Two hours later twenty-six
hundred soldiers were put aboard her on their way to France. Just by
accident, as they were about to sail, a time-bomb was discovered in the
coal bunkers, a bomb that would have sent them all to kingdom come."
"How terrible!"
"Somebody aboard is a traitor. Somebody knew when that inspection was
made. Somebody put that bomb in place afterward. That shows you the kind
of enemies we are fighting."
Jane shuddered. She was thinking of the sailing of another transport,
the one that had carried her brother to France.
"Anything seems right after that," she said simply.
"Yes," said Mr. Fleck, "there is only one effective way to fight those
spying devils. We must stop at nothing. They stop at nothing--not even
murder--to gain their ends."
"I know that," said Jane hastily. "I saw something myself you ought to
know about."
As briefly as she could she described the scene she had witnessed in the
early morning hours from her bedroom window, the man following the
younger Hoff, Hoff's discovery and pursuit of him around the corner and
of his return alone.
"And in the morning," she concluded, "they found a man's body in the
side street. He had a bullet through his heart. There was a revolver in
his hand. The newspapers said that the police and the coroner were
satisfied that it was a suicide.
Pages:
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50