“That will be simple,” said Jane, remembering the admiring way in which he had raised his cup in her direction as she left the hotel.
“If possible find out who their visitors are in the apartment and keep your eyes open for any sort of signalling to the transports. If ever there is an opportunity to get hold of notes or mail delivered to either of them, don’t hesitate to steam it open and copy it.”
“Must I?” said Jane. “That hardly seems right or fair.”
“Of course it’s right,” cried Mr. Fleck warmly. “Think of the lives of our soldiers that are at stake. The devilish ingenuity of these German spies must be thwarted at all costs. They seem to be able to discover every detail of our plans. Only two days ago one of our transports was thoroughly inspected from stem to stern. Two hours later twenty-six hundred soldiers were put aboard her on their way to France. Just by accident, as they were about to sail, a time-bomb was discovered in the coal bunkers, a bomb that would have sent them all to kingdom come.”
“How terrible!”
“Somebody aboard is a traitor. Somebody knew when that inspection was made. Somebody put that bomb in place afterward. That shows you the kind of enemies we are fighting.”
Jane shuddered. She was thinking of the sailing of another transport, the one that had carried her brother to France.
“Anything seems right after that,” she said simply.
“Yes,” said Mr. Fleck, “there is only one effective way to fight those spying devils. We must stop at nothing. They stop at nothing—not even murder—to gain their ends.”
“I know that,” said Jane hastily. “I saw something myself you ought to know about.”