pidly in a low voice, while his companion,
an expert stenographer, took down the words with lightning speed. This
done, they placed a dictagraph in the inner office, working quickly and
well. With a final glance around, they left, having completed the work
in a remarkably short time.

The next day Mendez' telephone was tapped. Then his secretary left,
and the new one he hired was a Secret Service agent. The Spaniard
never guessed it, for the secretary brought the most trustworthy
references. Every time Mendez held a meeting of his group of German
agents and talked of how to send information to Germany, the secretary
heard all they said, and at once reported it to his chief. Every time
Mendez telephoned, a Secret Service agent listened to what he said.
Every time he had a conference in his office, if the secretary by
chance was not there, the dictagraph made a record of the conversation,
and the Service knew about it.

Naturally such careful watching won in the end. Mendez, who had caught
the German habit of believing that no one was so clever as himself, did
not dream of the net that was being woven around him, and went on
filing his cable messages which, of course, were not sent. All the
information obtained by the Secret Service was sifted, arranged, and
confirmed, and Mendez was arrested. With his departure, his whole
following was helpless, and settled back to swear at the United States
for its tyranny. The patient Secret Service had scored again.

So it went. For every German spy or would-be spy in America, there was
an agent of the Secret Service, equally resourceful, and more likely to
succeed, because, no matter how clumsy his adversary seemed, he never
made the mistake of underrating him. "Stupid Yankees," von Papen had
called us, while he went about his plotting with child-like faith in
his skill at hiding. "Stupid Germans," the Secret Service might have
retorted, as it skillfully uncovered all his plotting and sent him back
to his Kaiser, where his stupidity was more appreciated.

But it took many months of patient, unceasing work, and far the
greatest part of it was dull, hard, steady grind. Rarely was there any
excitement for the industrious government agents, and more rarely was
there any glory, for the work had to be kept secret. Trailing,
watching, studying, thinking, always putting two and two together and
often finding that they made five instead of four; through day and
night, throu