"I'll tell you," said Plummer, pushing the door close behind him. "I'll tell you--in confidence, of course--because you've seen more of this mysterious rascal than I have, and--equally in confidence, of course--Mr. Brett may hear, too, since he's been in several of the cases already. Well, of course, we all know well enough that we want this creature--Mayes, we may as well call him, I suppose, now--for three murders, at least, to say nothing of other things. That's all very well, and we might have got him with time. But now we want him for something else; and it's such a thing that _we must have him at once_, or else"--and Plummer pursed his lips and snapped his fingers significantly. "We can't wait over this, Mr. Hewitt; _we've got to have that man to-day_, if it can be done. And there's more than ordinary depending on it. It's the country this time. The Admiralty telegraphic code has been stolen!" "By Mayes?" Plummer shrugged his shoulders. "That's to be proved," he said; "but he was seen leaving the office at about the time the loss occurred, and that's enough to set me after him; and there's not another clue of any sort. Mr. Hewitt, I wish you were in the official service!" Hewitt smiled. "You flatter me," he said, "as you have done before. But why in this case particularly?" "It's a case altogether out of the ordinary, and one of a string of such, all of which you have at your fingers' ends. And I don't mind confessing that this man Mayes is a little too big a handful for one--for me, at any rate. I wish you could work with me over this; in fact, in the special circumstances I've a good mind to ask to have you retained, as an exceptional measure. But the thing's urgent, and there's red-tape!" Hewitt had taken a glance at his desk tablet, which he now flung down. "I'll do it for love," he said, "if necessary. My appointment list is uncommonly slack just now, and even if it weren't, I'd make a considerable sacrifice rather than be out of this. This fellow Mayes is a dangerous man; and I feel it a point of honour that he shall not continue to escape. Moreover, I have begun to form a certain theory as to the Red Triangle, and all there is at the back of it--a theory I would rather keep to myself till I see a little more, since as it stands it may only strike you as fantastic, and if it is wrong it may lead some of us off the track; but it is a theory I wish to test to the end. So I'm with you, Plummer, if you'll allow it; and you can make your official application for a special retainer or not, just as you please." Plummer was plainly delighted. "Most certainly I will," he said. "Shall I give you the heads of the case, or will you come to the Admiralty and see for yourself?"