At a sign from Dr. Dorp, we drew our weapons and tiptoed to the door. It was locked, and the key was in place, but Hogan opened it quickly and silently with a small tool which he carried for the purpose. Before he was aware of our presence we had the operator surrounded and covered. The doctor jerked the phones from his head, and said:
“Hands up, Mr. Hegel. You are under arrest.” His look of surprise and alarm was quickly followed by a sullen frown as he thrust his pudgy hands aloft.
“Arrest? For what?” he demanded belligerently.
“Nivver mind for what, my old buckaroo,” said Hogan, snapping the handcuffs on his wrists. “I’ve a warrant in me pocket that covers ivverything from interferin’ wid the radio reception on the north shore down to attempted murder. Come away wid yez now, and don’t try no shenanigans, or be the lord Harry, I’ll quiet yez wid this gun butt...”
Some two hours later, having left Hegel in the care of the proper authorities, we were gathered in the living room of the Van Loan home—the girl, the two engineers, the two detectives, Dr. Dorp, and I. All were seated but the doctor, who stood before the fireplace. He cleared his throat and looked around with his well-known lecture-room air.
“Now that the author of the strange phenomena which have confronted us in this house has been apprehended,” he said, “explanations, and such further investigations as are needed to completely clear up the mystery, are in order.
“You are all aware that the manifestations we have witnessed were under the control of an operator established in an old farmhouse eight miles west of here, and that the mechanism he used was a powerful and complicated radio set. In order that you may thoroughly understand how Ernest Hegel was able to make inanimate objects react to our movements as if they were endowed with minds, let me explain that he could both see and hear what was going on in this house as well as if he had been here in person. Planted in this very room in such a clever manner as to escape notice except by the most careful scrutiny, are powerful lenses which acted as his eyes, and microphones which served as his distance ears. If Miss Van Loan does not mind a slight mutilation of her walls in the interests of our investigation, I will disclose one of each.”
“I should like to see them, doctor,” said Miss Van Loan.
The doctor took out his pocket knife and opened it. Then he walked to the wall opposite us and scrutinized it very carefully. Presently he held the point of the knife to a small spot which resembled thousands of other spots on the mottled pattern of the wallpaper, and said:
“Can you see this opening?”