Evening star., 1923-02-10

For FIVE minutes the violence Of the
storm was unabated. Though the
road had few turns that could be ac-
| counted dangerous. Gulick took NJ
chances and the car moved slowly.
At length, however, the wind died
away and the downpour Kradnally
lost its vigor. The thunder was more
| and more distant. The lightning ceased.
IT'S only shower. after all.
/ Towndrow nuttered as Rennison. halt
| rising. anxiously peered forward into
! the darkness.
wen soon pick 'em up now" Gu
| lick said reassuringly, as he In
| creased the speed Of the machine,
Rennison.. still frowning' reseated
| himself. He was about to speak
when he heard a low exclamation
! from Gulick. There was an abrupt
slackening OF the cabs pnco and the
| lights went out.
Then the two men In the rear seat
| saw the red tail-llght OF an autnmc
| bile only hundred yards ahead OF
! them. moment later 1t disappeared
| around q curve in the roaI.
| 1T sure is clearin' all-tired quick
the chauffeur growled. ut might he
| though. they had their back lights
! out"
+! IF that is so. they saw us coming. "
| said Rennison. "If they saw our Lights
go out Immediately atterwari, they
| must know that, trying to conceal
ourselves from their view, we are
| shadowing them"
lick answered gloomily. But wha,
| do you want me to do nowo nI. 'em
| ono"
"Yes-and keep them on." Rena!son
| replied, after pause. you may need
/ them more than you did heforc, for /.
may occur TO them to put something
In the road for US to strike. Keen
right after them now, bu. be carefu!
as you take the curves"
I'm on, SIR" Gulick answered
grimly
The chauffeur cautiously rounded
the curve at which the ledaing ma
chine had disappeared. A short dis
lance beyond this curve was another
| then long, straight stretch Of road
! way In the distance was a little
point OF light
They are racln' for it now" ex-
| to shake us off. But If they knew
the brand Of car they've got behind
he put on more power and drew his
cap lower over his forehead.
eo. Ihere's gofn' to be some skid
ulh we amt got no time to get on
the chains now"
Might as we'll leave it to him, cap
tain, Towndrow said as Rennison
sank back beside him. Ills eyes arc
than ours" -
IF they suspect they are followed,
| muttered ''4'o''
Wen, now. let me get the thing
clear" said Towndrow, closing The
window behind the chauffeur "Yo,,
have told me you suspect our naval
drieho is IN league with Seafalcon,
and that he is on his way to a
Fendezvous in Baltimore"
Your object In following him. then,
is TO locate the rendezvous and TO
identify the persons who visit it?,
Exactly. But 1t is clear that IL
tney suspect that machine ahead of
us is being shadowed. it's occupants
| VIII not go to the rendezvous until
! thrown OFF the trail"
, True. But what reason have you
! LOT suspecting Horsford. captain ?
inc thing seems preposterous. The
manner IN which Claiming was mur-
! dered and the papers tax en- from him
Horsford Horsford was one of the
few men who. as an official of the
navy Department. knew the vital i'm
portance of those papers. He knew
Charming was coming from New York
with no other object than putting
those papers in his hands"
quite true" Rennison assented
In that case. why should Horsford
to frusrate that delivery? whether
he was representative Of the gov
ernment or a representative of Sea l.
FALCON. 1t plainly was in his interest
to obtain possession of those sheets
with the least possible delay, was it
not?"
NO" Rennison replied.
Tt was not?" exclaimed the aston
ished secret service man. I'm Heay-
ems name, captain, what process of
reasoning brings you to that con-
The process is perfectly simple"
said Rennison. Let US assume, first,
that I found in comparatively
trivial incident something that caused
me to suspect some sort of an under
standing between Horsford and Reif-
snyder-an understanding that put
both in league with Seafalcon."
"well?"
well. in that case, it would be ee-
sential that Horsford should be view
ed rather as an agent than as a
was acting as an agent for the prin-
cipal. 1t was to this principal that
these papers were to go ultimately
whether they were obtained by Hors-
ford or by some one else"
That Is plain enough, Of course"
Now, as we have been inform ed,
several officers Of the Navy knew
Horsford was to receive those papers
from the hands of Claiming. Hors-
ford, however, is only a subordinate
In the department.. There was at all
times g. possibility that the Secretary
Of the Navy might take the thing out
Of his hands"
"He Is in a Philadelphia hospital" !"
But he Is convalscent-so nearly
recovered from his operation for an
pendicitis that he Is likely to be back
In Washington almost any day. That
was not the only possibility. how
ever. 1t was not improbable that the
Secretary would decide to have som g
member Of the general staff deal with
the matter-a course which, to NV
thinking, would have been the most
reasonable in the first place. Hors.
ford Is only sort of subcaliber man.
at best-a round peg which political
influence has thrust into a square
hole-and do not doubt that he
would be required to surrender the
papers a few minutes after receiving
tn EN-. had they reached him on sched-
ule time. They would have been de-
! livered to him in the presence Of
quired to yield them to some one else
Immediately. II. however, he had
been permitted to retain them for a
few hours. any accident that might
have occurred to them would have
exposed him to suspicion"
TN beginning to see yolr drift"
said Towndrow thoughtfully.
1T Is safe to assume. therefore,
that Horsford would naturally balk,
in the circumstances. al being requir-
ed to receive the papers for the pur-
pose OF losing them--to Seafaicon.
On the other hand. Seafalcon might
have been unwilling to rely on Hors-
ford to see the thing through. So he
decided to play the game both ways.
He figured he couldn't lose. Chan
ming was to be murdered and the
papers taken from him, in accordance
with plan that seemed reasonably