The Lost Naval Papers | Page 4

entered
to-morrow night, and I want your Naval Papers to be stolen."
For a moment the wild thought came to Cary that this man
Dawson--the chosen of the Yard--was himself a German Secret Service
agent, and must have shown in his eyes some signs of the suspicion, for
Dawson laughed loudly. "No, Mr. Cary, I am not in the Kaiser's pay,
nor are you, though the case against you might be painted pretty black.
This man Hagan is on our string in London, and we want him very
badly indeed. Not to arrest--at least not just yet--but to keep running
round showing us his pals and all their little games. He is an
Irish-American, a very unbenevolent neutral, to whom we want to give
a nice, easy, happy time, so that he can mix himself up thoroughly with
the spy business and wrap a rope many times round his neck. We will
pull on to the end when we have finished with him, but not a minute
too soon. He is too precious to be frightened. Did you ever come across
such an ass"--Dawson contemptuously indicated the pile of sealed
envelopes; "he must have soaked himself in American dime novels and
cinema crime films. He will be of more use to us than a dozen of our
best officers. I feel that I love Hagan, and won't have him disturbed.
When he comes here to-morrow night, he shall be seen, but not heard.
He shall enter this room, lift your Notes, which shall be in their usual

drawer, and shall take them safely away. After that I rather fancy that
we shall enjoy ourselves, and that the salt will stick very firmly upon
Hagan's little tail."
Cary did not at all like this plan; it might offer amusement and
instruction to the police, but seemed to involve himself in an excessive
amount of responsibility. "Will it not be far too risky to let him take my
Notes even if you do shadow him closely afterwards? He will get them
copied and scattered amongst a score of agents, one of whom may get
the information through to Germany. You know your job, of course,
but the risk seems too big for me. After all, they are my Notes, and I
would far sooner burn them now than that the Germans should see a
line of them."
Dawson laughed again. "You are a dear, simple soul, Mr. Cary; it does
one good to meet you. Why on earth do you suppose I came here to-day
if it were not to enlist your help? Hagan is going to take all the risks;
you and I are not looking for any. He is going to steal some Naval
Notes, but they will not be those which lie on this table. I myself will
take charge of those and of the chapters of your most reprehensible
book. You shall prepare, right now, a beautiful new artistic set of notes
calculated to deceive. They must be accurate where any errors would
be spotted, but wickedly false wherever deception would be good for
Fritz's health. I want you to get down to a real plant. This letter shall be
sealed up again in its twelve silly envelopes and go by registered post
to Hagan's correspondent. You shall have till to-morrow morning to
invent all those things which we want Fritz to believe about the Navy.
Make us out to be as rotten as you plausibly can. Give him some heavy
losses to gloat over and to tempt him out of harbour. Don't overdo it,
but mix up your fiction with enough facts to keep it sweet and make it
sound convincing. If you do your work well--and the Naval authorities
here seem to think a lot of you--Hagan will believe in your Notes, and
will try to get them to his German friends at any cost or risk, which will
be exactly what we want of him. Then, when he has served our purpose,
he will find that we--have--no--more--use--for--him."
Dawson accompanied this slow, harmlessly sounding sentence with a

grim and nasty smile. Cary, before whose eyes flashed for a moment
the vision of a chill dawn, cold grey walls, and a silent firing party,
shuddered. It was a dirty task to lay so subtle a trap even for a dirty
Irish-American spy. His honest English soul revolted at the call upon
his brains and knowledge, but common sense told him that in this way,
Dawson's way, he could do his country a very real service. For a few
minutes he mused over the task set to his hand, and then spoke.
"All right. I think that I can put up exactly what you want. The faked
Notes shall be ready when you come to-morrow. I will give the whole