The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1943-05-27
CHAPTER 1

AT three o'clock Tuesday after
noon Anne Haywood hurried through
the binding snow toward a fashion
able dress shop on upper Fifth Ave-
nue.. She pulled her beaver cap
down tighter over her smooth red
dish-gold hair and drew her beaver
coat closer around her slim legs. 1t
seemed so utterly crazy to be buy
ing summer cottons in the middle Of
a winter blizzard.
At the same moment, two blocks
away, slow gray spider was silent
ly spinning its web across a dark
corner of cellar wall. And eight
cen floors above, in the lemon-and-
gray French salon of an elegant ten
room apartment, two men raised
their hands in a formal stiff-armed
salute, and sat down at a SATIN
wood table in front of the window.
One of them was short and heavy
set. Behind his rimless thick-lensed
spectacles his blue eyes were small
and piercing and shrewd. The 9TH
er man was tall and blond. They
were both in their middle forties,
and both had kind of cynical arro-
gance that neither made any at
tempt to conceal.
Your orders are simple and di-
rect" the tall man said curtly. He
opened worn briefcase in front of
him and took out sheaf of papers.
The island of Puerto Rico can be
put out of commission as an effec-
tive base in half an hour, if you do
your job the way you're expected
to-"
even after the millions the
Americans have poured into its de-
fense?"
The tall man ignored the question.
"Puerto Rico is vulnerable at two
points only: its gas-line supply and
its water supply. The first will be
taken care of.-It's the second you
are concerned with. The island is
one hundred miles long and thirty
five miles wide. Out Of its 1900, 900
population - half Of them unem-
ployed and starving to death-it will
be simple to find five hundred mall
contents. They are to be placed
where at given signal the ma
chinery Of every unit Of the water
system can be completely demol-
ished, and the island destroyed as a
functioning base for the defense Of
the Panama Canal"
II shall need some help" the
short man said.
"You will have help-conscious
and unconscious"
The tall man picked up a sheet
Of paper and looked down the list
of names typed on it.
This in fact has been the most
delicate part of the program"
He smiled.
Diego Gongaro is the only man
in Puerto Rico who knows you," he
said. "He is there from our party in
Spain. You can trust him. He has
done the spade work. His brother
in-law, Alvaro Valera, is the shining
knight behind whom you are to hide.
He has the old aristocrats' dream OF
Spanish empire. He is honest and
sincere. 1t is those qualities that
you will have to use cleverly /.
but as he happens to trust his broth
er-in-law Diego Gongaro, that will
be easy"
"There are three possible-shall
call them obstacles-or impondera-
bles?"
The small blue eyes across the ta-
BILE narrowed slightly, watching
steadily, waiting.
"The first is Alvaro Valera's son,
Miguel. He is twenty-eight, educat-
ed at Gilman and Princeton, pro-
American now.-Or has seemed to
be. Here is his dossier. He wor-
ships his father. At one time he
was an ardent Nationalist. He has
a captains commission in the re-
serve corps, and was under orders
which the War Department can
celled last week without apparent
explanation.
"Do you know the reason?"
~ have an idea. But Diego Con
garo will know-and the fewer the
orfes you go down with the more
facts you'll pick up. This may help
you"
He passed two closely typed sheets
of paper across the table.
"The second is Captain P. G.. Will
cox. He is an American newspaper
man now in the Military Intelligence
Service. He is attached to the Office
of the Assistant Chief of Staff-G p
in San Juan. He is an ace news
paperman, and impatient with what
! presume he regards as official red
tape. For that reason he might
even be of use to you."
He looked across the table intent
ly. mo" he said. you're not
likely to fool him for very long.
Don't try. Just watch that he doesn't
fool you. Here's his dossier."
He got up and moved silently back
and forth across the room, and came
to a stop by the window.
"Then there is a girl whom
haven't been able to figure out" he
said slow. Her name is Anne