"
"Searched his papers, eh?"
"Every one I could find, and hated the job. There are a good many
charts of the coast, but they are all for the use of the fishermen."
"Wonderful!" Hayter scoffed. "My young friend, you may yet find
distinction in some other walk of life. Our secret service, I
fancy, will very soon be able to dispense with your energies."
"And I with your secret service," Lessingham agreed heartily. "I
dare say there may be some branches of it in which existence is
tolerable. That, however, does not apply to the task upon which I
have been engaged."
"You have been completely duped," Hayter told him calmly, "and the
information you have sent us is valueless. Sir Henry Cranston,
instead of being the type of man whom you have described, is one
of the greatest experts upon coast defense and mine-laying, in the
English Admiralty."
Lessingham laughed shortly.
"That," he declared, "is perfectly absurd."
"It is," Hayter repeated, with emphasis, "the precise truth. Sir
Henry Cranton's fishing excursions are myths. He is simply
transferred from his fishing boat on to one of a little fleet of
so-called mine sweepers, from which he conducts his operations.
Nearly every one of the most important towns on the east coast are
protected by minefields of his design."
Lessingham was dumbfounded.
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