“It seems to be a sort of place of call for them, with an officer of the British service in command?”
Ezra nodded.
“But,” continued Ben, “it all seems very queer to me. Why is such a strange person as you describe this Abdallah to be concerned in it? And why is a place, so out of the way as that one, selected as a headquarters?”
“To be out of the way, must be an advantage in a matter of their kind,” smiled Ezra.
“No doubt. But that is not just what I mean. This adventurer, Gilbert Scarlett, for example, brings a packet of papers from Cambridge. They are read upon your delivering them; and you are sent with an answer to a gentleman at a place near Charlestown. Why is that? It would have been much simpler and less inconvenient to have sent the message to the ‘Indian’s Head’ in the first place.”
Again Ezra nodded.
“I get your point,” he said. “And I have been thinking over the same thing ever since I left Abdallah’s house.”
Ben glanced quickly at his friend; there was that in his tone that attracted his attention.
“And you have made up your mind to something, I know,” said he.
“Not altogether. But I have figured out some possibilities. This spy system, while under the supervision of a British officer, has been organized by Abdallah. He was imported by Gage for just this purpose. It is possible that it is his profession. Experience has probably taught him to isolate himself. But his spies, who are perhaps unknown to each other, are scattered all about. When they have anything to report, they send a rider who can be trusted; and he in turn carries the answer, if one is called for, to a person who stands close to Gage and his counselors.”