Part 9 (1/2)

”From some point down the Jersey coast,” said Henry, ”and probably not more than twenty miles away.”

A long silence followed. ”We're simply up against it,” said Lew dejectedly. ”We don't get anywhere.”

Suddenly Willie jumped to his feet with a cry. ”I've got it! I've got it!” he almost shouted. ”Why didn't I see it before?”

”Got what?” asked Roy, astonished.

Willie paid no attention to his question. ”What sort of a looking man was that motorist?” he cried.

”A tall fellow, with black hair and with a big scar on his cheek,” said the astonished Roy.

”I knew it,” cried Willie. ”I knew it! Now I know how the messages are carried. It's as plain as can be.”

His fellows cl.u.s.tered about him. ”What do you mean?” said Captain Hardy eagerly. ”Explain.”

”Well,” said Willie, ”when I followed that grocer's boy the other day, I saw him give the grocer a dollar which he said he had collected for sugar. The grocer put it in his pocket. But when I gave him money for candy he dropped it in his till. Just after I left the store and turned the corner a man drove up in a motor. I noticed him because he turned his car completely around and stopped at the curb. He got out and left his engine running. When I crossed the street to meet you, after you whistled, I dodged a motor-car. It was the same car, but I thought nothing of it.” He paused, as though collecting his thoughts.

”Go on,” said their leader eagerly.

”To-day,” resumed Willie, ”Roy followed that same grocer's boy from the house on the cliff to the grocery store and saw him give the grocer a dollar, which he said he had collected for sugar. The grocer dropped the coin in his pocket, but he put Roy's nickel in his drawer. A minute later an automobile driver came in. The grocer said he owed him a dollar and gave him the coin from his pocket. That driver was the same one I saw the other day.”

”How do you know?” interrupted Captain Hardy. ”You didn't see him to-day?”

”But Roy saw him. He's a tall man with black hair and with a scar on his left cheek. That's the man I saw, and it's the man who drove up to the house on the cliff the other day. I knew that I had seen him, but I couldn't remember just where.” For a moment he stood silent, fairly panting with excitement.

”Well?” said Lew. ”What about him? The grocer could owe him a dollar as well as anybody.”

”But he didn't owe him a dollar,” cried Willie. ”Don't you see? The spy in the house below gave that dollar to the errand boy. He gave it to the grocer. He gave it to the motor driver. It's the same dollar.

He didn't put it in the till with the other coins. He kept it in his pocket separate. That automobile driver is the man who carried the messages to the wireless. The messages are on the dollars.”

CHAPTER IX

A FRESH START

Amazed, the members of the little patrol looked at one another silently.

”How could they send a message on a dollar?” demanded Lew at last.

”They'd have to engrave it, and then they'd never dare to use the dollar again. Besides, it would be too dangerous. If the message were on paper, the paper could be burned or chewed up and swallowed, and the evidence of crime destroyed. But they couldn't erase the engraving on a dollar.”

”I don't know how they do it,” said Willie, ”but I'm sure they write their messages on those dollars.”

”Willie is doubtless right,” said Captain Hardy. ”We don't know how they do it, but the evidence leads directly to the conclusion Willie has come to. The spy in the house below us writes his messages on dollars and sends them through this grocer's boy and the motor-car driver to the various secret wireless plants the Germans evidently possess near New York. I think that is plain. And it indicates new lines of action for us. We must not only continue to listen in for messages and watch this spy's nest, but we shall have to follow this motor-car driver and also learn the secret of the dollars.”

”Hurrah!” cried Roy, his eyes s.h.i.+ning. ”Now there'll be something doing.” Then he struck a tragic att.i.tude and declaimed, ”Little do the treacherous hawks in yonder nest realize that the eagles of the law are about to swoop down on them.”

”Some orator, Roy,” said Lew. ”If we're eagles, we must have wings.

Are mine sprouting yet?” And he turned his back to Roy for the latter's examination.

When the laughter ceased, their leader went on, ”You boys are to be congratulated for your discovery. You have accomplished a great deal.

But what has been done is little compared with what remains to be done.