did we know that you
were at sea."

"But--but, sir," stuttered Jack, greatly mystified, "who did this?"

The Secretary pressed a button on his desk. A uniformed orderly
instantly answered.

"Tell Mr. Thurman to come in," said the Secretary.

There was a brief silence, then the door opened and Thurman, with an
expectant look and an assured manner, stepped into the room.

"Mr. Thurman?" asked the Secretary.

"Yes, sir," said Thurman in a loud, confident voice, "I thought I'd
hurry over here as soon as the ship docked and talk to you about my work
in discovering for you the fellow who invented the Universal Detector.
I----"

He suddenly caught sight of Jack and turned a sickly yellow. Jack looked
steadily at the fellow who, he had guessed for some time, had been
evilly interested in the detector.

"Well, go on, Mr. Thurman," said the Secretary, encouragingly, but with
a peculiar look at the corners of his mouth.

Thurman shuffled miserably.

"I'd prefer not to talk with--with him in the room," he said, nodding
his head sideways at Jack.

"Why not? Mr. Ready has just sold his invention to the United States
government."

"Sold it, sir----" began Jack, flushing, "why I----"

The Secretary held up a hand to enjoin silence. Then he turned to the
thoroughly uncomfortable Thurman.

"We feel, Mr. Thurman," he said, "that you really tried to do us a great
service."

Thurman recovered some of his self-assurance. Could he have had the
skill to read the faces about him, though, he must have known that a
bomb was about to burst.

"Thank you, sir," he said, "I did what I could, what I thought was my
duty. And now, sir, about that reward."

"'Suitable reward,' was what was said, I think, Mr. Thurman," said the
Secretary.

"Well, yes, sir, 'suitable reward,'" responded Thurman, his eyes
glistening with cupidity.

"Mr. Thurman," and the Secretary's voice was serious and impressive,
"these gentlemen and I have decided that the most suitable reward for a
young man as treacherous and mean as you have shown yourself to be,
would be to be kicked downstairs. Instead I shall indicate to you the
door and ask you to take your leave."

"But--but--I told you who the fellow was that had discovered the
detector. Why, I even made drawings of it for you."

"I don't doubt that," said the Secretary dryly. "There was only one weak
point in your whole scheme, Mr. Thurman, and that was that Mr. Ready
wrote us some time ago when h