False leads were suggested, and false information carefully mingled with true.

A wild dance was kept up under his eyes from daylight to midnight, until his brain reeled with the effort to follow it.

Means were also found to convert one of his personal, confidential friends, who had come with him from Indiana and who had more brains or less principle than the others; from him every word of the President was brought directly to Ratcliffe's ear.
Early on Friday morning, Mr.Thomas Lord, a rival of the late Samuel Baker, and heir to his triumphs, appeared in Ratcliffe's rooms while the Senator was consuming his lonely egg and chop.

Mr.Lord had been chosen to take general charge of the presidential party and to direct all matters connected with Ratcliffe's interests.

Some people might consider this the work of a spy; he looked on it as a public duty.