The others looked annoyed by Grendale's boast. They looked to Denwood, who softened matters with a smile. Then, turning to Grendale, Denwood asked:
'Have you forgotten Percy Claremont?'
Mere mention of the name evoked Grendale's wrath.
'That doddering fool!' he stormed. 'Old Claremont may be worth millions, but he didn't make his money with his brains. Why, he was right at the top on Scorpio's sucker list!'
The Shadow remembered Claremont's name. Scorpio's files had contained plenty of Claremont data, as Grendale stated. Though extremely wealthy, Claremont lived frugally when he came to Lake Calada; he owned a small bungalow that looked dwarfish on the huge lake property that it occupied.
Claremont had been in New York all during the Scorpio trouble. No one knew when he was coming back to Lake Calada. His visits were comparatively rare, and usually brief. If Denwood had not mentioned his name, to tactfully handle a troublesome situation, there would have been no thought of Claremont at all.
Others apparently agreed with Grendale's summary of Claremont, for they smiled. Grendale was about to expand his views of the doddering multimillionaire, when a servant knocked at the door. In answer to Denwood's summons, the servant announced a visitor:
'Mr. Claremont.'
Surprised looks turned to smiles, as everyone realized that Claremont must have come in on the afternoon plane. Looking toward The Shadow, Harry saw a gleam of interest on the usually immobile features of Cranston.
Harry knew that his chief had intended to take up new angles of the Scorpio matter, after all others had finished their say. But with Claremont's arrival, The Shadow decided to wait.
WHEN he entered, Percy Claremont fulfilled Grendale's description to a nicety. He did, in fact, look doddering. He was withery, to his sharp-jawed, tiny-eyed face. His dryish lips were twitchy; his bald head glistened like polished marble, above thin streaks of grayish hair. His tiny eyes were sharp, as they peered through large-rimmed glasses.
Claremont was stoop-shouldered; he hobbled in upon a stout cane that, in comparison, made his bowed figure look frail. But he was alert and active, as he proved from the moment of his entry.
Planking a small, wrapped package on Denwood's desk, Claremont grimaced at the group, then demanded in cackling tone:
'What's this I hear about Professor Scorpio? Why have you driven him away? Show me the men who hounded him. By gad!'-he supported himself against the desk, in order to wave his heavy cane-'I'll crack their heads for them!'
'No one has hounded Scorpio,' assured Denwood, quietly. 'If you had been here, Claremont, you would agree with us that Scorpio is a rascal who deserves all the punishment that the law can possibly give him.'
Claremont gave Denwood a scoffing look, as though he pitied him. Again leaning upon his cane, the withery man pointed his other hand upward, extending a bony forefinger. His tiny eyes glittered.
'My star is in the ascendant,' he declared. 'This is the day that I have long awaited-when Professor Scorpio has promised to reveal the future that still awaits me! Only upon this evening can I learn the answer that lies in the heavens.'
Side glancing toward Cranston, Denwood caught a nod. Mildly, Denwood questioned:
'Do you expect Scorpio to visit you tonight?'
'I do,' snapped Claremont, 'and this talk of thievery is tommyrot! Scorpio did not have to steal. He knows that I keep my promises. I told him that in return for his all-important message, I would give him-this!'
His bony hands ripping the package, Claremont displayed a sheaf of bank notes. The top bill was of a thousand-dollar denomination. So were the rest, as Claremont counted them, chuckling each time he moistened his thumb.
There were exactly two hundred and fifty bills in that stack of thousand-dollar notes. Percy Claremont, the eccentric millionaire, had brought a quarter of a million dollars to Lake Calada as a personal gift to Professor Scorpio!
BEFORE the glued eyes of silent witnesses, Claremont bundled up the cash again and tucked the packet under his arm. He hobbled to the door; as he gripped the knob, he turned to wag his cane.
'Like the stars,' he clucked, 'Scorpio will not fail me. But I have a warning for every one of you to heed.
My property is my own. I shall brook no trespass. I say again that Scorpio had too much at stake'-he gestured the money bundle beneath his arm-'to turn to criminal pursuits.'
'I have given you proof of Scorpio's honesty. I expect to have you prove your own, by staying away-all of you- from my preserves. Good day, gentlemen'-Claremont's tone was dryly sarcastic, as he pronounced the term-'and if you can not solve your present problems, I advise you to consult the stars!'
The door closed on Claremont's trailing crackle. Seated in silence, the group heard the front door slam.
They were still quiet, when the sput-sput of a motor sounded from Denwood's dock. The brief visit of Percy Claremont, the man who still believed in Professor Scorpio, had left them doubting their own senses.
Only the steady eyes of Cranston seemed to understand, as The Shadow studied the baffled faces all about him.
CHAPTER XVII. OUTSIDE THE LAW.
SEEING was believing.
Perhaps the rule did not apply in the case of Scorpio's seances, for they were held in darkness; but it certainly held true with Percy Claremont and his money.
Here, in Denwood's study, were more than a half a dozen men who could testify on oath that the eccentric millionaire had brought two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to Lake Calada. Claremont's statement that the money was for Scorpio, might be outlandish, but no more so than the fact that he had brought the cash itself.
Granting the situation to be precisely as Claremont had put it, the committee proceeded to debate an important point; namely, Claremont's argument that Scorpio would not have turned crook when he knew that he could gain a quarter of a million dollars without recourse to crime.
It was Grendale who talked first. He tried to laugh off the matter of the money, insisting that Scorpio had made a bigger haul through crime than he could otherwise. But Jamison, Albion, and the other victims of the robberies shook their heads.
Combined, their losses might total more than a quarter million, but not in cash. Claremont's argument still stood. It was due to be shattered, though, as The Shadow could tell from the trend of the conversation. It was Carradon who struck the answer.
'I've got it!' he exclaimed. 'It's Scorpio, the alibi artist, all over again. The fellow is so crooked he can't think of anything straight. When anything legitimate comes his way, he tries to think how he can use it to cover something else.
'Suppose we didn't have all the goods on him. Suppose he was still in his Castle, under suspicion of the heaviest sort, but with nothing fully proven. What would our reaction be, after what Claremont just told us? Why, we'd go over to see Scorpio, and apologize for ever suspecting him of crime!'
Carradon's analysis brought a chorus of assent. It fitted perfectly with Scorpio's actions all along.
Claremont's arrival could be regarded as Scorpio's trump card. No one wondered any more why the professor had so brazenly waited out events.
Niles Rundon picked up where Howard Carradon left off.
'What about tonight?' queried Rundon, suddenly. 'Are you going to stand by and let Scorpio get away with something else?'
Some listeners were puzzled. Rundon laughed.
'You don't think the professor will pass up Claremont's cash, do you?' continued Rundon. 'Carradon is right; this deal is Scorpio's alibi. But it's also his chance to more than double his haul, here at Lake Calada.'
A buzz circled the group. Henry Denwood looked toward Lamont Cranston. He caught the slightest of nods.
'Claremont must be warned,' decided Denwood. 'At once.'
The statement produced derisive chuckles that grew into hearty laughs, with Grendale's booming loudest.
'Warn Claremont!' expressed Grendale. 'Why, he's warned us! Anyone who interferes with his affairs will
