Page:Gibbs--The yellow dove.djvu/152

 “Quatsch! Sit down, Captain. I suggest nothing. There are merely some phases of the question which puzzle me. Perhaps when he arrives he can explain them.”

“He will explain. I will stake my honor on it.”

“I trust so. This is hardly a time when my department can afford to make mistakes in the character of those in its employ.”

“But, Excellenz, you surely have no cause to doubt the exactness of the information he has furnished you!”

“It depends upon what you mean by exactness. Our information, as you know, comes from a number of sources. Some of it has proven valuable—some useless. Herr Hammersley’s has been neither the one nor the other.”

“But the British fleet at Cuxhaven”

“Yes, he gave us that, but they came two days earlier than we expected. It cost us the Blücher.”

“But you knew that the orders were changed—and he sent a wireless”

“The morning the Blücher was sunk,” said von Stromberg dryly.

“But, Excellenz, he gave us a clear sea for the raid on Falmouth!”

General von Stromberg rose and laid his hand on von Winden’s shoulder.

“You are younger than I, Graf von Winden. The Secret Service makes a maxim to believe everyone guilty until he proves his innocence.”

“But Herr Hammersley?”

“We have reason to believe that the British Government permitted the raid on Falmouth, as a means of increasing the enlistments.” He slowly paced the floor