In paragraph 9, what the phrase "drew him on by artful questions" means is that he questioned him to try to gain privileged information.
He had to find out some information that was very important to him, so he started questioning him furtively so as to get to the bottom of things.
World to wide I think not that sure
A hyperbole is an exaggeration of a description or event. I do not think that statement is exaggerated, so no. It is not a hyperbole.
