Shadowed Millions

CHAPTER XV THE SHADOW HEARS

THE tang of salt air was evident when the big sedan pulled into the driveway of a secluded house on Long Island. Far from other dwellings, this building was not distant from the coast. The gleaming headlights showed what appeared to be a deserted home. Thick gravel crunched as Desmond brought the car to a stop.

“You have the key?” questioned Legira.

“Right here,” responded Desmond.

“Open the front door for us,” ordered Legira.

Desmond’s big, pudgy form showed in the light as he crossed in front of the car and advanced to the house. He stood on the porch while Legira and Francisco carried the heavy box between them. They entered the house. Desmond followed and closed the door.

Darkness persisted for less than a minute. Then Desmond found a light and turned it on. He gazed curiously at the box that had been deposited on the floor.

Desmond’s interest in the heavy luggage ended when he saw Legira glance in his direction. The pudgy man led the way into a front room. There he lighted another electric lamp.

Legira dropped into a chair and breathed a long sigh of relief. Desmond sat down and lighted a cigar.

“Well, here we are,” he announced, in a matter-of-fact tone.

“What time is it?” asked Legira.

“Quarter of eleven,” remarked Desmond, glancing at his watch.

“Excellent work,” said Legira, approvingly. “We came out here very rapidly.”

The consul from Santander seemed to have regained much of his natural poise. He twisted the ends of his mustache and rubbed his chin reflectively. Then he had a sudden thought.

“The telephone!” he exclaimed. “It is connected here?”

Desmond nodded.

“I must call Lopez” — Legira hesitated — “I must be careful, though, telephoning from here. Yes, it will be all right—”

Desmond pointed to the hall to indicate the location of the telephone. Legira arose and went there. He found Francisco seated on a chair in the corner. He smiled as he noted the box, a few feet away.

“Keep on guard, Francisco,” said Legira, in Spanish. “It will not be for long, faithful one.”

Back in the front room, Desmond, listening carefully, could hear Legira calling the operator. The pudgy man was intent. Nevertheless, he did not hear the sound of something at the window behind him. Less than five feet away, a thin, dark blade had been thrust between the sections of the sash. The latch was moving, noiselessly.

The sash opened. Desmond did not hear it. He was watching toward the hall. A shadow fell across the floor beside him. It was a long, thin shadow, with silhouetted profile.

Desmond, bent upon hearing Legira speak, was utterly oblivious as a tall black figure entered by the window. The sash descended. The figure merged with the dark end of a huge bookcase at a corner of the room.

Legira was speaking now. Desmond tried to make out the conversation by overhearing the consul’s words.

“Tonight?” Legira’s voice was questioning. “Ballou? What? A wire?”

He grunted impatiently; then spoke rapidly in a flow of Spanish. An expression of keen disappointment came over Desmond’s face. He could not understand this jargon.

He realized that it was natural for Legira to converse with Lopez in their native tongue. Although the consul occasionally interspersed a few words of English, they had no meaning for Desmond.

The pudgy man shrugged his shoulders and settled back in his chair. He was in that attitude when Legira returned.

THERE was a serious look on the consul’s face. It puzzled Desmond for a moment; then, as Legira thoughtfully lighted a cigarette, Desmond divined that he was about to be taken into the South American’s confidence.

“Desmond,” said Legira, seriously, “I am in serious difficulty. Matters have changed — very badly. I am worried. I shall depend upon you to aid me.”

“Glad to do it,” declared Desmond.

“I have paid you money in the past,” continued Legira. “Your services have been excellent. I promised you the final half of your money when your work was completed. That, I expected, would be tonight.”

“So you told me.”

“Here is the money” — Legira produced an envelope from his pocket — “and it makes the final payment. Five thousand dollars here. You have already received five thousand, not counting the expenses which I have defrayed for you. I have paid you well, Desmond. In return, you have given me excellent service.”

“That’s what you paid for.”

“Desmond,” resumed Legira, “I have further work for you. It is only a matter of a few details; yet I am willing to pay one thousand dollars for the service. You can attend to these matters for me tomorrow. They were things that I intended to do myself.”

Desmond waited for Legira to explain.

“Matters that I could easily take care of,” mused Legira, “but now that affairs have tightened, it is best that some one else should do them. It is not wise for me to call Lopez again from here.”

“Give me the instructions,” said Desmond. “I’ll attend to the rest.”

“I shall give you the one thousand dollars first,” declared Legira, producing the money from his pocket.

Desmond smiled as he accepted the bonus.

“I seldom speak at length,” said Legira, “but tonight I must do so. I want to impress upon you the importance of your mission. Also, I feel that it is better for a man to know more after he has learned a little.

“Until tonight, you did not know why I rented this house. You did not know where we were going until we reached the Baltham Trust Company. I shall explain those matters — and other facts in addition.

“I have been in danger, Desmond. It was necessary for me to obtain a fund of money. There are people who have tried to take it from me. One of them, a South American like myself, has been watching those persons with whom I have negotiated. Yet he has cunningly kept in the background, doing all his work through trusted agents.

“It was to deceive his agents that I employed you to obtain a man who could take my place — Perry Wallace. Free, I was able to swing negotiations and gain possession of the funds to which I was entitled as agent of the Santander government. You understand?”

“The money is in the box?” inquired Desmond.

“Yes,” admitted Legira. “Safely in the box. I am here on Long Island because I know that all boats for Santander are being watched. A yacht is at present off this coast. It will meet me by sending in a little boat, when I give the word.”

“When will that be?”

“Tomorrow night, before midnight.” Legira glanced shrewdly at Desmond. “That is why I have a car here in readiness.”

Desmond’s face was placid as he nodded.

“The touring car is in back of the house,” he said. “I drove it over here this afternoon, from the garage at the town.”

“About two miles?” questioned Legira.

“Just about,” replied Desmond. “I walked back to get the sedan.”

Legira leaned back in his chair. His cold stare traveled past Desmond and rested upon the bookcase at the side of the room.

It was an old-fashioned piece of furniture. Legira eyed it in an absentminded manner. He noticed the blackness at the far end, but took it only to be a long shadow cast by the corner of the bookcase.

“Unfortunately,” said Legira, in a thoughtful tone, “matters have taken a bad turn at my house. Tonight, Lopez discovered the wire of a dictograph running in from the window. Shortly afterward, an agent of my enemies called to deliver an ultimatum. Midnight, tomorrow, is the deadline.”

“For whom?”

“For me — so they think. But they delivered the ultimatum to Wallace. Lopez was with him at the time. Now, the situation is this. A false move by either of those two would ruin my plans. I can rely upon Lopez. As for Wallace—”

“You are paying him well—”

“Yes, but he had a row with Lopez tonight. As a result, Lopez is watching him. Therefore, Lopez may encounter difficulties. I think that Wallace is simply worried — that’s all. Nevertheless, some one must keep in contact with Lopez in order to inform me. It would be unwise for me to call that house again from here.”

“I understand. You want me to work in between.”

“Exactly. Tonight, I shall send a radiogram to a certain ship at sea. That is something I can do by telephone from here. The message will be picked up by the yacht — the Cordova. In return, I shall receive a reply which can easily be heard by our radio set here. It will give me, in code, the exact time to meet the Cordova’s boat when it comes ashore at the appointed place. You understand?”

“Certainly. But how does that concern me?”

“In a most important way,” declared Legira, emphatically. “I shall call you, to let you know the time at which I shall be leaving here. You will note that by coincidence, the limit of time given by my enemies is exactly the limit that I shall have to wait before leaving the country.”

“Tomorrow, midnight.”

“Yes. Wallace and Lopez must stay at their post until the limit. I have told Lopez not to go until ordered. But should I receive word that I shall be met at — say ten o’clock — it will be safe for Wallace and Lopez to leave at that time.”

“They will encounter danger?”

“Not necessarily. They can summon the police. I have made provision for that. A fake letter, threatening the consulate, is in the possession of Lopez. He can protect himself and Wallace. But they must not do anything until I am clear.”

“You make provision for everything,” said Desmond, in a tone of admiration.

“For all except treachery,” declared Legira. “That can be avoided only by careful choice of men.”

“Such as Lopez,” said Desmond.

“And yourself,” added Legira.

Desmond smiled in a pleased acknowledgment.

“That is all,” said Legira. “With your cooperation, all should go as I have intended. Be either at your office or your apartment. I shall communicate with you when necessary.”

The consul arose and Desmond followed his example. Legira extended his hand.

“Remember, Desmond,” he said in parting, “I rely upon you as my sure intermediary. My success depends upon your cooperation. I must keep all suspicion on the wrong spot until the last minute. Think of my safety; also that of Lopez and Wallace. Francisco, also” — Legira smiled in afterthought — “because he will be here with me.”

“You can depend upon me,” declared Desmond, in a positive tone.

Legira walked with the other man to the front door. Scarcely had they left the room before there was a motion by the end of the bookcase. The tall figure of The Shadow was visible as it came momentarily into the light. Then the being in black moved toward the window. The sash raised noiselessly and closed again.

THE sedan was pulling from the drive. Its lights threw a long beam upon the corner of the old house. They showed strange shadows there. Then Frank Desmond was speeding westward toward New York.

Whirling on at sixty miles an hour along the open road, Desmond was pondering over the new mission which had been given to him. He was thinking of the additional thousand dollars and the ease with which he had acquired it.

A horn sounded behind the sedan and Desmond inclined to the right as a swift coupe sped past him at a terrific rate. It must have been making nearly ninety miles an hour, for its tail light disappeared with amazing rapidity.

Little did Frank Desmond realize that the swift coupe was piloted by another man who knew his plans as well as he. The Shadow, hastening back to New York, was thinking, like Desmond, of a sum of money.

But his mind was concerned with more than a thousand dollars. The Shadow was thinking of the box which Legira possessed — the box that contained ten million!

A sound came above the roar of the coupe’s motor. That sound was a mocking laugh. Foreboding mirth, it spelled doom to those who resorted to crime. The Shadow, strange creature of the night, had learned the plans of Alvarez Legira.

He had been within reach of the ten million dollars, yet he had chosen to let the wealth remain, for the time, in the possession of the scheming man from Santander.

The Shadow had more work to do before tomorrow night. Lives, as well as money, were at stake!

What was The Shadow’s purpose? How did he intend to cope with the strange mixture of plans that surrounded the final fate of the hoard of wealth that Legira had obtained?

Only The Shadow knew!