"I wasn't taken into the confidence of the high-ups in the spy organization in Canada, but I know it was a big one. I suppose they thought I was too young to be trusted with any more information than was necessary to make me useful. And for that reason, you see, they did not translate to me the message that was tattooed on my arm, and they didn't give me the key to work out the cipher. Besides, I'm no telegrapher. You'll understand, therefore, that they didn't pick much of an expert to carry their message."
"Didn't you know that there were telegraphic characters in that picture on your arm?" asked Lieut. Osborne.
"Yes, or rather I suspected it pretty strongly," was the reply.
"And you don't know what the message is?"
"Well, yes, I have an idea, but it's pretty vague. I overheard a little of a conversation not intended for my ears, and from that I got the notion, or perhaps it's only a suspicion, that the message contains the British naval or aeronautical wireless code."
"At any rate, it's of great importance," suggested Lieut. Osborne.
"Oh, there's no doubt about that," Tourtelle, or Hessenburg, assured.
"Are you an artist?" was the inquisitor's next question.
"Yes, I am; that is, I was an art student, and the story I told Ellis about making a hit with a cubist painting is true. That's what started the scheme of tattooing a picture message on my arm."
"One of the fellows who did the work. He was something of an artist as well as a chemist.
"Yes," replied the spy. "I see you have had a pretty thorough report of that affair."
"We have. Did you know that the boy who was seized in the hall and dragged into the laboratory left with the pen-and-ink sketch of your painting crumpled up in his hand?"
"No. Is that what became of it? One of the men suggested that he must have stolen it, but I didn't think he was right."
"Did you know they put detectives on his track?"
"That's what they did. And that is probably the reason why the hospital was raided a few days later. If they hadn't followed him, the boy probably would have passed the matter up and dismissed it from his mind. But he became restlessly curious and reported the affair to the police."
"Hm!" Tourtelle grunted at this elucidation.