Part 19

"Then what are you so excited about?"

"Because you're on the wrong track--"

"Okay. I'm on the wrong track and you know nothing about Nazi spies. Do you know of the visits paid by the Japanese Consul in Los Angeles to Nazi ships when they come into port and of his conferences with Nazi captains--"

"The Japanese! We have nothing to do with the Japanese. We are a patriotic group--"

"Yes, I know. What do you know about Schneeberger?"

Schwinn answered with an "M-m-m-m." His jaw bones showed against the ruddy flesh of his cheeks. He stared up at the ceiling. "He was a Tyrolian peasant boy," he said without looking at me. "A boy traveling around the world; you know, just chiseling his way around--"

"Just a bum, eh?"

"That's it," he agreed quickly. "Just a bum."

"What would your connections be with bums? Do you usually associate with Tyrolian bums who are chiseling their way around the world?"

"Oh, he just came here like so many other people. He wanted money; so I gave him a little help and he went to San Francisco and Oakland. He vanished. I haven't any idea where he might be now. Maybe he's in Chicago now."

"He couldn't possibly be in Japan now, could he?"

"He spoke of going to Japan," Schwinn admitted.

"You saw him off on a Japanese training ship which the Japanese Government sent here from the Canal Zone, didn't you?"

"I don't know," he said defiantly. "I know nothing about him."

"The treaty between Japan and Germany providing for exchange of information about Communists was signed November 25, 1936. But in September, 1936, Schneeberger told you he was leaving on a Japanese training ship for Japan. No training ship was expected on the West Coast at that time by the United States port authorities, and yet a Japanese training ship appeared--ordered here from the Canal Zone. It was on this ship that Schneeberger left. Apparently, then, the Nazis and the Japanese had already been working together--and you were cooperating because you took Schneeberger around. You took him to Count von Buelow's home at Point Loma, overlooking the American naval base. You know that Schneeberger was not broke because he was spending money freely--"

"He was broke," Schwinn interrupted weakly.

"If he was so broke, how do you account for his carrying around an expensive camera and always having plenty of film with which to photograph American naval and military spots?"

"I don't know. Maybe he carried the camera around to hock in case he went broke."

The absurdity of the excuse was so patent that I laughed. Schwinn smiled a little.

"All right. What do you know about a man named Maeder?"

Again that long, drawn-out "M-m-m-m." A long pause and Schwinn said, "Maeder is an American citizen, I believe."

"Yes; you are, too. But what's his business in this country?"

"I don't know," Schwinn said helplessly. "I really don't know."

"You know nothing about his activities or observations of American naval and military bases? Do you usually take in members without knowing anything about them?"

"Sometimes we do and sometimes we do not--"

"But orders were sent from Germany to make this an American organization--"

Schwinn nodded without admitting it verbally.

"And since you throw out all Germans who are not American citizens, you check with the Consul General in New York as to whether they are fit--"