"The name sounds like it."
Dobbs looked disappointed and turned sullen. "He knows you, Mr. Jones!"
"Indeed, that is not improbable. Did he send you to me?"
"Yes, he did." Dobbs had dropped his American accent by this time, and only used it again when he recollected himself. "Mazaroff said you paid well for certain information."
"What kind of information?"
"About the war." He leaned forward and spoke in a gruff whisper. "What would you say to a plan of the whole campaign against the Boers?"
Van Zwieten smiled blandly. "Of what possible interest can that be to me?"
"Mazaroff said you would be prepared to pay well for such information."
"He knows me then better than I do myself," replied Van Zwieten. "Better than I know him, for indeed I have no knowledge of your Russian friend. But this plan of campaign, Mr. Dobbs, how did it come into your possession?"
Dobbs looked round mysteriously, and rising in his chair, leaned toward Van Zwieten. "I stole it," he said softly, "and I am willing to sell it--at a price. Think of it, Mr. Jones, a plan of campaign! Symons's plans! The Boers would be able to frustrate it easily."