“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.”
The question was put to the professor who replied briefly that he knew nothing whatsoever about Webb Nelson.
“I met him only two weeks ago,” he said. “He claimed to be an expert at handling explosives, so I hired him.”
No one believed the professor was telling the truth. However, it was useless to question him further. Determined not to implicate himself, his wife, or his helper, he spoke as seldom as possible.
“The man has a room here,” Mr. Parker suggested. “Suppose we see what we can find.”
Mrs. Leonard led the way upstairs. The professor’s room was locked, but she opened it with a master key.