The Great Spy System | Page 4

great now as they were when you took that other case, but that now the crafty fellow is biding himself and his men behind a local employment of some kind, and is prepared to make it appear, in case he is discovered, that the other information he gets-that which is of real use to him is only the side issue, and that he is really employed by the railroads, the coal barons, the packers, the oil interests, or by some local industry which might be interested in spying upon the government."
"Mr. President, you have hit the nail squarely on the head, there."
"I have thought it, likely."
"It is the gist of the whole thing, sir."
"I am glad that you agree with me, although of course I am sorry to think that my own countrymen should deem it necessary to undertake such a thing as spying upon the government."
"Men will do strange things where their pockets are concerned."
"Or their ambitions--yes."
"I don't suppose, Mr. President, that private conversations of yours have been reported, of late, have they?"
"Not in the manner they were before, Mr. Carter ; but some of them have been reported. Of course, now that I am wise as to what was done before, I am careful not to talk where my face can be seen through a window-of course I am careful to refrain from conversations with others when I am where the motion of my lips may be observed; but you must understand that such occasions do arise, in spite of me."
"Yes."
"And so I am convinced, as I have said before, that it is Mustushimi who is behind it."
"And you have seen him?"
"I think so."
"Are there as many Japs hanging around the city as formerly?"
"I don't think so; not nearly."
"Mustushmii confessed to me, that other time, that he had two thousand of them in the country; and that there were two hundred or more in this city alone."
"Is it not possible that he has found the employment of men of other nationalities to be advisable, now?" asked the President.
"I was just thinking of that; yes, sir, it is."
"I think that you will find that to be the explanation. Mr. Carter."
"Are there any final instructions that you would like to give me, sir?"
"I can think of nothing more now."
"Does anybody know that you sent for me?"
"No. I wrote the letter myself, and dropped it into a box with my own hand."
"But of course I was seen to come here. If Mustushimi's system is anything like as perfect as it was before, he already knows that I am here."
"That, Mr. Carter, is why I showed some surprise when you came here so openly."
"I did it purposely, Mr. President."
"Why?"
"Because I guessed at once why you wished to see me, although you did not mention it in your letter--and because, now that I see I was right, I want Mustushimi to know that I am on his trail."
"That strikes me as being a new method of pursuing a secret investigation."
"It is, in one sense. But this case is different from any other."
"How so?"
"If Mustushimi has remained here, and we are practically certain that he has done so, he has hedged himself around with safeguards so perfectly that it would be difficult, if not next to impossible, to get a trace of him by ordinary methods. If he did not suspect that I was hereafter him, he would simply remain under cover as he is doing now, taking no extra precautions. But if he believes that I am after him, he will undertake some extra precautions at once, for he holds me in wholesome respect, and it is by those very precautions that I will be able to get first trace of him."
"That is an original way to look at it. Perhaps you are right. Put what do you suppose he will do, in the way of taking extra precautions?"
"I think he will try to put me out of the way," said the detective, smiling.
"Do you mean that he will attempt to assassinate you?"
"Exactly that."
"And that you purposely invite such a thing?"
"Certainly."
"But, Mr. Carter, isn't that rather foolhardy?"
"No; I don't think so. My object is to get him to show his hand. If his system is as perfect as we think it is, he knows already that I am here, and that I am holding an interview with you. He fears me, as he fears nobody else. He has had a taste of what I can do to him, I hope this does not sound like egotism. I don't mean it so."
"Not at all."
"And therefore, since I am here again, he will guess at once that you have suspected his presence and have sent for me, and he will figure it out that the only way to be safe is to get rid of