"Seeing how near he can get to this Bergen fellow. I took him down to the Tower to see the men together." Colonel Walton nodded. Malcolm Sage regarded disguise as exclusively the asset of the detective of fiction. A disguise, he maintained, could always be identified, although not necessarily penetrated. Few men could disguise their walk or bearing, no matter how clever they might be with the aid of false beards and wigs. "You remember the lost code-book?" Sage queried. "I do," said Colonel Walton. "A remarkable piece of work of Finlay's," continued Sage. "It wasn't a disguise, it was an alteration; trim of moustache, cut and colour of hair, darkened skin and such trifles." "And the black eye, sir," interpolated Thompson. "That was certainly a happy stroke," cried Colonel Walton. "It takes a good deal of moral courage to black your own eye," said Sage quietly. "I tried it once myself." "How do you plan to proceed?" It was Colonel Walton who spoke. "If Naylor is really the man we're after and this Bergen fellow is on a secret mission, then it's pretty sure they were intended to get into touch." Sage paused for a moment, then added: "Anyhow, it's worth trying. It's a risk, of course. Naylor may have met him before." "The risk will be mainly Finlay's," said Colonel Walton drily, as he smoked meditatively. "It would be yours or mine, chief, only nature cast us in a different mould." For some moments Colonel Walton did not reply. "I don't like sending a man on a----" He paused. "There's no question of sending Finlay; it's more a matter of holding him back. By the way," he continued casually, "Thompson burgled John Dene's place last night, got a set of plans, the chit signed by Sir Lyster and the Skipper, and one or two other papers that should be useful." "I don't quite like it, Sage." Colonel Walton knitted his brows. "It's giving the Yard something to do," was Sage's indifferent retort. "They're buzzing about John Dene like flies to-day. He's expressing himself to them in choice Canadian too, so Thompson tells me." Thompson gave an appreciative grin. "I dropped in there this morning, sir, and----" He did not conclude his sentence; but his look was one of keen appreciation. "He's got some words, has Inspector Bluggers," he added, "but Mr. Dene left him standing." "We've just been going over the points of Finlay and the Bergen man," explained Sage. "They're pretty well in agreement. Personally I believe there's a lot in that ring. We stripped the other fellow of his clothes, Finlay insisted on having them baked. Fussy sort of chap in things like that," he added, "but that ring. Men don't generally wear turquoises set in an eccentric pattern. Ha!" He looked up suddenly. Colonel Walton looked across at him interrogatingly. "You remember the initials inside, chief?" Colonel Walton nodded. "D.U.A. weren't they?" "What about Deutsches ueber alles?" "A bit obvious," suggested Colonel Walton.