He pushed a
button and requested the answering orderly to bring map 64 and the
officer in charge. With the usual promptness both map and officer
appeared. The officer, who could not have been more than twenty-five
years of age, discussed with me in fluent colloquial English the whole
of this section of Lincolnshire. Not a hummock, road, road-house,
even to farmers' residences and blacksmith's shop of which he did not
have exact knowledge. I expressed astonishment at this most unusual
acquaintance with the locality, and suggested that he must have spent
considerable time in residence there. Conceive my astonishment when
informed that he had never been out of Germany and the only voyage
ever taken by him led him as far as Helgoland. Subsequently through
careful inquiries and research--my work bringing me into constant
contact with the various divisions--I found that the whole of England,
France and Russia was carefully cut into sections, each of those
sections being in charge of two officers and a secretary whose duty it
was to acquaint and make themselves perfectly familiar with everything
in that particular locality. Through the far-reaching system of
espionage, the latest and most up-to-date information is always
forthcoming, and time and again I myself, often returning from a
mission like one of those to the naval base in Scotland, have sat by
the hour verbally amplifying my previous reports.
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