On Secret Service

which the war placed upon novels and short stories? Did you ever notice the changing style in villains, for example? A decade or so ago it was all

lack eyes, next stepped upon the scene, to be followed by the vi

. I don't recall a single novel-or a short story, either-that has had an English or French villain who is foiled in the last few pages. I suppose you'd call it t

oing to turn out to be a crook or a hero. When you come right down to it, every country has about the same proporti

inal dénouement than any preconceived ideas or fanciful theories. There

active trouble] was all that the name implied. Born in Vermont, of a highly puritanical family, he had been named for his patern

. But, once in the city, he found that "detecting" was a little more difficult than he had imagined, and finally agreed to compromise by accepting a very minor position in the Police Department. Luckily, his beat lay along the water front and he got tangled up in two or three smuggling cases which he managed to unravel in fine

nce, however, the men and women who look upon the United States government as a joke and its laws as hurdles over which they can jump whenever they wish-found that this Mark was far from an easy one. He it was who handled the Wang Foo opium case

and he was far from a hard worker. He just stuck around and watched everything worth w

o details" had Ezra sized up to a T. And it was one of these details-prob

an representative of a firm in Rotterdam. From certain tips which they picked up, however, the men abroad were of the opinion that the stones were destined for the United States and advised that al

up trouble in order to make it appear that they are earning their money and then they claim that the people over here are

ut, the men on the othe

tered in from Wheeling, West Virginia, that one of the newly made coal millionaires in that section had invested in some uncut diamon

slatelike and there is little to distinguish them from other and far less valuable pebbles. Of course, there might not be the slightest

n a little more speed and to watch the incomin

w York under conditions which appeared distinctly suspicious. The owner had offered them at a price 'way under the market figure, and then, rather than reply to one or two questions relative to the history of the s

g to prove it. Until we get our hands upon them and a detailed

uple of months earlier, with special instructions to include any identifying mark

ished by a heart-shaped flaw located just below the surface. That same afternoon came another wire from New York to the effect that two rough stones, answering

heart-shaped flaw in it?"

k the response. "H

against me, but I've seen these long shots win before. Now," ringing for Mahoney, his assistant, "we'll

now?" the chief inquire

, I believe. He's working on that Che

s thing ever leaks out to the papers we'll never hear the last of it. The New York office isn't in any too strong as it is. Wire Marks to drop the trail of those silk hounds and beat

of a grouch grabbed the next train for New York. As he told me later, he didn't mind in the least dropping the si

the dope the New York office had on the case-

ty-one rough stones-but whether the other seventeen have already been brought in or whether the people who are handling them have shipped them elsewhere is wholly problematical. The chief learn

n the Coast, eh?

get something on one of them and the rest of the crowd will perjure themselves black in the face to get him off, with the result that your case will be laughed out of court and the man you're really after-the chap who's running the stones under your no

st he gets his satisfaction.

h would appear to point to a German boat. Four of them, supposedly-one of them, certainly-t

there wasn't very much to "go to." It was the thinnest case he had ever tackled-a perfect c

was the right course to follow. He had heard of too many arrests that fell flat, too many weary weeks of work that went f

tobacco, "the case seems to be impregnable. But there m

he appearance of the stones in Wheeling. But this led nowhere, because that week had been a very busy one in maritime circles. The Celtic, the Maur

in he ran into a snag, but one which enabled him to eliminate at least half of the vessels he had considered before. However, there still remain

othing in the world to prevent the stones from being taken into England or France or Italy and reshipped from there. They had

nd another pair in New York. This evidence would be translated either to mean that the smugglers preferred to offer the diamonds in small lot

ot had been run in, he argued, the men responsible would market them singly, rather than in pairs. This would not detract i

e, it would take at least eight more trips to import the entire shipment, "E. Z." settled down to a part of the government detective'

oamed restlessly over the crowds that came down the gangplank. In a number of instances he personally directed the searching of bags and baggage which appeared to be suspi

ing in all of the twenty-one stones, two at a time. But when he came to catalog the hiding places which might be used to conceal two articles of the size of the stones already spotted, he was stumped. The list included a walking stick, the heels of a pair of w

d the midnight train for Washington and strolled into the chief

rom breaking into the circle as I was at the beginning, and, so far a

se or do you want me to drop the matter entirely-to confess that

entered his head. "I want the Service to stick with the case and I want

much

the term 'clue'-will take weeks and probably months to run to earth. I don't see another ea

urried by any pressure from the outside-for the case had been carefully kept out of the ne

f that's the be

le and we can't afford to spend a year on any case-unless it's something as big as the sugar frauds. Stick with it until N

ext three months to locate the leak and I surely appreciate your kindness in not delivering an ultimatum that you

ain, it may be because I have confidence that you'll turn

and get you tangled in their pet theories and personal ideas. What I would like, though, is to be kept in close touch with any further developments conce

hief. "And I trust that you'll develop a red

well pleased with the results of his trip, but totally disgusted

uple of uncut diamonds had turned up in Cincinnati, stones which

with Marks and his methods would have noted a tightening of the muscles around his mouth and

g-American, North German Lloyd and Llanarch lines. The latter, as you probably know, is operated by Welsh and British capital and

h, to the effect he'd "be good and eternally damned if that month didn't contain an unexpected Christmas present for a certain person." He m

nges. Sometimes it gets worse, but, on the average, it improves. In Ezra Marks's case Fate took the form of

visit the customs office. Little by little, through the months that had passed, he had weeded out the ships which failed to make port at the time the diamonds arrived-calculating the time by the dates on which the stones appeared el

the gale and were delayed three days in their trip, while t

ton to the effect that two diamonds, uncut

an practically guarantee success by fifteenth of January"-fo

on. "Rely on you to make good. Can't follow case

d, unless something unforeseen occurred, "E. Z." felt that t

to a big fur coat and went down the bay in one of the government boats, leaving inst

warned his assistants, and more than a score of men saw t

throwing packages overboard, and as soon as they reached dock he requested all officers to join him in one of the big rooms belonging to the Customs Servi

in order to give his men time to search the ship, "I am willing to stake my posi

took him up-fo

referred to rise and rant against the "inf

coat where his pet pipe reposed. His mind strayed to the thought of how his men were getti

sitting there before, but had paid little attention to him. Now he became aware of the fact that the mate was smoking a hu

leaned forward and presented the lighted

uired, in a mat

f he had been struck, and then, recovering hi

ought that flashed throug

ward and seized the pipe. With the same movement he turned it upside down and rapped the bowl upon the table. Out fell a fai

You needn't worry about informing your consul and entering a protest, Captain Willia