"Well, there"s a good many mutts in this place who"ve been released too soon. You"re talking about Jim."
"Jim!" repeated Sir Lyster, "Jim who?"
"My brother. They were all after me good and hard, so Jim came along, and I just slipped up north with your man."
"Then you were the fellow with red hair all over him," laughed Sir Bridgman.
"Sure," was the laconic reply. "They were out for me," he continued a moment later, "and I"d never have got away. Jim didn"t mind."
"But where is he now?" asked Sir Lyster.
"He"s probably the John Dene that they think was released from that place in Streatham," suggested Sir Bridgman.
"Jim"s all right," said John Dene, "but where"s Miss West and my keys?"
At that moment the telephone bell rang. Sir Lyster lifted the receiver from the rest and listened.
"Yes, that"s all right, thank you, Blair," he said; then turning to John Dene he added, "Mr. Blair has your keys and he also has Miss West"s address at Bournemouth."
"Here, come on, Jasp.," cried John Dene, just as Spotty was in the act of letting fly at the fireplace for the sixth time. He turned a reproachful gaze upon his chief.
"But the _Destroyer_?" broke in Admiral Bridgman.
"She has been doing her bit," said John Dene grimly. "She"s refitting now. I"m off to Bournemouth, and Spotty"s going north to-night with some indents."
"Mr. Dene," began Sir Lyster in his most impressive manner, "your patriotism has----
"Here, forget it," and with that John Dene was gone, followed by his lieutenant, leaving Sir Lyster, Sir Bridgman and Admiral Heyworth gazing at the door that closed behind him.
As Spotty pa.s.sed Mr. Blair he turned and, thrusting his face forward, growled, "Ruddy tyke." It was his way of indicating loyalty to his chief; but it spoiled Mr. Blair"s lunch.
For some moments after John Dene had gone, Sir Lyster and Sir Bridgman and Admiral Heyworth gazed at each other without speaking.
"Do you think it"s drink, Grayne, or only the heat?" Sir Bridgman laughed.
Sir Lyster winced and looked across at him as a man might at a boy who has just blown a trumpet in his ear. Without replying he lifted the telephone receiver from its rest.
"Get me through to the Prime Minister. What"s that? Yes, Sir Bridgman"s here. Very well, we"ll come round at once."
As he replaced the receiver he rose.
"The Prime Minister would like us to step round," he said. "Walton and Sage are there. It"s about John Dene."
"Seen John Dene?" asked Sir Bridgman of Mr. Blair, as they pa.s.sed through the room. "You"d better apply for that twenty thousand pounds, Blair."
Sir Lyster wondered why Sir Bridgman persisted in his jokes, however much they might have become frayed at the edges.
When they entered Mr. Llewellyn John"s room it was to find him a veritable aurora borealis of smiles. He was obviously in the best of spirits.
"John Dene has been found," he cried before his callers had taken the chairs to which he waved them.
"We left poor Blair with the same conviction," laughed Sir Bridgman.
"Then you know?"
"I telephoned Sir Lyster," said Colonel Walton.
"Mr. Dene has only just left us," explained Sir Lyster. "He was extremely annoyed at the closing of his office and the disappearance of his secretary."
"But----" Mr. Llewellyn John looked from Colonel Walton to Malcolm Sage, and then on to Sir Lyster in bewilderment.
"Perhaps, Sage----" suggested Colonel Walton.
"You"d better tell the story, Sage, as Colonel Walton suggests," said Mr. Llewellyn John.
"There is an official report in preparation," said Colonel Walton.
Mr. Llewellyn John nodded.
In the course of the next half-hour Malcolm Sage kept his hearers in a state of breathless interest by the story of the coming and going of John Dene, as known to Department Z.
"I gave Mr. Dene the credit of being possessed of more than the ordinary amount of what he calls "head-filling,"" began Sage, "but I didn"t realise at first that he possessed a twin brother; but I"ll begin at the beginning."
"When you turned over the matter to Department Z.," continued Malcolm Sage, "we made exhaustive inquiries and discovered that the Huns were determined to prevent the _Destroyer_ from putting to sea, and they were prepared at any cost to stop Mr. Dene from going north. In Canada and on the way over they made attempts upon his life; but then, as so frequently happens, they became the victims of divided councils. They wanted the plans. Thanks to, er--certain happenings they learned that the _Destroyer_ would not sail without Mr. Dene."
"How?" interpolated Mr. Llewellyn John
"They obtained the guarantee."
"I remember," said Mr. Llewellyn John, "it was stolen."
"Mr. Dene used to leave his safe open with such papers in it as he wanted the enemy to see. That"s what he meant when on one occasion he said, "If you"ve got a hungry dog feed it.""
Sir Bridgman North laughed, Sir Lyster turned to him reproachfully.
"Mr. Dene became convinced that an effort would be made to kidnap and hold him to ransom, the price being the plans of the _Destroyer_.
Department Z. also became convinced of this, but at a later date. As a precaution John Dene sent to England by another ship his twin brother, known as James Grant. When everything was ready the two changed places; that accounted for the strangeness of manner that Miss West noticed with Mr. Dene a few days before his disappearance."
Malcolm Sage then went on to explain the method by which the false John Dene had been kidnapped, and of Department Z."s discovery with relation to Mr. Montagu Naylor.
"But all that time what happened to the _Destroyer_?"
"The _Destroyer_ was responsible for the extraordinary increase in the mortality among U-boats."
Mr. Llewellyn John jumped from his chair as if he had been thrown up by a hidden spring.
"But--but----" he began.