"Is that you, Thompson?" he asked on the telephone after several vain attempts to get through.
"Yes, old man," replied the editor of The Westminster Daily Record, who recognized his friend's voice.
"Anything fresh about the yacht found adrift in the North Sea?"
"Nothing—why?"
"Just heard she was chartered by a naval officer. I fancy there's something behind this. Stirling, my Lowestoft correspondent—a smart, reliable fellow; I know him personally—has just wired to ask if he should go to Holland."
"Well?"
"He can speak German and Dutch remarkably well."
"Hanged if I can see what you are driving at, old man. Send the young chap by all means if you want to. By the by, what's the naval officer's name?"
The editor of The Yachtsman's Journal diplomatically ignored the latter question.
"I'd send him like a shot," he replied, "only it's a question of, £, s., d. What do you say? Will you guarantee half the expenses? It's a chance of a good scoop, the information to be solely for our joint use."