"Who is it?" he answered.
Apparently the voice at the other end of the wire replied rather
peevishly, for Kennedy endeavoured to smooth over the delay. I
wondered what was going on, why he was so careful. His face showed
that, whatever it was, it was most important.
As he restored the telephone to its normal condition, he looked at
me puzzled.
"I wonder whether that was a frame-up!" he exclaimed, pulling a
little cylinder off the instrument into which he had inserted the
telephone receiver. "I thought it might be and I have preserved
the voice. This is what is known as the telescribe--a recent
invention of Edison which records on a specially prepared
phonograph cylinder all that is said--both ways--over a telephone
wire."
"What was it about?" I asked eagerly.
He shoved the cylinder on a phonograph and started the instrument.
"Professor Kennedy?" called an unfamiliar voice.
"Yes," answered a voice that I recognized as Craig's.
"This is the detective agency employed by Mr. Whitney. He has
instructed us to inform you that he has obtained the Peruvian
dagger for which you have been searching. That's all. Good-bye."
I looked at Kennedy in blank surprise.
"They rang off before I could ask them a question," said Craig.
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