The Lost Naval Papers by Bennet Copplestone
page 5 of 262 (01%)
page 5 of 262 (01%)
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of spirit--of which, God knows, I have little in these days--Dawson
would pull out his terrible red volumes of ever-expanding Regulations and make notes of my committed crimes. The Act itself could be printed on a sheet of notepaper, but it has given birth to a whole library of Regulations. Thus he bent me to his will as he had my poor friend Richard Cary. The mills of Scotland Yard grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small. There is nothing showy about them. They work by system, not by inspiration. Though Dawson was not specially intelligent--in some respects almost stupid--he was dreadfully, terrifyingly efficient, because he was part of the slowly grinding Scotland Yard machine. As this book properly begins with my published story of "The Lost Naval Papers," I will reprint it here exactly as it was written for the readers of the _Cornhill Magazine_ in September, 1916. * * * * * I. BAITING THE TRAP This story--which contains a moral for those fearful folk who exalt everything German--was told to me by Richard Cary, the accomplished naval correspondent of a big paper in the North of England. I have known him and his enthusiasm for the White Ensign for twenty years. He springs from an old naval stock, the Carys of North Devon, and has devoted his life to the study of the Sea Service. He had for so long been accustomed to move freely among shipyards and navy men, and was trusted so completely, that the veil of secrecy which dropped in |
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