“Exactly,” says Mr. Browning, “only these are recipes for making dyes—German dyes. All the world has to go to Germany for its fine colors. We don’t know how to make them. And this cipher gives all the directions. Anybody who has this can manufacture dyes as good as are made in Germany, and make so much money he won’t know what to do with it.”
“How did it ever get buried out there?” says Catty.
“Do you remember that super-submarine Germany sent over with a cargo to New London? Well, on board that was an American who had lived in Germany for years. He was one of the crew. But he was a good American, and, somehow, he got hold of these formulae, and was trying to find a way to smuggle them across the ocean.... He waited his chance and shipped on that submarine. One night the ship was running along on the surface, and he saw land. An officer said it was Nantucket. So the man slipped below, got this case, and when he thought nobody was looking, he slid overboard and swam for it. He knew it would be only a matter of days before the German secret service got after him, so he buried the formulae where you found them.”
“But how did Mr. House get the key to the cipher?”
“Somehow the American got acquainted with him, but never gave him his whole confidence. As I get the story, the American was killed, maybe by the German secret service, and House found the key to the cipher in his pocket.... The American was Mr. Topper’s brother.”
“Oh,” says Catty, “so Mr. Topper is really entitled to the treasure, fair and square?”
“He is,” says Mr. Browning.
“Well,” says Catty, “I’m glad he’s got it.”
“What d’you suppose the enemy’ll do now?” says I.
“We won’t give them a chance to do much,” says Mr. Browning. “I’ll get word ashore to Topper. This will do more to make him well than all the doctors in the country. Then we’ll hoist anchor and get this stuff in the strongest safety deposit vault in New York. I won’t feel safe till it’s there.”