Herr Haase.

"Because" he touched one of the papers before him "this news, Haase,
is not good. It is not good. And this discovery here, if it be all
that is claimed for it, should work miracles."

He glanced up at Herr Haase and smiled again. "Not that I think
miracles can ever be worked by machinery," he added.

It was ten minutes after this that the column of dust on the lake
road delivered its core and cause in the shape of a tall man, who
knocked once at the door and strode in without waiting for an answer.

"Ah, my dear Von Wetten," said the Baron pleasantly. "It is hot, eh?"

"An oven," replied Von Wetten curtly. "This place is an oven. And the
dust, ach!"

The elder man made a gesture of sympathy. "Poor fellow!" he said.
"Sit down; sit down. Haase, that chair!"

And Herr Haase, who controlled a hundred and twelve subordinates, who
was a Swiss citizen and a trusted secret agent, brought the chair and
placed it civilly, neither expecting nor receiving thanks.

The new-comer was perhaps twenty-eight years of age, tall, large in
the chest and little in the loins, with a narrow, neatly-chiseled
face which fell naturally to a chill and glassy composure. "Officer"
was written on him as clear as a brand; his very quiet clothes sat on
his drilled and ingrained formality of posture and bearing as
noticeably as a mask and domino; he needed a uniform to make him
inconspicuous. He picked up his dangling monocle, screwed it into his
eye, and sat back.

"And now?" inquired the Baron agreeably, "and now, my dear Von
Wetten, what have you to tell us?"

"Well, Excellenz" Captain von Wetten hesitated. "As a matter of fact,
I've arranged for you to see the thing yourself this afternoon."

The Baron said nothing merely waited, large and still against the
light of the window which shone on the faces of the other two.

Captain von Wetten shifted in his chair awkwardly. "At five,
Excellenz," he added; "it'll be cooler then. You see, Herr Baron,
it's not the matter of the machine I've seen that all right; it's the
man."

"So!" The explanation, which explained nothing to Herr Haase, seemed
to satisfy the Baron. "The man, eh? But you say you have seen the
machine. It works?"

"It worked all right this morning," replied Von Wetten. "I took my
own explosives with me, as you know some French and English
rifle-cartridges and an assortment of samples from gun charges and
marine mines. I planted some in the garden; the place w