"Oh, I see," Strauss grunted. "But," he added, "I don't just see how an operation there is going to do you much good. What are you going to have done--have your arm cut off?"
"No--have the skin peeled off."
"Ach," grunted the card-catalog expert. "That will leave a scar."
"Not if I have some other skin grafted in its place."
"Quite an idea. Where do you expect to get the other skin to graft there?"
"From some part of my body," Irving replied.
"Ja wo-ohl," said the other slowly, with a suggestion of doubt in his voice not contained in the phrase. "But that would leave a scar on your body, and if some sharp fellow tried to identify you as the person who brought that tattooed message ever here the scar might help him to explain the disappearance of the picture on your arm."
"Yes, that's true," Irving agreed. "But the chance of anything of that sort is small. Anyway, I'd have to find somebody who would give me a section of his skin four inches by two."
"There are thousands of patriotic Germans who are willing to give their lives for their country," reasoned the expert. "It ought not to be hard to find somebody who would give a few inches of skin."
"You are very logical," the spy observed. "Perhaps there's somebody in our office who would make such a sacrifice for his country."