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 as an inside man; or, with the necessary outfit, the wire could be tapped at any point, couldn't it?"

"Yes," said Lanson; "but the minute he starts in, we could begin to 'ground' him out."

"Go on!" invited MacVightie. "I'm listening."

"We could tell whether he was working east or west of any given point," explained the superintendent; "and, with the operators instructed before- hand, practically narrow him down to, say, between two stations."

The Hawk, as he, too, listened, permitted an amused smile to flicker across his lips.

"Urn!" said MacVightie. "And would he be aware that this 'grounding' process was going on?"

"Yes naturally," admitted Lanson. "We can't prevent that."

MacVightie shook his head again.

"That doesn't sound good to me," he said slowly. "All he'd have to do would be to beat it then and the next time start in fifty miles away, and you'd have to begin all over again. And, besides, who's receiving the messages? You can't put any tabs on that. Every sounder from Selkirk City to Rainy River registers them, and all a man's got to do is listen. You see, Lanson, it's not so easy–eh?"

Lanson frowned.

"Well, what do you suggest?" he asked uncomfortably. "We can stop it."

"But we don't want to stop it!" returned MacVightie. "We could have done that from the first. What we want is our man now. And it strikes me