"What's the trouble?" demanded the "sparrow cop." "None at all," replied Dave, as he slipped the still warm revolver into his pocket and brushed some dirt from his sleeve. "Guy tried to hold me up, that's all, and I took a pot shot at him. Cut it! Secret Service!" and he cautiously flashed his badge in the light of the electric torch which the park policeman held. "Huh!" grunted the guard, as he made his way to the bush from behind which Carroll had been attacked. "You evidently winged him. There's blood on the grass here, but no sign of the bird himself. Want any report to headquarters?" he added, in an undertone. "Not a word," said Carroll. "I'm working this end of the game and I want to finish it without assistance. It's the only thing that's happened in a month to break the monotony and there's no use declaring anyone else in on it. By the way, do you know of any place in town known as Conner's?" "Conner's? Never heard of it. Sounds as though it might be a dive in the Bowery. Plenty of queer places down there." "No, it's hardly likely to be in that section of the city," Dave stated. "Farther uptown, I think. But it's a new one on me." "On me, too," agreed the guard, "and I thought I knew the town like a book." When he reported to headquarters a few moments later, Carroll told the chief over the wire of his brush with the trio of Germans, as well as what he had heard. There was more than a quiver of excitement in the voice from the other end of the wire, for this was the first actual proof of the existence of the mysterious "No. 859." "Still believe von Ewald is a myth?" inquired the Chief. "Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say that," was the answer, "because the bullet that just missed me was pretty material. Evidently some one is planning these bomb outrages and it's up to us to nab him--if only for the sake of the Service." "Did you catch the name of the man to whom your friends were alluding?" asked the chief. "No, they just referred to him as 'he.'" "That might mean any one of a number of people," mused the chief. "Sir Cecil Spring-Rice is in town, you know. Stopping at the Waldorf. Then there's the head of the French Mission at the Vanderbilt with a bunch of people, and Lord Wimbledon, who's spent five million dollars for horses in the West, stopping at the same place you are. You might keep an eye on him and I'll send Kramer and Fleming up to trail the other two." "Did you ever hear of the place they called Conner's, Chief?" "No, but that doesn't mean anything. It may be a code word--a prearranged name to camouflage the hotel in the event anyone were listening in." "Possibly," replied Carroll, just before he hung up, "but somehow I have a hunch that it wasn't. I'll get back on the job and let you know if anything further develops."