Inventions -- Fiction; Science fiction; Short stories; Spy stories; World War, 1939-1945 -- Fiction
"Could he have gotten the formula, Ray? Was it anywhere he could see it
through those devil's glasses?" And, a moment later: "Oh. Coggleston, I
can't tell you how sorry I am--"
"What did he say?" Henry demanded excitedly as the other hung up. "Is it
all right, Joseph--"
"No." The scientist shook his head, eyes dark with worry. "Coggleston
says we can be practically certain the spy got that formula. He says the
man in charge was having a staff meeting of his aides, and they had it
written out on a blackboard for discussion."
"Joseph--"
"Ray's on his way over now. He wants to ask you some questions about the
man's description--"
* * * * *
Even as the words left the savant's mouth, they heard a car roar up the
driveway. Major Ray Coggleston hurried in the door, a sergeant at his
heels. He wasted no time on preliminaries.
"What did he look like?" he demanded.
"Well, he had red hair...."
"Yes, yes. We know that."
"He was pretty big. Almost as tall as Joseph."
"Yes. Go on."
"I guess he talked sort of loud."
"Got it."
Henry hesitated. Tugged at his goatee, his face screwed with
concentration.
"Really, Major Coggleston, that's about all I can remember about him,"
he said at last.
The officer swore. He paced the floor in a frenzy of anxiety.
"We've nothing to go on!" he fumed. "The description's meaningless. It
could fit any one of a thousand men in this area. We don't even know
where to start to hunt."
"Excuse me, major--" gulped Henry.
The military man whirled on him.
"What is it? Have you thought of something else?"
"Why, about where to start to hunt--"
"Yes?"
"Why don't you try the nudist camp?"
"The nudist camp?" Professor Paulsen exploded. "Are you completely
crazy, Henry? Why would a spy be in a nudist camp?"
Henry glared back at him.
"No, I'm not completely crazy," he snapped peevishly. "And I don't know
what a spy is doing in a nudist camp, but that's where he was when I
sold him my glasses." He sniffed. "Really, Joseph, I get awfully tired
of your acting like you were the only one around here who was half
smart."
But Major Coggleston interrupted.
"Let's get this straight," he pleaded. "Where did you meet this
red-headed man? How'd you come to sell him the glasses?"
"Oh, that?" Henry sniffed so hard his glasses slid down his nose. "Why,
he was one of the men who was out peeking at the nudists." He turned to
Professor Paulsen. "You remember, Joseph. He's the one who said I was
telling the truth about my X-ray eyeglasses being able to look through
the fence."
"Yes, heaven preserve me, I remember!" groaned the professor. "But why
didn't I think--"
"So he asked me to sell him my glasses," Henry continued. "And when
Joseph told me to get rid of them, I took them over to the nudist camp
and sold them to him for fifty dollars."
"But how'd you know he was in the nudist camp?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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