"Extra-dimensional?" Kennedy interrogated.
"Something like that," Sharp admitted. "Oh I know it sounds utterly fantastic. I was of the opinion that Morton did not know what he was talking about, but later events showed me that I was wrong."
"What happened next?" the detective queried.
"This happened," Sharp answered. The man was trembling. The handkerchief with which he tried to mop his face fluttered in an unsteady hand.
"Either something came out of that box, or something came through that box and escaped into the basement!"
Sharp's eyes went over the room, jerking from object to object like a man who suspects the presence of an incredible enemy and is warily watching for that enemy to strike.
The action sent cold chills up Rocks Malone's back. Something had come out of that box. It might still be here in the museum. Sharp thought it might be. He was looking for it.
"Through the box?" McCumber spoke. "I don't understand. How could anything come through it?"
"I don't understand either," the business manager answered. "I'm only telling you what Morton thought. He said the box might be a gateway between this world and a higher dimensional world. If the box is such a gateway, then something came through it. If it is not a gateway, then something came out of the box and escaped into the basement."
His eyes ran from face to face of his hearers.