struggled madly all around the little
room. But the Americans were powerful, and they had help at hand.
They threw the Germans down and sat on them to rest, while the
frightened Germans protested.

"You have no right to do this," panted von Igel. "This is the property
of the Imperial German Government, and cannot be broken into this way!"

"That'll be all right," answered one American. "You see it has been
broken into."

The papers, seventy pounds of them, were packed up and taken
away,--with the Germans. As the men were leaving the office, they met
the other spy, who was just arriving. It did not take much persuasion
to make him go along too.

The German Ambassador, von Bernstorff, raised a frightful uproar over
this, and claimed that the papers were his. This was a sad mistake on
his part, because, when the letters were opened and the plans read, he
was asked to remember that he had said they were his. There was enough
proof in that seventy pounds to convince even a German. Among other
things there came to light their conspiracies to undermine the
citizenship of other countries. But now all this was made worse than
useless, for its discovery not only laid bare the plot, but also told
the names of all the men who were taking part in it. It was the
biggest victory scored by either side, and the credit for it goes to
our regular Secret Service.

Three of the heads of the German beast in America had now been cut off.
There remained only von Bernstorff. He lasted nine months longer than
the others. The government has not yet told the world all the details
of the ambassador's last great defeat, but some were as follows--

Germany now knew that if she were to win at all, it must be
immediately. So she decided to carry on her ruthless submarine
warfare, and sink all the ships she could, no matter to whom they
belonged. She realized that it would make America declare war on her,
and in order to offset her coming in, she hit upon the idea of having
Mexico attack her on the South, and if possible, Japan on the West.
She did not stop to think (she had no time for that) that Japan was one
of the Allies, and of course would not make war against her. Perhaps
she believed Japan would not remain faithful to the Allies.

So the Foreign Office in Berlin wrote to von Bernstorff in Washington,
and he in turn was to write to Mexico. The success of the whole scheme
depended on secrecy. The arrangements must be made