enemies who might be lurking there.
No provision had been made for this. Felix Zubian had thought of cutting off retreat, but he feared that the presence of lurking gangsters on the stairs might be a warning. Thus Arnaud found the path unblocked.
The long, chilling tones of a triumphant laugh resounded back along the hall. That laugh revealed the identity of Henry Arnaud. It was the laugh of The Shadow!
A figure moved among the piled-up gunmen who had fallen before The Shadow's deadly marksmanship.
Squint Freston raised himself clear. Miraculously, the little gangster had escaped injury. He had dropped to the floor, and had lain there, protected by the bodies of his fallen underlings.
As Squint dashed along the hall, he was followed by Zubian and Carleton. Realizing that their game had failed, these two were eager to escape.
The trio of fugitives hurried down the stairs, fearfully expecting to meet The Shadow on the way. They stopped. Policemen were thudding up to learn the cause of the gun play.
With a quick growl, Zubian pointed out a window on the stairway. Squint was nearest; he yanked open the sash. The three men leaped to a fire escape and hurried down into a court, just in time to elude the police who were coming up.
Dodging down an alley, the three men scattered and made their way to different streets. Squint Freston headed for a hideout. Douglas Carleton, his nerve gone, lost himself amid a throng of passers, and aimed for the security of Broadway.
Only Felix Zubian remained unafraid; but his face scowled as he, too, headed for safety. He called a passing cab, and ordered the driver to take him to the Cobalt Club.
Strategy, like force, had failed. Once again, The Shadow had turned the tables on his shadow's schemes!
CHAPTER XXI. THE BIG GAME
IT was midnight when Felix Zubian and Douglas Carleton met again. This time they did not join each other in the Cobalt Club. Zubian had deemed it wise to decamp from there that afternoon. The conference of these plotting crooks took place in a room on the eighteenth floor of the Gargantuan Hotel.
Never before had the pair formed such a contrast. In the face of the disaster which had overtaken their last attempt to trap The Shadow, Douglas Carleton had become a nervous wreck. His hands were fidgeting; his eyes were blinking. Felix Zubian, on the contrary, was grimly determined.
It was natural, therefore, that Carleton should pour forth his worries to his companion. Zubian was silent while the clubman talked. He was thinking always, this crook of international repute, who had dared to term himself The Shadow's shadow.
'We're up against it, Zubian,' declared Carleton. 'Up against it terribly. The Shadow has got our number.
What can we do? We can't get him—he'll get us before we know it! The game is ended!'
'Why?' asked Zubian.
'How are we going to land the diamonds?' demanded Carleton. 'They're what we're after. We can't move while The Shadow is around; and we've just about reached the limit. I found that out to-night.'
'Ah!' exclaimed Zubian. 'Something has occurred at Devaux's?'
'Plenty,' declared Carleton. 'Milbrook is growing tired of waiting. He wants Devaux to decide about his purchase by to-morrow night. If Devaux doesn't buy, the diamonds will leave New York.'
'What does Devaux say?'
'He is still stalling. He won't even look at the diamonds. Milbrook offered to bring them up to the house; Devaux told him to wait until he was ready to buy.'
'What else has happened?'
'Well'—Carleton spoke resentfully—'if Milbrook isn't out of the picture mighty quick, it will be all off so far as my engagement to Virginia is concerned. She and Milbrook have evidently had a chance to see each other. They are madly in love. If he could be put out of the way -'
A smile crept over Felix Zubian's face. Douglas Carleton stared without understanding.
'Carleton,' said Zubian, 'we are not yet beaten. We have the stage all set —if we know how to use it.
The sooner we act, the better. To-morrow night is the time. Do you think'—his smile broadened wickedly —'that you could persuade Stanford Devaux to look at those uncut diamonds to-morrow night, in his own home?'
'Sure, I could,' responded Carleton promptly.
'Can you reach him now?' questioned Zubian.
'Yes,' said Carleton.
'Call him, then,' declared Zubian. 'Make the suggestion, very artfully.'
CARLETON went to the telephone. In few minutes he was speaking to Stanford Devaux. Felix Zubian listened intently to the conversation.
'Hello,' said Carleton, 'this is Douglas... Yes. Glad I didn't disturb you... I'm calling you about those—those articles that belong to Milbrook... Yes... Why wouldn't it be a good idea to have him bring them up to the house to-morrow night? We can look at them then... Yes, I'll be there... I'd like to see them, too... Good.'
Carleton hung up the receiver and turned to Zubian. The other man was watching him with a knowing smile, which Carleton did not detect.
'Devaux is calling Milbrook,' said Carleton. 'He will make the arrangements. Now tell me what you propose to do?'
'Carleton,' said Zubian, still continuing to smile, 'you are very, very clever. I have suspected it for a long while; I was not sure of it until now.'
'What do you mean?' demanded Carleton narrowly.
'Your engagement to Virginia Devaux,' smiled Zubian. 'That is one factor. Another is your willingness to invest in the enterprises that we have planned. Furthermore, your remarkable ability to persuade Stanford Devaux to delay his diamond purchase until the proper time -'
Carleton's face was changing. Zubian's smile became extremely friendly.
'Don't worry,' continued the suave Zubian. 'I'll keep what I know to myself. It is to our mutual advantage. It serves to increase my confidence in you.'
'I know what you're thinking, Zubian,' admitted Carleton. 'You've guessed it right. But keep it to yourself. It is not to be known— particularly by Gats or such others.'
'Why should I tell what I know?' questioned Zubian. 'It is my own knowledge. Do not worry about your secret. Consider it still unknown. At the same time, it makes matters much simpler. To-morrow night, we will succeed despite The Shadow.'
'How?' questioned Carleton.
'The Shadow,' remarked Zubian, 'is extremely clever—and amazingly capable. He has one failing, however. He cannot be in two places at once.'
'I grant that,' retorted Carleton, thinking that Zubian was joking, 'but what does that have to do with us?'
'Much,' said Zubian decisively. 'Whether or not The Shadow knows our game, he is at least aware that a valuable collection of uncut diamonds reposes in the massive safe of the United Diamond Syndicate.
Therefore, he knows that certain men of crime might be interested in making an attack upon the syndicate office.'
'That is the trouble,' said Carleton.
'On the contrary,' corrected Zubian, 'it is the very factor that will enable us to acquire the diamonds.'
'I do not understand,' protested Carleton.
'It is simple enough,' said Zubian, with a laugh. 'To-morrow night, at half past nine, we will open a raid upon the syndicate office. We will send Gats Hackett and his men to blow the safe and to cut down all opposition, in a mad endeavor to obtain the diamonds.'
'But the diamonds will not be there,' objected Carleton. 'They will be up at Devaux's -'
'Of course,' interposed Zubian, 'but who will know it? Do you suppose that Milbrook will advertise the fact that two million dollars' worth of stones are at large?'
