The Lost Naval Papers

The Lost Naval Papers

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lost Naval Papers, by Bennet
Copplestone This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost
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Title: The Lost Naval Papers
Author: Bennet Copplestone
Release Date: December 16, 2003 [EBook #10474]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO Latin-1
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NAVAL PAPERS ***

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THE LOST NAVAL PAPERS
By
BENNET COPPLESTONE

1917

CONTENTS

PART I

WILLIAM DAWSON

CHAPTER
I A STORY AND A VISIT
II AT CLOSE QUARTERS
III AN INQUISITION
IV SABOTAGE
V BAFFLED
VI GUESSWORK
VII THE MARINE SENTRY
VIII TREHAYNE'S LETTER

PART II
MADAME GILBERT
IX THE WOMAN AND THE MAN
X A PROGRESSIVE FRIENDSHIP
XI AT BRIGHTON

PART III

_ SEE IS TO BELIEVE_
XII DAWSON PRESCRIBES
XIII THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN
XIV A COFFIN AND AN OWL

PART IV
THE CAPTAIN OF MARINES
XV DAWSON REAPPEARS
XVI DAWSON STRIKES
XVII DAWSON TELEPHONES FOR A SURGEON

PART I
WILLIAM DAWSON

CHAPTER I
A STORY AND A VISIT
At the beginning of the month of September, 1916, there appeared in
the Cornhill Magazine a story entitled "The Lost Naval Papers." I had
told this story at second hand, for the incidents had not occurred within
my personal experience. One of the principals--to whom I had allotted
the temporary name of Richard Cary--was an intimate friend, but I had
never met the Scotland Yard officer whom I called William Dawson,

and was not at all anxious to make his official acquaintance. To me he
then seemed an inhuman, icy-blooded "sleuth," a being of great
national importance, but repulsive and dangerous as an associate. Yet
by a turn of Fortune's wheel I came not only to know William Dawson,
but to work with him, and almost to like him. His penetrative efficiency
compelled one's admiration, and his unconcealed vanity showed that he
did not stand wholly outside the human family. Yet I never felt safe
with Dawson. In his presence, and when I knew that somewhere round
the corner he was carrying on his mysterious investigations, I was
perpetually apprehensive of his hand upon my shoulder and his
bracelets upon my wrists. I was unconscious of crime, but the Defence
of the Realm Regulations--which are to Dawson a new fount of
wisdom and power--create so many fresh offences every week that it is
difficult for the most timidly loyal of citizens to keep his innocency up
to date. I have doubtless trespassed many times, for I have Dawson's
assurance that my present freedom is due solely to his reprehensible
softness towards me. Whenever I have showed independence 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 August
1914 between the Fleets and the world scarcely existed for him.
Everything which he desired to know for the better understanding of
the real work of the Navy came to him officially or unofficially. When,
therefore, he states that the Naval Notes with which this story deals
would have been of incalculable value to the enemy,