Shadow.”
“Where? When?” came a chorus of voices.
“One night,” said Spotter, “I saw a guy in a black cloak getting in a big limousine. I couldn’t see his face, but he handed money to the chauffeur and they drove off.
“I had a car around the corner, and ‘Birdie’ Crull was waiting for me. I drove after the big car, but it got away from us. Then we picked it up again, just by luck, a half hour later.
“I tells Birdie that the guy in the big bus has dough on him. So I gets past the car on another street and runs into it coming the other way. Up she goes on the curb, and Birdie opens the door and flashes a rod.
“Then, out of nothing, comes this big black shadow. It was a man, all right - but it didn’t look human. It wraps around Birdie and shoots him with his own rod. He flops in the street, and The Shadow moves right across without a noise, and that was the last we seen of it.”
“That’s The Shadow, all right,” declared English Johnny. “I was never quite sure he was real.”
“I seen The Shadow again,” said Spotter eagerly. “Down by the Pink Rat. This time I looked for his face. I saw nothing but a piece of white that looked like a bandage. Maybe The Shadow ain’t got no face to speak of. Looked like the bandage hid somethin’ in back. There was a young guy once who the crooks was afraid of - he was a famous spy in the War, and they say he was wounded over in France - wounded in the face. I think The Shadow is this guy come back - maybe he -“
Ezekiel Bingham interrupted.
“I heard about Croaker and The Shadow,” he said. “Once I imagined I saw a shadow. Imagination plays many tricks; even on those who have steady nerves. But what of it? Why talk of a shadow? Go on, Johnny, tell us the rest of your story. We may judge then.”
English Johnny grinned with satisfaction. Evidently there was a surprise in store. But the big man restrained himself and continued in a casual manner:
“I’ll make the rest of it short. Last night I ran into the taxi driver again. In one of my lunch wagons. I knocked him groggy when a new man behind the counter helped him get away. Some of the gunmen chased him but wrecked their car.
“So I was wise today. I says to myself: ‘English Johnny, there’s some guy on your trail.’ Everywhere I went it was the same. So I hopped over to Newark, and got a friend of mine named Kennedy to take me up for a ride in his plane. Then I says to Kennedy: ‘Go like blazes up above New York, and cut back to Long Island. You can name your price.’ And Kennedy went like blazes. Even this Shadow couldn’t have followed us. After we landed, I got a car from a place I knew about, and here I am.”
Tony whistled.
“Pretty smart, Johnny,” he said. “You’re safe enough. Are you sure the guy you got the car from was all right?”
“Sure enough,” replied the big man. “He didn’t even know me, until I proved who I was. He’s the last guy in the world that they would look for to find out where I was.”
“Then it’s all right,” declared Ezekiel Bingham. “Personally I think it is all your imagination, Johnny.”
“Well, I’m not worrying now,” came the reply. “All this didn’t start until after I left the place where I had fixed everything. The Shadow wasn’t anywhere around there.”
“Then you’re ready to take the gems?”
“You bet. Sooner the better. Do it quick.”
The old lawyer went upstairs and returned with a large box. He opened it upon the table, and the eager eyes of the onlookers glittered as they saw the sparkling jewels that had been the pride of Geoffrey Laidlow.
“Look them over,” said the lawyer briefly. “I have the complete list in my possession. I shall go over it with you and arrange your shares. Do you want to wait, Johnny?”
“I can’t. It’s nearly nine o’clock now. Two hours into the city if the traffic is heavy. Maybe more than two hours. I’ve got to get there before midnight.”
“Quite right. Shall I send some one into town with you?”
The old lawyer looked around the group.
“Not me,” declared Jake. “I want to go over that list. I’ll bet it’s a sweet one. We can figure just about what we’re going to get when we check up the list.”
“That’s right,” agreed Tony. “I want to see the list, too.”
Bingham looked at Spotter.
“Let Johnny go alone,” the little man declared. “He’s done it before. Leave it to him. I’d like a look at that list myself.”
“Agreed,” said the old lawyer in a final tone.
The big man with the red face arose, and Ezekiel Bingham handed him the closed box that contained the collection of precious stones.
“Anything else, Johnny?”
“Yeah! What’s that over in the corner?”
“Look him over before you go,” said the old lawyer. “It’s a man who looked in the window before you came. Jake and Tony caught him.”
The man with the jewel box strode across the room and moved the bloody face with his foot.
“Say,” he cried. “I know who this is!”
“Who?”
“That phony taxi driver I told you about!”
The men were on their feet.
“Maybe it’s The Shadow!” exclaimed Jake.
“It ain’t The Shadow,” was the reply from the lips of English Johnny. “No, sir. It ain’t The Shadow. But this fellow is a bad egg.”
“What’ll we do with him?” inquired Tony.
“Bump him off,” suggested Spotter.
“One moment,” interrupted Ezekiel Bingham. “This is serious business. Do not talk of murder. Let us say, instead, that it would be advisable to dispose of this man purposely. Now, who will do it?”
“I grabbed him,” declared Jake. “I’ve done my share.”
“How about you, Tony?”’
“Swell, I can do it; but I don’t have a car to lug him away in.”
“Spotter?”
The little man shook his head.
“You’re right,” he affirmed. “This ain’t no foolishness. I ain’t no hand at bumpin’ ‘em off.”
Ezekiel Bingham looked questioningly at English Johnny.
“So it’s up to me, eh?” laughed the big man. “Up to English Johnny? Well, I’ll take care of him. I ain’t saying what I’m going to do with him. Maybe I’ll give him a job in a lunch wagon - and maybe I won’t.
“Now, I’ll steer you fellows right. I’m leaving now. Lay him in the back of my car, leaning against the door. Now, I’m going by a road that goes over a long bridge, nobody there at night - and the water there is forty foot deep.
“It ain’t too far from here, and it ain’t too near. Now suppose I should happen to open that back door right where the bridge curves -“
He stopped. The others nodded in approbation of his scheme.
While the men had been discussing his fate, Harry Vincent had regained consciousness. He suppressed a groan as he opened his eyes and saw the leering face of English Johnny. His eyes shut again.
CHAPTER XXXIV
ENGLISH JOHNNY DEPARTS
The men gathered around Vincent’s body and openly expressed their admiration of English Johnny’s scheme.
“It takes nerve to do it, through,” asserted Spotter. “English Johnny’s got nerve, boys, and don’t forget it.”
The big man smiled at the compliment.
