On the seventeenth of August, a furtive Rumanian walked into theUnited States Consulate in Berne, Switzerland, and whispered that hehad information to sell.Closeted with one of the attachés, he put on a mysterious air, andsaid that he could tell about the plans of the Flaming Arrow to wreckthe United States war effort.The attaché frowned. "The Flaming Arrow? What are you talking about?"The Rumanian became more mysterious, and at the same time more furtiveand frightened."It is the name of the one who can win the war for the Axis. He hasbeen in America now for three years. But only three men in all theworld know who the Flaming Arrow really is. Those three are Hitler,Himmler, and Tojo, of Japan. The Axis has paid ten million dollarsover to the account of the Flaming Arrow, and there are ninetymillions more in banks in every neutral country which he can callupon. For that sum, the Flaming Arrow has agreed to destroy Americanwar power completely.""You're mad!" said the attaché."Mad? You think perhaps that I dream this? Let me tell you: There is aschool not far from Berlin, where the Nazis train the youngsters whoare smuggled into America to enter the ranks of the Flaming Arrow!"The little Rumanian became eager, almost voluble. "But that is notall. In Formosa, there is a small island, in the middle of a largelake. None dares go near that island, for it is under the specialprotection of the Emperor. On that island other men are trained, menof a strange, vicious, mountain race. They are little, wiry men, takenfrom Korea as children, and dedicated to the service of the FlamingArrow. These men, too, have been smuggled into America. All are readyfor the day when the Supreme Plan of the Flaming Arrow is ready forexecution. On that day the Flaming Arrow will wreck America!"The attaché was annoyed. "Look here, my man, you've been smokingopium!""But no! I swear to you that this is all true. I alone have stumbledupon the clue, and I will sell it to you. Cable your government. Askthem. They know of the Flaming Arrow. Ask them how much you may pay mefor information that will save your country!""All right," the attaché agreed reluctantly. "Come back tomorrowmorning at ten o'clock."So a cable in code went off to the State Department: "What do you knowabout Axis agent named Flaming Arrow? Am offered information in reabove but believe it of no value. Are you interested?"Then the attaché promptly forgot all about it. But he was awakened attwo o'clock in the morning by an urgent radio message in reply: "Getall information possible. Urgent. Flaming Arrow greater menace thanfifty divisions!"Thoroughly aroused, the attaché dressed hurriedly and went to theaddress which the Rumanian had left with him.He was five minutes too late. The squalid room in which the informerlived was a mass of flames. Firemen forced their way in, and came outbearing the body of the Rumanian. There was still a bit of flickeringlife left in him as they laid him in the street, with a two-foot arrowprotruding from his chest.