"That will soon be explained," said the Secretary, with a smile that was rather enigmatic. "You recollect having a little fun with our navy operators?"
Jack colored and stammered something while everybody in the room smiled.
"Don't worry about that," laughed the Secretary. "It just upset the dignity of some of our navy operators. Well, following that somebody offered, for a consideration, to tell us who it was that had discovered the secret of a Universal Detector. It turned out, as I had expected from our previous correspondence, that it was you. But not till two nights ago, when our informant again wirelessed, did we know that you were at sea."
"But—but, sir," stuttered Jack, greatly mystified, "who did this?"
The Secretary pressed a button on his desk. A uniformed orderly instantly answered.
"Tell Mr. Thurman to come in," said the Secretary.
There was a brief silence, then the door opened and Thurman, with an expectant look and an assured manner, stepped into the room.
"Mr. Thurman?" asked the Secretary.
"Yes, sir," said Thurman in a loud, confident voice, "I thought I'd hurry over here as soon as the ship docked and talk to you about my work in discovering for you the fellow who invented the Universal Detector. I——"
He suddenly caught sight of Jack and turned a sickly yellow. Jack looked steadily at the fellow who, he had guessed for some time, had been evilly interested in the detector.