Page:Arthur Stringer - The Door of Dread.djvu/181

 "I have a plan, by means of which, provided we can work harmoniously together, we can surely round up all of this stolen data. But unless we work together I think there's small chance of either your plan or mine succeeding. So the sooner we get down to hard-pan, the better!"

Kestner, in spite of the persistently patient tone of Andelman^s talk, betrayed no immediate intention of getting down to hard-pan. And Sadie, to her secret relief, began to realize that her chief was more set on acquiring information than on divulging it.

"But in a case like this you never do get down to hard-pan," Kestner was parrying, "until you make your haul. And we haven't yet made our haul."

"Precisely," agreed his host. "But what I must know is what steps have been taken toward that haul."

Kestner's glance was a distinctly combative one.

"Am I to understand that the Washington authorities are questioning our method of procedure?"

Wilsnach, at this tartly-put interrogation, looked about with mild surprise at his chief. The latter, Wilsnach inwardly remarked, seemed less stable and less urbane than usual. For once he seemed to have