Evening star., 1921-12-04


than the office Of one or the chieiS "
the secret service in Madrid.
The officials of this service were taiA-
ing together. The senior. with hair Ell
brosse and a heavy-limbed tgure' sat
behind a large desk. His companion
man of slighter buiri... had come Ill Win
some papers of official routrse ana re-
manned for conversation.
"Yes. YES" said the older man, VINO
was known in the service as III 1sie, "
the Chief, ''but think that you 40 no'
allow sufficiently for the fact tnat MI. l..,
erto il is the military who nave oea,,
with him-or rather you have attenpteo
TO deal with him-and not our service.
! imagine that Don @. Will ma Us
rather more subtle antagonists 'naa
those he has been used to- n
~ quite agree that hitherto Don =.
has had no such man laid upon this
trail as You. Senor Jefe, but whas loons
easy here in Madrid assumes the as
meet of the impossible when one ap-
proaches the mountains. o< ..rd
How so?" demanded the chief Anu
what do you know OF IL o,f-
"I am a native Of Almeria myself
said his companion. land that IS hol 80
far from the sierra. and al one .,ine -, o
another I have passed as close as nioS'
men TO the mountains in Whlch Don ~.
has his lair | assure you that there is
not a goatherd nor charcoai puriei. :,
herdsmen nor a muleteer VINO aoes no'
seem TO have sworn allegiance 20 MN:
His system of Intelligence is admi:aoie.
"F:xactlv. Nearly all the plans th3t
have been made against nm nave pt.n
made and discussed in the towns uhcer
a little loosely But on this occasion,
the plans will be made IN TINS oince
here in Madrid, and l do not tnlnk tna'
much of what is said in this office is re-
peated outside. ~
"Then YOU have a plan?'
and MAY be permitted to-inquire?,
The chief looked UP. 'lt is possible
that YOU may. Let me see, now lohs
have you worked here!
..Ten years. ,,,
And YOUR grade is No. ., is it not?"
Yes. SeEor Jefe ,
And you would like 1t 10 become
No. 1?'
..Assuredly."
i x = !:
THE chief rose, went to the door
L opened it, looked out and closed ii
again.
"I have what the French call your
dossier here" said he as he sat down
again. "You have had varied career.
Senior Angreuz.'
The man called Angreuz flushed.
II have served this department faith
fully" said he: for 81; siS yea years: Senaid Won
we'll" replied the chief. his eyes upon
the dossier f.If you had not taken
service with me then. you would nave
found yourself helping to build one OF
those charming breakwaterS in Africa
And that would have been great come
down for man who once held COM
mission. as you did Did you not,
senor?"
have no doubt it is SO. This department
never makes mistakes. does it? said
AngreuZ not without a sneer.
Not many" replied the chief i'm
perturbably, land I trust 1 am not
making one now when ] give you the
mission I am about to propose to
YOU Down there in Andalusia is Don
O. He has of late become impossible
The military have done their best
and have failed. The matter has
passed into my hands. and you know
what 7 did. my dear Senior Angreuz:
81 have not an idea.
81 Law awake for two hours and
thought the matter over, and then l
said to myself. Who is the man in
the secret service who has the best
qualifications for this mission" And
after weighing every name l finally
decided upon YOU
II am gratifed.' nu
You need not be-" said the chief
genially, for I might have put my
question another way, Who Is the
man who has the fewest scruples"
You have not many scruples. have
you, senior? At least. I judge by
this And the chief tapped the
dossier for the third time.
when I serve it is with my whole
heart" replied Angreuz.
Exactly. Well. you will need all
your heart, your cunning and your
courage if you are to carry through
this mission successfully. lean give
you three months. At the end of that
time Don Q.'S activities must have
ceased
Have you any plan to suggest by
which might bring that about"
None. I do not presume to sug-
gest a plan to SO capable subordi-
nate. l merely indicate your reward.
If you succeed there is the blood
money which is set upon Don G.. and
that is a large sum. besides which
you will be promoted to grade l. In
fact. if you succeed, you are made
man. By the way. / ought to have
asked you before-are you willing to
"Yes. But there are certain con-
ditions."
'Name them
Firstly. 1 shall want money for
expenses"
How mucho"
Ten thousand pesetas."
THAT is an immense sum- said
the chief slowly. Il really think that
i cannot authorize that expenditure
unless you tell me why 1t is neces-
sary."
Angreuz for the first time smiled.
ut is necessary for my success"
said he.
You have already formed plan?"
st have long had one. l have al
ways known how Don Q. Might be
brought to book. But my plan neces-
states my making good appearance
and even investing some money.
The chief looked at him gravely.
Il presume you mean that you VIII
not tell me your plan?
II will tell you If you wish. said
his subordina But in this case II
seems TO me wiser that l should say
nothing, You have given me free
hand before, and 1 do not thlnk you
Save ever regretted it,
'.As you wish" said the chief. "Well.
YOU have your mission and mere is an
order on which You may draw ten thou
sand pesetas i'll the usual way. and DO
not wish to see you again until you
have succeeded.
Without any more words, Senor An
greuz left the room.
The chief rose from his desk and
deep breath and lit cigarette. 1t was
as II he wished to cleanse the room from
an evil presence.
co the Senior Angreuz faded away from
~ Madrid and from the precincts OF
the secret service offices and little
later turned up in Seville.
into all his doings and peregrinations
for the next fortnight it is not neces-
sary for us to explore, but we will pick