‘Have you any definite scheme to put before me?’
‘Until I know that you accept,’ he demurred.
‘I do not know that you are accredited,’ I reminded him.
‘What authority do you require?’
‘The Imperial autograph simply.’
‘Impossible.’
‘I am accustomed to be trusted by my employers,’ I returned
decidedly. ‘I cannot act under any other conditions.’
‘That is final?’
‘It is final.’
‘Then I am afraid I can only ask you to forget that I have occupied
so much of your time.’
I allowed Kehler to rise and take his departure without making
the least sign. The moment he was out of hearing I sprang to the
telephone and rang up the agent of the Sugar Trust.
Herr Kehler’s refusal to produce the guarantee for which I asked
convinced me that he contemplated some action of a character
doubtful, to say the least, if not criminal.
It would have been useless for me to communicate my suspicions to the
American Minister in Paris. The diplomacy of the United States, blunt
and self-reliant, takes little account of the subterranean intrigue
which pervades European politics. But the Government of Washington
was not the only factor concerned. As Europe is beginning to learn,
the Union is a federation, not so much of those geographical
divisions which are painted in different colours on the map, and
called States, but of those vast organisations of capital which
control the American electoral system, and fill the Senate with their
delegates. Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Illinois--these are
merely names for school children; the Silver Ring, the Steel Trust,
the Cotton Trust, the Pork Trust--such are the true American Powers.
During the whole of the Cuban negotiation the Sugar and Tobacco
Trusts had been represented in Paris by agents whose object it was to
avert an annexation of Cuba by the United States, an act which would,
of course, mean the free admission of Cuban sugar and tobacco into
the markets. Adonijah B. Stearine, the Sugar Agent, was a shrewd man,
and I had no doubt I should find him a ready listener to what I had
to say.
Within an hour of Kehler’s departure, Mr. Stearine was seated in my
office. I had to pick my words carefully not to break the promise of
secrecy into which I had been beguiled.
‘I have just seen a secret agent who wanted me to help him in some
trick to force on a war between the States and Spain.’
Stearine rolled his eyes and whistled thoughtfully.
‘Who sent him?’
‘I can’t say. He refused to disclose his principal, and so I would
have nothing to do with him.’
The Sugar Agent pursed up his lips, and frowned.
‘I guess this is a dodge of Bugg’s,’ he muttered.
‘What Bugg?’
‘You don’t say you haven’t heard of Bugg--Milk W. Bugg, the Pork
Trust’s man over here? I reckon Bugg is the smartest man in Chicago,
and Chicago is the smartest town in the States, and the States is the
smartest country on earth; so there you are.’
‘The man who came to me is a German,’ I hinted.
‘Bugg’s smartness,’ was the comment.
‘He wanted me to think he came from Berlin.’
‘Bugg is real smart,’ breathed Mr. Stearine with admiration.
It was evident that the agent of the Sugar Trust was unable to see
past the figure of his rival, which filled up his mental horizon. I
did not consider it worth while to argue the point.
‘The question is, Do you want this to be stopped?’ I said.
Stearine looked at me with something like surprise.
‘Think you can?’ he questioned briefly.
‘I know the man who is at work. I can shadow him and find out what he
is doing.’
‘You will have to be almighty quick about it,’ retorted the other.
‘When did this man get away!’
‘Only an hour ago,’
Mr. Stearine gazed at me with a disconcerting scrutiny. Then he
remarked slowly and emphatically--
‘If this is Bugg’s game, and you have given him an hour’s start, I
calculate he will be opening a store in Havana this day six months.’
The Pork Trust, it was clear, had everything to gain by a war by
which the Sugar Trust had everything to lose. But, in spite of Mr.
Stearine’s confident assurances, I continued to have my own opinion
about the power behind Herr Kehler.
‘Do you want me to act?’ I demanded briefly.
‘I want you to take a hand--yes.’ The Sugar Agent took out his
pocket-book, and counted out bills to the amount of ten thousand
dollars. ‘You can play up to that,’ he added, ‘and then you can let
me know how the game stands. I guess I shall buy Pork Consols.’
With this discouraging observation, Stearine left.
It did not take me long to decide on my plans. As it was not likely
that Kehler was apprehensive of being watched, it would be an easy
task to trace him, and I at once gave orders to my staff to that
effect, with the result that I learned in a few hours that the
Bavarian had put up at the Hotel des Deux Aigles, and was leaving by
the Sud Express for Madrid.
I now decided on one of the boldest and most effective strokes in
my repertory. I went openly to the station, took my own ticket, and
entered the compartment of the sleeping-car in which Kehler had
booked his own place.
The real astonishment of the Bavarian at seeing me I met with an
affectation of moderate surprise on my own part.
‘So you are going with me?’ I observed.
‘With you!’ Kehler exclaimed.
‘It appears so. No doubt you have been instructed?’
Kehler denied it energetically.
‘But you refused to participate in a certain design,’ he reminded me.
‘I laid down certain conditions, which you declined to fulfil, but
which have since been complied with by your principal.’
The Bavarian was thunderstruck. I relied upon his having reported his
failure to whomever it was that had sent him to me; and there was
nothing impossible in the suggestion that I had in consequence been
approached directly.
‘You have credentials, I suppose?’ he asked.