I could see at a glance that it had been locked
and the lock forced.
"I broke it open!" she whispered. "So there was no time to lose or he'd
have known!"
We raised the heavy lid and the very first thing my eyes fell on was a
white false beard. Jean picked it up and I could hear her voice shaking
with excitement.
"There's the rest of the disguise!" she said.
And there was the old coat, and a nasty looking scythe blade, and a
number of other things of which the powers that be have an inventory now,
but which they would scarcely thank me for mentioning here. I may say,
however, that they made a very thorough outfit for the job the owner of
them had been engaged on. Among them was one very curious looking find:
the two halves of a large cheese hollowed out, and one-half broken
across. Jack Whiteclett pointed to this with a grim look.
"An unsuccessful experiment," he whispered. "He must have made a better
one for the _Uruguay_"
"Do you mean," gasped Jean, "that this was for a bomb?"
"Looks like it," he answered.
"Hush!" I whispered.
The torch went out on the instant and in absolute inky darkness we held
our breath and listened. Somebody was quietly approaching the barn. The
steps were not exactly stealthy, but guarded and wary, though quite
assured, as if the man were only exercising a general precaution.
Pages:
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234