ody of von Ruhle. Then drawing a small hypodermic syringe from a
case, the former inserted the needle into the lad's forearm.

Five seconds later Ross Trefusis lay unconscious beside his companion
in misfortune.

CHAPTER III

Kidnapped

"I thought you had killed him, von Ruhle," said the doctor, bending
over Vernon and making a cursory examination of the unconscious lad.

"I thought I had," was the unconcerned reply. "Dead men tell no tales."

"There I beg to differ," protested Ramblethorne. "Corpses have a nasty
way of turning up at inopportune moments. These youngsters are worth
more to us alive than dead."

"How so?"

"One is a son of Admiral Trefusis; his companion is, I believe, also a
son of a distinguished English naval officer."

"Well, and what of it?" asked von Ruhle.

"Hostages," replied the doctor briefly. "Later I will explain.
Meanwhile we'll carry them to the cave. It's farther than back to the
ruins; but perhaps, as young Trefusis said, there may be a
search-party, and the ruins would be one of the first objects of
investigation."

Although, with the exception of periodical visits abroad, Dr.
Ramblethorne had lived in England all his life and was a fully
qualified medical man, he was a highly trusted and talented agent of
the German Secret Service. Months before the outbreak of war, he had
been ordered to report upon the defences of Devonport, and in order to
do this he had bought a practice on the outskirts of Plymouth. Upon
the commencement of hostilities, he was detailed to keep under
observation the military preparations of the Duchy of Cornwall, and
also to take necessary steps for communicating with German submarines
that, under von Tirpitz's prearranged scheme, were to operate in the
Bristol Channel. Von Ruhle was one of the few subordinates he actually
knew. There were others with whom he communicated only through an
intermediary, and who knew him only by a number.

Von Ruhle was almost as mentally clever as his superior.
Ostentatiously he was an Englishman. Sometimes he posed as a mining
engineer; at others as a commercial traveller; as an accredited
representative of the British Red Cross Society he was in the habit of
making frequent journeys to Holland, presumably in connection with work
at Groningen Internment Camp. At the present time, his activities were
centred upon the formation of a secret petrol depot for the supply of
fuel to unterseebooten operating