“THE COMMITTEE.
P. S. No use to try to telephone or send a messenger for help. Your wires are out of commission and the house is surrounded by armed sentinels.”
As the professor had predicted, this was indeed a most serious turn of events. I turned to Mrs. Rhodes.
“Where is the bearer of this letter?” I asked. “Did he wait for a reply?”
“It was given to me by a small boy,” she answered. “He said that if you wished to reply, to put your letter in the mail-box, and it would be given to the right party. There was a closed automobile waiting for him in front of the house, and he ran back to it and was driven away at high speed.”
“I must dress and go downstairs at once,” I said.
“You must do no such thing,” replied Miss Randall. “The doctor’s orders are that you must keep perfectly quiet until your ribs heal.”
I heard a swift footfall on the stairs, and a moment later the professor entered the room, very much excited.
“Two farmers,” he said, “poked shotguns in my face and searched me on the public highway. That’s what just happened to me!”
“What do you suppose they were after?” I asked.