le without a drawer, no closet and some burned-out logs
in the large fireplace afforded but scant hiding places. Sobieska
carefully tapped each board separately to ascertain if a secret
receptacle had been formed in such a fashion, but the floor was
perfectly solid. He tried the flagging of the hearth as well as the
brick arch of the fireplace with no more success. He was about to
acknowledge failure when Carter accidentally turned over one of the
charred logs lying at his feet. An exclamation burst from the Minister's
lips.

Minute and scattered fragments of paper, saved from the blaze by the
bulk of the log above them, lay scattered on the hearth. These Sobieska
pounced upon eagerly.

Further search bore no fuller fruit, so with their meagre harvest the
pair descended to the office again. Here the Krovitzer, piecing the
fragments together, and pasting them on a sheet of paper, laid them
before Carter.

"There," said the Minister, "are the experiments in your handwriting.
Now wait until he comes back."

"But how did he get a copy?" queried the puzzled American.

"Easy enough," replied Sobieska. "He kept those papers he took from you
in the cell yesterday. Your passport furnished your signature. He's a
clever rascal. Substituted the forgery for the other letter, while
Johann drank. Either that or they're in league together, which I am not
prepared to believe, yet. In any event we must get a new messenger."

"Tell me," said the curious Carter, "how came you to suspect Josef, as
you read the letter Johann had with him?"

Sobieska smiled indulgently. "A man of your varied metropolitan
experience would scarcely write a letter as he would a thesis for a
University degree. Whoever wrote that epistle had doubtless a work of
rhetoric at his elbow, fearful of mistakes. Look at it yourself," and he
pushed the paper over to Carter. It was, indeed, a studied composition
of good proportions and well rounded sentences.

"I have heard you talk," continued his instructor, "and I felt satisfied
that Major Carter, if a spy, would hardly have wasted his efforts in
such a prim presentation of his facts." He glanced at his watch. "He
would have doubtless used cipher. Josef is due in just one minute now.
There he comes," he said, as there was a low rap at the door. "Come in."

Punctuality outdone, Josef entered and handed Sobieska a note. Without
even glancing at it, the latter tossed it on the table. Picking up the
sheet on which