ven't you? It is n't in the shop."

"Is n't in the shop! Well, where the devil is it then?"

"Why," exclaimed the storekeeper, "no one ever handled that but you.
Not even Yeasky. You never let any one even see it. I remember how
careful you have been about that."

"I know," Armitage rose from his chair. "But it was never out of the
shop. It was always in the big safe. Have you looked there?" He
turned to Jackson hopefully.

But the storekeeper shook his head.

"Are you sure you have looked everywhere?"

"It is not in the shop--I thought sure you must have it. Does it--was
it vitally important?"

"Important!" Armitage threw himself into a chair and put his feet on
the desk. "Well, Jackson, I fancy you might call it so. Damn!"

The storekeeper whistled.

"I shall have the rooms of the workmen searched."

"Just one room, please; and quickly, will you?" rejoined Armitage,
"Yeasky's. He is the only man who would have known its value. Give my
compliments to the superintendent and ask him for some one to help you."

As the storekeeper departed, Joe Thornton entered the office.

"Any luck, Jack?"

"Rotten! The magnetic control of the model is gone. I was right this
morning and you were wrong, Joe. Yeasky got it. Why did n't I keep my
hands on him, when I had him! Something told me to."

"The deuce!" Thornton regarded his friend with a grave face. "Is it
very serious? Does it give the whole snap away?"

"It gives about ninety per cent more away than pleases me. It would
take some genius long nights of labor to supply the other ten per cent
even with the aid of the plans which no doubt Yeasky has copied. That
is, there are one or two things that I kept off the paper--kept in my
head." He paced up and down the floor. "But other men have heads,
too. That thing has got to be returned, the quicker the better."

"Well," Thornton smiled encouragingly. "Yeasky can't get out of the
country--and he 'll be caught before he dopes the thing out. Even if
he has mailed or expressed it, it can be held up before it leaves this
country. You had the control in the model torpedo last night. Have
you wired?"

"I 've sent a general call to the secret service for him, to Boston,
New York, and Washington. They are holding the telegrams, as long as
letters, at the telegraph office for release. I 've also a wire to the
Department on file, telling what has happened. I wrote before I knew
what was gone,