The Washington times., 1918-12-12

Lne lnteiDRence DepATlmeut OF DOtu
War andAdmlralty In Germany, and
renders faithful service to the es-
pionage which IL constantly main
tanned on officials. poiitIcians. the
clergy and the general public IN
that land OF careful Organization.
Section Seven 10 q vast subter-
ranean department. Always work
ing IN the dark. It's political COM
plexIon IT, a handy cloak for black
er and more sinister activities II
IL frequently entrusted with COM
missions OF which II would be In
expedient for official Germany to
have cognizance and which. ac-
cordingly. official Germany can al
ways safely repudiate when oeea-
sion demands.
I thrust the pin Of the badge into
by braces and fastened II there,
crammed the rest OF the dead mans
effects into his bag. stuck hiS hat
upon my head and threw his over
coat on my arm. picked up his bag
and crept away. In another minute
I was back In my room. my brain
ahame with the IRE Of . great en-
terprise.
Here. to my hand. iay the key Of
that locked land which held the
secret OF my lost brother. The
question had been asking myself,
ever since I had first discovered the
dead mans American papers OF
Identity, was this Had the nerve
to avail myself of SemIin's Amer
lean passport to get into Germany
The answer 70 that question lay In
the little silver badge. ! knew that
no German official. whatever his
standing, whatever his orders.
would refuJe passage to the silver
star Of Section Seven II need only
be used, too, as . last resource. Tor
I had my papers - . neutral
Could I but once set foot in Ger
many. I was quite ready to depend
on my wits to see me through One
advantage. 1 knew, must forego.
That was the half-letter in It's can
vas case.
II that document was Of import
anee to Section Seven OF the Ger
man police. then II was Of equal
nay, of greater importAnce TO my
country. II went that should
remain behind in safe keeping.
Never before. since the war be7
gam told myself, can any
EnElIshman have had such an op-
portunity vouchsafed to. him for
getting easily and safely into that
jealousy guarded land As you have
now! You have plenty of money,
what with your own and this
." and I fingered Semlin's wad
OF notes. "and provided you can
keep your head sufficiently to re-
member always that you are Ger
man, once over the frontier you
should be able to give. the Huns the
slip and try and follow Up the trail
OF poor Francis =
"And maybe" I argued further
ESQ easily Is ones better judgment
defeated when one Is young and set
on a thing), maybe IN German
surroundings, you may get some
sense into that mysterious Jingle
you got from Dicky Allerton as the
sole existing clue to the disappear
ance of Francis"
Nevertheless, wavered. me
risks were awful. had to get out
of that evil hotel in the guise OF
DR.. Semlin. with. as the sole safe
guard against exposure, should I
fall in with the dead mans en-
ployers or friends. that slight and
possibly imaginative resemblance
between him and me: had to take
such measures as would prevent the |
fraud from being detected when the |
body was discovered in the hotel:
above all, 1 had to ascertain. be-
fore 1 could definitely resolve to |
push on into Germany, whether
Semlin was already known to the
people at the hotel or whether-as
! surmised to be the caSe-this was
also his frst visit to the house In
the Vos int TuintJe-
In any case, 1 was quite deter
mined in my own mind that the
only way to get out OF the place
with Semlin's document without
considerable unpleasantnsss. 10 not
grave danger. would be to transfer
his identity and effects to myself
way a little clearer l could decide
whether to take the supreme risk
and adventure myself into the an
emy's country.
Whatever 1 was going to do,
there were not many hours OF the
night left in which to act. and I
was determined to be out OF that
house OF i'll omen before day
dawned. II / could get clear OF the
hotel and at the same time ascer-
tain that Semlin was as much q
stranger there as myself. I could
decide on my further course OF ae-
tion in the greater freedom OF the
streets of Rotterdam One thing
was certain; the waiter had let the
question Of Semlin's papers stand
over until the morning, As he had
done in my case, for Semlin still
had his passport in his possession
After all, II Semlin was unknown
at the hotel. the waiter had only
seen him for the same brief moment
as he had seen me.
Thus / reasoned and argued with
myself. but In the meantime l acted
had nothing compromising in my
suitcase so that caused no dlfi-
Guilty. My British passport and
permit and anything bearing any
relation to my personality, such as
my watch and cigarette case. both
OF which were engraved with my
initials, | transferred to the dead
mans pockets. As I bent over the
stiff. cold figure with its livid face
and clutching fingers. | felt a diff
fculty which I had hitherto reso-
lutely shiTked forcing itself square,
ly into the forefront OF my mind
What was l going to do about the
body?
At that moment came a low
knocking.
with a sudden sinking at the
heart. a remembered that had for
gotten to lock the door.