Summary

The story opens with an unnamed narrator reading a statement by Dr. Yu Tsun, a Chinese national and a former professor of English, confessing that he is a German spy. He is recounting the events that led to his arrest, beginning with the discovery that his contact has been killed and the knowledge that he will be next. He must find a way to deliver a message to the Germans, the location of a British artillery park that must be destroyed.

He finds Dr. Stephen Albert's name in a phone book and thinks he might be able to help, although he does not say how. Tsun races to the train, pursued by Capt. Richard Madden, an Irishman working for English intelligence, the same man who has killed his contact. Tsun sees Madden arrive too late to catch the same train, giving...