“Gee! do you suppose there were German spies around?” ejaculated Randy.
“I am sure there were,” went on the old dockman.
“But I supposed your guards kept all strangers away from the plant,” said Jack.
“They were supposed to. But you know how it is. Those fellows aren’t on the watch all the time. They get tired of their job, and sometimes they take it easy. Besides that, it is rather easy to reach the plant from the water front, and it is almost equally easy to come down through the woods on the hill behind the place. Of course, we’ve got a big wire fence up all around, but it doesn’t take much to go through that if a fellow has a good pair of wire cutters.”
“Did you ever see anybody suspicious?”
“Lots of times. But, of course, most of the people who looked suspicious proved to be nothing but men who had an idle curiosity regarding the plant. But I saw some fellows around there two weeks ago and again a couple of days ago, and they looked mighty suspicious to me. They were a couple of heavy-set looking fellows, with strong German faces, and I heard ’em at a distance talking in a language that I’m pretty sure was German.”
“Why didn’t you report this to the guard?”
“I did. But they were a lot of fresh young fellows, and they only laughed at me and said I was too suspicious,” grumbled Jed Kessler. “But that is where I made a mistake. I should have gone right to the offices and reported to the head boss.”
“Do you suppose you’d know those fellows again if you saw them?” questioned Jack.
“I think I would—although I’m not sure. They were both fellows with heavy black hair and heavy black beards, and one of them walked with his right foot kind of turned out.”