Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1908-03-12
ings f's' sale to sos..J
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command a great sum. l have beer
looking, as l need hardly tell you. to
that invention to secure me a very
large fortune, and l shall be ruined in
deed if the design is taken abroad. If
you cannot help me, the consequences
will be terrible. Bad for the service of
the country, too, Of course"
"Of course. Now, tell me this: 1t
would, 1 take it, be necessary for the
thief to exhibit these drawings to any
body anxious to buy the secret mean
he couldn't describe the invention by
word of mouth?"
ooh, no; that would be impossible.
The drawings are of the most compli-
Gated description and full of figures,
upon which the whole thing depends"
At this moment the door of the outer
Office was heard to open. and somebody
entered. The door between the two Of
fees was aiar, and Hewitt could see
right through to the glass door left
open over the barrie: Il into the
space beyond. A we'll crossed, dark.
bushy bearded man stood there carry
ing a hand bag, which he placed on the
ledge before him. Hewitt raised his
hand to enjoin silence. The man spoke
In a rather high pitched voice and with
a slight accent. els Mr.. Dixon now
within ?" he asked.
HE is engaged" answered one of
the craftsmen; Every particularly en-
gagged. Pm afraid you won't be able
to see him this afternoon. Can I give
him any messenger"
"This is two-the second time I have
come today. Not two hours ago Mr..
Dixon himself tells me to call again.
I have a very important-very excel
lent steam packing to show him that
is very cheap and the best of the
market" The man tapped his bag. 81
have just taken orders from the largest
railway companies. Cannot I see him,
for one second only? 1 will not detain
him"
"Really, I'm sure you can't this aft
ernoon. He isn't seeing anybody. But
if you'll leave your name
"My name is Hunter. But what the
good of that? He ask me to call a
little later, and 1 come, and now he is
engaged. 1t is a very great pity
And the man snatched up his bag and
walking stick and stalked off indig-
nantly.
Hewitt stood still, gazing through
the small aperture in the doorway.
"You'd scarcely expect a man with
such a name as Hunter to talk with
that accent, would you?" he observed
musingly. "It isn't a French accent,
nor a German, but it seems foreign.
You don't happen to know him. l sup
pose"
"No, I don't. He called here about
half-past 10, just while we were in the
middle Of Jul search, and l was fran
tic over the loss of the drawings. I
vas in the outer Office myself and told
him to call later. But what will you
do now? Shall you see my men?"
81 think" said Hewitt, rising, 81
think I'll get you to question them
yourself"
"Myself?'
eyes. I have a reason. Will you
trust me with the key of the private
room opposite? 1 will go over there
for a little, while you talk to your men
in this room. Bring them in here and
shut the door. I can look after the
Office from across the corridor, you
know. Ask them each to detail his ex-
act movements about the Office this
morning, and get them to recall each
visitor who has been here from the
beginning of the week. I'll let you
know the reason of this later. Come
across to me in a few minutes"
Ten minutes later Mr.. Dixon, having
questioned his craftsmen, found Hew-
lit standing before the table in the
private room, on which lay several
drawings on tracing paper.
"See here, MI. Dixon" said Hewitt,
Il think these are the drawings you
are anxious about"
The engineer sprang toward them
with n cry of delight. "Why, yes,
yes" he exclaimed, turning them over,
"every n of them! But where-how
they must have been in the place,
been!'
Hewitt shook his head. "I'm afraid
you're not quite so lucky as you think,
Mr.. Dixon" he said. '"These drawings
have most certainly been out of the
house for a little while. Never mind
how. Well talk of that after. There
is no time to lose. Tell me, how long
would it take a good craftsman to copy
them?"
"They couldn't possibly be traced
over properly in less than two OF two
and a half long days Of very hard
work." Dixon replied, with eagerness.
"Ah, then, it is as l feared. These
tracings have been photographed, MI.
Dixon, and our task is one Of every
possible difficulty. If they had been
copied in the ordinary way, one might
hope to get hold of the copy, but pho
Biography upsets everything. Copies
can be multiplied with such amazing
facility that, nee the thief gets a de-
cent start, it is almost hopeless to
checkmate him. The only chance is to
get at the negatives before copies are
taken. 1 must act at once, and I fear,
between ourselves. it NAV be necessary