The Washington times., 1918-08-04


to remain down town for dinner. He
felt, however, that her devotion to
duty would cause her TO refuse. and
rather than risk this he contented
himself by holding her hand a trihe
langer than was necessary in bidding
her good-by after escorting her to
taxicab.
A moment of thought decided him
to begin at once in acquainting him
self with the cotton conditions in the
harbor. So calling an automobile he
had himself driven to the large store
houses which held the cotton ship
ments from the South awaiting ships
to carry II across to England, France
and Russia
A discovery in the first warehouse
at which he stopped made him glad
that he had not delayed investigating
conditions. As he drove up and made
himself known to the proprietor. lie
found that worthy thoroughly angry.
"If you are looking for somebody
to make trouble for" said the cotton
owner, ''you ought to get after these
steamboat fellows for taking deck
loads of acid. A shipment we got in
a week ago had about a hundred
bales spoiled by acid eating. and now
the stun they are unloading seems to
be entirely gone. Come on down and
look at it,
Have you taken any of these bales
apart and examined themr Grant
asked quickly.
why, no." answered the cotton
shipper, when a bale is that way on
the outside you can gamble that there
will be very little salvage on the In
side. What there is the steamship
company is welcome to-"
But IL looks to me as IL the dam
age came from the inside, insisted
Grant Look Mere, It is damaged on
all sides equally. II acid had been
spilled on the upper side the lower
side would not have been damaged as
much" =.
by crackey, II looks that way"
said the shipper. becoming interested:
Hey, you boys! Look alive here, AND
rip this bale OPEN"
A couple of husky stevedoreS an
swered the call, and as Grant and the
ovner watched closely the bale wires
were cut and the spoiled mass inside
ripped carefully apart When the
center had been reached there was
tinkle of glass as a handful OF the
wasted mass fell on the dock plank
ing. Grant halted them at the work
and pursued the rest of the search
unassisted. BY pulling to pieces every
PARTICLE of the mass he found large
number of pieces OF glass which,
dtted together, formed a glass tube
about the size of those used in chem
ical laboratories.
How many more bales have you
got in the same condition." asked
Grant
81 got twenty-five on the last ship
ment." answered the shipper, but
that arrived TO-DAY
seems to be more than half Destroy
ed"
Grant wasted no time. Glass was
found in more than q. hundred bales
examined before Grant ordered the
search stopped for the night. He
told the cotton broker. however, to
have a guard placed around those
which had not yet been examined,
and then telephoned to the Crtmino-
loEy Club and arranged for members
to come to the dock the next, day
to supervise the searching OF the
rest of the shipment.
The drab murkiness of the night
was giving way before the first fill
tered light of the new day when
Grant left the office Of the broker
to catch an owl trolley no taxicab
being in sight in the night deserted
neiEhborhood of the warehouses, and
rode to the Criminology Club. There
he sat in his private office and wrote
a report for Washington on his dis
coveries, a warning to be sent to
each cotton shipping center and then
a lengthy dispatch to Dixie Mason,
before he sought his bed for we'll
earned sleep.
The message was delivered to
Dixie while she was at breakfast In
- - WI
was carrying her rapidly toward the
cotton belt.
Good old Grant" she murmured.
Trust him to fnd traces of crooked
ness, no matter how adroitly they are
concealed. 1t seems as IL my work is
simply to seek the first COMPRISING
station of any size and watch. Then
il / can discover the way in which IT
Is being done, a general raid can be
conducted"
Catches Man Red-Handed-
Following out this idea, she con-
suited with the conductor Of the train
as to the FIRST COMPRISING station
which would be reached. with the re-
suit that late that night she changed
trains and the next morning found
her in the midst of the northern part
of the cotton belt. AS soon as the
COMPRISING started Dixie was sur
prised with the ease in which she dis
covered the man who was doing i'm
perial Germany's despicable work at
that particular compressor. As the
cotton went into the compress two
men stood nearby guiding il. She no.
ticed that one of them was Stacking
on his work. and as the compress was
about half filled she saw him reach
into his coat pocket, hastily withdraw
his hand, and thrust II into the CEN
ter of the soft mass
'Stop" cried Dixie, showing her Sc
cret service badge, "and don't let
that man-escape."
The sight of the small automatic
she held in her hand held the spy sta
tionary in his tracks until other