to make sure, though, that you're really what you claim to be."

Josie opened her hand bag and from a side pocket drew a silver badge
engraved "U. S. Secret Service. No. L2O1." That was her father's number
and a complimentary badge, but Joe was satisfied. He had to glance
inside the handbag to see it, for the girl dared not exhibit it more
openly.

"If you want to know more about me, ask Colonel Hathaway," continued
Josie.

"No," said Joe; "I believe you're on the square. But I'd never have
suspected it of you. Tell me what I'm to do."

"Nothing, at present. But should a crisis arrive, stand by me and obey
my instructions."

"I'll do that," promised the man.

When the girl had regained her room in the hotel, she sat down with a
businesslike air and wrote upon a sheet of paper, in her peculiar
cypher, the story of her discoveries and the conclusions they justified
up to the present hour. This was to fix all facts firmly in her mind
and to enable her to judge their merits. The story was concise enough,
and perhaps Josie was quite unaware how much she had drawn upon her
imagination. It read this way:

"Disloyal circulars have been issued from time to time in Dorfield,
designed to interfere with sales' of Liberty Bonds, to cause resentment
at conscription and to arouse antipathy for our stalwart allies, the
English. These circulars were written by John Dyer, superintendent of
schools, who poses as a patriot. The circulars were printed in the
basement of the Mansion House by Tom Linnet, a night clerk, who was
well paid for his work. Papers found secreted in an old desk from the
attic of Dyer's house prove that Dyer is in the pay of German agents in
this country and has received fabulous sums for his 'services,' said
services not being specified in the documents. In addition to these
payments, there were found in the desk notes of the Imperial German
Government, for large amounts, such notes to be paid 'after the war.'

"Dyer is clearly the head of the German spy plot in Dorfield, but the
person who acts as medium between Dyer and the Master Spy is an alleged
suspender salesman calling himself Abe Kauffman. This Kauffman makes
frequent trips to Dorfield, giving orders to Dyer, and on one occasion
Kauffman, who stops at the Mansion House while in town, hired Tom
Linnet to place a bomb in the Airplane Factory, causing an explosion
which destroyed many government airplanes and killed several employees.
The sum paid Li