The cottage and work-shop of Professor Locke appeared to be set back
some little distance from what Haines had called the county road; a
grove of tall trees thickened the shadows all about, and it was into
these trees that the professor had gone.
"The buzzer must have the button that sounds it attached to a gate
opening upon the road," said Pendleton.
They stood for a short time in silence; then Pendleton nudged his
friend with an elbow.
"Look," he whispered. "There at the door of the shed."
Ashton-Kirk did so. And he was just in time to see a large, iron-gray
head, a craggy, powerful face, and a pair of thick shoulders; the
expression and attitude were those of a man listening intently. Almost
instantly, as Ashton-Kirk's gaze fell upon him, the man withdrew.
"Humph," exclaimed Pendleton under his breath. "Who's that, I wonder?"
They waited for some time longer in silence. But the little man did
not return, nor did the head appear again at the shop door.
Ashton-Kirk appeared puzzled.
"Locke intended returning at once," he said to Pendleton. "Otherwise
he would have closed his work-shop door." Then his eyes wandered
toward the house, and his grip closed tightly upon his companion's
arm. "Look," whispered he, in his turn.
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