"I wish you-as I have already said-to capture Mustushimi in person, and to bring him here before me, just as you did the other time; but also, I wish you, if possible, to break up entirely the gang of spies he controls, and to so frighten them individually and collectively, that one and all of them will be glad to leave the country for good."
"It strikes me that that is rather a large contract, isn't it?"
"That is precisely why I have given it to you. I have always understood that you enjoy doing rather impossible things."
"I have not been belied there, sir."
"And so I have sent for you again."
"I am to have a sort of a roving commission, I suppose, Sir?"
"Your commission is as elastic as you choose to make it. You may, or you may not, as you choose, communicate with Mr. Wilkie, and ask him to give you assistance. You may do exactly as you deem best for the interests of all concerned, always bearing in mind the one important point that I require secrecy, as far as the public is concerned."
"I understand you, sir."
"The thing is to rid ourselves of Mustushimi and his followers; and, incidentally, to make it appear to all those who wish to introduce the spy system into this country, that it is a difficult and a dangerous thing to do. Why, Mr. Carter, do you not see that if this sort of thing is not nipped in the bud at once, the time is not far off when the United States will be overrun with spies, as the countries of Europe are, now?"
"I do understand that perfectly well, Sir."