"The man Capper will do for the stalking horse--a willing nag," went on the woman in a half whisper across the table. "You know the ways of the Wilhelmstrasse. Capper is what we call 'the target.' The English suspect him. They will catch him; you get his number and do the work in safety. We have one man to draw their fire, another to accomplish the deed. We'll let the English bag him at Malta--a word placed in the right direction will fix that--and you'll go on to Alexandria to do the real work." "Good, good!" Woodhouse agreed. "The Wilhelmstrasse will give him a number, and send him on this mission on my recommendation; I had that assurance before ever I met the fellow to-night. They--the big people--know little Capper's reputation, and, as a matter of fact, I think they are convinced he's a little less dangerous working for the Wilhelmstrasse than against it. At Malta the arrest--the firing squad at dawn--and the English are convinced they've nipped something big in the bud, whereas they've only put out of the way a dangerous little weasel who's ready to bite any hand that feeds him." Woodhouse's level glance never left the eyes of the woman called Louisa; it was alert, appraising. "But if there should be some slip-up at Malta," he interjected. "If somehow this Capper should get through to Alexandria, wouldn't that make it somewhat embarrassing for me?" "Not at all, my dear Woodhouse," she caught him up, with a little pat on his hand. "His instructions will be only to report to So-and-so at Alexandria; he will not have the slightest notion what work he is to do there. You can slip in unsuspected by the English, and the trick will be turned." For a minute Woodhouse sat watching the cavortings of a dancer on the stage. Finally he put a question judiciously: "The whole scheme, then, is----" "This," she answered quickly. "Captain Woodhouse--the real Woodhouse, you know--is to be transferred from his present post at Wady Halfa, on the Nile, to Gibraltar--transfer is to be announced in the regular way within a week. As a member of the signal service he will have access to the signal tower on the Rock when he takes his new post, and that, as you know, will be very important." "Very important!" Woodhouse echoed dryly. "This Woodhouse arrives in Alexandria to await the steamer from Suez to Gib. He has no friends there--that much we know. Three men of the Wilhelmstrasse are waiting there, whose business it is to see that the real Woodhouse does not take the boat for Gib. They expect a man from Berlin to come to them, bearing a number from the Wilhelmstrasse--the man who is to impersonate Woodhouse and as such take his place in the garrison on the Rock. There are two others of the Wilhelmstrasse at Gibraltar already; they, too, are eagerly awaiting the arrival of 'Woodhouse' from Alexandria. Capper, with a number, will start from Berlin for Alexandria. Capper will never arrive in Alexandria. You will."