drew forth a rough plan,
together with some scribbled notes in German, which afterwards proved to
be a description of the forts on Inchkeith, while from the pocket of
Scholtz I secured the tracing he had stolen from Rosyth.

Then we allowed both the secret agents of the Kaiser to pass out, much
to the consternation and alarm of the deaf old Scotchwoman, who had, at
their request, posed as the occupier of the cottage, but who, in perfect
ignorance of what was in progress, had acted as their housekeeper.

A swift examination of the premises revealed no trace of Vera. But we
found in the cellar below the room where we had found the spies a great
store of gun-cotton and other high explosives of German manufacture,
intended for the wrecking of the bridge; while in an old battered
portmanteau in one of the upstairs rooms we also found, all ready for
conveyance to Germany, a quantity of prints from the photographic
negatives in the room below--photographs of nearly the whole of the
plans of Rosyth, and more especially of its proposed forts--which the
men had been in the habit of abstracting at night and replacing in the
safe before dawn.

Ray Raymond was in active search of something else besides, and at
length discovered what he sought--two German military telegraph
instruments, together with a complete and very ingenious arrangement for
the tapping of wire.

"By Jove!" exclaimed my friend, who took a keen interest in all things
electrical. "This will now come in very handy!"

And on going outside to the telegraph pole against the wall, he
clambered up it and attached wires to two of the insulators. Then
descending, he screwed a little brass box upon it into those same three
holes in the black wood which had attracted him on the night of our
arrival, and a moment later began manipulating the key.

"Good!" he exclaimed at last. "I've picked up Inverkeithing, and asked
them to send the police over at once. We mustn't leave the place and
risk the spies returning for any of their paraphernalia. The
disappearance of Vera, however, worries me. I sent her here with a note
purporting to come from the chief of the German Secret Service in
England, Hermann Hartmann; but she has vanished, and we must, as soon
as the police arrive, go in search of her."

So completely had we unmasked the spies that I stood puzzled and amazed.

Ray, noticing my attitude, made explanation.

"Several of my surmises in this case proved entirely co