work on
a very grave matter and cannot possibly stop for dinner. Could you
conveniently send us up some coffee and sandwiches?"

So, while they munched their sandwiches and sipped their hot coffee,
the members of the wireless patrol continued their search for the
missing clue. Occasionally Lew, more restless than his fellows,
strolled over to the window and stood gazing out over the harbor, with
its entrancing lights.

"There goes the _Patrol_," he called out suddenly, as a boat bearing
the distinctive lights of the police department slipped down the
Narrows, while he was at the window.

Captain Hardy gave an exclamation of annoyance. "Why didn't I think of
that boat?" he said savagely. "We might have been able to follow the
motor-boat if we could have gotten the _Patrol_ here. For all we know,
she may have been near at hand. And she is equipped with wireless,
too. Well, it's too late now." Then bitterly he added, "The man who
ordered the charge of the Light Brigade wasn't the only one who
blundered."

"Is there any place near New York," suddenly demanded Henry, "named
Balaklava or Crimea or anything else that suggests Balaklava?"

"Get that atlas from the book-shelves and see, Henry," replied Captain
Hardy. "Look through the list of towns, rivers, lakes, etc. And you,
Willie, study the map a while. That seems to be your forte. You may
find something to suggest Balaklava to you."

Willie laid the map squarely on the table, and while Henry pored over
the atlas and the others talked, and thought at intervals, he began a
systematic survey of the map. And naturally he began in the region of
the Lower Bay, toward which the motor-boat had disappeared.

Minute followed minute. Dusk turned to deep darkness. Captain Hardy
opened and shut his watch in desperation. Swiftly the time was drawing
near for the meeting of the spies, and the wireless patrol had not only
failed at the critical moment, had not only allowed the enemy to
escape, but had lost all track of them. It was a bitter thought and
Captain Hardy tried to shut it out of his mind and centre attention on
the problem in hand. Henry was still poring over names. Willie had
finished his methodical examination of the Lower Bay and was working
his way northward. He followed the boundaries of the harbor up through
the Narrows and along the Jersey shore, then pursued his quest
throughout the length and breadth of Newark Bay. But he found nothing
sug