CHAPTER XXVIII

THE HUNTER HUNTED

Mr. Heelas, Mr. Kemp's nearest neighbour among the villa holders,

was asleep in his summer house when the siege of Kemp's house

began. Mr. Heelas was one of the sturdy minority who refused to

believe "in all this nonsense" about an Invisible Man. His wife,

however, as he was subsequently to be reminded, did. He insisted

upon walking about his garden just as if nothing was the matter,

and he went to sleep in the afternoon in accordance with the custom

of years. He slept through the smashing of the windows, and then

woke up suddenly with a curious persuasion of something wrong. He

looked across at Kemp's house, rubbed his eyes and looked again.

Then he put his feet to the ground, and sat listening. He said he

was damned, but still the strange thing was visible. The house

looked as though it had been deserted for weeks--after a violent

riot. Every window was broken, and every window, save those of the

belvedere study, was blinded by the internal shutters.

I could have sworn it was all right"--he looked at his watch--"twenty

minutes ago."

He became aware of a measured concussion and the clash of glass,

far away in the distance. And then, as he sat open-mouthed, came a

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The Invisible Man