“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.