As Spotty passed Mr. Blair he turned and, thrusting his face forward, growled, "Ruddy tyke." It was his way of indicating loyalty to his chief; but it spoiled Mr. Blair's lunch. For some moments after John Dene had gone, Sir Lyster and Sir Bridgman and Admiral Heyworth gazed at each other without speaking. "Do you think it's drink, Grayne, or only the heat?" Sir Bridgman laughed. Sir Lyster winced and looked across at him as a man might at a boy who has just blown a trumpet in his ear. Without replying he lifted the telephone receiver from its rest. "Get me through to the Prime Minister. What's that? Yes, Sir Bridgman's here. Very well, we'll come round at once." As he replaced the receiver he rose. "The Prime Minister would like us to step round," he said. "Walton and Sage are there. It's about John Dene." "Seen John Dene?" asked Sir Bridgman of Mr. Blair, as they passed through the room. "You'd better apply for that twenty thousand pounds, Blair." Sir Lyster wondered why Sir Bridgman persisted in his jokes, however much they might have become frayed at the edges. When they entered Mr. Llewellyn John's room it was to find him a veritable aurora borealis of smiles. He was obviously in the best of spirits. "John Dene has been found," he cried before his callers had taken the chairs to which he waved them. "We left poor Blair with the same conviction," laughed Sir Bridgman. "Then you know?" "I telephoned Sir Lyster," said Colonel Walton. "Mr. Dene has only just left us," explained Sir Lyster. "He was extremely annoyed at the closing of his office and the disappearance of his secretary." "But----" Mr. Llewellyn John looked from Colonel Walton to Malcolm Sage, and then on to Sir Lyster in bewilderment. "Perhaps, Sage----" suggested Colonel Walton. "You'd better tell the story, Sage, as Colonel Walton suggests," said Mr. Llewellyn John. "There is an official report in preparation," said Colonel Walton. Mr. Llewellyn John nodded. In the course of the next half-hour Malcolm Sage kept his hearers in a state of breathless interest by the story of the coming and going of John Dene, as known to Department Z. "I gave Mr. Dene the credit of being possessed of more than the ordinary amount of what he calls 'head-filling,'" began Sage, "but I didn't realise at first that he possessed a twin brother; but I'll begin at the beginning." "When you turned over the matter to Department Z.," continued Malcolm Sage, "we made exhaustive inquiries and discovered that the Huns were determined to prevent the _Destroyer_ from putting to sea, and they were prepared at any cost to stop Mr. Dene from going north. In Canada and on the way over they made attempts upon his life; but then, as so frequently happens, they became the victims of divided councils. They wanted the plans. Thanks to, er--certain happenings they learned that the _Destroyer_ would not sail without Mr. Dene." "How?" interpolated Mr. Llewellyn John