nd it was only by sending out
small quantities to various seedy scientists and getting them to
experiment in the cultivation of the germ under various conditions that
he found the medium in which they best flourish. It is, I believe,
fermented rye-flour, but I am not quite sure."

"To what purpose do you suggest van Heerden will put his cultivations?"
asked the commissioner.

"I am coming to that. In the course of my inquiries and searchings I
found that he was collecting very accurate data concerning the great
wheatfields of the world. From the particulars he was preparing I formed
the idea that he intended, and intends, sending an army of agents all
over the world who, at a given signal, will release the germs in the
growing wheat."

"But surely a few germs sprinkled on a great wheatfield such as you find
in America would do no more than local damage?"

Beale shook his head.

"Mr. O'Donnel," he said soberly, "if I broke a tube of that stuff in
the corner of a ten-thousand-acre field the whole field would be rotten
in twenty-four hours! It spreads from stalk to stalk with a rapidity
that is amazing. One germ multiplies itself in a living cornfield a
billion times in twelve hours. It would not only be possible, but
certain that twenty of van Heerden's agents in America could destroy the
harvests of the United States in a week."

"But why should he do this--he is a German, you say--and Germans do not
engage in frightfulness unless they see a dividend at the end of it."

"There is a dividend--a dividend of millions at the end of it," said
Beale, graver, "that much I know. I cannot tell you any more yet. But I
can say this: that up till yesterday van Heerden was carrying on the
work without the aid of his Government. That is no longer the case.
There is now a big syndicate in existence to finance him, and the
principal shareholder is the German Government. He has already spent
thousands, money he has borrowed and money he has stolen. As a side-line
and sheerly to secure her money he carried off John Millinborn's heiress
with the object of forcing her into a marriage."

The commissioner chewed the end of his cigar.

"This is a State matter and one on which I must consult the Home Office.
You tell me that the Foreign Office believe your story--of course I do,
too," he added quickly, "though it sounds wildly improbable. Wait here."

He took up his hat and went out.

"It is going to be a difficult business to conv