ng-place," repeated the captain. "This certainly must be an
important message. The Chief ought to know about it at once. But I
wouldn't dare telephone it. I'd have to take it to him."

"Maybe _we_ could find out what it means," said Roy, "if only you would
stay to direct us. Wouldn't it be great if the wireless patrol----"

"Roy," interrupted the patrol leader, "I know how you feel. You are very
loyal to the wireless patrol. But this is a case that calls for loyalty
to Uncle Sam first. The important thing is to get the message read--not
to have it read by any particular persons."

"Let me take the message to the Chief," suggested Lew. "I am no good at
this sort of thing, but I can carry a message as fast as anybody. Then
you could stay here and help the others."

"Very well, Lew. Take a copy of the message as we caught it, and a copy
of the cipher as we arranged it. The Chief will learn as much from them
as he would from half an hour's talk. Now hurry."

In a few minutes Lew was speeding toward Manhattan with the message in
his pocket, while the remainder of the wireless patrol were drawn up
about Captain Hardy's desk, in earnest consultation.

"If only we had an up-to-date history," sighed Henry. "Then we'd know
who the sovereigns are in the Balkans. All I know are Peter, of Servia,
and it seems to me that he abdicated or died; and Ferdinand, of Bulgaria;
and Constantine, of Greece, who abdicated in favor of his son Alexander;
and the king of Roumania--isn't his name Ferdinand, too?"

"Then there is Charles, of Austria," suggested Captain Hardy, "and the
Turkish Sultan, and King Victor Emmanuel III, of Italy. But I can't
think of any King James. Well, we'll drop the kings at present and go on
with the cipher. That brings us to three groups of letters--twenty-six,
twenty-one, twenty-four. I know that code makers frequently use
arbitrary groups of letters or figures to represent given words or ideas,
but I haven't the slightest notion as to whether these figures belong
together or are to be read separately. And as to what they mean, we can
only guess. Since they seem to be in connection with some ruler and
something about a Balkan meeting-place, they might refer to troops. You
don't suppose the Germans are massing forces for another drive into
Roumania or that part of Russia around the Black Sea, do you?"

For a little time there was complete silence, as each member of the party
struggled to