“I wonder why Mito was so anxious to cover his master?” considered Riley. “He must have had some reason—either of his own or orders from Maddox. Anyhow, they both of them managed to get away, clean.”
Riley looked from Craig to me in chagrin.
“Quite possibly orders,” put in the man, “although it’s not beyond him even to be double-crossing Mr. Maddox, at that.”
“Well, try to pick them up again,” directed Kennedy, turning to me. “I’ve some rather important business just now. If Mr. Burke comes back, let me know at once.”
“You bet I’ll try to pick them up again,” promised the Secret Service man, viciously, as we left him and went to our room.
There Craig quickly unwrapped one of the two packages which he had brought from the laboratory while I watched him curiously but did not interrupt him, since he seemed to be in a great hurry.
As I watched Kennedy placed on a table what looked like a miniature telephone receiver.
Next he opened the window and looked out to make sure that there was no one below. Satisfied, he returned to the table again and took up a pair of wires which he attached to some small dry cells from the package.
Then he took the free ends of the wires and carefully let them fall out of the window until they reached down to the ground. Leaning far out, he so disposed the wires under the window that they fell to one side of the windows of the rooms below us and would not be noticed running up the side wall of the hotel, at least not in the twilight. Then he took the other package from the table and was ready to return down-stairs.
We had scarcely reached the lobby again when we ran into Hastings, alone and apparently searching for us.