ncriminating papers.
Montani jumped for the steamer you were sailing on with every
determination to get the fan. His professional pride was aroused, and it
was only after he found it impossible to steal the fan that he asked our
assistance. He's a good fellow, a gentleman in every sense, and with
true French chivalry wanted to do the job without disturbing you in any
way."

We pressed closer about Raynor as he took the fan, spread it open, and
held it close against a table-lamp. "The third, sixth, and ninth," he
counted. "You will notice that those three pieces of ivory are a trifle
thicker and not as transparent as the others. Glancing at them casually
in an ordinary light, you would never suspect that they had been
hollowed out, an exceedingly delicate piece of work. It's a pity to
spoil anything so pretty, but----"

He snapped the top of one of the panels, disclosing a neatly folded
piece of thin paper.

"If you are all satisfied, I will not go further. I want to deliver this
to the French Embassy intact. I expect Montani here to-night; he will no
doubt be enormously relieved."

A machine whizzed into the driveway, and Montani came in brushing past
the astonished Antoine, who had answered the bell.

"The fan is safe," cried Raynor; "you may complete the identification."

"I've handled this whole affair most stupidly," said Montani after a
hurried examination. "I'm satisfied that a German agent in America has
picked up the trail of the fan. One or two lines of my own
communications failed to work, and after reporting the whole matter to
the French Embassy I began searching for a man, the most dangerous of
all the German spies, who had been intrusted with the business of
recovering Madame Volkoff's fan and passing the contents on to Berlin.
This person has been representing himself as a French secret agent; he's
enormously plausible. I feared he might attempt what I failed to do.
If----"

Alice glanced at me, and I stepped to the wall and punched the button.

"Antoine," I said, "tie the arms of the prisoner in the tool-house and
bring him here."

"A man in the tool-house!" Montani, Torrence, and Raynor ejaculated in
concert.

"Oh, yes," murmured Alice, "that's the pleasantest chapter of all. Our
grenadiers captured a whole invading army that made a night attack--one
of the most remarkable engagements of the present war, Mr. Torrence."

"The battle of the Bell-Hops," I suggested. "The prisoner will be here