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“ Then suddenly, in the midst of all this commonplace jangle, might sound a new vibration to set the listener's nerves tingling with the thrill or interest of its import.
It might be a call for help coming faintly but insistently across ocean leagues. Twice in a single week the two friends had been startled by the ominous, galvanic signal “S. O. S.” More often, however, it was apt to be something from much nearer at hand. More than once a single word or a brief sentence in code sent or received within a few miles of him had roused Darrell's interest to a white heat. ”

“ Bellamy yawned, slipped off the head-piece, and stood up, stretching. “Any code we know?” he inquired, bending over Darrell's shoulder to look at the pad.
The secret-service agent shook his head. “I think not. It looks a bit familiar in spots, as if it were made up of two or three different codes, but I'll have to look over my books to make sure.”
Bellamy ran the fingers of one hand through his rumpled dark hair, and frowned over the cipher message which filled nearly the whole of a page. ”

“ Take my word for it, Dal, it'll turn out to be nothing more than the announcement of a new line of union suits just purchased.”
“In cipher?” Darrell shrugged, flicking over the leaves of a book.
“Oh, well,” Bellamy yawned, “you know what fool things people turn into cipher. Sometimes I believe they do it just because they think it's smart.”
The secret-service agent jotted down a word from the code book. “I dare say they do—sometimes,” he returned absently, glancing down the sheet. ”