“Exactly,” said Nick. “It is easy to see how it may have been torn from his face, or displaced when he fell to the sidewalk. That further appears in that it was found near his body.” “But why was Dillon in disguise?” Chick persistently questioned. “If he was the man who was to relieve Verona Warren of the stolen portfolio, he very likely would have been in disguise,” Nick pointedly answered. “By Jove, there’s some truth in that!” Chick quickly allowed. “If you have sized him up correctly, he might, indeed, be a traitor to his country and in league with others to steal these government plans.” “That’s the very point, Chick. He may be in league with the foreign spies mentioned by Chief Welden and suspected to have come here with that very object in view.” “But who were his assailants? How could they have known he had the plans?” “They may have seen him with the portfolio,” suggested Patsy. “But how could they have known what it contained?” “Gee, that’s so. They might have known, Chick, all the same.” “Furthermore,” Chick added, “Makepeace, the lawyer who pursued them, ought to have seen them get away with the portfolio, if that was really the case.” “Not necessarily,” Nick objected. “They were well away before Makepeace saw them and started after them. He probably saw only the backs and rapidly moving legs of the two who escaped. He might not have been able to see in the darkness of the evening what either of them was carrying.” “By Jove, this makes a curious case of it,” said Chick. “If you are right, then, the plans have been stolen from the original thieves, Verona Warren and Captain Dillon, and now are in the hands of other crooks.” “That would be about the size of it if, as you say, I am right,” Nick replied. “But that word ‘if’ is just as big as it ever was, or ever will be. I may be all wrong. There may be no connection whatever between the assault upon Captain Dillon and the theft of the governmental plans. The circumstances seem to warrant my theory, however, and it’s up to us to find out whether it is correct.” “Gee! I should say so!” cried Patsy. “It looks to me like the real thing.” “It would prove of vast advantage to us, of course, if the plans are in the hands of ruffians who cannot readily understand them, or appreciate their vast importance,” Nick added. “It might enable us to recover them before they can be traced and secured again by the original thieves, who are undoubtedly able to turn them to the worst possible use.” “We may be too late.” “You mean?” “They may already have begun negotiations to recover them, and possibly have succeeded,” said Chick. Nick gazed thoughtfully at the floor for a moment. “I don’t think so,” he then said decidedly. “That is to say, Chick, I don’t think they have succeeded. The thugs who have the plans, and who evidently were out to get them at some little risk, must have some idea of their character and value.” “That’s true, of course.”