight of the summer night.
+
+"There'll be a sensation before long," declared the valet to me. "You
+watch."
+
+"In what way?" I inquired, with curiosity.
+
+"Wait and see," he laughed, as though he possessed knowledge of what was
+intended.
+
+Next day I drove my master and the German Colonel over to Nottingham,
+where we put up for an hour at the Black Boy Hotel. This struck me as
+curious, for I recollected that William had been sent down from London
+with a message to some person named Raven staying at that hotel.
+
+All the way from Edgcott, through Oakham, Melton Mowbray, and Trent, I
+had endeavoured to catch some of the conversation between the pair in
+the car behind me. The noise and rattle, however, prevented me from
+overhearing much, but the stray sentences which did reach me when I
+slowed down to change my speeds showed them to be on the most friendly
+terms.
+
+Evidently the spy was entirely unsuspicious of his friend.
+
+At the hotel, after I had put up the car, I saw my master and the German
+speaking with a tall, thin, consumptive-looking man in black, whose
+white tie showed him to be a dissenting minister. He was clean-shaven,
+aged fifty, and had an unusually protruding chin.
+
+All three went out together and walked along the street chatting. When
+they had gone I went back into the yard, and on inquiry found that the
+minister was the Reverend Richard Raven, of the Baptist Missionary
+Society.
+
+He had been a missionary in China, and had addressed several meetings in
+Nottingham and the neighbourhood on behalf of the society.
+
+Why, I wondered, had Bob Brackenbury, so essentially a man about town,
+come there to consult a Baptist missionary, and accompanied, too, by the
+man he was scheming to unmask?
+
+But the ways of the Secret Service were devious and crooked, I argued.
+There was method in it all. Had Ray and I been mistaken after all? So I,
+too, lit a cigarette, and strolled out into the bustling provincial
+street awaiting my master and his friend.
+
+After an hour and a half the trio came back and had a drink together in
+the smoking-room--the missionary taking lemonade--and then I brought
+round the car, and we began the return journey of about sixty-five
+miles.
+
+"What do you think of it now?" asked my master of his companion as soon
+as we were away from the hotel.
+
+"Excellent!" was the German's reply. "It only now lies with her, eh?"
+And he laughed lightly.
+
+Dinner was over when we returned, and Captain Kinghorne was profuse in
+his apologies to his host. I had previously been warned to say nothing
+of where we had been, and I heard my master explain that we had passed
+through Huntingdon, where a tyre-burst had delayed us.
+
+I became puzzled. Yes, it was certainly both interesting and exciting.
+Little did the gallant German Colonel dream of the sword of England's
+wrath suspended above his head.
+
+Nearly a week passed. Captain Kinghorne, D.S.O., and Mr. Pawson, of
+Goldfields, Nevada, shared, I saw, with the Colonel the highest
+popularity among members of the house-party. With Mr. Henry Seymour they
+had become on particularly friendly terms. There were picnics, tennis,
+and a couple of dances to which all the local notabilities were bidden.
+At them all Kinghorne was the life and soul of the general merriment. A
+good many quiet flirtations were in progress too. Kinghorne seemed to be
+particularly attracted by the pretty little widow whom I had first seen
+in pale blue, and who I discovered was French, her name being the
+Baronne de Bourbriac. She seemed to divide her attentions between Mr.
+Seymour and the German Colonel.
+
+From mademoiselle, her maid, I learned that Madame la Baronne had lost
+her husband after only four months of matrimony, and now found herself
+in possession of a great fortune, a house in the Avenue des Champs
+Elysees, a villa at Roquebrune, and the great mediaeval chateau of
+Bourbriac, in the great wine-lands along the Saone.
+
+Was she, I wondered, contemplating matrimony again? One evening before
+the dressing-bell sounded, I met them quite accidentally strolling
+together across the park, and the earnestness of their conversation
+caused my wonder to increase.
+
+Careful observation, however, showed me that Colonel von Rausch was
+almost as much a favourite with the little widow as was the Honourable
+Bob. Indeed, in the three days which followed I recognised plainly that
+the skittish little widow, so charming, so chic, and dressed with that
+perfection only possible with the true Parisienne, was playing a double
+game.
+
+I felt inclined to tell my master, yet on due reflection saw that his
+love affairs were no concern of mine, while to speak would be only to
+betray myself as spying upon him.
+
+So I held silence, but nevertheless continued to watch.
+
+Several times I took out Brackenbury, Shand, von Rausch, and others in
+the car. Twice the widow went for a run alone with my master and myself.
+Life was, to say the least, extremely pleasant in those warm summer days
+at Edgcott.
+
+Late one afternoon the Honourable Bob found me in the garage, and in a
+low voice said:
+
+"You must pretend to be unwell, Nye. I want to take von Rausch out by
+myself, so go back to the house and pretend you're queer."
+
+This I did without question, and he and the Colonel were out together in
+an unknown direction until nearly midnight. Had they, I wondered, gone
+again to meet the consumptive converter of the Chinese to Christianity?
+
+I took William into my confidence, but he was silent. He would express
+no opinion.
+
+"There's no moss on the guv'nor, you bet," was all he would vouchsafe.
+
+Thus for yet another four days things progressed merrily at Edgcott
+Hall. William had been sent away on a message up to Manchester, and I
+was taking his place, when one evening, while I was getting out "the
+guv'nor's" dress clothes, he entered the room, and closing the door
+carefully, said:
+
+"Be ready for something to happen to-night, Nye. We're going to hold up
+the spy and make him disgorge all the secret reports supplied by his
+agents. Listen to my instructions, for all must be done without any
+fuss. We don't want to upset the good people here. You see that small
+dressing-case of mine over there?"--and he indicated a square
+crocodile-skin case with silver fittings. "Well, at ten o'clock go and
+get the car out on the excuse that you have to go into Peterborough for
+me. You will find Shand's bag already in it, so put your own in also,
+but don't let anybody see you. Run her down the road about a mile from
+the lodge-gates and into that by-road just beyond the finger-posts where
+I showed you the other day. Then pull up, put out the lights, and leave
+her as though you've had a breakdown. Walk back here, get my
+dressing-case, and carry it back to the car. Then wait for us. Only
+recollect, don't return to get my bag until half-past ten. You see those
+two candles on the dressing-table? Now if any hitch occurs, I shall
+light them. So if I do, leave my bag here and bring my car back. You
+understand?"
+
+"Quite," I said, full of excitement. And then I helped him to dress
+hurriedly, and he went downstairs.
+
+We were about to "hold up" the spy. But how?
+
+Those hours dragged slowly by. I peeped into the hall after dinner and
+saw the Honourable Bob seated in a corner with the Baronne, away from
+the others, chatting with her. The spy, all unsuspicious, was talking to
+his hostess, while Shand was playing poker.
+
+Just before ten I crept out with my small bag, unseen by any one, and
+walked across the park to the garage. The night was stormy, the moon was
+hidden behind a cloud-bank. There was nobody about, so I got out the
+"ninety," started her, and mounting at the wheel was soon gliding down
+the avenue, out of the lodge-gates, and into the by-road which the
+Honourable Bob had indicated. Descending, I looked inside the car and
+saw that Shand's bag had already been placed there by an unknown hand.
+
+In that short run I noticed I had lost the screw cap of the radiator.
+This surprised me, for I recollected how that evening when filling up
+with water I had screwed it down tightly. Somebody must have tampered
+with it--some stable lad, perhaps.
+
+Having extinguished the head-lights, I walked back to the Hall by the
+stile and footpath, avoiding the lodge-gates, and managed to slip up to
+my master's room, just as the stable-clock was chiming the half hour.
+
+The candles were unlit. All was therefore in order. The dressing-bag
+was, however, not there. I searched for it in vain. Then stealing out
+again I sped by the footpath back to the car.
+
+Somebody hailed me in the darkness as I approached the spot where I had
+left her.
+
+I recognized the spy's voice.
+
+"Have you see Herr Brackenbury?" he asked in his broken English.
+
+I halted, amazed. The spy had, it seemed, outwitted us and upset all our
+plans!
+
+Scarcely could I reply, however, before I heard a movement behind me,
+and two figures loomed up. They were my master and Shand.
+
+"All right?" inquired the American in a low voice, to which the spy gave
+an affirmative answer.
+
+"Light those lamps, Nye," ordered my master quickly. "We must get away
+this instant."
+
+"But----" I exclaimed.
+
+"Quick, my dear fellow! There's not a moment to lose. Jump in, boys," he
+urged.
+
+And a couple of minutes later, with our lamps glaring, we had turned out
+upon the broad highway and were travelling at a full forty miles an hour
+upon the high road to Leicester.
+
+What could it all mean? My master and his companion seemed on the most
+friendly terms with the spy.
+
+Ten miles from the lodge-gates of Edgcott at a cross-road we picked up
+an ill-dressed man whom I recognised as the Baptist missionary, Richard
+Raven, and with the Honourable Bob at my side directing me we tore on
+through the night, traversing numberless by-roads, until at dawn I
+suddenly recognised that we were on the North Road, close to Codicote.
+
+A quarter of an hour later we had run the car round to the rear of
+Shand's pretty rose-embowered cottage, and all descended.
+
+I made excuse to the Honourable Bob that the screw top of the radiator
+was missing, whereupon von Rausch laughed heartily, and picking up a
+piece of wire from the bench he bent it so as to form a hook, and with
+it fished down in the hot water inside.
+
+His companions stood watching, but judge my surprise when I saw him of a
+sudden draw forth a small aluminium cylinder, the top of which he
+screwed off and from it took out a piece of tracing-linen tightly
+folded.
+
+This he spread out, and my quick eyes saw that it was a carefully drawn
+tracing of a portion of the new type of battleship of the _Neptune_
+class (the improved _Dreadnought_ type), with many marginal notes in
+German in a feminine hand.
+
+In an instant the astounding truth became plain to me. The Baronne, who
+was in von Rausch's employ, had no doubt surreptitiously obtained the
+original from Mr. Henry Seymour's despatch-box, it having been sent down
+to him to Edgcott for his approval.
+
+A most important British naval secret was, I saw, in the hands of the
+clever spies of the Kaiser!
+
+I made no remark, for in presence of those men was I not helpless?
+
+They took the tracing in the house, and for half an hour held carousal
+in celebration of their success.
+
+Presently Brackenbury came forth to me and said:
+
+"The Colonel is going to Harwich this evening, and you must drive him.
+The boat for the 'Hook' leaves at half-past ten, I think."
+
+"Very well, sir," I replied, with apparent indifference. "I shall be
+quite ready."
+
+At seven we started, von Rausch and I, and until darkness fell I drove
+eastward, when at last we found ourselves in Ipswich.
+
+Suddenly, close to the White Horse Hotel and within hailing distance of
+a police-constable, I brought the car to a dead stop, and turning to the
+German, who was seated beside me, said in as quiet a tone as I could:
+
+"Colonel von Rausch, I'll just trouble you to hand over to me the
+tracing you and your friends have stolen from Mr. Henry Seymour--the
+details of the new battleship about to be built at Chatham."
+
+"What do you mean?" cried the spy. "Drive on, you fool. I have no time
+to lose."
+
+"I wish for that tracing," I said, whipping out the revolver I always
+carried. "Give it to me."
+
+"What next!" he laughed, in open defiance. "Who are you, a mere servant,
+that you should dictate to me?"
+
+"I'm an Englishman!" I replied. "And I'll not allow you to take that
+secret to your employers in Berlin."
+
+The Colonel glanced round in some confusion. He was evidently averse to
+a scene in that open street.
+
+"Come into the hotel yonder," he said. "We can discuss the matter
+there."
+
+"It admits of no discussion," I said firmly. "You will hand me the
+tracing over which you have so ingeniously deceived me, or I shall call
+the constable yonder and have you detained while we communicate with the
+Admiralty."
+
+"Drive on, I tell you," he cried in anger. "Don't be an ass!"
+
+"I am not a fool," I answered. "Give me that tracing."
+
+"Never."
+
+I turned and whistled to the constable, who had already noticed us in
+heated discussion.
+
+The officer approached, but von Rausch, finding himself in a corner,
+quickly produced an envelope containing the tracing and handed it to me,
+urging:
+
+"Remain silent, Nye. Say nothing. You have promised."
+
+I broke open the envelope, and after satisfying myself he had not
+deceived me, I placed it safely in my breast-pocket, as further evidence
+of the work of the Kaiser's spies amongst us.
+
+Then, with excuses to the constable, I swung the car into the yard of
+the White Horse Hotel, where the spy descended, and with a fierce
+imprecation in German he hurried out, and I saw him no more.
+
+At midnight I was in Ray's chambers, in Bruton Street, and we rang up
+Mr. Henry Seymour, who had, we found, returned to his house in Curzon
+Street from Edgcott only a couple of hours before.
+
+In ignorance that spies had obtained the secret of the _Neptune_ or
+improved _Dreadnought_, he would not at first believe the story we told
+him.
+
+But when in his own library half an hour later we handed him back the
+tracing, he was compelled to admit the existence of German espionage in
+England, though in the House of Commons only a week before he had
+scorned the very idea.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE GERMAN PLOT AGAINST ENGLAND
+
+
+"When last I had the pleasure of meeting mademoiselle, both her
+nationality and her name were--well--slightly different, eh?" I
+remarked, bending forward with a smile.
+
+From her pretty lips rang out a merry ripple of laughter, and over her
+sweet face spread a mischievous look.
+
+"I admit the allegation, M'sieur Jacox," was her rather saucy response
+in French. "But I had no idea you would again recognise me."
+
+"Ah, mademoiselle, beauty such as yours is not universal, and is always
+to be remembered," I said, with an expression of mock reproval.
+
+"Now, why do you flatter me--you?" she asked, "especially after what
+passed at Caux."
+
+"Surely I may be permitted to admire you, Suzette? Especially as I am
+now aware of the truth."
+
+She started, and stared at me for a moment, a neat little figure in
+black. Then she gave her shoulders a slight shrug, pouting like a
+spoiled child.
+
+There were none to overhear us. It was out of the season in Paris, and
+on that afternoon, the 15th of August, 1908, to be exact, we had driven
+by "auto" into the Bois, and were taking our "five o'clock" under the
+trees at Pre Catalan, that well-known restaurant in the centre of the
+beautiful pleasure wood of the Parisians.
+
+I had serious business with Suzette Darbour.
+
+After our success in preventing the plans of the improved _Dreadnoughts_
+falling into German hands, I had, at Ray's suggestion, left Charing
+Cross in search of the dainty little divinity before me, the
+neat-waisted girl with the big dark eyes, the tiny mouth, and the cheeks
+that still bore the bloom of youth upon them--the girl who, at the Hotel
+d'Angleterre, in Copenhagen, had been known as Vera Yermoloff, of Riga,
+and who had afterwards lived in the gay little watering-place of Caux
+under the same name, and had so entirely deceived me--the girl whom I
+now knew to be the catspaw of others--in a word, a decoy!
+
+Yet how sweet, how modest her manner, how demure she looked as she sat
+there before me at the little table beneath the trees, sipping her tea
+and lifting her smiling eyes to mine. Even though I had told her plainly
+that I was aware of the truth, she remained quite unconcerned. She had
+no fear of me apparently. For her, exposure and the police had no
+terrors. She seemed rather amused than otherwise.
+
+I lit a cigarette, and by so doing obtained time for reflection.
+
+My search had led me first to the Midi, thence into Italy, across to
+Sebenico in Dalmatia, to Venice, and back to Paris, where only that
+morning, with the assistance of my old friend of my student days in the
+French capital, Gaston Bernard, of the Prefecture of Police, I had
+succeeded in running her to earth. I had only that morning found her
+residing with a girl friend--a seamstress at Duclerc's--in a tiny flat
+_au cinquieme_ in a frowsy old house at the top of the Rue Pigalle, and
+living in her own name, that of Suzette Darbour.
+
+And as I sat smoking I wondered if I dared request her assistance.
+
+In the course of my efforts to combat the work of German spies in
+England I had been forced to make many queer friendships, but none
+perhaps so strange as the one I was now cultivating. Suzette Darbour
+was, I had learned from Ray Raymond a few months ago, a decoy in
+association with a very prince of swindlers, an American who made his
+head-quarters in Paris, and who had in the past year or two effected
+amazing _coups_, financial and otherwise, in the various capitals of
+Europe.
+
+Her age was perhaps twenty-two, though certainly she did not look more
+than eighteen. She spoke both English and Russian quite well, for, as
+she had told me long ago, she had spent her early days in Petersburg.
+And probably in those twenty years of her life she had learnt more than
+many women had learned in forty.
+
+Hers was an angelic face, with big, wide-open, truthful eyes, but her
+heart was, I knew, cold and callous.
+
+Could I--dare I--take her into my service--to assist me in a matter of
+the most vital importance to British interests? The mission upon which I
+was engaged at that moment was both delicate and difficult. A single
+false move would mean exposure.
+
+I was playing a deep game, and it surely behoved me to exercise every
+precaution. During the years I had been endeavouring to prove the peril
+to which England was exposed from foreign invasion, I had never been
+nearer failure than now. Indeed, I held my breath each time I
+recollected all that depended upon my success.
+
+Ray Raymond, Vera Vallance, and myself had constituted ourselves into a
+little band with the object of combating the activity of the ingenious
+spies of the Kaiser. Little does the average Englishman dream of the
+work of the secret agent, or how his success or failure is reflected in
+our diplomatic negotiations with the Powers. Ambassadors and ministers
+may wear smart uniforms with glittering decorations, and move in their
+splendid embassies surrounded by their brilliant staffs; attaches may
+flirt, and first secretaries may take tea with duchesses, yet to the spy
+is left the real work of diplomacy, for, after all, it is upon the
+knowledge he obtains that His Excellency the Ambassador frames his
+despatch to his Government, or the Minister for Foreign Affairs presents
+a "Note" to the Powers.
+
+We had for months been working on without publicity, unheeded,
+unrecognised, unprotected, unknown. A thankless though dangerous task,
+our only reward had been a kind word from the silent, sad-faced Prime
+Minister himself. For months our whereabouts had been unknown, even to
+each other. Ray generally scented the presence of spies, and it was for
+me to carry through the inquiry in the manner which I considered best
+and safest for myself.
+
+"Suzette," I said at length, looking at her across the rising smoke
+from my cigarette, "when we last met you had the advantage of me. To-day
+we stand upon even ground."
+
+"Pardon! I don't quite understand?" asked the little lady in the sheath
+costume with just a slight tremor of the eyelids.
+
+"Well--I have discovered that you and Henry Banfield are friends--that
+to you he owes much of his success, and that to you is the credit of a
+little affair in Marienbad, which ended rather unpleasantly for a
+certain hosiery manufacturer from Chemnitz named Mueller."
+
+Her faced blanched, her eyes grew terrified, and her nails clenched
+themselves into her white palms.
+
+"Ah! Then you--you have found me, m'sieur, for purposes of
+revenge--you--you intend to give me over to the police because of the
+fraud I practised upon you! But I ask you to have pity for me," she
+begged in French. "I am a woman--and--and I swear to you that I was
+forced to act towards you as I did."
+
+"You forced open my despatch-box, believing that I carried valuables
+there, and found, to your dismay, only a few papers."
+
+"I was compelled to do so by Banfield," she said simply. "He mistook you
+for another man, a diplomat, and believed that you had certain important
+documents with you."
+
+"Then he made a very great mistake," I laughed. "And after your clever
+love-making with me you only got some extracts from a Government report,
+together with a few old letters."
+
+"From those letters we discovered who you really were," mademoiselle
+said. "And then we were afraid."
+
+I smiled.
+
+"Afraid that I would pay Banfield back in his own coin, eh?"
+
+"I was afraid. He was not, for he told me that if you attempted any
+reprisal, he would at once denounce you to the Germans."
+
+"Thanks. I'm glad you've told me that," I said, with feigned unconcern.
+Truth to tell, however, I was much upset by the knowledge that the
+cunning American who so cleverly evaded the police had discovered my
+present vocation.
+
+Yet, after all, had not the explanation of the pretty girl before me
+rather strengthened my hand?
+
+"Well, Suzette," I said, with a moment's reflection, "I have not sought
+you in order to threaten you. On the contrary, I am extremely anxious
+that we should be friends. Indeed, I want you, if you will, to do me a
+service."
+
+She looked me straight in the face, apparently much puzzled.
+
+"I thought you were my enemy," she remarked.
+
+"That I am not. If you will only allow me, I will be your friend."
+
+Her fine eyes were downcast, and I fancied I detected in them the light
+of unshed tears. How strange it was that upon her attitude towards me
+should depend a nation's welfare!
+
+"First, you must forgive me for my action at Caux," she said in a low,
+earnest voice, scarce above a whisper. "You know my position, alas! I
+dare not disobey that man who holds my future so irrevocably in his
+hands."
+
+"He threatens you, then?"
+
+"Yes. If I disobeyed any single one of his commands, he would deliver me
+over at once to the police for a serious affair--a crime, however, of
+which I swear to you that I am innocent--the crime of murder!"
+
+"He holds threats over you," I said, tossing away my cigarette.
+"Describe the affair to me."
+
+"It is the crime of the Rue de Royat, two years ago. You no doubt
+recollect it," she faltered, after some hesitation. "A Russian lady,
+named Levitsky, was found strangled in her flat and all her jewellery
+taken."
+
+"And Banfield charges you with the crime?"
+
+"I admit that I was in the apartment when the crime was
+committed--decoyed there for that purpose--but I am not the culprit."
+
+"But surely you could prove the identity of the assassin?"
+
+"I saw him for an instant. But I had no knowledge of who he was."
+
+"Then why do you fear this American crook? Why not dissociate yourself
+from him?"
+
+"Because it would mean my betrayal and ruin. I have no means of
+disproving this dastardly allegation. I am in his power."
+
+"You love him, perhaps?" I remarked, my gaze full upon her.
+
+"Love him!" she protested, with flashing eyes. "I hate him!" And she
+went on to explain how she was held powerless in the hands of the
+scoundrel.
+
+"You have a lover, I understand, mademoiselle?" I remarked presently.
+
+She was silent, but about the corners of her pretty mouth there played a
+slight smile which told the truth.
+
+"Why not cut yourself adrift from this life of yours?" I urged. "Let me
+be your friend and assist you against this fellow Banfield."
+
+"How could you assist me? He knows what you are, and would denounce you
+instantly!"
+
+What she said was certainly a very awkward truth. Banfield was one of
+the cleverest scoundrels in Europe, an unscrupulous man who, by reason
+of certain sharp deals, had become possessed of very considerable
+wealth, his criminal methods being always most carefully concealed. The
+police knew him to be a swindler, but there was never sufficient
+evidence to convict.
+
+To obtain Suzette's services I would, I saw, be compelled to propitiate
+him.
+
+Alone there, beneath the softly murmuring trees, I stretched forth my
+hand across the table and took her neatly gloved fingers in mine,
+saying:
+
+"Suzette, what I am you already know. I am a cosmopolitan, perhaps
+unscrupulous, as a man occupied as I am must needs be. I am an
+Englishman and, I hope, a patriot. Yet I trust I have always been
+chivalrous towards a woman. You are, I see, oppressed--held in a bondage
+that is hateful----"
+
+At my words she burst into tears, holding my hand convulsively in hers.
+
+"No," I said in a voice of sympathy. "The professions of neither of us
+are--well, exactly honourable, are they? Nevertheless, let us be
+friends. I want your assistance, and in return I will assist you. Let us
+be frank and open with each other. I will explain the truth and rely
+upon your secrecy. Listen. In Berlin certain negotiations are at this
+moment in active progress with St. Petersburg and New York, with the
+object of forming an offensive alliance against England. This would mean
+that in the coming war, which is inevitable, my country must meet not
+only her fiercest enemy, Germany, but also the United States and Russia.
+I have reason to believe that matters have secretly progressed until
+they are very near a settlement. What I desire to know is the actual
+inducement held out by the Kaiser's Foreign Office. Do you follow?"
+
+"Perfectly," she said, at once attentive. "I quite recognise the danger
+to your country."
+
+"The danger is to France also," I pointed out. "For the past six months
+an active exchange of despatches has been in progress, but so carefully
+has the truth been concealed that only by sheer accident--a word let
+drop in a drawing-room in London--I scented what was in the wind. Then I
+at once saw that you, Suzette, was the only person who could assist us."
+
+"How?"
+
+"You are an expert in the art of prying into despatch-boxes," I laughed.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"In Berlin, at the Kaiserhof Hotel, there is staying a certain Charles
+Pierron. If any one is aware of the truth that man is. I want you to go
+to Berlin, make his acquaintance, and learn what he knows. If what I
+suspect be true, he possesses copies of the despatches emanating from
+the German Foreign Office. And of these I must obtain a glimpse at all
+hazards."
+
+"Who is this Pierron?"
+
+"He was at the 'Angleterre,' in Copenhagen, when you were there, but I
+do not think you saw him. The reason of my presence there was because I
+chanced to be interested in his movements."
+
+"What is he--an undesirable?"
+
+"As undesirable as I am myself, mademoiselle," I laughed. "He is a
+French secret agent--an Anglophobe to his finger-tips."
+
+She laughed.
+
+"I see, m'sieur," she exclaimed; "you desire me to adopt the profession
+of the spy with the kid glove, eh?"
+
+I nodded in the affirmative.
+
+"Pierron knows me. Indeed, he already has good cause to remember me in
+England, where he acted as a spy of Germany," I remarked. "He is always
+impressionable where the fair sex is concerned, and you will, I feel
+confident, quickly be successful if you lived for a few days at the
+'Kaiserhof' as Vera Yermoloff."
+
+She was silent, apparently reflecting deeply.
+
+"I am prepared, of course, to offer you a monetary consideration," I
+added in a low voice.
+
+"No monetary consideration is needed, m'sieur," was her quick response.
+"In return for the fraud I practised upon you, it is only just that I
+should render you this service. Yet without Banfield's knowledge it
+would be utterly impossible."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because I dare not leave Paris without his permission."
+
+"Then you must go with his knowledge--make up some story--a relative ill
+or something--to account for your journey to Berlin."
+
+She seemed undecided. Therefore I repeated my suggestion, well knowing
+that the sweet-faced girl could, if she wished, obtain for us the
+knowledge which would place power in the hands of Great Britain--power
+to upset the machinations of our enemies.
+
+Mine was becoming a profession full of subterfuge.
+
+Her breast heaved and fell in a long-drawn sigh. I saw that she was
+wavering.
+
+She sipped her tea in silence, her eyes fixed upon the shady trees
+opposite.
+
+"Suzette," I exclaimed at last, "your lover's name is Armand Thomas,
+clerk at the head office of the Compte d'Escompte. He believes you to be
+the niece of the rich American, Henry Banfield, little dreaming of your
+real position."
+
+"How do you know that?"
+
+I smiled, telling her that I had made it my business to discover the
+facts.
+
+"You love him?" I asked, looking her straight in the face.
+
+"Yes," was her serious response.
+
+"And you have kept this love affair secret from Banfield?"
+
+"Of course. If he knew the truth he would be enraged. He has always
+forbidden me to fall in love."
+
+"Because he fears that your lover may act as your protector and shield
+you from his evil influence," I remarked. "Well, Suzette," I added, "you
+are a very clever girl. If you are successful on this mission I will, I
+promise, find a means of uniting you with your lover."
+
+She shook her head sadly, replying:
+
+"Remember Banfield's threat. Disobedience of any of his commands will
+mean my ruin. Besides, he knows who and what you are. Therefore how can
+you assist me?"
+
+"Mademoiselle," I said, again extending my hand to my dainty little
+friend, "I make you this promise not only on my own behalf--but also on
+behalf of my country, England. Is it a compact?"
+
+"Do you really believe you can help me to free myself of my hateful
+bond?" she cried, bending towards me with eager anticipation.
+
+"I tell you, Suzette, that in return for this service you shall be
+free."
+
+Tears again stood in those fine dark eyes. I knew of her secret
+affection for young Thomas, the hard-working bank clerk, who dared not
+aspire to the hand of the niece of the great American financier.
+
+What a narrative of subterfuge and adventure the delightful little girl
+seated there before me could write! The small amount I knew was
+amazingly romantic. Some of Banfield's smartest financial _coups_ had
+been accomplished owing to her clever manoeuvring and to the
+information she had gained by her almost childish artlessness. Surely
+the British Government could have no more ingenious seeker after
+political secrets than she. Women are always more successful as spies
+than men. That is why so many are employed by both Germany and France.
+
+In all the varied adventures in my search after spies I had never met a
+girl with a stranger history than Suzette Darbour. That she had actually
+imposed upon me was in itself, I think, sufficient evidence of her wit,
+cunning, and innate ability.
+
+When I rose from the table and strolled back to where we had left the
+"auto," it was with the knowledge that my long search had not been in
+vain. She had taken my hand in promise to go to the "Kaiserhof" in
+Berlin and pry into the papers of that foremost of secret agents,
+Charles Pierron.
+
+At five o'clock next morning I was back again in London, and at ten I
+was seated in conference with Ray Raymond in his cosy flat in Bruton
+Street.
+
+"We must get at the terms offered by the Germans, Jacox," he declared,
+snapping his fingers impatiently. "It is imperative that the Foreign
+Office should know them. At present our hands are utterly tied. We are
+unable to act, and our diplomacy is at a complete standstill. The
+situation is dangerous--distinctly dangerous. The guv'nor was only
+saying so last night. Once the agreement is signed, then good-bye for
+ever to Britain's power and prestige."
+
+I explained that so carefully was the secret preserved that I had been
+unable to discover anything. Yet I had hopes.
+
+"My dear Jack, England relies entirely upon you," he exclaimed. "We must
+know the plans of our enemies if we are successfully to combat them. In
+the past you've often done marvels. I can only hope that you will be
+equally successful in this critical moment."
+
+Then after a long and confidential chat we parted and a couple of hours
+later I was again in the boat train, bound for the Continent. I
+recognised how urgent was the matter, and how each hour's delay
+increased our peril.
+
+The public, or rather the omnivorous readers of the halfpenny press,
+little dream how near we were at that moment to disaster. The completion
+of the cleverly laid plans of Germany would mean a sudden blow aimed at
+us, not only at our own shores, but also at our colonies at the same
+moment--and such a blow, with our weakened army and neglected navy, we
+could not possibly ward off.
+
+Well I remember how that night I sat in the corner of the _wagon-lit_ of
+the Simplon Express and reflected deeply. I was on my way to Milan to
+join a friend. At Boulogne I had received a wire from Suzette, who had
+already departed on her mission to Berlin.
+
+My chief difficulty lay in the unfortunate fact that I was well known to
+Pierron, who had now forsaken his original employers the Germans, hence
+I dare not go to the German capital, lest he should recognise me. I knew
+that in the pay of the French Secret Service was a clerk in the Treaty
+department of the German Foreign Office, and without doubt he was
+furnishing Pierron with copies of all the correspondence in progress.
+Both the French and German Governments spend six times the amount
+annually upon secret service that we do, hence they are always well and
+accurately informed.
+
+At Milan next day the porter at the "Metropole," the small hotel in the
+Piazza del Duomo where I always stay, handed me a telegram, a cipher
+message from Ray, which announced that his father had discovered that,
+according to a despatch just received from His Majesty's Ambassador at
+St. Petersburg, there was now no doubt whatever that the terms offered
+by Germany were extremely advantageous to both Russia and the United
+States, and that it was believed that the agreement was on the actual
+point of being concluded.
+
+That decided me. I felt that at all hazards, even though Pierron might
+detect my presence, I must be in Berlin.
+
+I was, however, unable to leave Milan at once, for Ford, whom I was
+awaiting, was on his way from Corfu and had telegraphed saying that he
+had missed the mail train at Brindisi, and would not arrive before the
+morrow.
+
+So all that day I was compelled to hang about Milan, drinking vermouth
+and bitter at Biffi's cafe in the Galleria, and dining alone at
+Salvini's. I always hate Milan, for it is the noisiest and most
+uninteresting city in all Italy.
+
+Next afternoon I met Ford at the station and compelled him to scramble
+into the Bale express with me, directly after he had alighted.
+
+"I go to Berlin. You come with me, and go on to St. Petersburg," I said
+in reply to his questions.
+
+He was a middle-aged man, a retired army officer and a perfect linguist,
+who was a secret agent of the British Government and a great friend of
+Ray's.
+
+All the way on that long, tedious run to Berlin we discussed the
+situation. I was the first to explain to him our imminent peril, and
+with what craft and cunning the German Chancellor had formed his plans
+for the defeat and downfall of our Empire.
+
+As soon as he knew, all trace of fatigue vanished from him. He went
+along the corridor, washed, put on a fresh collar, brushed his well-worn
+suit of navy serge, and returned spruce and smart, ready for any
+adventure.
+
+I told him nothing of Suzette. Her existence I had resolved to keep to
+myself. In going to Berlin I knew well that I was playing both a
+dangerous and desperate game. Pierron hated me, and if he detected me,
+he might very easily denounce me to the police as a spy. Such a
+_contretemps_ would, I reflected, mean for me ten years' confinement in
+a fortress. The German authorities would certainly not forget how for
+the past two years I had hunted their agents up and down Great Britain,
+and been the means of deporting several as undesirable aliens.
+
+Nevertheless, I felt, somehow, that my place was near Suzette, so that I
+could prompt her, and if she were successful I could read with my own
+eyes the copies of the diplomatic correspondence from the German Foreign
+Office.
+
+On arrival at Berlin I bade Ford farewell, having given him certain
+instructions how to act on arrival in Petersburg. During our journey we
+had made up a special telegraph code, and when I grasped his hand he
+said:
+
+"Well, good luck, Jacox. Be careful. _Au revoir!_"
+
+And he hurried along the platform to catch the Nord Express to bear him
+to the Russian capital.
+
+At the "Kaiserhof" I took a sitting room and bed-room adjoining. It was
+then about ten o'clock at night; therefore I sat down and wrote a note
+to "Mdlle. Vera Yermoloff," which I gave a waiter to deliver.
+
+Ten minutes later I received a scribbled reply, requesting me to meet
+her at half-past ten at a certain cafe near the Lehrte Station.
+
+I was awaiting her when she arrived. After she had greeted me and
+expressed surprise at my sudden appearance, she informed me she had not
+yet met Pierron, for he was absent--in Hamburg it was said.
+
+"I hear he returns to-night," she added. "Therefore, I hope to meet him
+to-morrow."
+
+I explained the extreme urgency of the matter, and then drove her back
+to the hotel, alighting from the cab a few hundred yards away. To
+another cafe I strolled to rest and have a smoke, and it was near
+midnight when I re-entered the "Kaiserhof."
+
+As I crossed the great hall a _contretemps_ occurred. I came face to
+face with Pierron, a tall, sallow-faced, red-bearded man with eyes set
+close together, elegantly dressed, and wearing a big diamond in his
+cravat.
+
+In an instant he recognised me, whereupon I bowed, saying:
+
+"Ah, m'sieur! It is really quite a long time since we met--in Denmark
+last, was it not?"
+
+He raised his eyebrows slightly, and replied in a withering tone:
+
+"I do not know by what right m'sieur presumes to address me!"
+
+That moment required all my courage and self-possession. I had not
+expected to meet him so suddenly. He had evidently just come from his
+journey, for he wore a light travelling-coat and soft felt hat.
+
+"Well," I said, "I have something to say to you--something to tell you
+in private, if you could grant me a few minutes." I merely said this in
+order to gain time.
+
+"_Bien!_ to-morrow, then--at whatever hour m'sieur may name."
+
+To-morrow. It would then be too late. In an hour he might inform the
+police, and I would find myself under arrest. The German police would be
+only too pleased to have an opportunity of retaliating.
+
+"No," I exclaimed. "To-night. Now. Our business will only take a few
+moments. Come to my sitting-room. The matter I want to explain brooks no
+delay. Every moment is of consequence."
+
+"Very well," laughed the Frenchman, with a distinct air of bravado. "You
+believe yourself extremely clever, no doubt, M'sieur Jacox. Let me hear
+what you have to say."
+
+Together we ascended the broad marble steps to the first floor, and I
+held open the door of my sitting-room. When he had entered, I closed it,
+and offering him a chair, commenced in a resolute tone:
+
+"Now, M'sieur Pierron, I am here to offer terms to you."
+
+"Terms!" he laughed. "_Diable!_ What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean that I foresee your evil intention against myself, because of my
+success in the Brest affair," was my quick reply. "You will denounce me
+here in Germany as a British agent, eh?"
+
+"You are perfectly correct in your surmise, m'sieur. Here they have an
+unpleasant habit in their treatment of foreign spies."
+
+"And does it not usually take two persons to play a game?" I asked,
+perfectly cool. "Are you not a spy also?"
+
+"Go to the police, _mon cher ami_, and tell them what you will," he
+laughed defiantly. "Straus, the chief of police here, is my friend. You
+would not be the first person who has tried to secure my arrest and
+failed."
+
+His words confounded me. I saw that I alone was in peril, and that he,
+by reason of his personal friendship with the chief of police, was
+immune from arrest.
+
+I had walked deliberately, and with eyes wide open, into the trap!
+
+"You see," he laughed, pointing to the telephone instrument on the
+little writing-table, "I have only to take that and call up the police
+office, and your British Government will lose the services of one of its
+shrewdest agents."
+
+"So that is your revenge, eh?" I asked, realising how utterly helpless I
+now was in the hands of my bitterest enemy--the man who had turned a
+traitor. I could see no way out.
+
+"Bah!" he laughed in my face. "The power of your wonderful old
+country--so old that it has become worm-eaten--is already at an end. In
+a month you will have German soldiers swarming upon your shores, while
+America will seize Canada and Australia, and Russia will advance into
+India. You will be crushed, beaten, humiliated--and the German eagle
+will fly over your proud London. The John Bull bladder is to be
+pricked!" he laughed.
+
+"That is not exactly news to me, M'sieur Pierron," I answered quite
+coolly. "The danger of my country is equally a danger to yours. With
+England crushed, France, too, must fall."
+
+"We have an army--a brave army--while you have only the skeleton that
+your great Haldane has left to you," he sneered. "But enough! I have
+long desired this interview, and am pleased that it has taken place here
+in Berlin," and he deliberately walked across to the telephone.
+
+I tried to snatch the transmitter from his hand, but though we
+struggled, he succeeded in inquiring for a number--the number of the
+police head-quarters.
+
+I was caught like a rat in a trap, fool that I was to have come there at
+risk of my liberty--I who was always so wary and so circumspect!
+
+I sprang at his throat, to prevent him speaking further.
+
+"You shall not do this!" I cried.
+
+But his reply was only a hoarse laugh of triumph.
+
+He was asking for somebody--his friend, the chief of police! Then
+turning to me with a laugh, he said:
+
+"Straus will undoubtedly be pleased to arrest such big game as
+yourself."
+
+As he uttered the words there sounded a low tap upon the door, and next
+second it opened, revealing the neat figure in pale blue.
+
+Pierron turned quickly, but in an instant his face was blanched.
+
+"_Dieu! Suzette!_" he gasped, staring at her, while she stood upon the
+threshold, a strange look overspreading her countenance as she
+recognised him.
+
+"Ah! Look, M'sieur Jacox!" she shrieked a second later. "Yes--yes, it is
+that man!" she went on, pointing her finger at him. "At last! Thank God!
+I have found him!"
+
+"What do you mean?" I demanded. "This is M'sieur Pierron."
+
+"I tell you," she cried, "that is the man whom I saw at the Rue de
+Royat--the man who strangled poor Madame Levitsky!"
+
+"You lie!" he cried, stepping towards her. "I--I've never seen you
+before!"
+
+"And yet you have just uttered mademoiselle's name, m'sieur," I remarked
+quietly.
+
+"He knows that I was present at the time of the tragedy," exclaimed
+Suzette quickly, "and that he was the paid assassin of Henry Banfield.
+He killed the unfortunate woman for two reasons: first, in order to
+obtain her husband's papers, which had both political and financial
+importance; and secondly, to obtain her jewellery, which was of very
+considerable value. And upon me, because I was defenceless, the guilt
+was placed. They said I was jealous of her."
+
+"Suzette," I said slowly, "leave this man to me."
+
+Then, glancing towards him, I saw what a terrible effect her
+denunciation had had upon him. Pale to the lips, he stood cowed, even
+trembling, for before him was the living witness of his crime.
+
+I stood with my back to the door, barring his escape.
+
+"Now," I said, "what is your defence?"
+
+He was silent.
+
+I repeated my question in a hard, distinct voice.
+
+"Let's cry quits," he said in a low, hoarse tone. "I will preserve your
+secret--if you will keep mine. Will you not accept terms?"
+
+"Not those," I replied promptly. "Suzette has been accused by Banfield,
+and by you, of the crime which you committed. She shall therefore name
+her own terms."
+
+Realising that, by the fortunate discovery of the assassin of Madame
+Levitsky, she had at once freed herself from the trammels cast about her
+by Banfield, it was not surprising that the girl should stipulate as a
+condition of allowing the spy his freedom that he should hand over to me
+all the copies of the secret diplomatic correspondence which he
+possessed.
+
+At first he loudly protested that he had none, but I compelled him to
+hand me the key of his despatch-box, and accompanying him to his room at
+the further end of the corridor, we searched and there found within the
+steel box a file of papers which he held ready to hand over to the Quai
+d'Orsay--the actual information of which I had been in such active
+search.
+
+The German inducements were all set out clearly and concisely, the
+copies being in the neat hand of the traitorous clerk in the Treaty
+Department.
+
+Pierron, the tables thus turned upon him, begged me to allow him at
+least to have copies. This I refused, triumphantly taking possession of
+the whole file and bidding him good-night.
+
+In an hour we had both left the German capital, and next day I had the
+satisfaction of handing the copy of the German proposals and the whole
+correspondence to the Minister for Foreign Affairs at Downing Street.
+
+An extraordinary meeting of the Cabinet was held, and cipher
+instructions at once sent to each of His Majesty's Ambassadors
+abroad--instructions which had the result of successfully combating the
+intrigue at Berlin, and for the time being breaking up the proposed
+powerful combination against us.
+
+The bitter chagrin of the German Chancellor is well known in diplomatic
+circles, yet to Suzette Darbour our kid-gloved _coup_ meant her freedom.
+
+In my presence she openly defied Henry Banfield and cut herself adrift
+from him, while Charles Pierron, after his ignominious failure in
+Berlin, and possibly on account of certain allegations made by the rich
+American, who wished to get rid of him, was dismissed from the French
+Secret Service and disappeared, while the pretty Suzette, three months
+afterwards, married Armand Thomas.
+
+I was present at the quiet wedding out at Melun in the first days of
+1909, being the bearer of a costly present in the form of a pretty
+diamond pendant, as well as a dozen pairs of sixteen-button-length kid
+gloves from an anonymous donor.
+
+She alone knew that the pendant had been sent to her as a mark of
+gratitude by the grave-faced old peer, the confirmed woman-hater, who
+was Minister for Foreign Affairs of His Majesty King Edward the Seventh.
+
+More than once lately I have been a welcome visitor at the bright little
+apartment within a stone's-throw of the Etoile.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE SECRET OF OUR NEW GUN
+
+
+Ray and I were in Newcastle-on-Tyne a few weeks after our success in
+frustrating the German plot against England.
+
+Certain observations we had kept had led us to believe that a frantic
+endeavour was being made to obtain certain details of a new type of gun,
+of enormous power and range, which at that moment was under construction
+at the Armstrong Works at Elswick.
+
+The Tyne and Tees have long ago been surveyed by Germany, and no doubt
+the accurate and detailed information pigeon-holed in the Intelligence
+Bureau at Berlin would, if seen by the good people of Newcastle, cause
+them a _mauvais quart d'heure_, as well as considerable alarm.
+
+Yet there are one or two secrets of the Tyne and its defences which are
+fortunately not yet the property of our friends the enemy.
+
+Vera was in Switzerland with her father.
+
+But from our quarters at the Station Hotel in Newcastle we made many
+careful and confidential inquiries. We discovered, among other things,
+the existence of a secret German club in a back street off Grainger
+Street, and the members of this institution we watched narrowly.
+
+Now no British workman will willingly give away any secret to a foreign
+Power, and we did not suspect that any one employed at the great Elswick
+Works would be guilty of treachery. In these days of socialistic,
+fire-brand oratory there is always, however, the danger of a discharged
+workman making revelations with objects of private vengeance, never
+realising that it is a nation's secrets that he may be betraying. Yet in
+the course of a fortnight's inquiry we learned nothing to lead us to
+suspect that our enemies would obtain the information they sought.
+
+Among the members of the secret German club--which, by the way, included
+in its membership several Swiss and Belgians--was a middle-aged man who
+went by the name of John Barker, but who was either a German or a Swede,
+and whose real name most probably ended in "burger."
+
+He was, we found, employed as foreign-correspondence clerk in the
+offices of a well-known shipping firm, and amateur photography seemed
+his chief hobby. He had a number of friends, one of whom was a man named
+Charles Rosser, a highly respectable, hardworking man, who was a
+foreman fitter at Elswick.
+
+We watched the pair closely, for our suspicions were at last aroused.
+
+Rosser often spent the evening with his friend Barker at theatres and
+music-halls, and it was evident that the shipping clerk paid for
+everything. Once or twice Barker went out to Rosser's house in Dilston
+Road, close to the Nun's Moor Recreation Ground, and there spent the
+evening with his wife and family.
+
+We took turns at keeping observation, but one night Ray, who had been
+out following the pair, entered my room at the hotel, saying:
+
+"Barker is persuading his friend to buy a new house in the Bentinck
+Road. It's a small, neat little red-brick villa, just completed, and the
+price is three hundred and fifty pounds."
+
+"Well?" I asked.
+
+"Well, to-night I overheard part of their conversation. Barker actually
+offers to lend his friend half the money."
+
+"Ah!" I cried. "On certain conditions, I suppose?"
+
+"No conditions were mentioned, but, no doubt, he intends to get poor
+Rosser into his toils, that he'll be compelled to supply some
+information in order to save himself and his family from ruin. The spies
+of Germany are quite unscrupulous, remember!"
+
+"Yes," I remarked. "The truth is quite clear. We must protect Rosser
+from this. He's no doubt tempting the unsuspecting fellow, and posing
+as a man of means. Rosser doesn't know that his generous friend is a
+spy."
+
+For the next few days it fell to my lot to watch Barker. I followed him
+on Saturday afternoon to Tynemouth, where it seemed his hobby was to
+snap-shot incoming and outgoing ships at the estuary, at the same time
+asking of seafaring men in the vicinity how far the boat would be from
+the shore where he was standing.
+
+Both part of that afternoon and part of Sunday he was engaged in taking
+some measurements near the Ridges Reservoir, North Shields, afterwards
+going on to Tynemouth again, and snap-shotting the castle from various
+positions, the railway and its tunnels, the various slips, the jetty,
+the fish quay, the harbour, and the Narrows. Indeed, he seemed to be
+making a most careful photographic survey of the whole town.
+
+He carried with him a memorandum book, in which he made many notes. All
+this he did openly, in full presence of passers-by, and even of the
+police, for who suspects German spies in Tynemouth?
+
+About six o'clock on Sunday afternoon he entered the Royal Station
+Hotel, took off his light overcoat, and, hanging it in the hall, went
+into the coffee-room to order tea.
+
+I had followed him in order to have tea myself, and I took off my own
+overcoat and hung it up next to his.
+
+But I did not enter the coffee-room; instead, I went into the
+smoking-room. There I called for a drink, and, having swallowed it,
+returned to the pegs where our coats were hanging.
+
+Swiftly I placed my hand in the breast pocket of his coat, and there
+felt some papers which, in a second, I had seized and transferred to my
+own pocket. Then I put on my coat leisurely, and strolled across to the
+station.
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF THE NORTH SHIELDS RESERVOIRS, AND HOW TO CUT OFF
+THE WATER SUPPLY, PREPARED BY THE SPY JOHN BARKER.]
+
+A train was fortunately just about to leave for Newcastle, and I jumped
+in. Then when we had moved away from the platform I eagerly examined
+what I had secured.
+
+It consisted of a tipster's circular, some newspaper cuttings concerning
+football, a rough sketch of how the water supply of North Shields could
+be cut off, and a private letter from a business man which may be of
+interest if I reproduce it. It read as follows:
+
+
+    "Berkeley Chambers,
+          "Cannon Street,
+            "London, E.C.,
+              "_May 3rd_, 1908.
+
+     "MY DEAR JOHN,
+
+     "I herewith enclose the interest in advance--four five-pound
+     notes.
+
+     "Continue to act as you have done, and obtain orders wherever
+     possible.
+
+     "Business just now, I am glad to say, leaves but little to be
+     desired, and we hope that next year your share of profits may
+     be increased.
+
+     "We have every confidence in this, you understand.
+
+     "Write to us oftener and give us news of your doings, as we are
+     always interested in your welfare.
+
+     "It is unwise of you, I think, to doubt Uncle Charles, for I
+     have always found him to be a man in whom one can repose the
+     utmost confidence. He is, I believe, taking a house near
+     Tynemouth.
+
+     "Every one is at present well, but the spring in London is
+     always trying. However, we are hoping for warmer weather.
+
+     "My wife and the children, especially little Charlie,
+     Frederick, and Charlotte--who is growing quite a big
+     girl--send their love to you.
+
+    "Your affectionate cousin,
+              "HENRY LEWIS."
+
+That letter, innocent enough upon the face of it, contained certain
+instructions to the spy, besides enclosing his monthly payment of L20.
+
+Read by the alphabetical instructions with which every German secret
+agent is supplied and which vary in various districts, the message it
+contained was as follows:
+
+     (Phrase I) I send you your monthly payment.
+
+     (Phrase 2) Your informations during the past month are
+     satisfactory.
+
+     (Phrase 3) Your service in general is giving satisfaction, and
+     if it continues so, we shall at the next inspection augment
+     your monthly payment.
+
+     (Phrase 4) We wish you, however, to send us more detailed
+     notes, and report oftener.
+
+     (Phrase 5) Cease your observations upon Charles. We have what
+     we require. Turn your attention to defences at Tynemouth.
+
+     (Phrase 6) As you know, the chief (spring) is very difficult to
+     please, for at the last inspection we were given increased
+     work.
+
+     (Phrase 7) Remain in negotiation with your three
+     correspondents--Charles (meaning the foreman, Rosser),
+     Charlotte, and Frederick--until you hear further. You may make
+     them offers for the information.
+
+Thus it will be seen that any one into whose hands this letter from
+"Henry Lewis" fell would be unable to ascertain its real meaning.
+
+The fictitious Lewis, we afterwards discovered, occupied a small office
+in Berkeley Chambers in the guise of a commission agent, but was no
+doubt the travelling agent whose actions were controllable by Hermann
+Hartmann, but who in turn controlled the fixed agents of that district
+lying between the Humber and the Tweed.
+
+Most of these travelling agents visit their fixed agents--the men who do
+the real work of espionage--in the guise of a commercial traveller if
+the agent is a shopkeeper, or if he is not, he will represent himself as
+a client or an insurance agent, an auctioneer or a house agent. This
+last _metier_ is greatly recommended by the German Secret Police as the
+best mode of concealing espionage, and is adopted by the most dangerous
+and ingenious of the spies.
+
+When I returned I showed my treasures to Ray, who at once became
+excited.
+
+"The fellow is a fixed agent here in Newcastle, no doubt," he declared.
+"We must watch him well."
+
+We continued our observations. The spy and Rosser were inseparable. They
+met each evening, and more than once the whole Rosser family went out to
+entertainments at Mr. Barker's expense. He would allow the foreman
+fitter to pay for nothing.
+
+Judicious inquiries at Elswick revealed the fact that Charles Rosser was
+one of the most skilful fitters in the employ of the firm, and that such
+was the confidence placed in him, that he was at present engaged in the
+finishing of the new gun which was to be a triumph of the British
+Navy--a weapon which was far and away in advance of any possessed by any
+other nation, or anything ever turned out from Krupp's.
+
+It was ticklish and exciting work, watching the two men and observing
+the subtle craftiness of the German, who was trying to get the honest
+Englishman into his power. But in our self-imposed campaign of
+contra-espionage we had had many stirring adventures, and after all, our
+life in Newcastle was not unpleasant. Barker was engaged at his office
+all day, and we were then free. It was only at evening when we were
+compelled to adopt those hundred and one subterfuges, and whenever the
+watching was wearisome and chill we always recollected that we were
+performing a patriotic duty, even though it be silent, unknown, and
+unrecognised.
+
+One night the pair were together in a bar in Westgate Road, when, from
+their conversation, it was made very clear to me that Barker had
+advanced his friend one hundred and seventy-five pounds, and that the
+deeds of the new house were to be signed next day. Rosser was extremely
+grateful to his friend. Half the purchase-money was to remain on
+mortgage--a mortgage made over to Barker himself--just as we had
+expected.
+
+The men clinked glasses, and it was plain that Rosser had not the least
+suspicion of the abyss opened before him. There are some men who are
+entirely unsuspecting, and perhaps the British workman is most of all.
+
+When I reported this to Ray and we had consulted together, we decided
+that the time was ripe to approach Rosser and expose his generous
+friend.
+
+It was now quite plain to us that Barker would quickly bring pressure to
+bear upon the foreman fitter to either supply a drawing and rough
+specifications of the new gun, or else come face to face with ruin. We
+had ascertained that, though an honest workman, Rosser only lived upon
+his weekly wages, and had nothing put by for the support of his wife and
+four children. The patriotic scruples of a man are not difficult to
+overcome when he sees his wife and family in danger of starvation.
+
+On the next evening we followed Rosser from his work up to Dilston Road
+and called at his clean and humble home.
+
+At first he greatly resented our intrusion, and was most indignant at
+our suggestion that he was about to be made a cat's-paw by the Kaiser's
+spies.
+
+But on production of the letter, which we deciphered, the plan of the
+Ridges Waterworks, and our allegations concerning his generous friend,
+he began to reflect.
+
+"Has he ever asked you about the new gun now being made at Elswick?" I
+asked.
+
+"Well"--he hesitated--"now I recall the fact, he has on several
+occasions."
+
+"Ah!" I said. "He intended to either ruin you, Rosser, or compel you to
+become a traitor."
+
+"He'd never do that!" declared the stout-hearted Briton. "By God! If
+what you tell me is true," he cried fiercely, "I'll wring the
+blackguard's neck."
+
+"No," I said, "don't do that. He's paid the purchase money for a new
+house for you, hasn't he?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then leave him to us. We'll compel him to hand back the mortgage, and
+your revenge shall be a new house at the expense of the German
+Government," whereat both Ray and he laughed heartily.
+
+Next night we faced the spy at his own rooms, and on pain of exposure
+and the police compelled him to hand over the new little villa to his
+intended victim unconditionally, a fact which caused him the most
+intense chagrin, and induced him to utter the most fearful threats of
+vengeance against us.
+
+But we had already had many such threats. So we only laughed at them.
+
+We had, however, the satisfaction of exposing the spy to the firm which
+employed him, and we were present on the platform of the Central Station
+when, two days later, having given up his rooms and packed his
+belongings, he left the Tyne-side for London, evidently to consult his
+travelling-inspector, "Henry Lewis."
+
+Several months passed. The attempt to obtain details of our new gun had
+passed completely from my mind.
+
+An inquiry which Ray and I had been actively prosecuting into an attempt
+to learn the secrets of the "transmitting-room" of our new
+_Dreadnoughts_ had led me to the south of Germany. I had had a rather
+exciting experience in Dresden and was now on my way back to London.
+
+"Ah! Your London is such a strange place. So dull, so _triste_--so very
+damp and foggy," remarked the girl seated in the train before me.
+
+"Not always, mademoiselle," I replied. "You have been there in winter.
+You should go in June. In the season it is as pleasant as anywhere else
+in the world."
+
+"I have no desire to return. And yet----"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"And yet I have decided to go straight on from the Gare du Nord."
+
+"The midday service! I shall cross by that also. We shall be
+fellow-travellers," I said.
+
+We were together in the night _rapide_ from Berlin to Paris, and had
+just left the great echoing station of Cologne, with few stops between
+there and Paris. Day was breaking.
+
+I had met Julie Granier under curious circumstances only a few hours
+before.
+
+At Berlin, being known to the controller of the Wagon-lit Company, I was
+at once given a two-berth compartment in the long, dusty sleeping-car,
+those big carriages in which I so often spent days, and nights too, for
+the matter of that.
+
+"M'sieur is for Paris?" asked the brown-uniformed conductor as I
+entered, and after flinging in my traps, I descended, went to the buffet
+and had a mazagran and cigarette until our departure.
+
+I had not sat there more than five minutes when the conductor, a man
+with whom I had travelled a dozen times, put his head in at the door,
+and, seeing me, withdrew. Then, a few moments later, he entered with a
+tall, dark-haired, good-looking girl, who stood aside as he approached
+me, cap in hand.
+
+"Excuse me, m'sieur, but a lady wishes to ask a great favour of you."
+
+"Of me? What is it?" I inquired, rising.
+
+Glancing at the tall figure in black, I saw that she was not more than
+twenty-two at the outside, and that she had the bearing and manner of a
+lady.
+
+"Well, m'sieur, she will explain herself," the man said, whereupon the
+fair stranger approached bowing, and exclaimed:
+
+"I trust m'sieur will pardon me for what I am about to ask," she said in
+French. "I know it is great presumption on my part, a total stranger,
+but the fact is that I am bound to get to Paris to-morrow. It is
+imperative--most imperative--that I should be there and keep an
+appointment. I find, however, that all the berths are taken, and that
+the only vacant one is in your compartment. I thought----" and she
+hesitated, with downcast eyes.
+
+"You mean that you want me to allow you to travel here, mademoiselle?" I
+said, with a smile.
+
+"Ah, m'sieur! If you would; if you only would! It would be an act of
+friendship that I would never forget."
+
+She saw my hesitation, and I detected how anxious she became. Her gloved
+hands were trembling, and she seemed agitated and pale to the lips.
+
+Again I scrutinised her. There was nothing of the spy or adventuress
+about her. On the contrary, she seemed a very charmingly modest young
+woman, for in continuation of her request she suggested that she could
+sit in the conductor's seat in the corridor.
+
+"But surely that would be rather wearisome, mademoiselle?" I said.
+
+"No, no, not at all. I must get to Paris at all costs. Ah, m'sieur! You
+will allow me to do as I ask, will you not? Do. I implore you."
+
+I made no reply, for truth to tell, although I was not suspicious, I
+hesitated to allow the fair stranger to be my travelling companion. It
+was against my principle. Yet reading disinclination in my silence, she
+continued:
+
+"Ah, m'sieur! If you only knew in what deadly peril I am! By granting
+this favour to me you can"--and she broke off short. "Well," she went
+on, "I may as well tell you the truth, m'sieur," and in her eyes there
+was a strange look that I had never seen in those of any woman before,
+"you can save my life."
+
+"Your life!" I echoed, but at that moment the sleeping-car conductor,
+standing at the buffet-door, called:
+
+"_En voiture_, m'sieur. The train is just starting."
+
+"Do take me," implored the girl. "Do, m'sieur. Do."
+
+There was no time for further discussion, therefore I did as she
+requested, and a few moments later, with a dressing-case, which was all
+the baggage she had, she mounted into the _wagon-lit_, and we moved off
+to the French capital.
+
+I offered her the sleeping-compartment to herself, but she steadily
+refused to accept it.
+
+"No, m'sieur, certainly not," was her reply. "I shall sit in the
+corridor all night, as I have already said."
+
+And so, hour after hour, while all the passengers had retired to rest,
+we sat at the end of the car and chatted. I asked her if she liked a
+cigarette, and she gladly accepted. So we smoked together, while she
+told me something of herself. She was a native of Orleans, where her
+people had been wealthy landowners, she said, but some unfortunate
+speculation on her father's part brought ruin to them, and she was now
+governess in the family of a certain Baron de Moret, of the Chateau de
+Moret, near Paris.
+
+A governess! I had believed from her dress and manner that she was at
+least the daughter of some French aristocrat, and I confess I was
+disappointed to find that she was only a superior servant.
+
+"I have just come from Breslau," she explained. "On very urgent
+business--business that concerns my own self. If I am not in Paris this
+morning I shall, in all probability, pay the penalty with my life."
+
+"How? What do you mean?"
+
+In the grey dawn as the express roared on towards Paris I saw that her
+countenance was that of a woman who held a secret. At first I had been
+conscious that there was something unusual about her, and suspected her
+to be an adventuress, but now, on further acquaintance, I became
+convinced that she held possession of some knowledge that she was
+yearning to betray, yet feared to do so.
+
+One fact that struck me as curious was that, in the course of our
+conversation, she showed that she knew my destination was London. At
+first this puzzled me, but on reflection I saw that the conductor,
+knowing me, had told her.
+
+At Erquelinnes we had descended and had our early _cafe complet_, and
+now as we rushed onward to the capital she had suddenly made up her mind
+to go through to London.
+
+"When we arrive in Paris I must leave you to keep my appointments," she
+said. "We will meet again at the Gare du Nord--at the Calais train, eh?"
+
+"Most certainly," was the reply.
+
+"Ah!" she sighed, looking straight into my face with those dark eyes
+that were so luminous. "You do not know--you can never guess what a
+great service you have rendered me by allowing me to travel here with
+you. My peril is the gravest that--well, that ever threatened a
+woman--yet now, by your aid, I shall be able to save myself. Otherwise,
+to-morrow my body would have been exposed in the Morgue--the corpse of a
+woman unknown."
+
+"These words of yours interest me."
+
+"Ah, m'sieur! You do not know. And I cannot tell you. It is a
+secret--ah! if I only dare speak you would help me, I know," and I saw
+in her face a look full of apprehension and distress.
+
+As she raised her hand to push the dark hair from her brow, as though it
+oppressed her, my eyes caught sight of something glistening upon her
+wrist, half concealed by the lace on her sleeve. It was a magnificent
+diamond bangle.
+
+Surely such an ornament would not be worn by a mere governess! I looked
+again into her handsome face, and wondered if she were deceiving me.
+
+"If it be in my power to assist you, mademoiselle, I will do so with the
+greatest pleasure. But, of course, I cannot without knowing the
+circumstances."
+
+"And I regret that my lips are closed concerning them," she sighed,
+looking straight before her despairingly.
+
+"Do you fear to go alone?"
+
+"I fear my enemies no longer," was her reply as she glanced at the
+little gold watch in her belt. "I shall be in Paris before noon--thanks
+to you, m'sieur."
+
+"Well, when you first made the request I had no idea of the urgency of
+your journey," I remarked. "But I'm glad, very glad, that I've had an
+opportunity of rendering you some slight service."
+
+"Slight, m'sieur? Why, you have saved me! I owe you a debt which I can
+never repay--never." And the laces at her throat rose and fell as she
+sighed, her wonderful eyes still fixed upon me.
+
+Gradually the wintry sun rose over the bare, frozen wine-lands over
+which we were speeding, when with a sudden application of the brakes we
+pulled up at a little station for a change of engine.
+
+Then, after three minutes, we were off again, until at nine o'clock we
+ran slowly into the huge terminus in Paris.
+
+She had tidied her hair, washed, brushed her dress, and, as I assisted
+her to alight, she bore no trace of her long journey across Germany and
+France. Strange how well French women travel! English women are always
+tousled and tumbled after a night journey, but a French or Italian woman
+never.
+
+"_Au revoir_, m'sieur, till twelve at the Gare du Nord," she exclaimed,
+with a merry smile and a bow as she drove away in a cab, leaving me upon
+the kerb gazing after her and wondering.
+
+Was she really a governess, as she pretended?
+
+Her clothes, her manner, her smart chatter, her exquisite _chic_, all
+revealed good breeding and a high station in life. There was no touch of
+cheap shabbiness--or at least I could not detect it.
+
+A few moments before twelve she alighted at the Gare du Nord and greeted
+me merrily. Her face was slightly flushed, and I thought her hand
+trembled as I took it. But together we walked to the train, wherein I
+had already secured seats and places in the _wagon-restaurant_.
+
+The railway officials, the controller of the train, the chief of the
+restaurant, and other officials, recognising me, saluted, whereupon she
+said:
+
+"You seem very well known in Paris, m'sieur."
+
+"I'm a constant traveller," I replied, with a laugh. "A little too
+constant, perhaps. One gets wearied with such continual travel as I am
+forced to undertake. I never know to-morrow where I may be, and I move
+swiftly from one capital to another, never spending more than a day or
+two in the same place."
+
+"But it must be very pleasant to travel so much," she declared. "I would
+love to be able to do so. I'm passionately fond of constant change."
+
+Together we travelled to Calais, crossed to Dover, and that same evening
+alighted at Victoria.
+
+On our journey to London she gave me an address in the Vauxhall Bridge
+Road, where, she said, a letter would find her. She refused to tell me
+her destination, or to allow me to see her into a hansom. This latter
+fact caused me considerable reflection. Why had she so suddenly made up
+her mind to come to London, and why should I not know whither she went
+when she had told me so many details concerning herself?
+
+Of one fact I felt quite convinced, namely, that she had lied to me. She
+was not a governess, as she pretended. Besides, I had been seized by
+suspicion that a tall, thin-faced, elderly man, rather shabbily dressed,
+whom I had noticed on the platform in Paris, had followed us. He had
+travelled second-class, and, on alighting at Victoria, had quickly made
+his way through the crowd until he lingered quite close to us as I
+wished her farewell.
+
+His reappearance there recalled to me that he had watched us as we had
+walked up and down the platform of the Gare du Nord, and had appeared
+intensely interested in all our movements. Whether my pretty travelling
+companion noticed him I do not know. I, however, followed her as she
+walked out of the station carrying her dressing-bag, and saw the tall
+man striding after her. Adventurer was written upon the fellow's face.
+His grey moustache was upturned, and his keen grey eyes looked out from
+beneath shaggy brows, while his dark, thread-bare overcoat was tightly
+buttoned across his chest for greater warmth.
+
+Without approaching her he stood back in the shadow and saw her enter a
+hansom in the station-yard and drive out into Buckingham Palace Road. It
+was clear that she was not going to the address she had given me, for
+she was driving in the opposite direction.
+
+My duty was to drive direct to Bruton Street to see Ray and report what
+I had discovered, but so interested was I in the thin-faced watcher that
+I gave over my wraps to a porter who knew me, exchanged my heavy
+travelling-coat for a lighter one I happened to have, and walked out to
+keep further observation upon the stranger.
+
+Had not mademoiselle declared herself to be in danger of her life? If
+so, was it not possible that this fellow, whoever he was, was a secret
+assassin?
+
+I did not like the aspect of the affair at all. I ought to have warned
+her against him, and I now became filled with regret. She was a complete
+mystery, and as I dogged the footsteps of the unknown foreigner--for
+that he undoubtedly was--I became more deeply interested in what was in
+progress.
+
+He walked to Trafalgar Square, where he hesitated in such a manner as to
+show that he was not well acquainted with London. He did not know which
+of the converging thoroughfares to take. At last he inquired of the
+constable on point-duty, and then went up St. Martin's Lane.
+
+As soon as he had turned I approached the policeman, and asked what the
+stranger wanted, explaining that he was a suspicious character whom I
+was following.
+
+"'E's a Frenchman, sir. 'E wants Burton Crescent."
+
+"Where's that?"
+
+"Why, just off the Euston Road--close to Judd Street. I've told 'im the
+way."
+
+I entered a hansom and drove to the place in question, a semicircle of
+dark-looking, old-fashioned houses of the Bloomsbury type--most of them
+let out in apartments. Then alighting, I loitered for half an hour up
+and down to await the arrival of the stranger.
+
+He came at last, his tall, meagre figure looming dark in the lamp-light.
+Very eagerly he walked round the Crescent, examining the numbers of the
+houses, until he came to one rather cleaner than the others, of which he
+took careful observation.
+
+I, too, took note of the number.
+
+Afterwards the stranger turned into the Euston Road, crossed to King's
+Cross Station, where he sent a telegram, and then went to one of the
+small uninviting private hotels in the neighbourhood. Having seen him
+there, I returned to Burton Crescent, and for an hour watched the house,
+wondering whether Julie Granier had taken up her abode there. To me it
+seemed as though the stranger had overheard the directions she had given
+the cabman.
+
+The windows of the house were closed by green Venetian blinds. I could
+see that there were lights in most of the rooms, while over the fanlight
+of the front door was a small transparent square of glass. The front
+steps were well kept, and in the deep basement was a well-lighted
+kitchen.
+
+I had been there about half an hour when the door opened, and a
+middle-aged man in evening dress, and wearing a black overcoat and crush
+hat, emerged. His dark face was an aristocratic one, and as he descended
+the steps he drew on his white gloves, for he was evidently on his way
+to the theatre. I took good notice of his face, for it was a striking
+countenance, one which once seen could never be forgotten.
+
+A man-servant behind him blew a cab-whistle, a hansom drew up, and he
+drove away. Then I walked up and down in the vicinity, keeping a weary
+vigil, for my curiosity was now much excited. The stranger meant
+mischief. Of that I was certain.
+
+The one point I wished to clear up was whether Julie Granier was
+actually within that house. But though I watched until I became half
+frozen in the drizzling rain, all was in vain. So I took a cab and drove
+to Bruton Street.
+
+That same night, when I got to my rooms, I wrote a line to the address
+that Julie had given me, asking whether she would make an appointment to
+meet me, as I wished to give her some very important information
+concerning herself, and to this, on the following day, I received a
+reply asking me to call at the house in Burton Crescent that evening at
+nine o'clock.
+
+Naturally I went. My surmise was correct that the house watched by the
+stranger was her abode. The fellow was keeping observation upon it with
+some evil intent.
+
+The man-servant, on admitting me, showed me into a well-furnished
+drawing-room on the first floor, where sat my pretty travelling
+companion ready to receive me.
+
+In French she greeted me very warmly, bade me be seated, and after some
+preliminaries inquired the nature of the information which I wished to
+impart to her.
+
+Very briefly I told her of the shabby watcher, whereupon she sprang to
+her feet with a cry of mingled terror and surprise.
+
+"Describe him--quickly!" she urged in breathless agitation.
+
+I did so, and she sat back again in her chair, staring straight before
+her.
+
+"Ah!" she gasped, her countenance pale as death. "Then they mean
+revenge, after all. Very well! Now that I am forewarned I shall know how
+to act."
+
+She rose, and pacing the room in agitation pushed back the dark hair
+from her brow. Then her hands clenched themselves, and her teeth were
+set, for she was desperate.
+
+The shabby man was an emissary of her enemies. She told me as much. Yet
+in all she said was mystery. At one moment I was convinced that she had
+told the truth when she said she was a governess, and at the next I
+suspected her of trying to deceive.
+
+Presently, after she had handed me a cigarette, the servant tapped the
+door, and a well-dressed man entered--the same man I had seen leave the
+house two nights previously.
+
+"May I introduce you?" mademoiselle asked. "M'sieur Jacox--M'sieur le
+Baron de Moret."
+
+"Charmed to make your acquaintance, sir," the Baron said, grasping my
+hand. "Mademoiselle here has already spoken of you."
+
+"The satisfaction is mutual, I assure you, Baron," was my reply, and
+then we reseated ourselves and began to chat.
+
+Suddenly mademoiselle made some remark in a language--some Slav
+language--which I did not understand. The effect it had upon the
+newcomer was almost electrical. He started from his seat, glaring at
+her. Then he began to question her rapidly in the unknown tongue.
+
+He was a flashily dressed man of overbearing manner, with a thick neck
+and square, determined chin. It was quite evident that the warning I had
+given them aroused their apprehension, for they held a rapid
+consultation, and then Julie went out, returning with another man, a
+dark-haired, low-bred looking foreigner, who spoke the same tongue as
+his companions.
+
+They disregarded my presence altogether in their eager consultation;
+therefore I rose to go, for I saw that I was not wanted.
+
+Julie held my hand and looked into my eyes in mute appeal. She appeared
+anxious to say something to me in private. At least that was my
+impression.
+
+When I left the house I passed, at the end of the Crescent, a shabby man
+idly smoking. Was he one of the watchers?
+
+Four days went by.
+
+One evening I was passing through the red-carpeted hall of the Savoy
+Hotel when a neatly dressed figure in black rose and greeted me. It was
+Julie, who seemed to have been awaiting me.
+
+"May I speak to you?" she asked breathlessly, when we had exchanged
+greetings. "I wish to apologise for the manner in which I treated you
+the other evening."
+
+I assured her that no apologies were needed, and together we seated
+ourselves in a corner.
+
+"I really ought not to trouble you with my affairs," she said presently,
+in an apologetic tone. "But you remember what I told you when you so
+kindly allowed me to travel by the _wagon-lit_--I mean of my peril?"
+
+"Certainly. But I thought it was all over."
+
+"I foolishly believed that it was. But I am watched--I--I'm a marked
+woman." Then, after some hesitation, she added, "I wonder if you would
+do me another favour. You could save my life, M'sieur Jacox, if you only
+would."
+
+"Well, if I can render you such a service, mademoiselle, I shall be only
+too delighted."
+
+"At present my plans are immature," she answered after a pause. "But why
+not dine with me to-morrow night? We have some friends, but we shall be
+able to escape them and discuss the matter alone. Do come!"
+
+I accepted, and she, taking a taxi in the Strand, drove off.
+
+On the following night at eight I entered the comfortable drawing-room
+in Burton Crescent, where three well-dressed men and three rather smart
+ladies were assembled, including my hostess. They were all foreigners,
+and among them was the Baron, who appeared to be the most honoured
+guest. It was now quite plain that, instead of being a governess as she
+had asserted, my friend was a lady of good family, and the Baron's
+social equal.
+
+The party was a very pleasant one, and there was considerable merriment
+at table. My hostess's apprehension of the previous day had all
+disappeared, while the Baron's demeanour was one of calm security.
+
+I sat at her left hand, and she was particularly gracious to me, the
+whole conversation at table being in French.
+
+At last, after dessert, the Baron remarked that, as it was his birthday,
+we should have snap-dragon, and, with his hostess's permission, left the
+dining-room and prepared it. Presently it appeared in a big antique
+Worcester bowl, and was placed on the table close to me.
+
+Then the electric light was switched off and the spirit ignited.
+
+Next moment with shouts of laughter, the blue flames shedding a weird
+light upon our faces, we were pulling the plums out of the fire--a
+childish amusement.
+
+I had placed one in my mouth, and swallowed it, but as I was taking a
+second from the blue flames, I suddenly felt a faintness. At first I put
+it down to the heat of the room, but a moment later I felt a sharp spasm
+through my heart, and my brain swelled too large for my skull. My jaws
+were set. I tried to speak, but was unable to articulate a word!
+
+I saw the fun had stopped, and the faces of all were turned upon me
+anxiously. The Baron had risen, and his dark countenance peered into
+mine with a fiendish murderous expression.
+
+"I'm ill!" I gasped. "I--I'm sure I'm poisoned!"
+
+The faces of all smiled again, while the Baron uttered some words which
+I could not understand, and then there was a dead silence, all still
+watching me intently.
+
+"You fiends!" I cried, with a great effort, as I struggled to rise.
+"What have I done to you that you should--_poison--me_?"
+
+I know that the Baron grinned in my face, and that I fell forward
+heavily upon the table, my heart gripped in the spasm of death.
+
+Of what occurred afterwards I have no recollection, for, when I slowly
+regained knowledge of things around me, I found myself, cramped and
+cold, lying beneath a bare, leafless hedge in a grass field. I managed
+to struggle to my feet and discovered myself in a bare, flat, open
+country. As far as I could judge it was midday.
+
+I got to a gate, skirted a hedge, and gained the main road. With
+difficulty I walked to the nearest town, a distance of about four miles,
+without meeting a soul, and to my surprise found myself in Hitchin. The
+spectacle of a man entering the town in evening dress and hatless in
+broad daylight was, no doubt, curious, but I was anxious to return to
+London and give information against those who had, without any apparent
+motive, laid an ingenious plot to poison me.
+
+At the old Sun Inn, which motorists from London know so well, I learned
+that the time was eleven in the morning. The only manner in which I
+could account for my presence in Hitchin was that, believed to be dead
+by the Baron and his accomplices, I had been conveyed in a motor-car to
+the spot where I was found.
+
+A few shillings remained in my pocket, and, strangely enough, beside me
+when I recovered consciousness I had found a small fluted phial marked
+"Prussic acid--poison." The assassins had attempted to make it apparent
+that I had committed suicide!
+
+Two hours later, after a rest and a wash, I borrowed an overcoat and
+golf-cap and took the train to King's Cross.
+
+At Judd Street Police Station I made a statement, and with two
+plain-clothes officers returned to the house in Burton Crescent, only to
+find that the fair Julie and her friends had flown.
+
+On forcing the door, we found the dining-table just as it had been left
+after the poisoned snap-dragon of the previous night. Nothing had been
+touched. Only Julie, the Baron, the man-servant, and the guests had all
+gone, and the place was deserted.
+
+The police were utterly puzzled at the entire absence of motive.
+
+On my return to Guilford Street I at once telephoned to Ray, and he was
+quickly with me, Vera accompanying him.
+
+I related the whole of the circumstances, while my friends sat listening
+very attentively.
+
+"Well," Ray said at last, "it's a great pity, old chap, you didn't
+mention this before. The Baron de Moret is no other person than Lucien
+Carron, one of Hartmann's most trusted agents, while Julie's real name
+is Erna Hertfeldt, a very clever female spy, who has, of late, been
+engaged in endeavouring to obtain certain facts regarding the defences
+of the Humber estuary. She was recalled to Berlin recently to consult
+Hirsch, chief of the German Intelligence Department. You evidently came
+across her on her way back, while the old man whom she met at the Gare
+du Nord was Josef Gleichen, the spy whom I told you was in association
+with Barker up at Newcastle."
+
+"Ah! I remember," I cried. "I never saw him."
+
+"But he had evidently seen you, and again recognised you," Ray replied.
+"It seems that he must have followed you to London, where, having told
+Lucien Carron, or 'the Baron,' of your return, they formed a plot to
+avenge your action up at Elswick."
+
+"Then I was entrapped by that woman Julie, eh?" I exclaimed, my head
+still feeling sore and dizzy.
+
+"Without a doubt. The spies have made yet another attempt upon your
+life, Mr. Jacox," Vera remarked.
+
+"But why did they take me out in a motor-car to Hitchin?"
+
+"To make it appear like a case of suicide," Ray said. "Remember that
+both of us, old chap, are marked men by Hartmann and his unscrupulous
+friends. But what does it matter if we have managed to preserve the
+secret of our new gun? We'll be even with our enemies for this one day
+ere long, mark me," he laughed, as he lit a fresh cigarette.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE SECRET OF THE CLYDE DEFENCES
+
+
+A curious episode was that of the plans of the Clyde Defences. It was a
+February evening. Wet, tired, and hungry, I turned the long grey touring
+car into the yard of the old "White Hart," at Salisbury, and descended
+with eager anticipation of a big fire and comfortable dinner.
+
+My mechanic Bennett and I had been on the road since soon after dawn,
+and we yet had many miles to cover. Two months ago I had mounted the car
+at the garage in Wardour Street and set out upon a long and weary
+ten-thousand-mile journey in England, not for pleasure, as you may well
+imagine--but purely upon business. My business, to be exact, was
+reconnoitring, from a military stand-point, all the roads and by-roads
+lying between the Tyne and the Thames as well as certain districts
+south-west of London, in order to write the book upon similar lines to
+_The Invasion of 1910_.
+
+For two months we had lived upon the road. Sometimes Ray and Vera had
+travelled with me. When Bennett and I had started it was late and
+pleasant autumn. Now it was bleak, black winter, and hardly the kind of
+weather to travel twelve or fourteen hours daily in an open car. Day
+after day, week after week, the big "sixty" had roared along, ploughing
+the mud of those ever-winding roads of England until we had lost all
+count of the days of the week; my voluminous note-books were gradually
+being filled with valuable data, and the nerves of both of us were
+becoming so strained that we were victims of insomnia. Hence at night,
+when we could not sleep, we travelled.
+
+In a great portfolio in the back of the car I carried the six-inch
+ordnance map of the whole of the east of England divided into many
+sections, and upon these I was carefully marking out, as result of my
+survey, the weak points of our land in case an enemy invaded our shores
+from the North Sea. All telegraphs, telephones, and cables from London
+to Germany and Holland I was especially noting, for would not the
+enemy's emissaries, before they attempted to land, seize all means of
+communication with the metropolis? Besides this I took note of places
+where food could be obtained, lists of shops, and collected a quantity
+of other valuable information.
+
+In this work I had been assisted by half a dozen of the highest officers
+of the Intelligence Department of the War Office, as well as other
+well-known experts--careful, methodical work prior to writing my
+forecast of what must happen to our beloved country in case of invasion.
+The newspapers had referred to my long journey of inquiry, and often
+when I arrived in a town, our car, smothered in mud, yet its powerful
+engines running like a clock, was the object of public curiosity, while
+Bennett, with true chauffeur-like imperturbability, sat immovable,
+utterly regardless of the interest we created. He was a
+gentleman-driver, and the best man at the wheel I ever had.
+
+When we were in a hurry he would travel nearly a mile a minute over an
+open road, sounding his siren driven off the fly-wheel, and scenting
+police-traps, with the happy result that we were never held up for
+exceeding the limit. We used to take it in turns to drive--three hours
+at a time.
+
+On that particular night, when we entered Salisbury from Wincanton Road,
+having come up from Exeter, it had been raining unceasingly all day, and
+we presented a pretty plight in our yellow fishermen's oilskins--which
+we had bought weeks before in King's Lynn as the only means of keeping
+dry--dripping wet and smothered to our very eyes in mud.
+
+After a hasty wash I entered the coffee-room, and found that I was the
+sole diner save a short, funny, little old lady in black bonnet and
+cape, and a young, rather pretty, well-dressed girl, whom I took to be
+her daughter, seated at a table a little distance away.
+
+Both glanced at me as they entered, and I saw that ere I was half
+through my meal their interest in me had suddenly increased. Without
+doubt, the news of my arrival had gone round the hotel, and the waiter
+had informed the pair of my identity.
+
+It was then eight o'clock, and I had arranged with Bennett that after a
+rest, we would push forward at half-past ten by Marlborough, as far as
+Swindon, on our way to Birmingham.
+
+The waiter had brought me a couple of telegrams from Ray telling me good
+news of another inquiry he was instituting, and having finished my meal
+I was seated alone by the smoking-room fire enjoying a cigarette and
+liqueur. Indeed, I had almost fallen asleep when the waiter returned,
+saying:
+
+"Excuse me, sir, but there's a lady outside in great distress. She wants
+to speak to you for a moment, and asks if she may come in." He presented
+a card, and the name upon it was "Mrs. Henry Bingham."
+
+Rather surprised, I nevertheless consented to see her, and in a few
+moments the door reopened and the younger of the two ladies I had seen
+at dinner entered.
+
+She bowed to me as I rose, and then, evidently in a state of great
+agitation, she said:
+
+"I must apologise for disturbing you, only--only I thought perhaps you
+would be generous enough, when you have heard of our difficulty, to
+grant my mother and I a favour."
+
+"If I can be of any assistance to you, I shall be most delighted, I'm
+sure," I answered, as her big grey eyes met mine.
+
+"Well," she said, looking me straight in the face, "the fact is that our
+car has broken down--something wrong with the clutch, our man says--and
+we can't get any further to-night. We are on our way to Swindon--to my
+husband, who has met with an accident and is in the hospital, but--but,
+unfortunately, there is no train to-night. Your chauffeur has told our
+man that you are just leaving for Swindon, and my mother and I have been
+wondering--well--whether we might encroach upon your good nature and
+beg seats in your car?"
+
+"You are quite welcome to travel with me, of course," I replied without
+hesitation. "But I fear that on such a night it will hardly be pleasant
+to travel in an open car."
+
+"Oh, we don't mind that a bit," she assured me. "We have lots of
+waterproofs and things. It is really most kind of you. I had a telegram
+at four o'clock this afternoon that my husband had been taken to the
+hospital for operation, and naturally I am most anxious to be at his
+side."
+
+"Naturally," I said. "I regret very much that you should have such cause
+for distress. Let us start at once. I shall be ready in ten minutes."
+
+While she went back to her mother, I went out into the yard where the
+head-lights of my big "sixty" were gleaming.
+
+"We shall have two lady passengers to Swindon, Bennett," I said, as my
+chauffeur threw away his cigarette and approached me. "What kind of car
+have the ladies?"
+
+"A twenty-four. It's in the garage up yonder. The clutch won't hold, it
+seems. But their man's a foreigner, and doesn't speak much English. I
+suppose I'd better pack our luggage tighter, so as to give the ladies
+room."
+
+"Yes. Do so. And let's get on the road as soon as possible."
+
+"Very well, sir," responded the man as he entered the car and began
+packing our suit-cases together while almost immediately the two ladies
+emerged, the elder one, whose voice was harsh and squeaky, and who was,
+I noticed, very deformed, thanking me profusely.
+
+We stowed them away as comfortably as possible, and just as the
+cathedral chimes rang out half-past ten, the ladies gave parting
+injunctions to their chauffeur, and we drew out of the yard.
+
+I apologised for the dampness and discomfort of an open car, and briefly
+explained my long journey and its object. But both ladies--the name of
+the queer little old widow I understood to be Sandford--only laughed,
+and reassured me that they were all right.
+
+That night I drove myself. With the exhaust opened and roaring, and the
+siren shrieking, we sped along through the dark, rainy night up by old
+Sarum, through Netheravon, and across Overton Heath into Marlborough
+without once changing speed or speaking with my passengers. As we came
+down the hill from Ogbourne, I had to pull up suddenly for a farmer's
+cart, and turned, asking the pair behind how they were faring.
+
+As I did so I noticed that both of them seemed considerably flurried,
+but attributed it to the high pace we had been travelling when I had so
+suddenly pulled up on rounding the bend.
+
+Three-quarters of an hour later I deposited them at their destination,
+the "Goddard Arms," in Old Swindon, and, descending, received their
+profuse thanks, the elder lady giving me her card with an address in
+Earl's Court Road, Kensington, and asking me to call upon her when in
+London.
+
+It was then half an hour past midnight, but Bennett and I resolved to
+push forward as far as Oxford, which we did, arriving at the "Mitre"
+about half-past one, utterly fagged and worn out.
+
+Next day was brighter, and we proceeded north to Birmingham and across
+once again to the east coast, where the bulk of my work lay.
+
+About a fortnight went by. With the assistance of two well-known
+staff-officers I had been reconnoitring the country around Beccles, in
+Suffolk, which we had decided upon as a most important strategical
+point, and one morning I found myself at that old-fashioned hotel "The
+Cups," at Colchester, taking a day's rest. The two officers had returned
+to London, and I was again alone.
+
+Out in the garage I found a rather smart, good-looking man in navy serge
+chatting with Bennett and admiring my car. My chauffeur, with pardonable
+pride, had been telling him of our long journey, and as I approached,
+the stranger informed me of his own enthusiasm as a motorist.
+
+"Curiously enough," he added, "I have been wishing to meet you, in order
+to thank you for your kindness to my mother and sister the other night
+at Salisbury. My name is Sandford--Charles Sandford--and if I'm not
+mistaken we are members of the same club--White's."
+
+"Are we?" I exclaimed. "Then I'm delighted to make your acquaintance."
+
+We lounged together for half an hour, smoking and chatting, until
+presently he said:
+
+"I live out at Edwardstone, about ten miles from here. Why not come out
+and dine with me to-night? My place isn't very extensive, but it's cosy
+enough for a bachelor. I'd feel extremely honoured if you would. I'm all
+alone. Do come."
+
+Cosmopolitan that I am, yet I am not prone to accept the invitations of
+strangers. Nevertheless this man was not altogether a stranger, for was
+he not a member of my own club? Truth to tell, I had become bored by the
+deadly dullness of country hotels, therefore I was glad enough to accept
+his proffered hospitality and spend a pleasant evening.
+
+"Very well," he said. "I'll send a wire to my housekeeper, and I'll
+pilot you in your car to my place this evening. We'll start at seven,
+and dine at eight--if that will suit you?"
+
+And so it was arranged.
+
+Bennett had the whole of the day to go through the car and do one or two
+necessary repairs, while Sandford and myself idled about the town. My
+companion struck me as an exceedingly pleasant fellow, who, having
+travelled very extensively, now preferred a quiet existence in the
+country, with a little hunting and a little shooting in due season, to
+the dinners, theatres, and fevered haste of London life.
+
+The evening proved a very dark one with threatening rain as we turned
+out of the yard of "The Cups," Sandford and I seated behind. My friend
+directed Bennett from time to time, and soon we found ourselves out on
+the Sudbury road. We passed through a little place which I knew to be
+Heyland, and then turned off to the right, across what seemed to be a
+wide stretch of bleak, open country.
+
+Over the heath we went, our head-lights glaring far before us, for about
+two miles when my friend called to Bennett:
+
+"Turn to the left at the cross-roads."
+
+And a few moments later we were travelling rather cautiously up a rough
+by-road, at the end of which we came to a long, old-fashioned house--a
+farm-house evidently, transformed into a residence.
+
+The door was opened by a middle-aged, red-faced man-servant, and as I
+stepped within the small hall hung with foxes' masks, brushes, and other
+trophies, my friend wished me a hearty welcome to his home.
+
+The dining-room proved to be an old-fashioned apartment panelled from
+floor to ceiling. The table, set for two, bore a fine old silver
+candelabra, a quantity of antique plate, and, adorned with flowers, was
+evidently the table of a man who was comfortably off.
+
+We threw off our heavy coats and made ourselves cosy beside the fire
+when the servant, whom my host addressed as Henry, brought in the soup.
+Therefore we went to the table and commenced.
+
+The meal proved a well-cooked and well-chosen one, and I congratulated
+him upon his cook.
+
+"I'm forty, and for twenty years I was constantly on the move," he
+remarked, with a laugh. "Nowadays I'm glad to be able to settle down in
+England."
+
+A moment later I heard the sound of a car leaving the house.
+
+"Is that my car?" I asked, rather surprised.
+
+"Probably your man is taking it round to the back in order to put it
+under cover. Hark! it has started to rain."
+
+To me, however, the sound, growing fainter, was very much as though
+Bennett had driven the car away.
+
+The wines which Henry served so quietly and sedately were of the best.
+But both my host and myself drank little.
+
+Sandford was telling me of the strange romance concerning his sister
+Ellen and young Bingham--a man who had come into eight thousand a year
+from his uncle, and only a few days later had met with an accident in
+Swindon, having been knocked down by a train at a level-crossing.
+
+Presently, after dessert, our conversation ran upon ports and their
+vintages, when suddenly my host remarked:
+
+"I don't know whether you are a connoisseur of brandies, but I happen to
+have a couple of rather rare vintages. Let's try them."
+
+I confessed I knew but little about brandies.
+
+"Then I'll teach you how to test them in future," he laughed, adding,
+"Henry, bring up those three old cognacs, a bottle of ordinary brandy,
+and some liqueur-glasses."
+
+In a few minutes a dozen little glasses made their appearance on a
+tray, together with four bottles of brandy, three unlabelled, while the
+fourth bore the label of a well-known brand.
+
+"It is not generally known, I think, that one cannot test brandy with
+any degree of accuracy by the palate," he said, removing his cigar.
+
+"I wasn't aware of that," I said.
+
+"Well, I'll show you," he went on, and taking four glasses in a row he
+poured a little spirit out of each of the bottles into the bottoms of
+the glasses. This done, he twisted each glass round in order to wet the
+inside with the spirit, and the surplus he emptied into his finger-bowl.
+Then, handing me two, he said: "Just hold one in each hand till they're
+warm. So."
+
+And taking the remaining two he held one in the hollow of each hand.
+
+For a couple or three minutes we held them thus while he chatted about
+the various vintages. Then we placed them in a row.
+
+"Now," he said, "take up each one separately and smell it."
+
+I did so, and found a most pleasant perfume--each, however, quite
+separate and distinct, as different as eau-de-Cologne is from lavender
+water.
+
+"This," he said, after sniffing at one glass, "is 1815--Waterloo year--a
+magnificent vintage. And this," he went on, handing me the second glass,
+"is 1829--very excellent, but quite a distinct perfume, you notice. The
+third is 1864--also good. Of the 1815 I very fortunately have two
+bottles. Bellamy, in Pall Mall, has three bottles, and there are perhaps
+four bottles in all Paris. That is all that's left of it. The
+fourth--smell it--is the ordinary brandy of commerce."
+
+I did so, but the odour was nauseating after the sweet and distinct
+perfume of the other three.
+
+"Just try the 1815," he urged, carefully pouring out about a third of a
+glass of the precious pale gold liquid and handing it to me.
+
+I sipped it, finding it exceedingly pleasant to the palate. So old was
+it that it seemed to have lost all its strength. It was a really
+delicious liqueur--the liqueur of a gourmet, and assuredly a fitting
+conclusion to that excellent repast.
+
+"I think I'll have the '64," he said, pouring out a glass and swallowing
+it with all the gusto of a man whose chief delight was the satisfaction
+of his stomach.
+
+I took a cigarette from the big silver box he handed me, and I stretched
+out my hand for the matches.... Beyond that, curiously enough, I
+recollect nothing else.
+
+But stay! Yes, I do.
+
+I remember seeing, as though rising from out a hazy grey mist, a woman's
+face--the countenance of a very pretty girl, about eighteen, with big
+blue wide-open eyes and very fair silky hair--a girl, whose eyes bore in
+them a hideous look of inexpressible horror.
+
+Next instant the blackness of unconsciousness fell upon me.
+
+When I recovered I was amazed to find myself in bed, with the yellow
+wintry sunlight streaming into the low, old-fashioned room. For some
+time--how long I know not--I lay there staring at the diamond-paned
+window straight before me, vaguely wondering what had occurred.
+
+A sound at last struck the right chord of my memory--the sound of my
+host's voice exclaiming cheerily:
+
+"How do you feel, old chap? Better, I hope, after your long sleep. Do
+you know it's nearly two o'clock in the afternoon?"
+
+Two o'clock!
+
+After a struggle I succeeded in sitting up in bed.
+
+"What occurred?" I managed to gasp. "I--I don't exactly remember."
+
+"Why nothing, my dear fellow," declared my friend, laughing. "You were a
+bit tired last night, that's all. So I thought I wouldn't disturb you."
+
+"Where's Bennett?"
+
+"Downstairs with the car, waiting till you feel quite right again."
+
+I then realised for the first time that I was still dressed. Only my
+boots and collar and tie had been removed.
+
+Much puzzled, and wondering whether it were actually possible that I had
+taken too much wine, I rose to my feet and slowly assumed my boots.
+
+Was the man standing before me a friend, or was he an enemy?
+
+I recollected most distinctly sampling the brandy, but beyond
+that--absolutely nothing.
+
+At my host's orders Henry brought me up a refreshing cup of tea and
+after a quarter of an hour or so, during which Sandford declared that
+"such little annoying incidents occur in the life of every man," I
+descended and found Bennett waiting with the car before the door.
+
+As I grasped my host's hand in farewell he whispered confidentially.
+
+"Let's say nothing about it in future. I'll call and see you in town in
+a week or two--if I may."
+
+Mechanically I declared that I should be delighted, and mounting into
+the car we glided down the drive to the road.
+
+My brain was awhirl, and I was in no mood to talk. Therefore I sat with
+the frosty air blowing upon my fevered brow as we travelled back to
+Colchester.
+
+"I didn't know you intended staying the night, sir," Bennett ventured to
+remark just before we entered the town.
+
+"I didn't, Bennett."
+
+"But you sent word to me soon after we arrived, telling me to return at
+noon to-day. So I went back to 'The Cups,' and spent all this morning on
+the engines."
+
+"Who gave you that message?" I asked quickly.
+
+"Mr. Sandford's man, Henry."
+
+I sat in silence. What could it mean? What mystery was there?
+
+As an abstemious man I felt quite convinced that I had not taken too
+much wine. A single liqueur-glass of brandy certainly could never have
+produced such an effect upon me. And strangely enough that girl's face,
+so shadowy, so sweet, and yet so distorted by horror, was ever before
+me.
+
+Three weeks after the curious incident, having concluded my survey, I
+found myself back in Guilford Street, my journey at last ended.
+Pleasant, indeed, it was to sit again at one's own fireside after those
+wet, never-ending muddy roads upon which I had lived for so long, and
+very soon I settled down to arrange the mass of material I had collected
+and write my book.
+
+A few days after my return, in order to redeem my promise and to learn
+more of Charles Sandford, I called at the address of the queer old
+hump-backed widow in Earl's Court Road.
+
+To my surprise, I found the house in question empty, with every evidence
+of its having been to let for a year or more. There was no mistake in
+the number; it was printed upon her card. This discovery caused me
+increasing wonder.
+
+What did it all mean?
+
+Through many weeks I sat in my rooms in Bloomsbury constantly at work
+upon my book. The technicalities were many and the difficulties not a
+few. One of the latter--and perhaps the chief one--was to so disguise
+the real vulnerable points of our country which I had discovered on my
+tour with military experts as to mislead the Germans, who might seek to
+make use of the information I conveyed. The book, to be of value, had, I
+recognised, to be correct in detail, yet at the same time it must
+suppress all facts that might be of use to a foreign Power.
+
+The incident near Colchester had nearly passed from my mind, when one
+night in February, 1909, I chanced to be having supper with Ray Raymond
+and Vera at the "Carlton," when at the table on the opposite side of the
+big room sat a smart, dark-haired young man with a pretty girl in
+turquoise-blue.
+
+As I looked across, our eyes met. In an instant I recollected that I had
+seen that countenance somewhere before. Yes. It was actually the face of
+that nightmare of mine after sampling Sandford's old cognac! I sat there
+staring at her, like a man in a dream. The countenance was the sweetest
+and most perfect I had ever gazed upon. Yet why had I seen it in my
+unconsciousness?
+
+I noticed that she started. Then, turning her head, she leaned over and
+whispered something to her companion. Next moment, pulling her cloak
+about her shoulders, she rose, and they both left hurriedly.
+
+What could her fear imply? Why was she in such terror of me? That look
+of horror which I had seen on that memorable night was again there--yet
+only for one single second.
+
+My impulse was to rise and dash after the pair. Yet, not being
+acquainted with her, I should only, by so doing, make a fool of myself
+and also annoy my lady friend.
+
+And so for many days and many weeks the remembrance of that sweet and
+dainty figure ever haunted me. I took a holiday, spending greater part
+of the time on a friend's yacht in the Norwegian fjords. Yet I could not
+get away from that face and the curious mystery attaching to it.
+
+On my return home, I was next day rung up on the telephone by my friend
+Major Carmichael, of the Intelligence Department of the War Office, who
+had been one of my assistants in preparing the forthcoming book. At his
+urgent request I went round to see him in Whitehall, and on being
+ushered into his office, I was introduced to a tall, dark-bearded man,
+whose name I understood to be Shayler.
+
+"My dear Jacox," exclaimed the Major, "forgive me for getting you here
+in order to cross-examine you, but both Shayler and myself are eagerly
+in search of some information. You recollect those maps of yours, marked
+with all sorts of confidential memoranda relating to the East
+Coast--facts that would be of the utmost value to the German War
+Office--what did you do with them?"
+
+"I deposited them here. I suppose they're still here," was my reply.
+
+"Yes. But you'll recollect my warning long ago, when you were
+reconnoitring. Did you ever allow them to pass out of your hands?"
+
+"Never. I carried them in my portfolio, the key of which was always on
+my chain."
+
+"Then what do you think of these?" he asked, walking to a side table
+where lay a pile of twenty or thirty glass photographic negatives. And
+taking up one of them, he handed it to me.
+
+It was a photograph of one of my own maps! The plan was the section of
+country in the vicinity of Glasgow. Upon it I saw notes in my own
+handwriting, the tracing of the telegraph wires with the communications
+of each wire, and dozens of other facts of supreme importance to the
+invader.
+
+"Great heavens!" I gasped. "Where did you get that?"
+
+"Shayler will tell you, my dear fellow!" answered the Major. "It seems
+that you've been guilty of some sad indiscretion."
+
+"I am attached to the Special Department at New Scotland Yard,"
+explained the dark-bearded man. "Two months ago a member of the secret
+service in the employ of our Foreign Office made a report from Berlin
+that a young girl, named Gertie Drew, living in a Bloomsbury
+boarding-house, had approached the German military attache offering, for
+three thousand pounds, to supply him with photographs of a number of
+confidential plans of our eastern counties and of the Clyde defences.
+The attache had reported to the War Office in Berlin, hence the
+knowledge obtained by the British secret agent. The matter was at once
+placed in my hands, and since that time I have kept careful observation
+upon the girl--who has been a photographer's assistant--and those in
+association with her. The result is that I have fortunately managed to
+obtain possession of these negatives of your annotated plans."
+
+"But how?" I demanded.
+
+"By making a bold move," was the detective's reply. "The Germans were
+already bargaining for these negatives when I became convinced that the
+girl was only the tool of a man who had also been a photographer, and
+who had led a very adventurous life--an American living away in the
+country, near Colchester, under the name of Charles Sandford."
+
+"Sandford!" I gasped, staring at him. "What is the girl like?"
+
+"Here is her portrait," was the detective's reply.
+
+Yes! It was the sweet face of my nightmare!
+
+"What have you discovered regarding Sandford?" I asked presently, when I
+had related to the two men the story of the meeting at Salisbury and
+also my night's adventure.
+
+"Though born in America and adopting an English name, his father was
+German, and we strongly suspect him of having, on several occasions,
+sold information to Germany. Yesterday, feeling quite certain of my
+ground, I went down into Essex with a search warrant and made an
+examination of the house. Upstairs I found a very complete photographic
+plant, and concealed beneath the floor-boards in the dining-room was a
+box containing these negatives, many of them being of your maps of the
+Clyde defences, which they were just about to dispose of. The man had
+got wind that we were keeping observation upon him, and had already
+fled. The gang consisted of an old hump-backed woman, who posed as his
+mother, a young woman, who he said was his married sister, but who was
+really the wife of his man-servant, and the girl Drew, who was his
+photographic assistant."
+
+"Where's the girl? I suppose you don't intend to arrest her?"
+
+"I think not. If you saw her perhaps you might induce her to tell you
+the truth. The plot to photograph those plans while you were insensible
+was certainly a cleverly contrived one, and it's equally certain that
+the two women you met in Salisbury only travelled with you in order to
+be convinced that you really carried the precious maps with you."
+
+"Yes," I admitted, utterly amazed. "I was most cleverly trapped, but it
+is most fortunate that we were forewarned, and that our zealous friends
+across the water have been prevented from purchasing the detailed
+exposure of our most vulnerable points."
+
+That afternoon, Gertie Drew, the neat-waisted girl with the fair face,
+walked timidly into my room, and together we sat for fully an hour,
+during which time she explained how the man Sandford had abstracted the
+portfolio from my car and substituted an almost exact replica, prior to
+sending Bennett back to Colchester, and how at the moment of my
+unconsciousness--as he was searching me for my key--she had entered the
+dining-room when I had opened my eyes, and staring at her had accused
+her of poisoning me. She knew she had been recognised, and that had
+caused her alarm in the "Carlton."
+
+That Sandford had managed to replace the portfolio in the car and
+abstract the replica next day was explained, and that he had held the
+girl completely in his power was equally apparent. Therefore, I have
+since obtained for her a situation with a well-known firm of
+photographers in Regent Street, where she still remains. The hump-backed
+woman and her pseudo-daughter have never been seen since, but only a
+couple of months ago there was recovered from the Rhine at Coblenz the
+body of a man whose head was fearfully battered, and whom the police, by
+his clothes and papers upon him, identified as Charles Sandford, the man
+with whom I shall ever remember partaking of that peculiarly seductive
+glass of 1815 cognac.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE PERIL OF LONDON
+
+
+Certain information obtained by Ray led us to adopt a novel method of
+trapping one of the Kaiser's secret agents.
+
+About six months after my curious motoring adventure in Essex I sent to
+the _Berliner Tageblatt_, in Berlin, an advertisement, offering myself
+as English valet to any German gentleman coming to England, declaring
+that I had excellent references, and that I, Henry Dickson, had been in
+service with several English noblemen.
+
+The replies forwarded to me caused us considerable excitement. Vera was
+with us at New Stone Buildings when the postman brought the bulky
+packet, and we at once proceeded to read them one by one.
+
+"Holloa!" she cried, holding up one of the letters. "Here you are, Mr.
+Jacox! The Baron Heinrich von Ehrenburg has replied!"
+
+Eagerly we read the formal letter from the German aristocrat, dated from
+the Leipziger Strasse, Berlin, stating that, being about to take up his
+residence in London, he was in want of a good and reliable English
+servant. He would be at the Ritz Hotel in four days' time, and he made
+an appointment for me to call.
+
+"Good!" cried Ray. "You must ask very little wages. Germans are a stingy
+lot. The Baron has been acting as a secret agent of the Kaiser in Paris,
+but had to fly on account of the recent Ullmo affair at Toulon. He's a
+very clever spy--about as clever, indeed, as Hartmann himself. Why he is
+coming to England is not quite clear. But we must find out."
+
+For the next four days I waited in great anxiety, and when, at the
+appointed hour, I presented myself at the "Ritz" and was shown into the
+private salon, the middle-aged, fair-haired, rather elegant man eyed me
+up and down swiftly as I stood before him with great deference.
+
+I was about to play a dangerous game.
+
+After a number of questions, and an examination of my credentials, all
+of which, I may as well admit, had been prepared by Ray and Vera, he
+engaged me, and that same evening I entered upon my duties, greatly to
+the satisfaction of Vera and her lover.
+
+Fortunately I was not known at the "Ritz," and was therefore able for
+the first week or so to do my valeting, brushing my master's clothes,
+polishing his boots, getting out his dress-suit, and other such duties,
+undisturbed, my eyes, however, always open to get a glimpse of any
+papers that might be left in the pockets or elsewhere.
+
+Twice he drove to Pont Street and dined with Hartmann. The pair were in
+frequent consultation, it seemed, for one afternoon the chief of the
+German spies in England called, and was closeted closely with my master
+for fully two hours.
+
+I stood outside the door, but unfortunately the doors of the "Ritz" are
+so constructed that nothing can be heard in the corridors. All I knew
+was that, on being called in to give a message over the telephone, I saw
+lying on the table between them several English six-inch ordnance maps.
+
+No master could have been more generous than the Baron. He was tall,
+rather dandified, and seemed a great favourite with the ladies. Hartmann
+had introduced him to certain well-known members of the German colony in
+London, and he passed as the possessor of a big estate near Cochem, on
+the Moselle. He told me one day while I was brushing his coat that he
+preferred life in England to Germany. He, however, made no mention of
+his residence in France and how he had ingeniously induced a French
+naval officer to become a traitor.
+
+From the "Ritz" we, later on, removed into expensive quarters at
+"Claridge's," and here my master received frequent visits from a shabby,
+thin-faced, shrivelled-up old foreigner, whom I took to be a Dutchman,
+his name being Mr. Van Nierop.
+
+Whenever he called the Baron and he held close consultation, sometimes
+for hours. We travelled to Eastbourne, Bournemouth, Birmingham,
+Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other cities, yet ever and anon the shabby old
+Dutchman seemed to turn up at odd times and places, as though springing
+from nowhere.
+
+When absent from London, the Baron frequently sent telegraphic messages
+in cipher to a registered address in London. Were these, I wondered,
+intended for Hartmann or for the mysterious Van Nierop?
+
+The old fellow seemed to haunt us everywhere, dogging our footsteps
+continually, and appearing in all sorts of out-of-the-way places with
+his long, greasy overcoat, shabby hat, and shuffling gait, by which many
+mistook him for a Hebrew.
+
+And the more closely I watched my aristocratic master, the more
+convinced I became that Van Nierop and he were acting in collusion. But
+of what was in progress I could obtain no inkling.
+
+Frequently we moved quickly from one place to another, as though my
+master feared pursuit, then we went suddenly to Aix, Vichy, and
+Carlsbad, and remained away for some weeks. Early in the autumn we were
+back again at a suite of well-furnished chambers in Clarges Street, off
+Piccadilly.
+
+"I expect, Dickson, that we shall be in London some months," the Baron
+had said to me on the second morning after we had installed ourselves
+with our luggage. The place belonged to a wealthy young peer of racing
+proclivities, and was replete with every comfort. All had been left just
+as it was, even to an open box of cigars. His lordship had gone on a
+trip round the world.
+
+On the third day--a very wet and dismal one, I recollect--the old
+Dutchman arrived. The Baron was out, therefore he waited--waited in
+patience for six long hours for his return. When my master re-entered,
+the pair sat together for half an hour. Then suddenly the Baron shouted
+to me, "Dickson! Pack my suit-case and biggest kit-bag at once. Put in
+both dress-coat and dinner-jacket. And I shan't want you. You'll stay
+here and mind the place."
+
+"Yes, sir," I replied, and began briskly to execute his orders.
+
+When the shabby old fellow had gone, the Baron called me into the
+sitting-room and gave me two cipher telegrams, one written on the yellow
+form used for foreign messages. The first, which he had numbered "1" in
+blue pencil, was addressed "Zaza, Berlin," and the second was to
+"Tejada, Post Office, Manchester."
+
+"These, Dickson, I shall leave with you, for I may want them despatched.
+Send them the instant you receive word from me. I will tell you which to
+send. It's half-past eight. I leave Charing Cross at nine, but cannot
+give you any fixed address. Here's money to get along with. Wait here
+until my return."
+
+I was sorely disappointed. I knew that he was a spy and was in England
+for some fixed purpose. But what it was I could not discover.
+
+"And," he added, as though it were an afterthought, "if any one should
+by chance inquire about Mr. Van Nierop--whether you know him, or if he
+has been here--remember that you know nothing--nothing. You understand?"
+
+"Very well, sir," was my response.
+
+Five minutes later, refusing to allow me to accompany him to the
+station, he drove away into Piccadilly with his luggage upon a hansom,
+and thus was I left alone for an indefinite period.
+
+That evening I went round to Bruton Street, where I saw Ray, and
+described what had occurred.
+
+He sat staring into the fire in silence for some time.
+
+"Well," he answered at last, "if what I surmise be true, Jack, the Baron
+ought to be back here in about a week. Continue to keep both eyes and
+ears open. There's a deep game being played, I am certain. He's with
+Hartmann very often. Recollect what I told you about the clever manner
+in which the Baron conducted the affair at Toulon. He would have been
+entirely successful hadn't a woman given Ullmo away. See me as little as
+you can. You never know who may be watching you during the Baron's
+absence."
+
+On the next evening I went out for a stroll towards Piccadilly Circus
+and accidentally met a man I knew, a German named Karl Stieber, a man of
+about thirty, who was valet to a young gentleman who lived in the flat
+beneath us.
+
+Together we descended to that noisy cafe beneath the Hotel de l'Europe
+in Leicester Square, where we met four other friends of Karl's, servants
+like himself.
+
+As we sat together, he told me that his brother was head-waiter at a
+little French restaurant in Dean Street, Soho, called "La Belle
+Nicoise," a place where one could obtain real Provencal dishes. Then, I
+on my part, told him of my own position and my travels with the Baron.
+
+When we ascended into Leicester Square again we found the pavements
+congested, for Daly's, the Empire, and the Alhambra had just disgorged
+their throngs.
+
+As he walked with me he turned, and suddenly asked:
+
+"Since you've been in London has old Van Nierop visited the Baron?"
+
+I started in quick surprise, but in an instant recollected my master's
+injunctions.
+
+"Van Nierop!" I echoed. "Whom do you mean?"
+
+But he only laughed knowingly, exclaiming:
+
+"All right. You'll deny all knowledge of him, of course. But, my dear
+Dickson, take the advice of one who knows, and be ever watchful. Take
+care of your own self. Good night!"
+
+And my friend, who seemed to possess some secret knowledge, vanished in
+the crowd.
+
+Once or twice he ascended and called upon me, and we sometimes used to
+spend our evenings together in that illicit little gaming-room behind a
+shop in Old Compton Street, a place much frequented by foreign servants.
+
+I noticed, however, though he was very inquisitive regarding the Baron
+and his movements, he would never give me any reason. He sometimes
+warned me mysteriously that I was in danger. But to me his words
+appeared absurd.
+
+One evening, in the third week of December, he and I were in the Baron's
+room chatting, when a ring came at the door, and I found the Baron
+himself, looking very tired and fagged. He almost staggered into his
+sitting-room, brushing past Karl on his way. He was dressed in different
+clothes, and I scarcely recognised him at first.
+
+"Who's that, Dickson?" he demanded sharply. "I thought I told you I
+forbade visitors here! Send him away. I want to talk to you."
+
+I obeyed, and when he heard the door close the Baron, who I noticed was
+travel-worn and dirty, with a soiled collar and many days' growth of
+beard, said:
+
+"Don't have anybody here--not even your best friend, Dickson. You'd
+admit no stranger here if you knew the truth," he added, with a meaning
+look. "Fortunately, perhaps you don't."
+
+Then, after he had gulped down the cognac I had brought at his order, he
+went on:
+
+"Now, listen. In a little more than a week it will be New Year's day. On
+that day there will arrive for me a card of greeting. You will open all
+my letters on that morning, and find it. Either it will be perfectly
+plain and bear the words 'A Happy New Year' in frosted letters, or else
+it will be a water-colour snow scene--a house, bare trees, moonlight,
+you know the kind of thing--with the words 'The Compliments of the
+Season.' Upon either will be written in violet ink, in a woman's hand,
+the words in English, 'To dear Heinrich.' You understand, eh?"
+
+"Perfectly, sir."
+
+"Good," he said. "Now, I gave you two telegrams before I left. If the
+card is a plain one, burn it and despatch the first telegram; if
+coloured, then send the second message. Do you follow?"
+
+I replied in the affirmative, when, to my surprise he rose, and instead
+of entering his bedroom to wash, he simply swallowed a second glass of
+brandy, sighed, and departed, saying:
+
+"Remember, you know nothing--nothing whatever. If there should be any
+inquiries about me, keep your mouth closed."
+
+Twice my friend Stieber called in the days that followed, but I
+flattered myself that from me he learnt nothing.
+
+On the morning of New Year's day five letters were pushed through the
+box. Eagerly I tore them open. The last, bearing a Dutch stamp, with the
+postmark of Utrecht, contained the expected card, with the inscription
+"To dear Heinrich," a small hand-painted scene upon celluloid, with
+forget-me-nots woven round the words "With the Compliments of the
+Season."
+
+Half an hour later, having burned the card according to my instructions,
+I despatched the mysterious message to Manchester.
+
+That evening, about ten o'clock, Stieber called for me to go for a
+stroll and drink a New Year health. But as we turned from Clarges Street
+into Piccadilly I could have sworn that a man we passed in the darkness
+was old Van Nierop. I made no remark, however, because I did not wish to
+draw my companion's attention to the shuffling old fellow.
+
+Had the telegram, I wondered, brought him to London?
+
+Ten minutes later, in the Cafe Monico, my friend Karl lifted his glass
+to me, saying:
+
+"Well, a Happy New Year, my dear friend. Take my advice, and don't trust
+your Baron too implicitly."
+
+"What do you mean?" I asked. "You always speak in enigmas!"
+
+But he laughed, and would say no more.
+
+Next day dawned. Grey and muddy, it was rendered more dismal by my
+loneliness. I idled away the morning, anxious to be travelling again,
+but at noon there was a caller, a thin, pale-faced girl of fifteen or
+so, poorly dressed and evidently of the working-class.
+
+When, in response to her question, I had told her my name, she said:
+
+"I've been sent by the Baron to tell you he wishes to see you very
+particularly to-night at nine o'clock, at this address."
+
+She handed me an envelope with an address upon it, and then went down
+the stairs.
+
+The address I read was: "4A Bishop's Lane, Chiswick."
+
+The mysterious appointment puzzled me, but after spending a very
+cheerless day, I hailed a taxi-cab at eight o'clock and set forth for
+Chiswick, a district to which I had never before been.
+
+At length we found ourselves outside an old-fashioned church, and on
+inquiry I was told by a boy that Bishop's Lane was at the end of a
+footpath which led through the churchyard.
+
+I therefore dismissed the taxi, and after some search, at length found
+No. 4A, an old-fashioned house standing alone in the darkness amid a
+large garden surrounded by high, bare trees--a house built in the long
+ago days before Chiswick became a London suburb.
+
+As I walked up the path the door was opened, and I found the old man Van
+Nierop standing behind it.
+
+Without a word he ushered me into a back room, which, to my surprise,
+was carpetless and barely furnished. Then he said, in that strange
+croaking voice of his:
+
+"Your master will be here in about a quarter of an hour. He's delayed.
+Have a cigarette."
+
+I took one from the packet he offered, and still puzzled, lit it and sat
+down to await the Baron.
+
+The old man had shuffled out, and I was left alone, when of a sudden a
+curious drowsiness overcame me. I fancy there must have been a narcotic
+in the tobacco, for I undoubtedly slept.
+
+When I awoke I found, to my amazement, that I could not use my arms. I
+was still seated in the wooden arm-chair, but my arms and legs were
+bound with ropes, while the chair itself had been secured to four iron
+rings screwed into the floor.
+
+Over my mouth was bound a cloth so that I could not speak.
+
+Before me, his thin face distorted by a hideous, almost demoniacal laugh
+of triumph, stood old Van Nierop, watching me as I recovered
+consciousness. At his side, grinning in triumph, was my master, the
+Baron.
+
+I tried to ask the meaning of it all, but was unable.
+
+"See, see!" cried the old Dutchman, pointing with his bony finger to the
+dirty table near me, whereon a candle-end was burning straight before my
+eyes beside a good-sized book--a leather-bound ledger it appeared to be.
+"Do you know what I intend doing? Well, I'm going to treat you as all
+English spies should be treated. That candle will burn low in five
+minutes and sever the string you see which joins the wick. Look what
+that innocent-looking book contains!" and with a peal of discordant
+laughter he lifted the cover, showing, to my horror, that it was a box,
+wherein reposed a small glass tube filled with some yellow liquid, a
+trigger held back by the string, and some square packets wrapped in
+oiled paper.
+
+"You see what this is!" he said slowly and distinctly. "The moment the
+string is burned through, the hammer will fall, and this house will be
+blown to atoms. That book contains the most powerful explosive known to
+science."
+
+I could not demand an explanation, for though I struggled, I could not
+speak.
+
+I watched the old man fingering with fiendish delight the terrible
+machine he had devised for my destruction.
+
+"You and your friend Raymond thought to trap us!" said the Baron. "But,
+you see, he who laughs last laughs best. Adieu, and I wish you a
+pleasant trip, my young friend, into the next world," and both went out,
+closing the door after them.
+
+All was silence. I sat there helpless, pinioned, staring at the burning
+candle and awaiting the most awful death that can await a man.
+
+Ah, those moments! How can I ever adequately describe them? Suffice it
+to say that my hair was dark on that morning, but in those terrible
+moments of mental agony, of fear and horror, it became streaked with
+grey.
+
+Lower and still lower burned the flame, steadily, imperceptibly, yet,
+alas! too sure. Each second brought me nearer the grave.
+
+I was face to face with death.
+
+Frantically and fiercely I fought to wrench myself free--fought until a
+great exhaustion fell upon me.
+
+Then, as the candle had burned until the flame was actually touching
+that thin string which held me between life and death, I fainted.
+
+A blinding flash, a terrific explosion that deafened me, and a feeling
+of sudden numbness.
+
+I found myself lying on the path outside with two men at my side.
+
+One was a dark-bearded, thick-set, but gentlemanly-looking man--the
+other was Ray Raymond.
+
+Of the house where I had been, scarcely anything remained save its
+foundations. The big trees in the garden had been shattered and torn
+down, and every window in the neighbourhood had been blown in, to the
+intense alarm of hundreds of people who were now rushing along the dark,
+unfrequented thoroughfare.
+
+"My God!" cried Ray. "What a narrow escape you've had! Why didn't you
+take my advice? It was fortunate that, suspecting something, we followed
+you here. This gentleman," he said, introducing his friend, "is Bellamy,
+of the Special Department at Scotland Yard. We just discovered you in
+time. Old Van Nierop ran inside again when he met us in the path. He
+thought he had time to escape through the back, but he hadn't. He's been
+blown to atoms himself, as well as the Baron, and thus saved us the
+trouble of extradition."
+
+I was too exhausted and confused to reply. Besides, a huge crowd was
+already gathering, the fire-brigade had come up, and the police seemed
+to be examining the debris strewn everywhere.
+
+"You watched the Baron well, but not quite well enough, my dear Jacox,"
+Ray said. "They evidently suspected you of prying into their business,
+and plotted to put you quietly out of the way. You have evidently
+somehow betrayed yourself."
+
+"But what was their business?" I asked. "I searched every scrap of paper
+in the Baron's rooms, but was never able to discover anything."
+
+"Well, the truth is that the reason the Baron came to England was in
+order to take a house in this secluded spot. Aided by Van Nierop they
+have established a depot close by in readiness for the coming of the
+Kaiser's army. Come with me and let us investigate."
+
+And leading me to a stable at the rear of another house about fifty
+yards distant, he, aided by Bellamy, broke open the padlocked door.
+
+Within we found great piles of small, strongly bound boxes containing
+rifle ammunition, together with about sixty cases of old Martini-Henry
+rifles, weapons still very serviceable at close quarters, a quantity of
+revolvers, and ten cases of gun-cotton--quite a formidable store of arms
+and ammunition, similar to that we found in Essex, and intended, no
+doubt, for the arming of the horde of Germans already in London on the
+day when the Kaiser gives the signal for the dash upon our shores.
+
+"This is only one of the depots established in the neighbourhood of the
+metropolis," Raymond said. "There are others, and we must set to work to
+discover them. Germany leaves nothing to chance, and there are already
+in London fifty thousand well-trained men of the Fatherland, most of
+whom belong to secret clubs, and who will on 'the Day' rise _en masse_
+at the signal of invasion."
+
+"But the Baron!" I exclaimed, half dazed. "Where is he?"
+
+"They've just recovered portions of him," replied Ray, with a grin.
+
+"But that New Year's card!" I exclaimed, and then amid the excitement
+proceeded to tell Bellamy and my companion what had happened.
+
+"The message you sent to Manchester was to acquaint Hartmann, who is
+staying at this moment at the Midland Grand Hotel, with their intended
+vengeance upon you, my dear old chap. Nierop was a Dutch merchant in the
+City, and his habit was to import arms and ammunition in small
+quantities, and distribute them to the different secret depots, one of
+which we know is somewhere near the 'Adelaide,' in Chalk Farm Road,
+another is at a house in Malmesbury Road, Canning Town, a third in
+Shepperton Street, Hoxton, and a fourth is said to be close by the
+chapel in Cowley Road, Leytonstone."
+
+"And there are others besides," remarked Bellamy.
+
+"Yes," remarked Raymond, "one is certainly somewhere in Crowland Road,
+South Tottenham, another near the Gas Works at Hornsey, and others
+somewhere between Highgate Hill and the New River reservoir. Besides,
+there are no doubt several in such towns as Ipswich, Chelmsford,
+Yarmouth, and Norwich."
+
+The police had by this time taken possession of the stable, but no
+information was given to the public, fearing that a panic might be
+caused if the truth leaked out.
+
+So the newspapers and the public believed the death of the German and
+the Dutchman to be due to a gas explosion--at least that was what the
+police reported at the inquest. Next day the arms and ammunition were
+quietly removed in closed vans from the house and stable which the spies
+had rented, and conveyed to safe keeping at Woolwich--where, I believe,
+they still remain as evidence of the German intentions.
+
+Londoners, indeed, sadly disregard the peril in which they are placed
+with a hostile force already in their midst--an advance guard of the
+enemy already on the alert, and but awaiting the landing of their
+compatriots from the Fatherland.
+
+No sane man can to-day declare that, with our maladministered Navy, the
+invasion of England is impossible. Invasion is not a "scare." It is a
+hard fact which must be faced, if we are not to fall beneath the "mailed
+fist."
+
+The peril is great, and it is increasing daily. The Germans are
+strenuous in their endeavours to make every preparation for the
+successful raid upon our shores.
+
+As an instance, in February, 1909, what may well be described as a
+careful, complete, and systematic photographic survey of the coast
+between the Tyne and the Tees was conducted, it is stated, by a party of
+foreigners, three of whom were Germans.
+
+Every indentation of the coast, and especially those in the
+neighbourhood of the dunes about Heselden and Castle Eden, was
+faithfully recorded by means of the camera, photographs being taken both
+at low tide and at high tide at various points.
+
+Considerable attention was given to the entrances to the Tyne, Tees and
+Wear, and also to the Harbour entrances at Seaham Harbour and
+Hartlepool; whilst the positions of the various coast batteries and
+coast-guard stations were also photographed.
+
+Nor did the party, whose operations extended over a period of several
+weeks, confine their attention solely to the coast line. Railway
+junctions and bridges near the coast, collieries, and even farm-houses
+were photographed; in fact, the salient features of the countryside
+bordering the sea were all included in what was altogether a most
+exhaustive series of pictures.
+
+A certain number of films were developed from day to day at West
+Hartlepool, something like two hundred pictures in all being dealt with,
+but these formed only a tithe of the photographs taken, and the
+undeveloped films, together with the prints from those that had been
+developed, were despatched direct to Hamburg and Berlin, while some were
+sent to the head-quarters of the German espionage in Pont Street,
+London.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+HOW GERMANY FOMENTS STRIFE
+
+
+Ray Raymond had been engaged watching the house of Hermann Hartmann in
+Pont Street ever since our discovery of the secret store of arms and
+ammunition down at Chiswick.
+
+I had been absent at Devonport, keeping observation upon the movements
+of two Germans who had once or twice paid visits to Hartmann, and who
+had evidently received his instructions personally. The two men in
+question were known to us as spies, for with two other compatriots we
+had found them, only three months before, busily engaged in preparing a
+plan of the water-mains of East London, in order that, in case of
+invasion, some of the German colony could destroy the principal mains
+and thus deprive half the metropolis of drinking-water.
+
+In Leeds they had, we know, mapped out the whole water-supply, as Barker
+had done at North Shields; and again in Sheffield, the plans of which
+were in Berlin; but fortunately we had discovered them at work in
+London, and had been able to prevent them from accomplishing their
+object. Two of the men had returned to Germany on being detected, and
+the other two were now at Devonport, where I had been living for a month
+in irritating inactivity.
+
+One afternoon, on receipt of a telegram from Ray, I immediately returned
+to London, and as I entered the flat in Bruton Street, my friend said:
+
+"The great _agent provocateur_ of the German Government, our friend
+Hermann Hartmann, has left for Russia, Jack. His employers have sent him
+there for some special reason. Would it not be wise for you to follow,
+and ascertain the latest move?"
+
+"If you think so, I'll go," I said readily. "You can take my place down
+at Devonport. I've been there too long and may be spotted. Where has
+Hartmann gone?"
+
+"First back to Berlin. He has been ordered to go to Poland on a special
+mission."
+
+"Then I must pick him up in Berlin," I said.
+
+And thus it was arranged. Next morning I obtained a special _visa_ to my
+passport from the Russian Ambassador, whom I chanced to know personally,
+and at 2.20 left Charing Cross for Calais, bound for Berlin.
+
+I was puzzled why Hartmann, the most trusted agent of the Kaiser's
+secret police, should be so suddenly transferred to Russian territory.
+It was only temporarily, no doubt, but it behoved us to have knowledge
+of what might be in the wind.
+
+It was winter, and the journey to the German capital was cold and
+cheerless. Yet I had not been there six hours before I had discovered
+that Hartmann had left for a place called Ostrog, in Eastern Poland.
+
+Therefore I lost no time in setting forth for that rather obscure place.
+
+Yes, nowadays my life was a strange one, full of romance and constant
+change, of excitement--and sometimes of insecurity.
+
+For what reason had the great Hartmann been sent so far afield?
+
+On leaving the railway, I travelled for two days in a sleigh over those
+endless snow-covered roads and dark forests, until my horses, with their
+jingling bells, pulled up before a small inn on the outskirts of the
+dismal-looking town of Ostrog. The place, with its roofs covered with
+freshly-fallen snow, lay upon the slight slope of a low hill, beneath
+which wound the Wilija Goryn, now frozen so hard that the bridge was
+hardly ever used. It was January, and that month in Poland is always a
+cold one.
+
+I had crossed the frontier at the little village of Kolodno, and thence
+driven along the valleys into Volynien, a long, weary, dispiriting
+drive, on and on until those bells maddened me by their monotonous
+rhythm. Cramped and cold I was, notwithstanding the big fur coat I wore,
+the fur cap with flaps, fur gloves, and fur rug. The country inns in
+which I had spent the past two nights had been filthy places where the
+stoves had been surrounded by evil-smelling peasantry, where the food
+was uneatable and where a wooden bench had served me as a bed.
+
+At each stage where we changed horses the post-house keeper had held up
+his hands when he knew my destination was Ostrog. "The Red Rooster" was
+crowing there, they said significantly.
+
+It was true. Russia was under the Terror again, and in no place in the
+whole empire were the revolutionists so determined as in the town
+whither I was bound. I saw at once the reason why Hartmann was there--to
+secretly stir up strife, for it is to the advantage of Germany that
+Russia should be in a state of unrest. To observe the German methods was
+certainly interesting.
+
+Ostrog at last! As I stood up and descended unsteadily from my sleigh my
+eyes fell upon something upon the snow near the door of the inn. There
+was blood. It told its own tale.
+
+From the white town across the frozen river I heard revolver shots,
+followed by a loud explosion that shook the whole place and startled the
+three horses in my sleigh.
+
+Inside the long, low, common room of the inn, with its high brick stove,
+against which half a dozen frightened-looking men and women were
+huddled, I asked for the proprietor, whereupon an elderly man, with
+shaggy hair and beard, came forth, pulling his forelock.
+
+"I want to stay here," I said.
+
+"Yes, your excellency," was the old fellow's reply, in Polish. "Whatever
+accommodation my poor inn can afford is at your service"--and he at once
+shouted orders to my driver to bring in my kit, while the women, all of
+them flat-faced peasants, made room for me at the stove.
+
+From where I stood I could hear the sound of desultory firing across the
+bridge, and inquired what was in progress.
+
+But there was an ominous silence. They did not reply, for, as I
+afterwards discovered, they had taken me for a high police official from
+Petersburg, thus accounting for the innkeeper's courtesy.
+
+"Tell me," I said, addressing the wrinkled-faced old Pole, "what is
+happening over yonder?"
+
+"The Cossacks," he stammered. "Krasiloff and his Cossacks are upon us.
+They have just entered the town and are shooting down people everywhere.
+Hartmann, the great patriot from Germany, has arrived, and the fight for
+freedom has commenced, excellency. But it is horrible. A poor woman was
+shot dead before my door half an hour ago, and her body taken away by
+the soldiers."
+
+Tired as I was, I lost no time. With a glance to see that my own
+revolver was loaded, I threw aside my overcoat, and, leaving the inn,
+walked across the bridge into a poor narrow street of wretched-looking
+houses, many of them built of wood. A man limped slowly past me, wounded
+in the leg, and leaving blood-spots behind him as he went. An old woman
+was seated in a doorway, her face buried in her hands, wailing:
+
+"My poor son!--dead!--dead!"
+
+Before me I saw a great barricade composed of trees, household
+furniture, paving-stones, overturned carts, pieces of barbed wire--in
+fact, everything and anything the populace could seize upon for the
+construction of hasty defence. Upon the top, silhouetted against the
+clear frosty sky, was the scarlet flag of the revolution--the Red
+Rooster was crowing!
+
+Excited men were there, armed with rifles, shouting and giving orders.
+Then I saw that a small space had been left open against the wall of a
+house so that persons might pass and repass.
+
+As I approached a wild-haired man shouted to me and beckoned
+frantically. I grasped his meaning. He wished me to come within. I ran
+forward, entered the town proper, and a few moments later the opening
+was closed by a dozen slabs of stone being heaped up into it by as many
+willing hands.
+
+Thus I found myself in the very centre of the revolution, behind the
+barricades, of which there were, it seemed, six or seven. From the rear
+there was constant firing, and the streets in the vicinity were, I saw
+to my horror, already filled with dead and wounded. Women were wailing
+over husbands, lovers, brothers; men over their daughters and wives.
+Even children of tender age were lying helpless and wounded, some of
+them shattered and dead.
+
+Ah! that sight was sickening. Never had I seen wholesale butchery such
+as that in which I was now in the midst. I was looking about to find the
+German _agent provocateur_, but I failed to find him. Perhaps, having
+bidden the people to rise, he had himself escaped. Most probably.
+
+Above us bullets whistled as the Cossacks came suddenly round a side
+street and made a desperate attack upon the barricade I had entered only
+a few minutes before. A dozen of those fighting for their freedom fell
+back dead at my feet at the first volley. They had been on top of the
+barricade, offering a mark to the troops of the Czar. Before us and
+behind us there was firing, for at the rear of us was another
+barricade. We were, in fact, between two deadly fires.
+
+Revolver in hand, I stood ready to defend my own life. In those exciting
+moments I disregarded the danger I ran from being struck in that
+veritable hail of lead. Men fell wounded all around me, and there was
+blood everywhere. A thin, dark-headed young fellow under thirty--a
+Moscow student, I subsequently heard--seemed to be the ringleader, for
+above the firing could be heard his shouts of encouragement.
+
+"Fight! my comrades!" he cried, standing close to me and waving the red
+flag he carried--the emblem of the Terror--"Down with the Czar! Kill the
+vermin he sends to us! Long live Germany! Long live freedom! Kill them!"
+he shrieked. "They have killed your wives and daughters. Men of
+Ostrog--remember your duty to-day! Set an example to Russia. Do not let
+the Moscow fiasco be repeated here. Fight! Fight on as long as you have
+a drop of life-blood in you, and we shall win, we shall win! Down with
+the Autocrat! Down with the----"
+
+His sentence was never finished, for at that instant he reeled backwards
+with half his face shot away by a Cossack bullet.
+
+The situation was, for me, one of greatest peril. I had had no
+opportunity of finding the governor of the town to present my
+credentials, and thus obtain protection. The whole place was in open
+revolt, and when the troops broke down the defences, as I saw they must
+do sooner or later, then we should all be caught in a trap, and no
+quarter would be given.
+
+The massacre would be the same as at Moscow and many other towns in
+Western Russia, wherein the populace had been shot down
+indiscriminately, and official telegrams had been sent to Petersburg
+reporting "order now reigns."
+
+I sought shelter in a doorway, but scarcely had I done so than a bullet
+embedded itself in the woodwork a few inches from my head. At the
+barricade the women were helping the men, loading their rifles for them,
+shouting and encouraging them to fight gallantly for freedom. And
+suddenly I caught sight of Hartmann's evil face. He was calmly talking
+to a man who was no doubt also in the German employ. The rising was
+their work!
+
+A yellow-haired young woman, not more than twenty, emerged from a house
+close by where I stood and ran past me to the barricade. As she passed I
+saw that she carried something in her hand. It looked like a small
+cylinder of metal.
+
+Shouting to a man who was firing through a loophole near the top of the
+barricade, she handed it up to him. Taking it carefully, he scrambled up
+higher, waited for a few moments, and then, raising himself, he hurled
+it far into the air into the midst of an advancing troop of Cossacks.
+
+There was a red flash, a terrific explosion which shook the whole town,
+wrecking the houses in the immediate vicinity, and blowing to atoms
+dozens of the Czar's soldiers.
+
+A wild shout of victory went up from the revolutionists when they saw
+the havoc caused by the awful bomb. The yellow-haired girl returned
+again and brought another, which, after some ten minutes or so, was
+similarly hurled against the troops, with equally disastrous effect.
+
+The roadway was strewn with the bodies of those Cossacks which General
+Kinski, the governor of the town, had telegraphed for, and whom
+Krasiloff had ordered to give no quarter to the revolutionists. In
+Western Russia the name of Krasiloff was synonymous with all that was
+cruel and brutal. It was he who ordered the flogging of the five young
+women at Minsk, those poor unfortunate creatures who were knouted by
+Cossacks who laid their backs bare to the bone. As every one in Russia
+knows, two of them, both members of good families, died within a few
+hours, and yet no reprimand did he receive from Petersburg. By the Czar
+and at the Ministry of the Interior he was known to be a hard man, and
+for that reason certain towns where the revolutionary spirit was
+strongest had been given into his hands.
+
+At Kiev he had executed without trial dozens of men and woman arrested
+for revolutionary acts. A common grave was dug in the prison yard, and
+the victims, four at a time, were led forward to the edge of the pit and
+shot, each batch being compelled to witness the execution of the four
+prisoners preceding them. With a refinement of cruelty that was only
+equalled by the Inquisition, he had wrung confessions from women, and
+afterwards had them shot and buried. At Petersburg they knew these
+things, but he had actually been commended and decorated for his loyalty
+to the Czar!
+
+And now that he had been hurriedly moved to Ostrog the people knew that
+his order to the Cossacks was to massacre the people, and more
+especially the Jewish portion of the population, without mercy.
+
+"Krasiloff is here!" said the man whose face was smeared with blood as
+he stood by me. "He intends that we shall all die, but we will fight for
+it. The revolution has only just commenced. Soon the peasants will rise,
+and we will sweep the country clean of the vermin the Czar has placed
+upon us. To-day Kinski, the governor, has been fired at twice, but
+unsuccessfully. He wants a bomb, and he shall have it," he added
+meaningly. "Olga--the girl yonder with the yellow hair--has one for
+him!"--and he laughed grimly.
+
+I recognised my own deadly peril. I stood revolver in hand, though I had
+not fired a shot, for I was no revolutionist. I was only awaiting the
+inevitable breaking down of the barricade--and the awful catastrophe
+that must befall the town when those Cossacks, drunk with the lust for
+blood, swept into the streets.
+
+Around me men and women were shouting themselves hoarse, while the red
+emblem of Terror still waved lazily from the top of the barricade. The
+men manning the improvised defence kept up a withering fire upon the
+troops, who in the open road were afforded no cover. Time after time the
+place shook as those terrible bombs exploded with awful result, for the
+yellow-haired girl seemed to keep up a continuous supply of them. They
+were only seven or eight inches long, but hurled into a company of
+soldiers their effect was deadly.
+
+For half an hour longer it seemed as though the defence of the town
+would be effectual, yet, of a sudden, the redoubled shouts of those
+about me told me the truth.
+
+The Cossacks had been reinforced, and were about to rush the barricade.
+
+I managed to peer forth, and there, surely enough, the whole roadway was
+filled with soldiers.
+
+Yells, curses, heavy firing, men falling back from the barricade to die
+around me, and the disappearance of the red flag showed that the
+Cossacks were at last scaling the great pile of miscellaneous objects
+that blocked the street. A dozen of the Czar's soldiers appeared
+silhouetted against the sky as they scrambled across the top of the
+barricade, but the next second a dozen corpses fell to earth, riddled by
+the bullets of the men standing below in readiness.
+
+In a moment, however, others appeared in their places, and still more
+and more. Women threw up their hands in despair and fled for their
+lives, while men--calmly prepared to die in the cause--shouted again
+and again, "Down with Krasiloff and the Czar! Long live the revolution!
+Long live Germany! Give us the Kaiser! Victory for the people's will!"
+
+I stood undecided. I was facing death. Those Cossacks with orders to
+massacre would give no quarter, and would not discriminate. Krasiloff
+was waiting for his dastardly order to be carried out. The Czar had
+given him instructions to crush the revolution by whatever means he
+thought proper.
+
+Those moments of suspense seemed hours. Suddenly there was another
+flash, a stunning report, the air was filled with debris, and a great
+breach opened in the barricade. The Cossacks had used explosives to
+clear away the obstruction. Next instant they were upon us.
+
+I flew--flew for my life. Whither my legs carried me I know not. Women's
+despairing shrieks rent the air on every hand. The massacre had
+commenced. I remember I dashed into a long, narrow street that seemed
+half deserted, then turned corner after corner, but behind me, ever
+increasing, rose the cries of the doomed populace. The Cossacks were
+following the people into their houses and killing men, women, and even
+children.
+
+Suddenly, as I turned into a side street, I saw that it led into a large
+open thoroughfare, the main road through the town, I expect. And there,
+straight before me, I saw that an awful scene was being enacted.
+
+I turned to run back, but at that instant a woman's long, despairing cry
+reached me, causing me to glance within a doorway, where stood a big,
+brutal Cossack, who had pursued and captured a pretty, dark-haired,
+well-dressed girl.
+
+"Save me!" she shrieked as I passed. "Oh, save me, sir!" she gasped,
+white, terrified, and breathless with struggling. "He will kill me!"
+
+The burly soldier had his bearded face close down to hers, his arms
+clasped around her, and had evidently forced her from the street into
+the entry.
+
+For a second I hesitated.
+
+"Oh, sir, save me! Save me, and God will reward you!" she implored, her
+big, dark eyes turned to mine in final appeal.
+
+The fellow at that moment raised his fist and struck her a brutal blow
+upon the mouth that caused the blood to flow, saying with a savage
+growl:
+
+"Be quiet, will you?"
+
+"Let that woman go!" I commanded in the best Russian I could.
+
+In an instant, with a glare in his fiery eyes, for the blood-lust was
+within him, he turned upon me and sneeringly asked who I was to give him
+orders, while the poor girl reeled, half stunned by his blow.
+
+"Let her go I say!" I shouted, advancing quickly towards him.
+
+But in a moment he had drawn his big army revolver, and, ere I became
+aware of his dastardly intention, he raised it to a few inches from her
+face.
+
+Quick as thought I raised my own weapon, which I had held behind me,
+and, being accredited a fairly good shot, I fired in an endeavour to
+save the poor girl.
+
+Fortunately my bullet struck, for he stepped back, his revolver dropped
+from his fingers upon the stones, and, stumbling forward, he fell dead
+at her feet without a word. My shot had, I saw, hit him in the temple,
+and death had probably been instantaneous.
+
+With a cry of joy at her sudden release, the girl rushed across to me,
+and raising my left hand to her lips, kissed it, at the same time
+thanking me.
+
+Then, for the first time, I recognised how uncommonly pretty she was.
+Not more than eighteen, she was slim and petite, with a narrow waist and
+graceful figure--quite unlike in refinement and in dress the other
+women I had seen in Ostrog. Her dark hair had come unbound in her
+desperate struggle with the Cossack and hung about her shoulders, her
+bodice was torn and revealed a bare white neck, and her chest heaved and
+fell as in breathless, disjointed sentences she thanked me again and
+again.
+
+There was not a second to lose, however. She was, I recognised, a
+Jewess, and Krasiloff's orders were not to spare them.
+
+From the main street beyond rose the shouts and screams, the firing and
+wild triumphant yells as the terrible massacre progressed.
+
+"Come with me!" she cried breathlessly. "Along here. I know of a place
+of safety!"
+
+And she led the way, running swiftly for about two hundred yards, and
+then, turning into a narrow, dirty courtyard, passed through an evil,
+forbidding-looking house, where all was silent as the grave.
+
+With a key she quickly opened the door of a poor, ill-furnished room,
+which she closed behind her, but did not lock. Then, opening a door on
+the opposite side, which had been papered over so as to escape
+observation, I saw there was a flight of damp stone stairs leading down
+to a cellar or some subterranean regions beneath the house.
+
+"Down here!" she said, taking a candle, lighting it, and handing it to
+me. "Go--I will follow."
+
+I descended cautiously into the cold, dank place, discovering it to be a
+kind of unlighted cellar hewn out of the rock. A table, a chair, a lamp,
+and some provisions showed that preparation had been made for
+concealment there, but ere I had entirely explored the place my pretty
+fellow-fugitive rejoined me.
+
+"This, I hope, is a place of safety," she said. "They will not find us
+here. This is where Gustave lived before his flight."
+
+"Gustave?" I repeated, looking her straight in the face.
+
+She dropped her eyes and blushed. Her silence told its own tale. The
+previous occupant of that rock chamber was her lover.
+
+Her name was Luba--Luba Lazareff, she told me. But of herself she would
+tell me nothing further. Her reticence was curious, yet before long I
+recognised the reason of her refusal.
+
+In reply to further questions she said: "The Germans are our friends.
+Two men from Berlin have been in Ostrog nearly a month holding secret
+meetings and urging us to rise."
+
+"Do you know Hermann Hartmann?" I inquired.
+
+"Ah! yes. He is the great patriot. He arrived here the day before
+yesterday to address us before the struggle," she replied
+enthusiastically.
+
+Candle in hand, I was examining the deepest recesses of the dark,
+cavernous place, while she lit the lamp, when, to my surprise, I
+discovered at the further end a workman's bench, upon which were various
+pieces of turned metal, pieces of tube of various sizes, and little
+phials of glass like those used for the tiny tabloids for subcutaneous
+injections.
+
+I took one up to examine it, but at that instant she noticed me and
+screamed in terror.
+
+"Ah, sir! For heaven's sake, put that down--very carefully. Touch
+nothing there, or we may both be blown to pieces! See!" she added in a
+low, intense voice of confession, as she, dashed forward, "there are
+finished bombs there! Gustave could not carry them all away, so he left
+those with me."
+
+"Then Gustave made these, eh?"
+
+"Yes. And, see, he gave me this"--and she drew from her breast a small,
+shining cylinder of brass, a beautifully finished little object about
+four inches long similar to those used at the barricade. "He gave this
+to me to use--if necessary!" the girl added, a meaning flash in her dark
+eyes.
+
+For a moment I was silent.
+
+"Then you would have used it upon that Cossack?" I said slowly.
+
+"That was my intention."
+
+"And kill yourself, as well as your assailant?"
+
+"I have promised him," was her simple answer.
+
+"And this Gustave? You love him? Tell me all about him. Remember I am
+your friend, and will help you if I can."
+
+She hesitated, and I was compelled to urge her again and again ere she
+would speak.
+
+"Well, he is German--from Berlin," she said at last, as we still stood
+before the bomb-maker's bench. "He is a chemist, and, being an
+anarchist, came to us, and joined us in the Revolution. The petards
+thrown over the barricades to-day were of his make, but he had to fly.
+He left yesterday."
+
+"For Berlin?"
+
+"Ah! How can I tell? The Cossacks may have caught and killed him. He may
+be dead," she added hoarsely.
+
+"What direction has he taken?"
+
+"He was compelled to leave hurriedly at midnight. He came, kissed me,
+and gave me this," she said, still holding the shining little bomb in
+her small white hand. "He said he intended, if possible, to get over the
+hills to the frontier at Satanow."
+
+I saw that she was deeply in love with the fugitive, whoever he might
+be.
+
+Outside the awful massacre was in progress, we knew; but no sound of it
+reached us down in that rock-hewn tomb.
+
+The yellow candle-light fell upon her sweet dimpled face, but when she
+turned her splendid eyes to mine I saw that in them was a look of
+anxiety and terror inexpressible.
+
+I inquired of her father and mother, for she was of a superior class, as
+I had from the first moment detected. She spoke French extremely well,
+and we had dropped into that language as being easier for me than
+Russian.
+
+"What can it matter to you, sir, a stranger?" she sighed.
+
+"But I am interested in you, mademoiselle," I answered. "Had I not been
+I should not have fired that shot."
+
+"Ah, yes!" she cried quickly. "I am an ingrate! You saved my life,"--and
+again she seized both my hands and kissed them.
+
+"Hark!" I cried, startled. "What's that?" for I distinctly heard a sound
+of crackling wood.
+
+The next moment men's gruff voices reached us from above.
+
+"The Cossacks!" she screamed. "They have found us--they have found us!"
+And the light died out of her beautiful countenance.
+
+In her trembling hand she held the terrible little engine of
+destruction.
+
+With a quick movement I gripped her wrist, urging her to refrain until
+all hope was abandoned, and together we stood facing the soldiers as
+they descended the stairs to where we were. They were, it seems,
+searching every house.
+
+"Ah!" they cried, "a good hiding-place this! But the wall was hollow,
+and revealed the door!" and next moment we saw the figures of men.
+
+"Well, my pretty!" exclaimed a big, leering Cossack, chucking the
+trembling girl beneath the chin.
+
+"Hold!" I commanded the half-dozen men who now stood before us, their
+swords red with the life-blood of the Revolution. But before I could
+utter further word the poor girl was wrenched from my grasp, and the
+Cossack was smothering her face with his hot nauseous kisses.
+
+"Hold, I tell you!" I shouted. "Release her, or it is at your own
+peril!"
+
+"Hulloa!" they laughed. "Who are you?"--and one of the men raised his
+sword to strike me, whilst another held him back, exclaiming, "Let us
+hear what he has to say!"
+
+"Then listen!" I said, drawing from my pocket book a folded paper. "Read
+this, and look well at the signature. I am a British subject, and this
+girl is under my protection!"--and I handed to the man who held little
+Luba in his arms my permit to travel hither and thither in Russia, which
+the Ambassador in London had signed for me.
+
+The men, astounded at my announcement, read the document beneath the
+lamp-light and took counsel among themselves.
+
+"And who, pray, is this Jewess?" inquired one.
+
+"My affianced wife," was my quick reply. "And I command you at once to
+take us under safe conduct to General Krasiloff--quickly, without delay.
+We took refuge in this place from the Revolution, in which we have taken
+no part."
+
+I saw, however, with sinking heart, that one of the men was examining
+the bomb-maker's bench, and had recognised the character of what
+remained there.
+
+He looked at us, smiled grimly, and whispered something to one of his
+companions.
+
+Again in an authoritative tone I demanded to be taken to Krasiloff, and
+presently, after being marched as prisoners across the town, past scenes
+so horrible that they are still vividly before my eyes, we were taken
+into the chief police-office, where the hated official, a fat red-faced
+man in a general's uniform--the man without pity or remorse, the
+murderer of women and children--was sitting at a table. He greeted me
+with a grunt.
+
+"General," I said, addressing him, "I have to present to you this order
+of your Ambassador, and to demand safe conduct. Your soldiers found me
+and my----"
+
+I hesitated.
+
+"Your pretty Jewess--eh?"--and a smile of sarcasm spread over his fat
+face. "Well, go on"--and he took the paper I handed him, knitting his
+brows again as his eyes fell upon the British royal arms and the visa.
+
+"We were found in a cellar where we had hidden from the revolt," I said.
+
+"The place has been used for the manufacture of bombs," declared one of
+the Cossacks.
+
+The General looked my pretty companion straight in the face.
+
+"What is your name, girl?" he demanded roughly.
+
+"Luba Lazareff."
+
+"Native of where?"
+
+"Of Petersburg."
+
+"What are you doing in Ostrog?"
+
+"She is with me," I interposed. "I demand protection for her."
+
+"I am addressing the prisoner, sir," was his cold remark.
+
+"You refuse to obey the order of the Emperor's representative in London!
+Good! Then I shall report you to the Minister," I exclaimed, piqued at
+his insolence.
+
+"Speak, girl!" he roared, his black eyes fixed fiercely upon her. "Why
+are you in Ostrog? You are no provincial, you know."
+
+"She is my affianced wife," I said, "and in face of my statement and my
+passport she need make no reply to any of your questions."
+
+A short, stout little man, shabbily dressed, pushed his way forward to
+the table, saying:
+
+"Luba Lazareff is a well-known revolutionist, your Excellency. The
+German maker of bombs, Gustave Englebach, is her lover--not this
+gentleman. Gustave only left Ostrog yesterday."
+
+The speaker was, I afterwards discovered, one of Hartmann's agents.
+
+"And where is Englebach now? I gave orders for his arrest some days
+ago."
+
+"He was found this morning by the patrol on the road to Schumsk,
+recognised, and shot, your Excellency."
+
+At this poor little Luba gave vent to a piercing scream and burst into a
+torrent of bitter tears.
+
+"You fiends!" she cried. "You have shot my Gustave! He is dead--_dead!_"
+
+"There was no doubt, I suppose, as to his identity?" asked the General.
+
+"None, your Excellency. Some papers found upon the body have been
+forwarded to us with the report."
+
+"Then let the girl be shot also. She aided him in the manufacture of the
+bombs."
+
+"Shot!" I gasped, utterly staggered. "What do you mean, General? You
+will shoot a poor defenceless girl, and in face of my demand for her
+protection. I have promised her marriage," I cried in desperation, "and
+you condemn her to execution!"
+
+"My Emperor has given me orders to quell the rebellion, and all who make
+bombs for use against the Government must die. His Majesty gave me
+orders to execute all such," said the official sternly. "You, sir, will
+have safe conduct to whatever place you wish to visit. Take the girl
+away."
+
+"But, General, reflect a moment whether this is not----"
+
+"I never reflect, sir," he cried angrily, and rising from his chair with
+outstretched hand, he snapped:
+
+"How much of my time are you going to lose over the wench? Take her
+away, and let it be done at once."
+
+The poor condemned girl, blanched to the lips and trembling from head to
+foot, turned quickly to me, and in a few words in French thanked me, and
+again kissed my hand, with the brief words, "Farewell; you have done
+your best. God will reward you!"
+
+Then, with one accord, we all turned, and together went mournfully forth
+into the street.
+
+A lump arose in my throat, for I saw, as the General pointed out, that
+my passport did not extend beyond my own person. Luba was a Russian
+subject, and therefore under the Russian martial law.
+
+Of a sudden, however, just as we emerged into the roadway, the
+unfortunate girl, at whose side I still remained, turned and, raising
+her tearful face to mine, kissed me.
+
+Then, before any of us were aware of her intention, she again turned,
+wrenched herself free, and rushed back into the room where the General
+was still sitting.
+
+The Cossacks dashed after her, but ere they reached the chamber there
+was a terrific explosion, the air was filled with debris, the back of
+the building was torn completely out, and when a few minutes later I
+summoned courage to enter and peep within the wrecked room, I saw a
+scene that I dare not describe here in cold print.
+
+Suffice it to say that the bodies of Luba and General Stepan Krasiloff
+were unrecognisable, save for the shreds of clothing that still
+remained.
+
+Luba had used her bomb in revenge for Gustave's death, and she had freed
+Russia of the heartless tyrant who had condemned her to die.
+
+But the man Hartmann--the German "patriot," whose underlings had stirred
+up the revolt--was already on his way back to Berlin.
+
+As in France and Russia, so also in England, German Secret agents are,
+we have discovered, at work stirring strife in many directions.
+
+One is a dastardly scheme, by which, immediately before a dash is made
+upon our shores, a great railway strike is to be organised, ostensibly
+by the socialists, in order to further paralyse our trade and render us
+in various ways unable to resist the triumphant entry of the foe.
+
+When "the Day" comes, this plot of our friends across the North Sea will
+assuredly be revealed, just as the truth was revealed to me at Ostrog.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+OUR WIRELESS SECRETS
+
+
+Something important was being attempted, but what it was neither Ray
+Raymond nor myself could make out.
+
+We had exerted a good deal of vigilance and kept constant watch upon
+Hartmann's house in Pont Street since my return from Poland, but all to
+no purpose.
+
+Vera had been staying in London with her aunt and had greatly assisted
+us in keeping observation upon two strangers who had arrived in London
+about a month ago, and who were staying in an obscure hotel near
+Victoria Station.
+
+Their names were Paul Dubois, a Belgian, and Frederick Gessner, a
+German. The first-named was, we judged, about forty, stout,
+flabby-faced, wearing gold pince-nez, while the German was somewhat
+younger, both quiet, studious-looking men who seemed, however, to be
+welcomed by many of the prominent members of the German colony in
+London.
+
+On five separate occasions we had followed the pair to King's Cross
+Station and watched them take third class tickets to Hull. They would
+remain there perhaps two or three days, and then return to London.
+
+After a while they had grown tired of their hotel, and had taken a small
+furnished house at the top of Sydenham Hill, close to the Crystal
+Palace, a pleasant little place with a small secluded garden in which
+were several high old elms. They engaged a rather obese old Frenchwoman
+as housekeeper, and there they led a quiet life, engrossed apparently in
+literary studies.
+
+I confess that when it came my turn to watch them I became more than
+ever convinced that Raymond's suspicions were ungrounded. They seldom
+went out, and when they did, it was either to dine with Hartmann, or to
+stroll about the suburban roads of Norwood, Sydenham, and Penge.
+
+Late one afternoon, however, while I was down at Sydenham, I saw them
+emerge from the house, carrying their small suit-cases, and followed
+them to King's Cross Station, where they took tickets for Hull.
+
+Instantly I rushed to the telephone and informed Ray in Bruton Street of
+my intention to follow them.
+
+That same night I found myself in the smoke-grimed Station Hotel in
+Hull, where the two foreigners had also put up.
+
+Next day they called at a solicitor's office at the end of
+Whitefriargate, and thence, accompanied by a man who was apparently the
+lawyer's managing clerk, they went in a cab along the Docks, where, at a
+spot close to the Queen's Dock, they pulled up before an empty factory,
+a place which was not very large, but which possessed a very high
+chimney.
+
+The managing clerk entered the premises with a key, and for about half
+an hour the pair were within, apparently inspecting everything.
+
+I was puzzled. Why they were in treaty to rent a place of this
+description was an utter enigma.
+
+They returned to the hotel to luncheon, and I watched them engaged in
+animated discussion afterwards, and I also noticed that they despatched
+a telegram.
+
+Next day they called upon the solicitor, and by their satisfied manner
+when they came forth from the office, I guessed that they had become
+tenants of the place.
+
+In this I was not mistaken, for that same afternoon they went together
+to the factory and let themselves in with the key, remaining within for
+over an hour, evidently planning something.
+
+That night I wrote a long report to Raymond, and next morning spoke to
+him over the telephone.
+
+"Vera wants to know if you want her in Hull. If so, she'll come," my
+friend said. "I'm just as puzzled as you are. Those two men mean
+mischief--but in what manner is a mystery."
+
+"If Miss Vallance can come, I'll be only too thankful," I replied. "I
+fear the men know you, but they don't know her. And she can greatly
+assist me."
+
+"Very well, Jacox," was his reply. "She'll leave this evening. She'll
+wire to the hotel. She'd better not be seen with you. So, to the hotel
+people, you'll be strangers. Meet outside, and arrange matters. 'Phone
+me when you want me up there."
+
+"Right, old chap," I replied. "I'll ring you up at eleven to-morrow and
+report. So be in. Good-bye."
+
+And I rang off.
+
+Vera arrived just before eleven that evening. I was in the hall of the
+hotel when the porter entered, carrying her dressing-case. She passed me
+and went to the office, but I did not acknowledge her. She wore a neat
+dark blue travelling gown, well cut by her tailor, and a little toque
+which suited her face admirably. She possessed perfect taste in dress.
+
+Half an hour later I sent a note up to her room by a waiter, asking her
+to meet me outside on the railway platform at ten o'clock next morning.
+
+She kept the appointment, and in order to escape observation we entered
+the refreshment-room.
+
+"The numbers of the rooms occupied by the two men are sixty-eight and
+seventy-two," I explained. "Perhaps it will be as well if you watch them
+the whole of to-day. They are at present in the writing-room, so you can
+at once pick them up."
+
+"Certainly, Mr. Jacox," she said. "Jack is intensely anxious. He's very
+puzzled as to what they intend doing."
+
+"Yes," I replied, "it's quite a mystery. But we shall discover something
+ere long, never fear."
+
+Vera laughed as she sipped the glass of milk I had ordered.
+
+Then I briefly explained all that I had discovered, telling her how the
+two men had evidently taken the factory on a lease, and how they were
+there every day, apparently making plans for future business.
+
+"But what business do they intend starting?" she asked.
+
+"Ah!" I said; "that's what we have to find out. And we shall do so
+before very long, if we are careful and vigilant."
+
+"Trust me," she said; "I am entirely at your orders."
+
+"Then I shall wait and hear your report," I said. "When you return to
+the hotel send a line to my room."
+
+And with that arrangement we parted.
+
+That day I spent idling in the vicinity of the hotel. It was mid-August,
+and the atmosphere was stifling. That district of Hull is not a very
+pleasant one, for it is one of mean provincial streets and of the noise
+of railway lorries rumbling over the granite setts.
+
+The afternoon I spent in playing billiards with the marker, when about
+six o'clock a page-boy brought me a note from my enthusiastic little
+friend.
+
+"I shall be in the station refreshment-room at half-past six. Meet
+me.--VERA."
+
+Those were the words I found within the envelope.
+
+Half an hour later, when I sat at the little marble-topped table with
+her, she related how she had been following the pair all day.
+
+"They were in the factory from half-past one until four," she said.
+"They've ordered a builder to put up ladders to examine the chimney.
+They appear to think it isn't quite safe."
+
+She told me the name of the builder, adding that the contract was to
+have the ladders in position during the next three days.
+
+"They are leaving for London to-night by the last train," she added. "I
+heard the Belgian telling the hall-porter as I came out."
+
+"Then we'll wire to Ray to meet them, and keep an eye upon them," I
+said. "I suppose you will go up to town?"
+
+"I think so. And when they return I will follow them down if Ray deems
+it best," replied the pretty girl, who was just as enthusiastic in her
+patriotism as ourselves.
+
+So still mystified I was compelled to remain inactive in Hull, while
+Vera and the two foreigners whom we suspected of espionage went up to
+London.
+
+For the next four days I heard nothing until suddenly, at eight o'clock
+one morning, Ray entered my bedroom before I was up.
+
+"I've found out one thing about those Johnnies!" he exclaimed. "They've
+been buying, in Clerkenwell, a whole lot of electrical appliances--coils
+of wire, insulators, and batteries. Some of it has been sent direct to
+the place they've taken here, and the rest has been sent to their house
+down in Sydenham."
+
+"What can they want that for?" I queried.
+
+"Don't know, my dear chap. Let's wait and see."
+
+"Perhaps, after all, they are about to set up in business," I said.
+"Neither of them has struck me as being spies. Save that they've visited
+Hartmann once or twice, their movements have not been very suspicious.
+Many foreigners are setting up factories in England, owing to the recent
+change in our patent laws."
+
+"I know," said my friend. "Yet their confidential negotiations with
+Hartmann have aroused my suspicions, and I feel confident we shall
+discover something interesting before long. They came back by the same
+train as I travelled."
+
+After breakfast, we both strolled round to the factory. The ground it
+covered was not much, and it was surrounded by a wall about twelve feet
+high, so that no one could see within the courtyard. It had, at one
+time, been a lead-mill, but for the past eight years had, we learned,
+been untenanted.
+
+Even as we loitered near, we saw the builder's men bringing long ladders
+for the inspection of the chimney.
+
+We watched for a whole week, but as each day passed, I became more
+confident that we were upon a false scent.
+
+The chimney had been inspected, the ladders taken down again, and once
+more the German and the Belgian had returned south to that pleasant
+London suburb.
+
+In order to ascertain what was really in progress I called one morning
+upon the solicitor in Whitefriargate, on pretext of being a likely
+tenant of the factory. I was, however, informed by the managing clerk
+that it was already let to a firm of electrical engineers.
+
+Thus the purchase of electrical appliances was entirely accounted for.
+
+Once again I returned to London. They seemed, by the electrical
+accessories that had been delivered, to be fitting up a second factory
+in their house in Sydenham.
+
+That, being a private house, seemed somewhat mysterious.
+
+They had become friendly also with a tall, rather well-dressed
+Englishman named Fowler, who had the appearance of a superior clerk, and
+who resided in a rather nice house in Hopton Road, Streatham Hill.
+
+Fowler had become a frequent visitor at their house, while, on several
+occasions, he dined with Dubois at De Keyser's Hotel, facing Blackfriars
+Bridge.
+
+In consequence of some conversation I one evening overheard--a
+conversation in English, which the Belgian spoke fluently--I judged
+Fowler to be an electrician, and it seemed, later on, very much as
+though he had been, or was about to be, taken into partnership with
+them.
+
+As far as we could discover, however, he had been told nothing about the
+factory in Hull. More than once I suspected that the two foreigners were
+swindlers, who intended to "do" the Englishman out of his money. This
+was impressed I upon me the more, because one evening a German woman was
+introduced to their newly-found friend as Frau Gessner, who had just
+arrived from Wiesbaden.
+
+Whether she was really Gessner's wife I doubted. It was curious that, on
+keeping observation that evening, I found that the lady did not reside
+at Sydenham, but at a small hotel in Bloomsbury, not a stone's-throw
+from my own rooms.
+
+There was certainly some deep game in progress. What could it be?
+
+Vera had watched Fowler on several occasions, but beyond the fact that
+he was an electrical engineer, occupying a responsible position with a
+well-known telegraph construction company, we could discover nothing.
+
+After nearly three weeks in London, Dubois and Gessner returned to Hull,
+where, while living at the Station Hotel, they spent each day at their
+"works." They engaged no assistant, and were bent apparently upon doing
+everything by themselves. They were joined one day by a shrivelled-up
+old man of rather seedy appearance, and typically German. His name was
+Busch, and he lived in lodgings out on the Beverley Road. He was taken
+to the works, and remained there all day.
+
+A quantity of electrical appliances were delivered from London, and
+Dubois and Gessner received them and unpacked them themselves.
+
+Ray Raymond was down at Sheerness upon another matter--a serious attempt
+to obtain some confidential naval information--therefore I remained in
+Hull anxiously watching. Vera had again offered her services, but at
+that moment she was down at Sheerness with Ray.
+
+Day by day old Busch went regularly to the factory, and by the
+appearance of the trio when they came forth, it was apparent that they
+worked very hard. I was intensely inquisitive, and dearly wished to
+obtain a glance within the place. But that was quite out of the
+question.
+
+Busch, it seemed, had lived in Hull for a considerable period. Inquiries
+of his neighbours revealed that he was a well-known figure. He did but
+little work, preferring to take long walks into the country.
+
+One man told me that he had met him twice away near Spurn Head, at the
+estuary of the Humber, and on another occasion he had seen him
+wandering aimlessly along the low-lying coast in the vicinity of
+Hornsea. In explanation of this, it seemed that he had once lived for a
+whole summer in Withernsea, not far from Spurn Head, and had grown fond
+of the neighbourhood. Everybody looked upon him as a harmless old man, a
+trifle eccentric, and a great walker.
+
+That constant rambling over that low-lying district of Holderness had
+aroused my suspicions, and I determined to turn my attention to him.
+
+One day the old man did not go to the factory, but instead went forth
+upon one of his rambles. He took train from Hull to Hornsea, where the
+railway ends at the sea, and walked along the shore for several miles;
+indeed until he was three parts of the distance to Bridlington, when he
+suddenly halted near the little village of Barmston, and producing a
+neat pocket-camera took a long series of snap-shots of the flat coast,
+where I saw there were several places which would afford an easy landing
+for the invader.
+
+The truth was in an instant plain. Old Busch was a "fixed-agent," who
+was carrying on the same work along the Yorkshire coast as his ingenious
+compatriots were doing in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex. The remainder of
+that day I kept a sharp eye upon him, and witnessed him making many
+notes and taking many photographs of the various farms and houses near
+the sea. He noted the number of haystacks in the farmyards--for his
+report on fodder stores, no doubt--and made certain notes regarding the
+houses, of great use, no doubt, when the Germans came to billet their
+troops.
+
+It was not until nearly midnight that I was back at the hotel in Hull.
+Then, by judicious inquiry of the hall porter--who had become my
+particular friend--I ascertained that Gessner had left for London by the
+last train.
+
+Should I follow, or should I remain in Hull?
+
+I decided upon the latter course, and retired to bed, thoroughly fagged
+out.
+
+Early next morning I went round to the telephone-exchange, rather than
+use the instrument in the hotel, and rang up Raymond.
+
+To my delight he answered my call. He was at home.
+
+I gave him a rapid digest of what I had discovered, and told him that
+the German had returned to Sydenham.
+
+"All right, old chap," came his voice over the wire. "Vera will watch at
+this end, while you watch yours. If what I guess is right, they're doing
+something far more serious than surveying that flat coast north of the
+Humber. Be careful not to betray yourself."
+
+"Trust me for that," I laughed. "Are you going back to Sheerness?"
+
+"Yes. I'll be there all day to-day--and to-morrow I hope to get one of
+our friends the enemy arrested. That's what I'm trying for.
+Good-bye--and good luck," and he rang off.
+
+Busch went to the factory where Dubois was already awaiting him. As I
+stood outside that building of mystery I wondered what devilment was
+being plotted within. It had not been cleaned or painted, the windows
+being still thick with soot, and several of them, which had been broken,
+were boarded up. The place had certainly not been cleaned down for
+years, and no wonder they had been suspicious of the stability of that
+chimney which towered so high towards the murky sky.
+
+There was no sign whatever of activity within, or of any business about
+to be carried on. Thus, day followed day, Busch and Dubois spending most
+of their time within those high walls which held their secret.
+
+One curious thing was the number of telegrams delivered there. Sometimes
+they sent and received as many as fourteen or fifteen in a day. How I
+longed to know with whom they were in such constant communication.
+
+Suddenly, after the third day, the shoal of wires entirely ceased. Busch
+and Dubois, instead of going to the factory, spent the day in the
+country, taking train to Patrington and walking through Skeffling went
+out to Kilnsea, opposite Great Grimsby at the entrance to the Humber.
+
+From the point where I watched I could see that the old man with
+considerable gesticulation was standing upon the shore facing seaward
+and explaining something to his companion.
+
+The Belgian apparently put many questions to him, and had become
+intensely interested. Then presently his companion produced a paper from
+his pocket--evidently a plan, for he pointed out something upon it.
+
+They both lit their pipes, and sitting down upon a rock discussed
+something quietly. Apparently Busch was making an elaborate explanation,
+now and then pointing with his finger seaward.
+
+Where he pointed was the channel through which passed all the shipping
+into the Humber.
+
+Then, after a time, he rose from where he sat, and seemed to be
+measuring a distance by taking paces, his companion walking at his side
+over the level expanse of sand.
+
+Suddenly he halted, pointing to the ground.
+
+Dubois examined the shore at that point with apparent curiosity. With
+what object I could not imagine.
+
+They remained there for fully an hour, and the sun had already set when
+they returned to Patrington, and took the train back to Hull.
+
+That old Busch was a spy I had proved long ago, but what part Dubois and
+Gessner were playing was not yet at all clear.
+
+On the following evening, about ten o'clock, I saw Dubois near the Dock
+office, and on watching him, followed him to the factory, which he
+entered with his key. Beyond the gate was the small paved courtyard in
+which rose the high chimney. Within the factory he lit the gas, for I
+could see its reflection, though from the street I could not get sight
+of the lower windows.
+
+The night was bright and moonlit, and as I waited I heard within the
+grinding of a windlass, and saw to my surprise, a thin light iron rod
+about six feet long and placed vertically rising slowly up the side of
+the chimney stack, evidently being drawn up to a pulley at its summit.
+
+Dubois was hoisting it to the top, where at last it remained stationary,
+its ends just protruding beneath the coping and hardly visible.
+
+Scarcely had this been done when Busch came along, and I had to exercise
+a quick movement to avoid detection. He was admitted by Dubois, and the
+door was closed and locked as usual.
+
+I stood beneath the wall, trying to overhear their words. But I could
+understand nothing.
+
+Suddenly a dull, crackling noise broke the silence of the night, as
+though the sound was dulled by a padded room.
+
+Again I listened. Then at last the truth dawned upon me.
+
+The spies had put in a secret installation of wireless telegraphy!
+
+Those intermittent sounds were that of the Morse code. They were
+exchanging signals with some other persons.
+
+Gessner was absent. No doubt the corresponding station was at that house
+high upon Sydenham Hill to the south of London, two hundred miles
+distant!
+
+I waited for a quarter of an hour, listening to those secret signals.
+Then I hurried to the telephone, and fortunately found Raymond at home.
+I told him what I had discovered, and urged him to take a taxi at once
+down to Sydenham and ascertain whether they were receiving signals
+there.
+
+This he promised to do, telling me he would 'phone me the result to the
+hotel at eight o'clock next morning.
+
+Therefore I returned to the factory, and through the long night-hours
+listened to their secret experiments.
+
+At eight next morning the telephone rang, and Ray briefly explained that
+Gessner, who had placed his apparatus upon the high flagstaff in his
+garden, had been receiving messages all night!
+
+"Have you seen anything of Fowler?"
+
+"No. But Hartmann has spent the night with Gessner, apparently watching
+his experiments. Couldn't you manage to watch your opportunity and get
+inside the factory somehow? I'll come north at noon, and we'll see what
+we can do."
+
+At five o'clock he stepped from the London express, and together we
+walked down to the Imperial Hotel, to which I had suddenly changed my
+quarters, feeling that I had been too long in the close vicinity of the
+spy Dubois.
+
+"It seems that they carry out their experiments at night," I explained.
+"For in the daytime the wireless apparatus is no longer in position. I
+see now why they engaged a builder to examine the chimney--in order to
+place a pulley with a wire rope in position at the top!"
+
+"But Gessner and Dubois are expert electricians, no doubt. Members of
+the Telegraphen-Abtheilung of the German army, most probably," remarked
+my friend.
+
+"And who is Fowler?"
+
+"A victim, I should say. He appears to be a most respectable man."
+
+"In any financial difficulty?"
+
+"Not that I can discover."
+
+"But why have they established this secret communication between Hull
+and London?"
+
+"That's just what we have to discover, my dear fellow," laughed Ray.
+"But if we are to get a peep inside the place it's evident we can only
+do so in the daytime. At night they are down there."
+
+"At early morning," I suggested, "after they have left."
+
+"Very well," he said; "we'll watch them to-night, and get in after they
+leave. I've brought a few necessaries in my bag--the set of
+housebreaking implements," he added, with a grin.
+
+"Well," I said, "neither of us know much about wireless telegraphy.
+Couldn't we get hold of an operator from one of the Wilson liners in
+dock, and take him along with us? A sailor is always an adventurer."
+
+Ray was struck with the idea, and by eight o'clock that evening we had
+enlisted the services of a smart young fellow, one of the operators in
+the Wilson American service, to whom, in strictest confidence, we
+related our suspicions.
+
+That night proved an exciting one. Fortunately for us it was cloudy,
+with rain, at intervals. Murphy, the wireless operator, listening under
+the wall declared that we were not mistaken. The men were sending
+messages in code.
+
+"Most probably," he said, "they have another station across at Borkum,
+Wilhelmshaven, or somewhere. I wonder what they're at?" he added, much
+puzzled.
+
+Through those long hours we watched anxiously; but just before the dawn
+Dubois and Busch lowered their apparatus from the top of the chimney,
+and a few minutes later emerged, walking together towards the hotel.
+
+As soon as they were out of sight we held a consultation, and it was
+decided that, while Murphy and I kept watch for the police, Ray should
+use his jemmy upon the door and break it open. He would admit us and
+remain himself outside to give us warning.
+
+Those moments were breathless ones.
+
+We parted, the wireless operator walking one way, while I went in the
+opposite direction. Suddenly we heard the cracking of wood, followed by
+a low cough.
+
+By that, we knew all was well.
+
+We hurried back, and a few seconds later were in the courtyard of the
+disused factory. Ray had handed me his jemmy, and with it I broke open
+the second door of the empty place, flashing a light with the electric
+torch I carried.
+
+We passed into the small office, but no second glance was needed to show
+that the place was completely fitted with a wireless installation of the
+most approved pattern.
+
+"We'll try it," suggested young Murphy, and taking out the apparatus we
+hauled it up to the top of the chimney. Then re-entering the office, he
+placed the receiver over his ears, and listened intently, in his hand a
+pencil he had found ready upon the paper pad.
+
+I stood watching his face. Apparently he heard nothing.
+
+Then he touched the key of the instrument and instantly a great blue
+spark, causing a crackling noise, flashed across the room.
+
+He was calling.
+
+Suddenly his face brightened, and he was listening. Then he grew greatly
+puzzled.
+
+Taking the receiver off his head he began to search the table upon which
+were several books; but at that instant I heard a light footstep behind
+me, and as I turned I felt a heavy crushing blow upon the top of my
+skull.
+
+Then the blackness of unconsciousness fell upon me.
+
+I knew no more till, on opening my eyes, I found myself lying in bed
+with a nurse bending over me.
+
+I gazed around in amazement. There were other beds in the vicinity. I
+was in a hospital with my head tightly bandaged.
+
+For a whole day and night I lay there, the nurse forbidding me to speak.
+
+Then suddenly there entered Ray, whose arm was in a sling, accompanied
+by young Murphy.
+
+"The spies came back--unexpectedly, and went for me before I could raise
+the alarm," Raymond explained. "Dubois hit you over the head with a
+jemmy, and by Jove! it's a mercy you weren't killed. He's cleared out of
+the country, however, fearing a charge of attempted murder. I've
+informed the police, and they are looking for both him and Busch, as
+well as Gessner, who is missing from Sydenham."
+
+"Yes, but why had they established these two wireless stations?" I
+asked.
+
+"Yes," replied Murphy, "it's a most ingenious piece of work. By some
+unknown means both the station here, and at Sydenham, had been tuned
+with the one which I daresay you've seen stretched across the top of the
+new Admiralty, in Whitehall, hence they could read all the orders given
+to the Home and Channel Fleets and the reports received from them, while
+I have to-day discovered that there is a similar secret station existing
+somewhere near Borkum also in tune with these, and with our Admiralty.
+Therefore the Germans are aware of every signal sent to our Fleet! The
+station at Sydenham was only temporary, but the one here was evidently
+devised in order that the German admiral in the North Sea, on seizing
+Hull and establishing a base here, might have constant knowledge of our
+Admiralty orders and the whereabouts of our ships. When I was listening
+I was surprised at the code, but the truth was made plain by the
+discovery of a complete copy of the British naval code lying upon the
+table. By means of this, the spies could decipher all messages to and
+from our ships. The Civil Lord of the Admiralty and three officials have
+arrived in Hull, and I have been with them down at the factory this
+afternoon. The chief wireless engineer declares that the secret of the
+exact tuning must have been learnt from somebody in the office of the
+constructors."
+
+And both Ray and I then remembered the man Fowler, who had, as we
+afterwards discovered, been on the verge of bankruptcy, and had suddenly
+gone abroad, a fact which was sufficiently instructive for our purpose.
+
+Next day I was well enough to leave the hospital, and I guided the
+superintendent of the Hull police and two detectives to Busch's house,
+where, on searching his room, we discovered a volume of plans and
+reports of defences of the Humber and its estuary, estimates of food and
+fodder supplies in the country north of Hull, together with a list of
+the foreign pilots and their addresses, as well as an annotated chart of
+the river, showing the position where mines would be sunk at the river's
+mouth on the alarm of invasion.
+
+But what, perhaps, would have been even more alarming to the general
+public, had they but known, was the discovery of several great bundles
+of huge posters ready prepared for posting up on the day of
+invasion--the Proclamation threatening with death all who dared to
+oppose the German landing and advance--a copy of which I have given in
+these pages.
+
+It shows, indeed, what careful preparation our enemies are now making,
+just as the installation of the secret wireless showed the tactful
+cunning of the invader.
+
+For our exertions, Raymond, Murphy, and myself received the best thanks
+of the Lords of the Admiralty, at which, I confess, we were all three
+much gratified.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+PLAYING A DESPERATE GAME
+
+
+On the 20th of December, 1908, it rained incessantly in London, and well
+I recollect it. After lunch I sat in the club-window in St. James's
+Street, idly watching the drenched passers-by, many of them people who
+were up from the country to do their Christmas shopping.
+
+The outlook was a gloomy one; particularly so for myself, for I had
+arranged to spend Christmas with an aunt who had a pretty villa among
+the olives outside Nice, but that morning I had received a telegram from
+her saying that she was very unwell and asking me to postpone my visit.
+
+The club was practically deserted save for one or two old cronies. Every
+one had gone to country houses, Ray was spending Christmas with Vera's
+father at Portsmouth, and in view of the message I had received I felt
+dull and alone. It is astonishing how very lonely a man may be at
+Christmas in our great London, even though at other times he may
+possess hosts of friends.
+
+I had received fully a dozen invitations to country houses, all of which
+I had declined, and was now, alas! stranded, without hope of spending "A
+Merry Christmas," except in the lonely silence of my own bachelor
+chambers. So I smoked on, looking forth into the darkening gloom.
+
+The waiter switched on the light in the great smoking-room at last, and
+then drew the heavy curtains at all the long windows, shutting out the
+dismal scene.
+
+A man I knew, a hard-working member of Parliament, entered, threw
+himself down wearily and lit a cigar. Then, idler that I was, I began to
+gossip.
+
+He was going up to Perthshire by the 11.45 from Euston that night, he
+remarked.
+
+"Where are you spending Christmas?" he asked.
+
+"Don't know," I replied. "Probably at home."
+
+"You seem to have the hump, my dear fellow," he remarked, with a laugh,
+and then I confided to him the reason.
+
+At last, about six o'clock, I put on my overcoat and left the club. The
+rain had now stopped, therefore I decided to walk along to my rooms in
+Guilford Street.
+
+Hardly had I turned the corner into Piccadilly, when I heard a voice at
+my elbow uttering my name with a foreign accent.
+
+Turning quickly, I saw, to my great surprise, a man named Engler, whom I
+had known in Bremen. He was a clerk in the Deutsche Bank, opposite the
+Liebfrauen-Kirche, and popular in a certain circle in that Hanseatic
+city.
+
+"My dear Meester Jacox!" he exclaimed in broken English in his
+enthusiastic way. "My dear frendt. Well, well! who would have thought of
+meeting you. I am so ve-ry glad!" he cried. "I have only been in London
+since three days."
+
+I shook my friend's hand warmly, for a year ago, when I had spent some
+time beside the Weser watching two men I had followed from London, we
+had been extremely friendly.
+
+I told him that I was on my way to my rooms, and invited him in to have
+a chat.
+
+He gladly accompanied me, and when we were comfortably seated in my cosy
+sitting-room he began to relate to me all the latest news from Bremen
+and of several of my friends.
+
+Otto Engler was a well-dressed, rather elegant man of forty, whose fair
+beard was well trimmed, whose eyes were full of fire, and who rather
+prided himself upon being something of a lady-killer. He was in London
+in connection with an important financial scheme in which his brother
+and a German merchant in London, named Griesbach, were interested. He
+and his brother Wilhelm were over on a visit to the merchant, who, he
+told me, had offices in Coleman Street, and who lived in Lonsdale Road,
+Barnes.
+
+There was a fortune in the business, he declared, which was the
+discovery of a new alloy, lighter than aluminium, yet with twenty times
+the rigidity.
+
+That evening we dined together at the "Trocadero," looked in at the
+Empire, and returned to the club for a smoke.
+
+Indeed, I was delighted to have found an old friend just when I was in
+deepest despair of the dullness of everything, and of Christmas in
+particular.
+
+Otto Engler had one failing--his impudent inquisitiveness. After he had
+left me it occurred to me that all the time we had been together he had
+been constantly endeavouring to discover my recent movements, where I
+had visited of late, where I intended spending Christmas, and my
+subsequent movements.
+
+Why did he desire to know all these particulars? He was a busybody, I
+knew, and the worst gossip in the whole of that gossip-loving city on
+the Weser. Therefore I attributed his inquisitiveness to his natural
+propensity for prying into other people's affairs.
+
+"Ah! my dear friend," he had said as he gripped my hand on leaving me,
+"they often speak of you in Bremen. How we all wish you were back again
+with us of an evening at the Wiener Cafe!"
+
+"I fear I shall never go back," I said briefly. "Business nowadays keeps
+me in London, as you know."
+
+"I know--I know," he replied. "Remember, you have always had a true
+friend in Otto Engler--and you always will, I trust."
+
+Then he had entered the taxi which the hall-porter had called for him.
+
+Next afternoon he called upon me at New Stone Buildings, as we had
+arranged. Ray Raymond was seated with me. I introduced him, and we spent
+a pleasant hour, chatting and smoking. Ray had also been in Bremen, and
+the two men had, they found, many mutual friends. Then, when he had
+left, Ray declared himself charmed by him.
+
+"So different to the usual German," he declared. "There's nothing of the
+popinjay about him, nothing of the modern military fop of Berlin or
+Dresden, men who are, in my estimation, the very acme of bad breeding
+and degenerate idiocy."
+
+"No," I said. "Engler is quite a good fellow. I'm glad he's found me. I
+expected to be deadly dull this Christmas."
+
+"So do I," replied my friend. "I've got a wire this morning from the
+Admiral saying he is down with influenza, and the Christmas house-party
+is postponed. So I shall stay in town."
+
+"In that case we might spend Christmas day together," I suggested.
+
+This was arranged.
+
+My German friend Otto saw me daily. I was introduced to his brother,
+Wilhelm, a tall, thin, rather narrow-eyed man who, from his atrocious
+German, I judged was from Dantzig. It was one evening in the Cafe Royal
+that I first saw Wilhelm, who was seated playing dominoes with a rather
+stout, middle-aged man in gold-rimmed spectacles, Heinrich Griesbach.
+
+Both men expressed delight at meeting me, and I invited the trio to my
+rooms for a smoke and a gossip.
+
+We sat until nearly two o'clock in the morning. Griesbach had been many
+years in London, and was apparently financing the scheme of the brothers
+Engler, a scheme which, on the face of it, seemed a very sound
+undertaking.
+
+All three were thorough-going cosmopolitans, cheery, easy-going men of
+the world, who told many quaint stories which caused my room to ring
+with laughter.
+
+Next day was Christmas Eve, and Griesbach suddenly suggested that if I
+had nothing better to do he would be delighted if I would join their
+party at dinner on Christmas night at his house over at Barnes.
+
+"I regret very much," I said, "but I've already arranged to dine with my
+friend Raymond, who shares chambers with me in Lincoln's Inn."
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Otto Engler, "I'm sure Herr Griesbach would be very
+pleased if he came also."
+
+"Of course!" cried the German merrily. "The more the merrier. We shall
+dine at eight, and we'll expect you both. I'll send a note to Mr.
+Raymond, if you'll give me his address."
+
+I gave it to him, and nothing loath to spend the festival in such jovial
+company, I accepted.
+
+I entertained a shrewd suspicion that by their hospitality they wished
+to enlist my aid, because I had one or two friends in the City who
+might, perhaps, assist them materially in their scheme. And yet, after
+all, Otto Engler had often been my guest in Bremen.
+
+Next day I heard on the telephone from Ray that he would go down to
+Barnes with me, and would call for me at six at Guilford Street.
+Curiously enough, I had become so impressed by the possibilities of the
+new alloy about to be exploited with British capital, that I had really
+become anxious to "go in" with them. Ray Raymond, too, was much
+interested when I showed him the specimen of the new metal which Engler
+had given me.
+
+"Do you know," said he when he called for me at six o'clock on Christmas
+evening, "I was about town a lot yesterday and I'm quite certain that I
+was followed by a foreigner--a rather big man wearing gold spectacles."
+
+"Nonsense!" I laughed. "Why should you be followed by any foreigner?"
+
+"It isn't nonsense, my dear Jacox," he declared. "The fellow kept close
+observation on me all yesterday afternoon. When I got back to Bruton
+Street, I looked out half an hour afterwards and there he was, still
+idling outside."
+
+"Some chap who wants to serve you with a writ, perhaps!" I laughed
+grimly. "A neglected tailor's bill!"
+
+"No," he said. "He's watching with some evil intent, I'm certain. I
+expect he's somewhere near, even now," he added.
+
+"Why!" I laughed. "You seem quite nervy over it! Next time you see him,
+go up to the Johnnie and ask him what the dickens he wants."
+
+Then, half an hour later, I put on my hat and coat, and together we took
+a taxi past Kensington Church and Olympia, to Hammersmith Bridge, over
+which we turned off to the right in Castelnau, into a long ill-lit
+thoroughfare, running parallel with the river. Bare trees lined the
+road, and each house was a good-sized one, standing in its own grounds.
+
+Before one of these, hidden from the road by a high wall, and standing
+back a good distance from the road, the cab pulled up, and, alighting,
+we opened the gate, and passing up a well-kept drive pulled the bell.
+
+Our summons was answered by a thin, rather consumptive-looking German
+man-servant, who took our coats and ceremoniously ushered us into a big
+well-furnished drawing-room, where Griesbach and his two friends were
+already assembled awaiting us. All were smoking cigarettes, which showed
+that no ladies were to be present.
+
+The instant Ray entered the room I saw that he gave a start, and a few
+moments later he seized an opportunity to whisper to me that the man who
+had so persistently followed him on the previous day was none other than
+our host Griesbach.
+
+"Don't worry over it, my dear old fellow," I urged. "What motive would
+he have? He didn't even know you!"
+
+And then the gossip became merry in that room so seasonably decorated
+with holly, while Griesbach assured us of his delight in having us as
+his guests.
+
+Dinner was served in the adjoining room, and a most excellent and
+thoroughly English repast it was. Our host had been long enough in
+England, he told us, to appreciate English fare, hence we had part of a
+baron of beef with Christmas pudding afterwards, and excellent old port
+and nuts to follow.
+
+Two young Germans waited at table, and the party was as merry a one as
+any of us could wish. Only Ray seemed serious and preoccupied. He was
+suspicious I knew--but of what?
+
+I now openly confess that I pretended a gaiety which I certainly did not
+feel, for after Raymond had told me that he had recognised Griesbach, a
+very strange thought had occurred to me. It was this. As we had entered
+the garden to approach the house, I felt certain that I had caught sight
+of the figure of a man crouching against one of the bushes in the
+shadow. At the time I had thought nothing of it, so eager was I to meet
+my friends. Yet now, in face of Ray's whispered words, I grew very
+suspicious. Why had that man been lurking there?
+
+When the cloth had been cleared and dessert laid, the elder of the two
+servants placed upon the table before our host a big box of long
+crackers covered with dark green gelatine and embellished with gold
+paper.
+
+"These are German bon-bons," remarked Griesbach, his grey eyes beaming
+through his spectacles. "I get them each Christmas from my home in
+Stuttgart."
+
+The conversation had again turned upon the splendid investment about to
+be offered to the British public, whereupon I half suggested that I was
+ready to go into the affair myself. Griesbach jumped at the idea, just
+as I expected, and handed round the box of crackers. Each of us took
+one, in celebration of Christmas, and on their being pulled we
+discovered small but really acceptable articles of masculine jewellery
+within. My "surprise" was a pair of plain gold sleeve-links, worth fully
+three or four pounds, while Ray, with whom I pulled, received a nice
+turquoise scarf-pin, an incident which quite reassured him.
+
+Our host refused to take one.
+
+"No," he declared, "they are for you, my dear fellows--all for you."
+
+So again the box was passed round, and four more crackers were taken.
+That time Ray's bon-bon contained a tiny gold match-box, while within
+mine I found a small charm in the form of a gold enamelled doll to hang
+upon one's watch-chain.
+
+As Ray and I pulled my cracker, I had suddenly raised my eyes and caught
+sight of the expression upon the face of my friend Engler. It struck me
+as very curious. His sallow cheeks were pale, and his dark eyes seemed
+starting out of his head with excitement.
+
+"Now, gentlemen," said our genial host, after he had passed the box for
+the third time, first to his two compatriots, who handed the remaining
+two bon-bons across the table to us, "you have each a final bon-bon. In
+one of them there will be found a twenty-mark piece--our German custom.
+I suggest, in order to mark this festive occasion, that whoever of you
+four obtains the coin shall receive, free of any obligation, five shares
+in our new syndicate."
+
+"A most generous proposal!" declared my friend Engler, a sentiment with
+which we all agreed.
+
+The two Germans pulled their bon-bons, but were unsuccessful. The
+prize--certainly a prize worth winning--now lay between Ray and myself.
+
+At that instant, however, Griesbach rose from the table suddenly,
+saying:
+
+"You two gentlemen must settle between yourselves. It lies between you."
+
+And before we were aware of his intention he had passed into the
+adjoining room, followed by his two friends.
+
+"Well," I laughed to Ray when we were alone, "here goes. Let's decide
+it!" And we both gripped the long green-and-gold cracker. If the coin
+were within, then I should receive a very handsome present, worth a
+little later on, perhaps, several thousand pounds.
+
+At that instant, however, we were both startled by a loud smashing of
+glass in the next room, curses in German and loud shouts in English,
+followed by the dull report of a revolver.
+
+We both sprang into the room, and there, to our surprise, found that six
+men had entered through the broken French window and were struggling
+fiercely with our host and his friends.
+
+"What in the name of Fate does this mean?" I cried, startled and amazed
+at that sudden termination to our cosy Christmas dinner.
+
+"All right, Mr. Raymond," answered a big brown-bearded man. "You know
+me--Pelham of Scotland Yard! Keep an eye on those bon-bons in the next
+room. Don't touch them at peril of your life!"
+
+"Why?" I asked.
+
+Then, when our host and our two friends had been secured--not, however,
+before the room had been wrecked in a most desperate struggle--Inspector
+Pelham came forward to where Ray was standing with me, and said:
+
+"My God, Mr. Raymond! You two have had a very narrow escape, and no
+mistake! Where are those bon-bons?"
+
+We took him into the dining-room, showed him the remaining two, and told
+him we had been about to pull them.
+
+"I know. We were watching you through the window. Those men were flying
+from the house when they ran into our arms!"
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because they are a dangerous trio whom we want on several charges. In
+addition, all three, and also the two servants, are ingenious spies in
+the service of the German General Staff. They've been busy this last two
+years. They intended to wreak upon both of you a terrible revenge for
+your recent exposures of the German system of espionage in England and
+your constant prosecution of their spies."
+
+"Revenge!" I gasped. "What revenge?"
+
+"Well," replied the detective-inspector, "both these bon-bons contain
+powerful bombs, and had you pulled either of them you'd both have been
+blown to atoms. That was their dastardly intention. But fortunately we
+got wind of it, and were in time to watch and prevent it."
+
+"And only just in the nick of time, too!" gasped Ray, pale-faced at
+thought of our narrow escape. "I somehow felt all along some vague
+presage that evil was intended."
+
+The three spies were conveyed to Barnes police-station in cabs, and that
+was the last we ever saw of them. The Government again hushed up the
+matter in order to avoid international complications, I suppose, but a
+week later the interesting trio were deported by the police to Hamburg
+as undesirable aliens.
+
+And to-day, with Ray Raymond, I am wondering what is to be the outcome
+of all this organised espionage in England.
+
+What will happen? When will Germany strike?
+
+WHO KNOWS?
+
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+_Printed at The Chapel River Press, Kingston, Surrey._
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Transcriber's notes:
+
+ Punctuation has been standardized.
+
+ Hyphenation has been retained as it appears in the original
+ publication.
+
+ An additional title and list of chapters has been added before
+ the start of the book to be compatible with the HTML version.
+
+ In the ad at the beginning of the book:
+   "cloth bound" was underlined; this has been removed.
+
+   COUNTESS BARCY[`N]SKA: there is a grave accent over the N.
+   This is a possible typo for the Polish letter with an acute accent.
+
+ Page 13: "Minsister" changed to "Minister" (pooh-poohed by both the
+   Prime Minister)
+
+ Page 95: "day" changed "days" (in the days that were to follow)
+
+ Page 100: "depot" changed to "depot" (another depot at Burnham)
+
+ Page 104: "no" changed to "not" (not distant date)
+
+ Page 170: "o" changed to "to" (in order to threaten you)
+
+ Page 173: "fell" changed to "feel" (and you will, I feel)
+
+ Page 241: "denes" changed to "dunes" (neighbourhood of the dunes)
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Spies of the Kaiser, by William Le Queux
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPIES OF THE KAISER ***
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