help you.'
Prince Zuvor bowed in appreciation.
'Those words are welcome, sir,' he said. 'Our acquaintance has been a short one; but the emblem which
you carry beneath your ring is a token that I recognize. Perhaps, when we meet again, I shall propose
certain plans which -'
'Very good. You can always reach me by a message to the Cobalt Club. At present I am staying away
from my home; in fact, I am constantly in and out of New York during the daytime.'
LAMONT CRANSTON rose, as though about to leave. Prince Zuvor stopped him with an upraised
hand.
'The danger does not lie in coming here,' he said. 'The real risk is in departing. You will be watched,
to-night, if you leave this house as you came in -'
'I shall assume that risk,' replied Cranston.
'I can provide a certain means of departure,' offered the Russian. 'A method whereby you can escape
followers -'
Cranston shook his head.
'I do not fear them,' he said. 'I doubt that these men will trail me very far. It is worth the experience, at
least.'
The prince rang for Ivan, and the Russian servant escorted the millionaire to the front door.
Lamont Cranston stepped forth into the darkness of the night. He walked a few paces; then observed a
taxicab, and hailed it. As he rode away, the millionaire glanced up at the house of Prince Zuvor. The front
of the building was totally dark.
But the curtains were no longer drawn on the second floor, although that fact was not discernible from
the street.
Prince Zuvor had extinguished the light in his room. He was watching the departing cab; and as it went
into motion, he saw a car move from the opposite curb, swerving outward, as though in pursuit.
Prince Zuvor closed the curtains. He turned on a light in the room. His face was grim, and his lips moved
as though he was talking to himself. Ivan entered. The prince's face assumed its accustomed calm.
'Ivan,' said Zuvor in Russian, 'that man is our friend. You must receive him as a friend—when he comes
here again.'
Then, as an afterthought, he added, in English:
'If he comes here again.'
CHAPTER XVIII. THOSE WHO FOLLOWED
LAMONT CRANSTON'S cab sped westward across New York. The driver had been given a
destination more than a mile away. But now he received new instructions. The man in the back seat
leaned forward through the window, and exhibited a ten-dollar bill.
'Turn quickly,' he said. 'Left at the next corner. Double back. Go by the house which I just left.'
The cab wheeled around the corner. The driver made another quick turn to the left, down a narrow
street. Realizing that his passenger had some plan afoot, the man at the wheel chose an unfrequented
byway.
But before he had reached the avenue beyond, he was aware that another car was roaring down the
narrow street. The cab driver mumbled to himself, as he realized that he was being followed.
A taxicab is not a vehicle for speed; but it is designed for quick turn and prompt control. Lamont
Cranston, calmly smoking a cigarette in the back seat, smiled as he felt the cab swerve around another
corner.
Lamont Cranston leaned into the front seat.
'When you come to the house I left, stop there,' he said. 'I am going back.'
'Oh,' exclaimed the driver. For a moment he thought that the pursuing car was imaginary. 'Shall I go
slower, sir?'
'On the contrary,' replied Cranston calmly, 'I would appreciate it if you would go faster.'
The cab whirled along the avenue. It was approaching the corner where it must turn to reach Zuvor's
house. Cranston again spoke through the window.
'Take this one corner slowly,' he remarked. 'It is rather dangerous.'
The driver nodded approvingly. The avenue turned at an angle at the point mentioned. The corner was
indeed a bad one. The cab was nearing it now.
The driver applied his brakes with a jolt. The cab skidded slightly, as it came to a standstill; then the
taximan swung the wheel, and the cab leaped forward like a living creature.
As it shot down the street, a sedan turned from the avenue, in close pursuit.
THE driver stopped his cab suddenly in front of Prince Zuvor's house. Leaping from his seat, he opened
the door. At that instant, the sedan came up behind.
The taximan stepped back in amazement. Then he reached in, and turned on the light. To his utter
astonishment, the back of the cab was empty!
The man's bewilderment was observed from the sedan. A tall, broad-shouldered fellow stepped to the
sidewalk, and approached the cab.
'What's the matter, bud?' he asked.
'The matter!' ejaculated the cab driver, forgetting all about the recent pursuit. 'I had a passenger in here
a minute ago. Now he's gone!'
With an oath, the other man dashed back to the sedan. The big car swung around, and climbed the curb
on the opposite side of the street, making its turn with the greatest possible speed.
It shot up toward the avenue; and just as it arrived, a cab left the corner. A man was staring through the
back window. The sedan moved in immediate pursuit.
Lamont Cranston laughed slightly, as he rolled along in the new cab. A freak of fate had spoiled his little
game.
He had left the first cab, when it had stopped so suddenly at the corner of Prince Zuvor's street. He had
cleverly avoided observation of those in the sedan. He had led them back to Prince Zuvor's house— to
the end of a blind trail.
But he had reckoned on another cab at the corner; and none had been there. It had been more than a
minute before a cab had come along; and in that space of time, the occupants of the sedan had learned
their mistake, and had taken up the chase anew.
The driver of this cab was as reckless as the other. He displayed a marvelous knowledge of upper New
York. Picking streets with remarkable precision, he seemed always to arrive at a corner while a green
light was burning.
Once, he left the sedan confronting a light which turned red as the taxi passed; but Lamont Cranston,
glancing backward, saw that the pursuers paid no attention to the stop signal at the crossing.
The taximan knew it, too; and he tried the plan again; this time to better avail. He shot over a crossing as
the light was changing.
There was a traffic officer here, and the cab driver chuckled at the plight of the sedan. Now he was
earning his ten-spot. They would get away this time!
'Well done,' complimented Cranston. 'Now drive slowly. Take it quite easily, until you have passed the
next corner.'
