“By contact with the metal sphere. It is the controller of the aerial torpedoes. There is a switch at the bottom. It is usually turned off. That sphere contained a powerful electric current, that would have killed you instantly.”
“The switch was on?”
“It was. I turned it off before I came down.”
“But wouldn’t Professor Whitburn have known; wouldn’t he have suspected that — “
“He would have suspected nothing. He would have believed that you had switched on the current yourself. You had no right in the tower. You went there on your own responsibility.”
Harry shuddered as he realized the truth of Marquette’s words. He had escaped death by the fraction of a second.
The secret-service man moved silently toward the door.
“Remember,” he said. “Silence. Speak of me as Crawford. I rely upon your aid; there are two of us now. Two against two.”
The bearded man left the room. Harry still sat upon the edge of the bed, pondering over the strange facts which had been revealed to him.