Stirling bowed. In his mind he was wondering whether Sir Theophilus would be so lavish with his praises if he knew that he (Stirling) was a civil servant drawing a paltry salary of a hundred a year.
"You'll be in town for a few days, I hope?" asked Thompson, when the three journalists returned to the offices of _The Westminster Daily Record_. "I hardly know. You see, my leave is up next Saturday."
"Yes; I'm not on the regular staff of _The Yachtsman's Journal_. I'm in the Inland Revenue Office at Lowestoft."
"Chuck it, my lad. Send in your resignation. You're merely wasting your time there. I'll offer you a post at two hundred and fifty pounds as special correspondent; permanency, mind you, with good prospects; send you back to the Continent till this Heligoland business is finished with."
Two more days passed. The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs was in constant telegraphic communication with the British Ambassador in Berlin. The most elaborate cipher was used, and precautions taken to prevent leakage of unauthentic information.
The Ambassador was instructed to apply to the German Government for permission to interview John and William Smith, the condemned spies; the authorities at Berlin hedged. They took umbrage at the somewhat unusual request.
Suddenly a journalistic bombshell burst upon the British public. In _The Morning Remembrancer_, a "rag" with a comparatively limited circulation, appeared the following, in heavy type:--
"THE IDENTITY OF THE HELIGOLAND SPIES "STARTLING REPORTS "(Specially contributed to this Journal)
"Advice from our own correspondent reveals the startling fact that the identity of the two persons sentenced, under the names of John and William Smith, to five years' detention for espionage has been made known. The victims of an international outrage are Sub-Lieutenant John Hamerton, R.N., and Mr. Oswald Detroit, son of Senator Jonathan Detroit, of Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.A. The story of their supposed tragic fate in the North Sea, being reported to have been lost overboard from the yacht _Diomeda_, is still fresh in the public memory. Further startling disclosures are imminent. We understand that representations have been made to Germany by the Governments of Great Britain and the United States for the immediate release of the alleged spies."