The Eyes of the Shadow

CHAPTER XXXVI. THE SURPRISE

Wednesday was a day of waiting. After one o'clock in the afternoon, Harry sent a few calls, but did not receive a response until nearly six. He repeated the message to his companions:

"Further instructions will follow soon. Unless you are notified differently, follow this plan. Move at eleven o'clock, with Weston and Cooper. Surprise Chefano and the ape-man. Watch out for a third man called Frenchy. He may be in hiding. Wait outside the gates from nine o'clock on, in case the agent of Prince Samanov arrives early. Attack at eleven whether he has come or not. Then wait to meet him. You will not be aided. You three should be sufficient. Circumstances make assistance difficult. Report immediately after operations."

Harry still kept the ear phones on his head in response to a "Stand by" that had followed the message.

Code words came again, bringing unexpected instructions. Harry repeated the message aloud:

"Send Major Weston to look at the cabin in the woods. He must go immediately. Tell him to make sure that it is deserted."

The Englishman left the cottage. Presently another message came.

Harry reached for the sending key. He motioned to Garrison Cooper and pointed toward the box on the table.

"Look in there," he said. "Be sure that the lights change regularly. The static must be bad."

Cooper followed instructions while Harry called. Receiving the reply, he gave the information that Weston had left to investigate the old cabin. The answer came quickly: O.K. Stand by. Important.

Harry waved Cooper from the instrument on the table. He removed his ear phones as he noticed the man's lips were moving.

"I'm worried about Weston," said Cooper nervously. "Suppose I go out on the porch and watch for him?"

"All right," said Harry. "But stay there until I come. There's no danger at the old cabin. This is just a precaution, I suppose."

He clamped the ear phones on his head as Cooper left by the front door. A few minutes elapsed. Then came another message:

The message ceased suddenly. Something seemed to have gone wrong with the receiving apparatus.

Harry removed the ear phones and began an investigation. Then he went to the door. Cooper was standing on the steps, looking toward the woods.

"Something has gone wrong with the wireless," said Harry.

"Have you found the trouble?" asked Cooper anxiously.

"No," replied Harry. "Have you seen Weston?"

"Not yet."

"I guess he'll be back any minute now. I'll try to locate the trouble."

"Maybe it's the aerial."

Harry went out to see. Cooper's surmise was correct. One end of the aerial had dropped from the side of the house. The other end was attached to a tree. A moderate wind was blowing, and Harry supposed that the swaying of the tree had caused the damage. He obtained a ladder from the back of the cottage.

Cooper went in the house for a pair of pliers. As he arrived with them, Major Weston appeared from the woods.

"Can I help?" he asked.

"I'll have it fixed in a few minutes," said Harry from the top of the ladder. "Cooper can help if necessary."

The Englishman went in the house. He was smoking his pipe in the corner when Harry entered with Cooper. There was more difficulty with the wireless. Harry made a thorough inspection before he finally mended the trouble. He had wasted nearly an hour.

He began to call, but received no response. He joined his companions at a cold supper, then returned to his operating, with no result.

"It's nearly nine o'clock," observed Major Weston.

The Englishman was right. The time had arrived for them to start, and Harry had not received The Shadow's final message! He wondered what it could have been. The accident to the aerial and the trouble with the set had been a strange coincidence.

Yet Cooper had been on the porch when the first occurred, and Weston had been indoors on the second occasion. No one could have approached the cabin to tamper with the equipment without having been seen. There might be some reason why either Weston or Cooper could have wished to stop the wireless message, but certainly both men would not have desired it.

Harry Vincent's mind was filled with absurd doubts. Then he realized that The Shadow had planned tonight's operations, and that the mysterious director had included both the Englishman and the newcomer in his instructions.

The set was working now, yet there had been no response, which evidently signified that the interrupted message had been of minor consequence.

It was dark outside. The night was clear, and the moon had not yet risen. Harry calculated that it would not become bright until very late — perhaps after midnight. It was imperative however, that they should start at once.

He produced three automatics. Each of his companions took a pistol. Harry extinguished the lamps in the cottage.

They arrived at the gates in silence. Two hours to wait. They were long hours during which the three men were impatient, although Weston passed the time rather easily by smoking his pipe, keeping his hand around the bowl to prevent the sparks from blowing. The wind sobbed eerily through the trees.

"Eleven o'clock!"

At Harry's announcement, the trio entered the gates and stole up the driveway. The moon was rising; the corner tower of the old ruin was plainly visible in the dim light. Harry led the way, keeping well in the shadow of overhanging trees.

It was pitch-black in the shelter of the old ruin. All was quiet; the wind had ceased its low moaning with the rising of the moon. The three men reached the stone steps that led to the cellar. They could see the light from the passage.

"I'll go first," whispered Harry. "Cooper next. Weston last. We must watch the rear. Keep by the steps here, major. Do not enter too far. Keep in touch with us."

They huddled in a silent group.

"Do not fire unless absolutely necessary," whispered Harry. "Capture them, if possible — Chefano and his ape-man. But we must guard against a third — in case there is another here."

He did not explain the reason to Cooper, but the Englishman grunted affirmatively in the darkness. Major Weston was familiar with the details of Bruce Duncan's experience.

"Remember," cautioned Harry, "that the Russian may be here soon. If he should hear shots, he might be alarmed. Hence we must work silently if possible. We are not expected. We can make a surprise attack."

He entered the passage, moving noiselessly. Cooper followed, and as they neared the end of the passage, Harry made signs for the man to watch the door at the end. Cooper nodded that he understood.

When he reached the turn to the right, Harry crouched cautiously. Then, with sudden action, he leaped into the lighted room. He saw Chefano at the table, the ape-faced man lying on the floor beside him. As the two rose, Harry covered them with his automatic.

Consternation appeared on Chefano's twisted lips. The ape-man snarled at the sight of the gun. The creature had leaped upward; now it sank back as Chefano raised his hands.

"Come on!" called Harry.

Cooper rushed into the room, and Weston appeared at the end of the passage.

"Watch that door, major," ordered Harry. "See if there's any one behind it."

The heavy-set Englishman turned on a flashlight. He opened the door and threw the gleam beyond.

"It's a small room," he said. "Two steps down. Empty."

He made an investigation and returned.

"Solid walls," he declared. "It's a regular vault. No other entrance."

"Good," decided Harry. "We'll put them in there."

He ordered Chefano to stand.

"No foolishness," he declared. "Go down in that room and call your creature with you. Any false move — by either you or the ape-man — and it's bullets for you, Bernardo Chefano."

The twisted lips were ugly as Chefano arose and obeyed. He hissed his commanding whistle. The cowed ape-man followed. Weston stood in the passage, his automatic ready, as the prisoners entered the vault.

Harry was at the head of the steps, covering the scene with his flashlight. The Englishman joined the prisoners and calmly searched their clothes; the ape-man cowered during the operation. Weston took a revolver from Chefano's pocket.

"No trouble from them now," he said calmly.

He closed the door of the vault; it had a heavy hasp which the Englishman attached to the staple on the doorway, wedging the fastening in place with a bolt that was there for the purpose.

Cooper smiled in a relieved way.

"You fellows have nerve," he said. "I'll admit I was scared. You handled them as easily as if they were babies. Well, we have them now. But maybe there's some one else near by."

"We'll watch for that," declared Harry. "Two of us can remain in this room, which is evidently the meeting place. The third must stand guard in the passage."

"I'm willing," said Cooper. "What shall I do?"

"Keep your back against the door to the vault. You can hear anything that happens there. Have your automatic ready. Then keep looking down the passage. The moment that you hear any one, come in here. If it is an enemy, we will be ready for him. If it is the messenger that we expected, we can explain everything to his satisfaction."

"Good," agreed Major Weston.

Harry sat beside the Englishman at the table. He held his automatic in readiness for a sign from Cooper, who had taken his place on guard.

"There must be only two of them to-night," remarked Vincent in a low voice which only Major Weston could hear.

"Duncan said there was a third," replied the Englishman quietly.

"Yes," affirmed Harry. "A man called Frenchy. I don't think he's here. He's not needed. Chefano has the insignia. He should receive the money without question."

"The insignia!" exclaimed the Englishman in a louder tone. "Chefano didn't have it when I searched him! It must be somewhere in the room!"

Harry examined the table. It had no drawer. His eyes roamed about the room. There was a coffinlike box in one corner; opposite it were two smaller boxes.

He laid his automatic on the table and went to inspect. Inside the top box of the two he found some envelopes and a small wooden case.

"Look at these," he exclaimed.

Major Weston glanced to make sure that Cooper was on guard. The man was looking in the room.

"Watch the passageway," cautioned the Englishman. "You can look at these later."

Cooper obeyed. Weston laid his automatic on the box upon which he had been seated and joined Harry.

"Well!" came the voice of Cooper from the doorway.

The others turned. They were staring into the muzzle of Cooper's automatic. A jeering laugh came from the man in the doorway.

"Easy, eh!" he exclaimed. "You thought Chefano, and Jupe were easy! You are the easy ones! You thought there might be another man in the gang, but you never suspected he was with you all the time!"

Harry Vincent and Major Weston were as motionless as statues. The unexpected climax had rendered them powerless. Transfixed with amazement, they watched their former companion stride to the table and pick up their pistols. He still covered them with his own gun.

Cooper's face was malicious as he ordered his prisoners to raise their hands above their heads. His good-natured smile had become an evil grin. The fingers of his left hand tugged at his mustache and pulled the adornment from his lip.

"Garrison Cooper!" he exclaimed. "Garrison Cooper died a month ago. He was the sixth man; he carried his secret to his grave, for he destroyed both letters after he received them. He died from a heart attack. We didn't expect him to come here after we learned of his death. Only the living can come — and they do not leave.

"I don't even look like Garrison Cooper. But you didn't know that. My name is — well, they call me 'Frenchy'; that's enough. I'm Chefano's trump card — his ace in the hole. He left the game in my hands, and I've won!"

Frenchy's white teeth gleamed as he surveyed the men he had betrayed.