The Washington herald., 1915-07-25

ing j late eultl0n OF the RECORD d0Wl
on my desk. Across the front pag,
extended a huge black scarehead
'NAvY's MOST VITAL SECRET
STOLEN"
Yes" I shrugged. --pur you cam
get me much excited by what the re-
write men Oh the Record gay"
And the Star" inquired Kennedy
coming to the door and adding with
an aggravating grin, the infa llible p
TIE Star" replied, unruffied
hits the point squarely when it says
that whether the plans were of i'm
mediate importance or not, the rea'
point is that If they could be stolen
really important things could be taker
also. I thinl: il is 2Dou: time those
people in Warrington stopped the
Leak f.
The telephone rang :nsistently.
Il think that's Tor me-" exclaimed
Craig. bounding out of his room and
forgetting his quiz of me. Hello
yes-:s that you. Burke" At the Grand
Certral-hat an hoUr-an right. I'm
bringing Jameson. Good-by."
Kennedy jamr:cd down the receiver
on the hook
The Star was no: far from right
Walter" ne added seriously. 'If .he
battiesnip plans could be stolen, other
things could he--other things were
You remenbe- Burke of the secret
service? I'm going up to Lookout Hill
on the Connecticut shore of the Sound
with him tonight. You'll join US? You'd
better come along. The most vital Sc
cret that any navy ever had. that
would have enabled US in a couple
of years to whip the navies of the
stolen"
And that is?" I asked
The practical working out of the
newest of sciences, the science of tel
automatics"
"Telautomatics? I repeated.
Yes. There is something weird.
fascna ting about the very idea. 1 sit
up here safely in this room. turning
switches. pressing buttons, depressing
levers. Ten miles away a vehicle. a
ship. an aeroplane, a submarine obeys
me. It may carry enough of the latest
and most powerful explosive that mod
ern science can invent. enough, if ex-
ploded. to rival the worst of earth
quakes. Yet it obeys my will. It goe.
where l direct il. II explodes where
I want it. And it wipes off the face
of the earth anything which l want
annihilated.
That's telautomatics and that is
what has been stolen from our navy
and dimly sensed by you clever news
paper men. from whom even the Sc
Cret service can't quite hide every
thing. The publication of the rumor
alone that the government knows it
has lost something has put the secret
service in a hole. What might have
been done quietly and in a few days
has got to be done in the glare of
the limelight and with the blare of
a brass band-and it has got to be
done right away. too. Come on, Wal
ter. I've thrown together all we shall
need for one highland il doesn't in
Clude any ajamas, either"
A few minutes later we met our
friend Burke of the secret service
at the new terminal. He had wired
Kennedy earlier in the day saying
that he would be in New York and
WOulu Cdll Hlii up
The plans, as I told you in my
MESA ge." began Burke. when we had
seated ourselves in a compartment of
the Pullman. were those of Captain
covering the wireless-con-
trolled submarine. For years he has
been working on this science of ra-
has all kinds of pat
ents, which he has dedicated to the
United States. too. OF course the basic.
pioneer patents are not his. His work
has been in the practical application
of them. And. Kennedy. there are
some secrets about his latest work
that he has not patented: he has given
them outright to the Navy Depart
ment. because they are too valuable
even to patent"
Burke. who liked a good detective
tale himself. seemed pleased at hold
ing Kennedy spellbound.
For instance" he went on. he
has on the bay up here a submarine
which can be made into crewless
dirigible. He calls it the Turtle, l be- |
lieve, because that was the name of
the first American submarine built by /
DR. Bushnell during the Revolution.
even before Fulton. Now Captain
Shirley wires me that some one must |
have tempered with his model. 1t
doesn't work right. He even believes ,
that his own life may be threatened. !
And there is scarcely a real clue" he
added detectedly. "Of course we are
watching all the employees who had
access to the draughting room ana
racing everybody who was In the
building that night I have a COM
plete list OF them. There are three or
four who will bear watching. For in
stance there fs a young attache of
one of the embassies named Nord-t
1eim."
"Nordhetm," I echoed. involuntarily.
I had expected an Oriental name.
Yes, a German. I have been look
ng up his record. and I find that
,nce he was connected in some way
with the famous Titan Iron Works,
II KEEL. Germany. We began watch
ng him day before yesterday. but
suddenly he disappeared. Then. there
s a society woman in Washington, 4
Mrs. Bayard Brainard. who was at
lie department that night We have
,een trying to find her. Today I got
word that she was summering in the
colony across the bay from
lookout Hill. At any rate, l had to
20 I'D there TO see the captain, and
thought I'd kill a whole flock OF
birds with one stone. The chief