July 6, 1916 
LAND & WATER 
21 
at his boiled fish and sipped his milk a drop at a time. When 
the servant had cleared away, he was as good as his word 
and laid himself out on my sofa. 1 offered him a eood cigar 
but he preferred one of his own lean black abominations, 
bandy stretched his lengtli in an easy chair and lit lus pipe. 
Now for your story, Dick," he said. 
I began, as Sir Walter had begun with me, by telling them 
about the puzzle in the Near East. I pitched a pretty good 
yarn, for I had been thinking a lot about it, the mystery of 
the business had caught my fancy. Sandy got very keen. 
" It is_ possible enough. Indeed I've been expecting it, 
though I'm hanged if 1 can imagine what card the Germans 
have got up their sleeve. It might be any one of twenty 
things. Thir y years ago there was a bogus prophecy that 
played the devil in Yemen. Or it might be a flag such' as AU 
Wad Helu had, or a jewel like Solomon's necklace in Abyssinia. 
You never know what will start off a Jeiiad ! But I rather 
think it's a man." 
" Where could he get his purchase ? " I asked. 
" It's hard to say. If it were merely wild tribesmen like 
the Bedouins he might have got a reputation as a saint and 
miracle-worker. Or he might be a fellow that preached a pure 
religion, like the chap that founded the Senussi. But I'm 
inclined to think he must be something extra special if he can 
put a spell on the whole Moslem world. The Turk and the 
Persian wouldn't follow the ordinary new theology game. He 
must be of the Blood. Your Mahdis and Mullahs and Imams 
were nobodies, but they had only a local prestige. To capture 
all Islam — and I gather that is what we fear — the man must 
be of the Koreish, the tribe of the Prophet himself." 
" But how could any impostor prove that ? — for I suppose 
he's an impostor." 
" He would have to combine a lot of claims. His descent 
must be pretty good to begin with, and there are families, 
remember, that claim the Koreish blood . Then he'd have to 
be rather a wonder on his own account — saintly, eloquent and 
that sort of thing. And I expect he'd have to show a sign, 
though what that could be I haven t a notion. ' 
" You know the East about as well as any li\'ing man. Do 
you think that kind of thing is possible ? " I asked. 
" Perfectly," said Sandy with a grave face. 
" Well, there's the ground cleared to begin with. Then 
there's the evidence of pretty well every secret agent we 
possess. That all seems to pro\e the fact. But we have no 
details and no clues except that bit of paper." I told them 
the story of it. 
Sandy studied it with wrinkled brows. " It beats me. 
But it may be the key for all that. A due may be dumb 
in London and shout aloud at Bagdad." 
" That's just the point I was coming to. Sir Walter says 
this thing is about as important for our cause as big guns. He 
can't give me orders, but he offers the job of going out to find 
what the mischief is. Once he knows that he says he can 
checkmate it. But it's got to be found out soon, for the 
mine may be sprung at any moment. I've taken on the job. 
Will you help ? " 
Sandy was studying the ceiling. 
" I should add that it's about as safe as playing chuck- 
tarthing at the Loos Cross-Roads the day you and I went in. 
And if we fail nobody can help us." 
" Oh, of course, of course," said Sandy in an abstracted 
v<Mce. 
Mr. Blenkiron, having finished his after-dinner recum- 
bency, had sat up and pulled a small table towards him. From 
his pocket he had taken a pack of patience cards and had 
b«gun to play the game called the Double Napoleon. He 
seen s to be oblivious of the con\crsati6n. 
Suddenly I had a feeling that the whole affair was stark 
lunacy Here were we three simpletons sitting in a London 
fiat and projecting a mission into the enemy's citadel without 
an idea what we were to do or how we were to do it. And 
one of the three was looking at the ceiling, and whistling softly 
through his teeth, and another was playing patience. The 
iarce of the thing struck me so keenly that I laughed. 
Sandy looked at me sharply. , . „ 
" You feel like that ? Same with me. It s idiocy but all 
war is idiotic, and the most whole-hearted idiot is apt to 
win We're to go on this mad trail wherever we think we 
can hit it Well, I'm with you. But I don't mind admittmg 
that I'm in a blue funk. I had got myself adjusted to this 
trench business and was quite happy.^ And now you have 
hoicked me out, and my feet are cold." ^ 
■ I don't beheve you know what fear is, I said. 
■ There you're wrong, Dick," he said earnestly. ' Every 
man who isn't a maniac knows fear. I have done some daft 
things but I never started on them without wishing they 
were over. Once I'm in the show I get easier, and by the 
time I'm coming out I'm sorry to leave it. But at the start 
my feet are icy." . , ,. 
" Then I take it you re coming ? 
" Rather," he said. " You didn't imagine I would go 
back on you ? " 
" And you, sir ? " I addressed Blenkiron. 
HLs game of patience seemed to be coming out. He was 
completing eight httle heaps of cards with a contented grun! 
As I sjwke, he Raised his sleepy eyes and nodded. 
"Why, yes," he said. " Vou gentlemen mustn't think 
that I haven't been following your most engrossing con- 
versation. 1 guess I haven't inis.scd a syllable. I find that 
a game of patience stimulates the digestion after meals and 
conduces to quiet reflection. John S. Blenkiron is with you 
all the time." 
He shufiled the cards and dealt for a new game 
I don't think I ever expected a refusal, but this ready assent 
cheered me wonderfully. 1 couldn't have faced the thing 
alone. 
" Well, that's settled. Now for ways and means. We three 
have got to put ourselves in the way of finding out Germany's 
secret and we have to go where it is known. Somehow or 
other we have to get to Constantinople,, and to beat the 
biggest area of country we must go by difierent roads. Sandy, 
my lad, you've got to get into Turkey. You are the only 
one of us that knows that engaging people. You can't get 
in by Europe very easily, so you must try Asia. Wliat 
about the coast of Asia Minor ? " 
" It could be done, " he said. " You'd better leave that 
entirely to me. I'll find out the best way. I suppose the 
Foreign Office will help me to get to the jumping-off place ? " 
" Remember," I said, " it's no good getting too far east. 
The secret, so far as concerns us. is still west of Constanti- 
nople." 
" I see that. I'll blow in on the Bosporus by a short 
tack." 
" For you, Mr. Blenkiron, I would suggest a straight 
journey. You're an American, and can travel through Ger- 
many direct. But I wonder how far your activities in New 
York will allow you to pass as a neutral ? " 
" 1 have considered that. Sir," he said. " I have given 
some thought to the pecooliar psychology of the great German 
nation. As I read them they're as cunning as cats, and if you 
play the feline game they will outwit you every time. Yes, sir, 
they are no slouches at sleuth-work. If I were to buy a pair 
of false whiskers and dye my hair and dress like a Baptist 
parson and go into Germany on the peace racket, I guess 
they'd be on my trail hke a knife, and I should be shot as a 
spy inside of a week or doing sohtary in the Moabit prison. 
But they lack the larger vision. They can be bluffed, sir. 
With your approval I shall visit the Fatherland as John S. 
Blenkiron, once a thorn in the side of their brightest boys 
on the other side. But it will be a different John S., I guess 
he will ha\'e experienced a change of heart. He will have ' 
come to appreciate the great, pure, noble soul of Germany, 
and he will be sorrowing for his past like a converted gun-man 
at a camp meeting. He will be a victim of the meanness and 
perfidy of the British Government ! I am going to have 
a first-class row with your Foreign Office about my passport, 
and I am going to sjicak harsh words about them up and 
down this Metropolis. 1 am going to be shadowed by your 
sleuths at my port of embarkation, and I guess 1 shallrun 
up hard against the British Le-gations in Scandinavia. By 
that time our Teutonic friends will have begun to wonder 
what has happened to John S, and to think that maybe they 
have been mistaken in that child. So, when I get to Germany 
they will be waiting for me with an open mind. Then I 
reckon my conduct will surprise and encourage them. I will 
confide to them valuable secret information about British pre- 
paration and I will show up the British lion as the meanest 
kind of cur. You may trust me to make a good impression. 
Then 1 guess I shall move eastwards, to sec the de-molition 
of the British Empire in those parts. By tlie way, where is the 
rendei-Vijus ? " 
" This is the 17th day of November. If we can't find out 
what we want in two months we may chuck the job. On 
the 17th of Januarys we should foregather in Constantinople. 
Whoever gets there first waits for the others. If by that 
date we're not all present, it will be considered that the 
missing man has got into trouble and must be given up. If 
ever we get there we'll be coming from different j)oints and 
in different characters, so we want a rendezvous whi^re all 
kinds of odd folk assemble. Sandy, you know Constanti- 
nople. You fix the meeting-i>lace." 
" I've already thought of that," he said, and going to 
the writing-table, he drew a little plan on a sheet of paper. 
" That lane runs down from the Kurdish Bazaar in Galata 
to the ferry of Ratchik. Half-way down on the left-hand 
side is a cafe kept by a Greek called Kuprasso Behind the 
caffe is a garden, surrounded by high walls which were parts 
of the old Byzantine Theatre, At the end of the garden is 
a shanty called the Garden-house of Suliman the Red. It has 
been in its time a dancing hall and a gambling hell and God 
