Then, all
at once, as we stepped into the room, I observed something out of the
ordinary.
I could see a length of green cable proceeding from the wall-plug
_out_ through the open window. The cable attached to the instrument
which Gatton held did not come from the proper connection at all, but
came _in_ through the window, and was evidently connected with
something outside in the garden!
"What does this mean, Gatton?" I cried.
Evidently as deeply mystified as I, Gatton placed the telephone on the
little table and fully opening the window, leaned out.
"Hullo!" he cried. "The cable leads up to the roof of the tool-shed!"
"To the roof of the tool-shed!" I echoed incredulously.
But Gatton did not heed my words, for:
"What the devil have we here?" he continued.
He was hauling something up from the flower-bed below the window, and
now, turning to me, he held out ... a second telephone!
"Why, Gatton!" I cried, and took it from his hand, "_this_ is the
authentic instrument! See! It is connected in the proper way!"
"I see quite clearly," he replied. "It was simply placed outside,
whilst a duplicate one was substituted for it. I observe a ladder
against the shed. Let us trace the cable attached to the duplicate."
The ladder was one used by Coates about the garden; and now, climbing
out of the window, Gatton mounted it and surveyed the roof of the
lean-to which I used as a tool-shed.
Pages:
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222