even when seeking seclusion in this out-of-the-way
retreat.

Then Jack found himself looking upon the man who had for years been one
of the greatest mysteries the Treasury Department at Washington had ever
endeavored to trap, He was sitting in a big leather-covered easy-chair,
smoking a cigar and busily engaged with a sheaf of important looking
papers. From time to time he would refer to a volume that had the
appearance of a ledger or account book and to which he seemed to attach
great importance.

How the sight sent a succession of thrills through the whole being of
the Secret Service sleuth--here he found himself within arms length of
the master crook who had laughed to scorn all previous efforts of the
Government to take him with the goods on.

Vainly had every possible attempt been made to catch him off his guard;
he had proved himself to be too crafty for the best revenue officers put
upon his track. And when failure after failure became the rule, the Big
Boss had decided to change the policy they had hitherto followed and put
an air pilot on the job as being able to go swiftly and easily where
others had been so cleverly balked.

Then Jack began to wonder where the other two men might be, for thus far
he had failed to discover either in the room of the lighted window.
Could it be possible both of them had sailed away aboard that
Lockheed-Vega ship, bent on some important mission which the Master had
entrusted to their care?

He could not bring himself to believe this possible--that he against
whom so many hostile hands were raised would be willing to stay all by
himself in such a lonesome place unless it seemed unavoidable. One or
both of those aids must be somewhere around.

Just the same he could see no other room connected with the stone
building--it was always possible, however, that there might be another
shack--perhaps a crude palmetto-leaf hut, such as the poor whites in the
backwoods lived in, somewhere not far away that served them for a
shelter when it rained or a bustling Norther came howling down from the
regions of snow and ice and zero temperatures.

Jack had about reached this conclusion when he discovered a figure,
covered with a fancy Navajo blanket, on a cot in a corner of the
place--yes, there was a head on a sofa pillow such as would be more in
place over at the beautiful Miami estate than here in such a desolate
region.

Somehow he quickly assumed this must be the shorter party--whic