The guardian., 1941-06-21
Secret Code
BY RICHARD HILL WILKINSON
g Associated Newspapers-wNUs Service

his superior officers. SlrS, he
said, 81 beg to report the presence
of suspicious looking craft plying
about in the bay"
Major Rinehart looked up sharp
ly. Suspicious. Why?"
ga hunch as much as anything,
sir. That and the fact that there ap-
pears to be no obvious reason for
the crafts presence. He's"
Colonel Bradley, who sat across
from the major, interrupted irri-
tably. "We're not interested in
lunches, Lii u tenant Hitchcock.
These are trying times, and there
are too many other things-things,
incidentally, based on fact-that
need attention. Unless you have
something more important than
mere surmise-." He gestured.
Lieut.. Hitchcock colored. 81 beg
your pardon, sir. 1t seemed to me
that it was important to-"
What seems important to you
doesn't carry great deal of weight,
Lieutenant. You may CO."
Outside, Maj. Rinehart overlook
the young lieutenant. "Just min
ute, Lieutenant Hitchcock" He laid
paternal hand on the youths
shoulder. "Now, get that look out
of your eye and forget about what
just happened. Bradley's a hard
man. At times he appears unrea-
sonable, but take my word for it
he's a good soldier, and his attitude
toward you was, in his mind, justi-
fed.
'Now in regard to your suspicious
looking craft-and this is strictly
confidential, mind you-the skipper
of that fishing smack is taking
soundings. He's in the employ of
our intelligence department. Best
l can say for you is that you were
pretty smart to notice anything
strange"
"Soundings, sir? You mean in re-
gard to the troop ships-?"
"The less you say about those
troop ships the better. Now, mind,
keep what I've told you in strictest
confidence and don't fret about
hard-headed Colonel Bradley"
Two days later Lieut.. Hitchcock
took it upon himself to again visit
Maj. Rinehart.
"I'm sorry, sir. It's about the
same fishing craft"
"Well?"
"Im positive the fellow is signal
ing to some one on shore. He may
be employed by the intelligence de-
partment as you say, but why
should he employ code signal?"
Major Rinehart leaped to his feet.
Code? What sort of code?"
"Why, quite simple, sir. His boat
is comparatively new and carries
fairly good canvas. Yet there are
patches on the sails. That's what
aroused my suspicious first.
wasn't positive until l discovered
that some days there were more
patches than on others"
Major Rinehart reached for his
hat. He ordered Hitchcock to re-
turn to his quarters and to stay
there and above all else to mention
no word of what he had just re-
peated.
Toward evening of the same day,
Major Rinehart dropped around at
Hitchcock's quarters. He was smil-
ing pleasantly.
well, son, you've earned your
promotion. It's all arranged. To be-
gin with, the information which you
gave me this morning led to the
arrest of one of the cleverest spies
ever employed by an enemy. Now
that he's in custody l can give you
the particulars.
'Your fisherman was the spy. We
| have suspected him for a long time,
but have been unable to put our
finger on any evidence that would
convict the fellow. When word
reached us about the coming of the
troop ships, Col. Bradley con-
ceived the idea of employing the
fisherman to take soundings, lead
ing him to think that the troop ships
would drop anchor in the bay. We
knew that the fisherman would real
ize he would be under surveillance
when on shore, whether he was sus-
pected or not, hence would be forced
to communicate the nature of his
activities to his superiors by means
of some secret code. For more than
week our operators watched his
activities through powerful tele-
scopes in the hopes of apprehending
the nature of his code. But not one
of them was able to hazard even a
remote possibility"
"You mean that I was the only
one who noticed the patches on the
sails?"
Rinehart nodded. "Thats it in a
nutshell, son. And that's why, to-
morrow, you're going to be made a
captain"
Holy COW! l beg your pardon,
sir, but"
Forget it, Incidentally, the troop
ships landed yesterday, safely, at a
secret rendezvous down the coast.
And now please come up to head
quarters with me. Colonel Bradley
has word to say to you that will
prove my statement about his being
a good soldier and a fair man."