"Don't know," answered the fellow gruffly.

"Wait a minute. Tell me where Mr. Langley is."

"I don't know where he is. He went over to the village a while ago."

"Where are the rest of the men?"

"Don't know."

The impudence and thinly veiled hostility in the man's tone were
unmistakable. Hazeltine hesitated, seemed about to speak, and then
silently led the way to the hall.

"I'll show you the laboratory later on," he said. "We'll go up to the
testing room now." Then he added, apparently as much to himself as to
his visitor, "I told those fellows that I wouldn't be back until noon."

There was a door at the top of the stairs. Ralph opened this quietly. As
they passed through, Captain Eri noticed that Peters had followed them
into the hall and stood there, looking up.

The upper hall had a straw matting on the floor. There was another door
at the end of the passage, and this was ajar. Toward it the electrician
walked rapidly. From the room behind the door came a shout of laughter;
then someone said:

"Better give it another turn, hadn't I, to make sure? If two turns fixes
it so we don't hear for a couple of hours, another one ought to shut it
up for a week. That's arithmetic, ain't it?"