"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.
"Keep your faces hidden as much as you can!" whispered Whiteclett.