travel books: in the face of it. Above each hole was a small switch. By pressing over any of these switches he could speak through the hole below, to the particular man at the other end to which that switch was connected. Thus, by sitting in his sanctum, he could speak to all his six chiefs without them either seeing him or each other, or hearing what each other said. Oh yes ! it was an excellent method of carrying out his enormous ramifications-he could keep his fingers in every pie this way. And, moreover, it was exceedingly useful for diplomatic reasons : it made it easy for him to play off one against the other when it became necessary to use such an artifice. His letters, too, were treated in the same secretive way. They were placed in a special box and put into a pneumatic chute which shot them into his officeand they went back " signed " or " noted " in exactly the same manner. He never had a stenographer or a secretary. Everything came to them written in that tiny neat writing which must have taken so long to do-no wonder he needed freedom from interruption ! So it happened that this mysterious man built up an amazing reputation among his own minions-and set the other " Spy Systems " of the world all wondering. The six men who were all agog to-day would have been very surprised to have seen inside the suite of offices used by the great Herr Straussman. The interesting box referred to stood on a small table in the centre of a thickly carpeted room, and an elderly man stood near it. He seemed to be writing too; and his thin pale face was drawn with apprehe Th They He was afraid ! But his eyes lacked lustre. were dead eyes-they might really have been blind, so little expression was there in them. All at once a faint buzz sounded in the room. Almost immediately the listless man became alert. Taking a key from his books

Books > Old Books > The Devil's Apprentice

Page 76

CHAPTER VII - THE SUSPICIOUS TRAMP-STEAMER

in the face of it. Above each hole was a small switch. By pressing over any of these switches he could speak through the hole below, to the particular man at the other end to which that switch was connected. Thus, by sitting in his sanctum, he could speak to all his six chiefs without them either seeing him or each other, or hearing what each other said. Oh yes ! it was an excellent method of carrying out his enormous ramifications-he could keep his fingers in every pie this way. And, moreover, it was exceedingly useful for diplomatic reasons : it made it easy for him to play off one against the other when it became necessary to use such an artifice.
His letters, too, were treated in the same secretive way. They were placed in a special box and put into a pneumatic chute which shot them into his officeand they went back " signed " or " noted " in exactly the same manner. He never had a stenographer or a secretary. Everything came to them written in that tiny neat writing which must have taken so long to do-no wonder he needed freedom from interruption !
So it happened that this mysterious man built up an amazing reputation among his own minions-and set the other " Spy Systems " of the world all wondering.
The six men who were all agog to-day would have been very surprised to have seen inside the suite of offices used by the great Herr Straussman. The interesting box referred to stood on a small table in the centre of a thickly carpeted room, and an elderly man stood near it. He seemed to be writing too; and his thin pale face was drawn with apprehe Th They He was afraid ! But his eyes lacked lustre. were dead eyes-they might really have been blind, so little expression was there in them. All at once a faint buzz sounded in the room. Almost immediately the listless man became alert. Taking a key from his