"But what of my paper?" he demanded of the general.

"I can give you a description of the man who took it," said Hal, and did
so. When he mentioned that the man had a scar on his face, the two
Italian officers uttered a cry.

"Hans Robard!" they exclaimed.

"You know him, then?" asked Chester.

"Rather," said the general dryly. "He is an Austrian, and attached to the
Austrian embassy here. Of course there has as yet been no formal
declaration of war between Italy and Austria, but it has been known for
days that war was sure to come. Colonel Fuesco here has been entrusted
with important documents relating to troop movements, and it is this
document that Robard has stolen. It must be recovered."

"We are willing to help all we can," said Chester. "With a little
forethought we should have been able to recover it ourselves. Robard made
monkeys of us."

"He made a monkey of me, too," said the colonel ruefully.

"The thing to be done," said Chester, "is to get track of him."

"That's easy enough," was the reply. "He can be found at the embassy; but
he will deny that he has the paper. Also, we cannot arrest him. Being a
member of a foreign embassy, in times of peace he is immune from arrest."

"And he will take the paper with him when he leaves Italy," said