“It was strong when I got there.”
“But the office was empty. I told Potts to stay, and ran out. A man, strolling, had stopped. I asked if he had seen a man go out and he pointed up the street, and like most of those night-prowlers he tried to avoid the light and hid his face with his hat brim. He was fairly short and stoutish, but it wasn’t Astrovox. I ran, and thought I saw the star-gazer further along; but it was not our man. I suppose Tip, worried, came to look for me. You say the wires were silent.”
He was stopped by the arrival of Tip who had been lured, as he had, by a note delivered by a boy; and almost on his heels came Clark and Doctor Ryder, fuming and puzzled and anxious.
They were given no time to exchange words. The Lama spoke:
“We want the sacred relic, the Eye of Om.”
“It is in the Buddha’s head,” Roger said earnestly, “I saw this man put it there.”
“He tells the truth,” Clark declared.
“To prove it,” Roger hurried on, “the prongs work open when you press the Buddha’s third left finger straight in and then back.”
The Lama stared.
“And to furthermore prove it and make it inadmissible——”