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Show I at once, by the fastest way. Oh, no, Selena put in. You dont want to send that cable. Not now. He gave her a sharp look, and she smiled, Nothings happened benignly. at the Convention yet thats half as important as this delegation. Theres even a cabinet member in the group. Wait and cable after youve interviewed them. Then youll really have a story. This cable is very important,. he began angrily, then caught his breath, forced himself to calm. At least, you are correct, the substance is not consequential. It is simply about the opening of the Convention, a description of the place and the facilities provided. But what is important is that if it does not go out now, at once, it cannot reach my paper in time for tomorrows edition.' And now, Selena said smoothly, I will lead you to the . delegation. He hesitated, then noted that the other two men had be- come interested spectators and You are bowed his assent. most kind. He stayed with her till they were outside the press, section, then clapped his hand to his brow and exclaimed, But I have just remembered! I have an appointment. I will see the delegation later. No, wait! She seized his sleeve, looked desperately around for help. She could not hold him, she knew. Within seconds he could vanish again in the midst of the crowd. And there was nothing she could say in description that would lead other agents to him. In fact, before she could even locate a he might be gone from Convention Hall, on his way to another town, another cable n, office. Ilia she said again, re-- I sisting with all her strength his effort to loosen her grasp. It was a losing battle. As his With all arm came free and he spun round to leave her, desperately she snatched off her hat. With both hands she brought it down over his head with such force that his face emerged through the splintered straw and only the band and brim remained to circle his neck. He gave her a glance of utter astonishment, as if convinced that she had suddenly gone mad, then whirled and darted away. A clever job of branding, the told her when the job was wrapped up. No crowd is thick enough to conceal a man wearing a straw collar. Luckily, the brim was tougher than the crown, so he couldnt pull it off in a hurry. My man on the door saw him charging up, noticed the big black I her strength Selena fought his effort to break away she must not let him vanish into the Convention crowd -- Q-m- an O on his throat and it was the last round-u- p. And the cable didnt go, of course. Oh, yes, it went off all right. After a slight delay. The girl in the cable office got it up to me right after you alerted her. It was full of figures, most of which checked out as accurate. The right number of franks and buns, gallons of coffee, cases of soda and so forth. Only three werent real. Balloons stood for bombers, flags for fighter planes, toy donkeys for troops. We replaced his figures with the much smaller quantities wed like them to believe and sent it on its way. By now it will have been read by their agent in the news- - paper office and relayed to the Red commanders. Tomorrow will bring them a big surprise. Only it was a narrow squeak that the surprise wasnt ours. What clued you to his interest in edibles and souvenirs? What you said about losing a man in a sea of humanity, Selena explained. It reminded me of that the best place something Chesterton wrote to hide a leaf is in a forest. Since numbers were what he had to send the sensible thing was to get a long list of them, the kind of statistics many other reporters were collecting, and bury his information in -- thi end the middle. n I , THIS WEEK Mogazin Azgnt 23, 1964 |
