“Do not worry for one minute,” said the South American, assuringly. “You will hear from me, positively.
You will hear a wonderful plan that will make everything easy for you. Without you, I would not have
managed to take this money as I intend to do now. So you shall have the half of it. I do not make
mistakes as does Legira. He left you, here, with unfair payment. You were right not to stay by him. I shall
be different.”
He extended his hand; Desmond accepted it. Then the South American motioned the traitor to the door.
Desmond, treading on air, left and strode along the corridor.
“Good-by,” he heard Zelva say.
He did not know that the remark was a signal. Scarcely had Zelva stepped back into his room; hardly
had Desmond made the turn in the corridor before a door opened and a stoop-shouldered, sallow-faced
man took up the trail. It was Pesano, one of Zelva's watchdogs.
Having thus made precaution regarding Desmond's actions, Rodriguez Zelva forgot the matter. He had
important matters to which he must attend.
THE master schemer had already evolved his plan—a fact which he had mentioned to Frank Desmond.
Sitting at a writing desk, he carefully prepared a wireless message, in code. Going to the telephone, he
called his other faithful watcher, Ellsdorff, who replied in a guttural voice. Zelva gave him the message.
Minutes went by. They became hours. It was late afternoon when the telephone rang in Zelva's room.
Ellsdorff spoke and Zelva wrote down the words that the man gave.
Looking at what he had written, the ingenious South American laughed cruelly. By simple artifice and
quick, decisive action, he had accomplished all that was necessary. Only one slight point remained, now,
to complete the action he had planned.
Zelva went to the telephone. He called and was connected with Pete Ballou at the Hotel Oriental.
“Do not wait until midnight,” he said. “Strike before nine o'clock. Shortly after eight will be best. It must
be a surprise. You understand? Wait for the dark.”
Zelva smiled with satisfaction as he completed the call. Now, if Alvarez Legira should mistrust Frank
Desmond, it would make no difference. A telephone call from Legira to Lopez could do no good. Ballou
would act before Lopez.
Perry Wallace and Lopez were but pawns in this game. Yet to Zelva, who could move men like chess
pieces, pawns were important and dangerous. He intended to leave none on the board.
Master schemer though he was, Rodriguez Zelva did not know that The Shadow had a hand in this
strange complication of events. But what could hidden hands do now?
The treachery of Frank Desmond—something which even The Shadow had not anticipated—had
completely changed the tide. Alvarez Legira no longer held the edge in his crafty battle with Zelva. All
was in Zelva's favor.
The Shadow remained only as an unknown quantity. For some reason he was playing a passive game.
Yet only his hand, thrust from the dark, could possibly alter the cross purposes that were at work.
The Shadow was watching Legira; but he had eliminated Zelva as a factor. Ten million dollars at stake
and lives to be lost in the gaining of it.
For once The Shadow was faced by a problem of which he had no inkling!
CHAPTER XXII. BEFORE NINE
“BURBANK speaking.”
The man who made this announcement was seated before a table in the corner of a darkened room. He
