'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
