Anthony M. Rud

“ I said.
“Yes.” Masters shrugged his shoulders. “They have found, though, that the only way to fight the Huns successfully is to beat them to it. Because the Germans are learning our secrets as fast as we can invent new machines and methods, though, is exactly the reason you and I are here.”
“Where are we bound for this morning?”
“Jaques Corners, Rhode Island,” answered Masters promptly.
“Sounds rural,” I commented. “What are we going to find there?” I noticed that our train had started.
“Well, I am told that the Weekapang Country Club near there has an excellent golf course.” ”

“ Every nation has to contend with that problem. The feature about it that caused me to be called in was that such a quick and comprehensive chain for the revealing of ordnance and construction secrets had been established that the Germans actually were using our newest war weapons against us about as quickly as we could bring them into play ourselves.
“One of the most striking examples of this was the chloropicrin-phosgene gas mine. ”

“ There's no station there for passengers, though. See!” And Masters pointed to the north, where I discerned a cloud of smoke over the tree-tops. “That's Jaques Corners,” he said.
THE Weekapang Country Club proved to be a frame building set in a small grove of oaks. Toward the ocean the land rolled away as clipped fair green, artistically bunkered and pitted.
While Masters introduced himself to the secretary, I captured a pair of caddies and practiced with my driver. The moment Masters appeared, however, he dismissed the boys, flipping them a quarter each. ”

“ He also gets chummy with other men. These men don't. Besides,—and I'll admit that this feature occurred to me after I had them nailed down,—I have evidence to prove that the specifications of the chloropicrin-phosgene mine passed through these particular hands, not to mention other documents that Hindenburg would pay millions to possess. The last snarl in the thread I am following is a Mr. Mesnil Phillips, a Government inspector of ordnance. I am convinced that through him the news reaches the Germans, though how he does it I cannot pretend to say just yet. ”

“ First it gave off terrific clouds of chloropicrin gas; this is an agent that makes every soldier sicker than he was his first trip on the ocean. Naturally every man takes off his gas mask when he gets sick—chloropicrin gets through the mask—and that leaves him an easy mark for the phosgene. The latter gas comes from the mine five minutes after the chloropicrin. Since the inhalation of a microscopic quantity of phosgene is immediately fatal, taking off the masks at this time allows the phosgene to get in its deadly work. Most of the victims of chloropicrin are too sick to care, anyway. ”

“ As soon as we had a bunker between us and the man in overalls, Masters stopped. “You stay right here!” he commanded. “Take a good rest and watch that employee. If he does anything with that ball, you follow the ball. ”

“ That is what makes success just at this time absolutely necessary. A certain construction secret is going through now that a thousand men in Washington would give their lives to prevent the Germans from receiving. ”

“ They have confederates and some method of conveying news to Germany that is novel, to say the least. In all the time I have watched them not one of the crowd has sent a wireless message, mailed a letter or engaged in intimate conversation with any people outside their own homes. ”

“ Masters shook his head. “No it's not possible. On the twelfth of November, 1917, the plans of this mine were submitted by one of our greatest military inventors. He had worked alone on the project, and is a man who appreciates thoroughly the fact that secrecy is a prime factor in the success of any new machine. On the twenty-seventh of November the approved plans were placed in a time-lock safe at the factory. On the fourth of January of this year the first of the mines arrived at our front in France. On the evening of the thirteenth of January the Germans exploded an identical mine near St. ”