Signal in the Dark Part 32

"We can do nothing now. He had begun to catch on even before tonight, and this explosion finishes everything. Don't even stop to pack your clothes.

We'll get our car and clear out."

"Webb?"

"He'll have to look out for himself. We're traveling alone and traveling fast."

Those in hiding suddenly stepped forth from the trees, blocking the path.

Major Bryan moved directly in front of the professor, flashing a light into his face.

"Good evening, Claude Arkwright," he said distinctly.

The professor was startled, but recovered poise quickly. "You are mistaken," he said in a cold voice. "My name is Bettenridge."

"No doubt that is what you call yourself now. You are wanted by the Federal government for impersonating an officer."

"Ridiculous!"

"May I see your draft card?" the major requested curtly.

"Sorry, I haven't it with me. It is in my room."

"Then we will go there."

Nettled, Professor Bettenridge could think of no further excuse. Glancing significantly at his wife, he said: "My dear, will you go to the house and get the card for our inquisitors?"

"We will all go," corrected the major. "Your wife may be wanted as your accomplice in this latest secret ray machine fleece. We prefer that she does not escape."

"You are very trusting," sneered the professor.

By this time, Mr. Johnson had reached the hillside. Puffing from having hurried so fast, he gazed in bewilderment at the little group.

"What does this mean?" he inquired. "What caused the mine to explode?"

"It was set off by being dropped in the lake," explained the major.

"You mean the explosion was not touched off by Professor Bettenridge's invention?"

"The machine had nothing whatsoever to do with it," Penny explained.

"Professor Bettenridge and his accomplice, Webb Nelson, have been doctoring the mines with a powder and an outer shield which dissolves in water. They hoped to sell the worthless machine to you before you discovered the truth."

The information stunned Mr. Johnson, but recovering, he turned furiously upon Professor Bettenridge.

"You cheap trickster!" he shouted. "I'll have you arrested for this!"

"Have you given the man any money?" Mr. Parker inquired.

"A thousand dollars for an option on the machine. The rest was to have been paid tonight."

"You're lucky to get off so easily," Mr. Parker said. "It's possible too, that we can get part of your deposit back."

"You can't hold me on any trumped-up charge," Professor Bettenridge said angrily. "You have no warrant."

He started away, but was brought up short as he felt the major's revolver pressing against his ribs.

"This will hold you, I think," said the Army man coolly. "Now lead the way up the hill to the other cabin. I want to see your remarkable invention."

With his wife clinging to his arm, the professor marched stiffly ahead of the group. He unlocked the cabin door and all went inside.

Jerking off the canvas which covered the secret ray machine, Major Bryan inspected it briefly.

"A worthless contraption!" he said contemptuously. "Utterly useless!"

"Where did you meet Webb Nelson?" Penny asked the professor. "And where is he now?"

"You'll have to find him for yourself," sneered the professor. "If he has the sense I think, he's probably miles away from here by now."

Determined that the man should not escape, Penny, Salt and Mr. Parker started for the farmhouse, leaving the major and Mr. Johnson to question the professor. As they rapped on the screen door, Mrs. Leonard came to let them in.

"What is going on here tonight, may I ask?" she demanded irritably.

"People banging in and out of the house at all hours! Explosions! I declare, I wish I never had rented a room to that crazy professor and his wife!"

"Is Webb Nelson here?" Mr. Parker asked.

"The professor's helper? Why, no, right after the explosion he came, gathered a bag of things from the professor's room, and went off down the road."

"In a car?"

"He was afoot when he left here. Is anything wrong?"

"Considerable. Professor Bettenridge has just been exposed as an impostor. Webb must have realized the jig was up when he heard the mine go off."

"The professor an impostor!" Mrs. Leonard exclaimed. "Well, of all things!"

"Which way did Webb go?" Mr. Parker asked.

"Down the road toward town when I last saw him."

"Maybe we can catch him!" Mr. Parker cried.

"If he didn't get a lift," Salt added.

All piled into the Parker car which had been left a short distance down the road. But in the drive to Newhall, the man was not sighted. Nor did inquiry in the town reveal anyone who had seen him.

"Undoubtedly he expected to be followed, and cut across the fields or took a side road," Mr. Parker declared. "We'll have to depend upon the authorities to pick him up now."

Stopping at the sheriff's office, warrants for the man's arrest were sworn out, and the party then returned to Mrs. Leonard's. Professor Bettenridge and his wife had been brought to the farmhouse by Major Bryan who proposed to hold them there pending the arrival of federal authorities from Riverview.

"There's one thing I want to know," Penny whispered to her father. "How did Professor Bettenridge meet Webb? Perhaps he can explain the man's connection with the _Snark_."