"I
knowed where you'd gone 'cause I saw you ridin' away like a sheep bein'
led to the sacrifice."
"Like a what?" repeated the inventor with a grin.
"An innocent lamb, or a rat in a trap," Janoah said with solemn
emphasis.
"What are you drivin' at, anyhow?" questioned Willie.
"You didn't suspect nothin'?"
"Suspect anything? No, of course not. Why?"
"You hadn't a suspicion the whole thing was a decoy?"
"What whole thing?"
"The trip an' all."
Willie studied his friend's face in puzzled silence.
"Whatever are you tryin' to say?" demanded he at last.
Janoah swept his hand dramatically round the shop.
"You've been betrayed, Willie!" he announced with tragic intensity.
"Betrayed by them as you thought was your friends, an' who you've
trusted. I warned you, but you wouldn't listen, an' now the thing I
told you would happen has happened." Triumphant pleasure gleamed in
the sinister smile. "They tricked you into leavin'," went on the
malicious voice, "an' then they came here an' stole what was
yours--your invention.
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