As order came from chaos, Rundon pointed wildly from the door; his finger was directed toward Professor Scorpio, who was still struggling with Howard Carradon. Rundon's yell was echoed by others who saw the fray:
"Get the professor!"
There was good reason to get Scorpio. Though the professor hadn't snatched the jewels personally, he was as good as caught with other goods. He and Carradon were still fighting for the remnants of the spook, which, in the light, definitely looked like cheesecloth.
Once captured with such goods, Scorpio would be branded as an impostor. The professor knew it and struggled fiercely. Starting for him, along with others, Harry looked for The Shadow. Seeing no sign of Cranston, he decided that his chief had headed on another mission.
Perhaps The Shadow had gone after the jewels. Even in the drive for Scorpio, Harry recognized that the gems were more important than the professor. It was that thought that guided Harry's later actions, through scenes that occurred with bewildering speed.
It started with a lucky break for Scorpio; the first of several that came the professor's way. Swept ahead of the rush toward Scorpio was Paula Lodi. She didn't grab for the professor; instead, she seized Carradon.
She was shrieking to her husband that her jewels were gone. Carradon didn't care about the gems as much as he did about Paula. Sight of his wife in the ragged remnants of her black dress made Carradon turn to her protection. The gesture helped Professor Scorpio.
Getting possession of the cheesecloth with one hand, the professor let go with the other fist. Instead of Paula floundering into Carradon's arms, he dropped into hers.
Having put that punch to Carradon's jaw, Scorpio scooped up the dark cloth that went with the cheesecloth. Springing away, he grabbed at the first handy weapon-one of the flaming torches.
Swinging the fiery cudgel, Scorpio was beating off attackers, among them Harry, when the second break came. Again the room lights were extinguished; but not by Rundon, or anyone in the room. No one was near the wall when the lights went off. Somebody down in the cellar had pulled the main switch.
WILDLY, Professor Scorpio made the most of the fresh darkness. He flung the flaming torch into the alcove, threw the cheesecloth and the dark cover along with it. He was getting rid of past evidence, along with present. Without the torch in hand, he couldn't be found in the crowd.
Nevertheless, Scorpio's escape could still be blocked and the evidence against him reclaimed. That chance was diverted by a woman's cry, that came from near the window. The shouting girl was Lois Melvin.
With the lights in the room extinguished, Lois could see the scene outdoors. From the window, she spied bobbing lights heading in the direction of the lake front; the starlight showed the figures of scurrying men.
The girl told all as she shouted:
"The jewel thieves! There they go!"
Instantly, Professor Scorpio was forgotten. A wildly shouting throng made for the veranda door, and Harry was swept along with them. He went willingly, because of his accepted theory that the gems were more important than the professor.
Shots stabbed from the direction of the Lodi dock as pursuers arrived on the veranda. Those were warning shots; they betrayed the escaping crooks, but also indicated that it would be dangerous to follow.
The sheriff had reached the veranda; he was finding his first real chance to take part in the strife. Pulling his gun, he answered the fire from the shore.
Then, at the foot of the veranda steps, the sheriff grabbed the two men closest to him, who happened to be Niles Rundon and Harry Vincent. He was telling them to organize the rest and follow his lead, when new shrieks from the house made everyone turn.
The living room was lurid with light, far greater than the torches could produce alone. Flames were snatching at the woodwork. producing a first-class blaze. Crooks had to be forgotten, to save the hacienda. The sheriff pointed back to the house, telling the others to fight the fire, while he took up the chase alone.
Harry and Rundon reached the living room. The entire alcove was ablaze. Carradon, back on his feet, was yelling something about a fire hose in the hallway. The fire could be stopped before it spread, but the alcove and its outer wall were sure to go.
Professor Scorpio was lying on the floor, with one eye open. He let it close, as Harry stared in his direction. Paula Lodi and some of the other women were dragging the professor from the danger spot; still murmuring their belief in him. A bland smile showed on the bearded lips.
Scorpio had played an almost hopeless game; yet he had won. His toss of the torch had been a lucky trick. He could alibi it easily, by claiming that he had lost the torch in a struggle that had left him senseless.
The damage could be blamed on his attackers, instead of himself.
But the damage was exactly what Scorpio wanted.
Already, the flames had consumed the spirit robe and the cloth which the spook had used to cover it.
The alcove was going, too. From charred floor and flame-swept wall, no one could gain proof of the trapdoor through which the spook had made his escape.
A clever trick, Building the trap here in Paula's house during her absence. The professor had rigged it long ago, for an occasion like this evening. His game had turned into a boomerang, but he had managed to save the situation. The flames were killing the evidence. No one could brand Scorpio as an absolute faker.
As for the missing jewels, Scorpio was clear on that count. He hadn't touched Paula's gems. To Harry Vincent, the situation was disheartening. Harry felt that he had failed The Shadow: but that was not all. It seemed that The Shadow, too, had failed.
In fact, The Shadow's disappearance from the scene provided a very ominous touch. It made Harry forget the fire and start outdoors, gripped with the unreasonable dread that crooks had carried off his chief, along with the Lodi jewels.
This was the situation where everything seemed totally wrong. As Harry pictured it, there had been robbery in The Shadow's very presence: and that, in itself, indicated that something worse had happened.
Others could worry about the jewels and the fire: Harry was thinking only of The Shadow, wondering what fate awaited him.
No qualms were needed from The Shadow, though Harry did not know it. The Shadow had chosen his own route, and was seeing it through. The persons who most deserved sympathy were those whom The Shadow might meet along the way.
CHAPTER VI. THE LAKE MONSTER.
THE SHADOW was on the trail of a ghost. The ghost, however, happened to be a very human one, quite confused in the darkness. The ghost was Edward Barcla.
There had been a few lights in the cellar beneath the hacienda when The Shadow landed there. By their glow The Shadow had spotted a scrambling figure reaching for the main switch that controlled all the lights in the house.
In one brief glimpse The Shadow had recognized the pasty features of Barcla, spread in their eager weasel-like grin. Then darkness, as Barcla pulled the switch. After that, The Shadow had kept along the trail.
Shouts from above, thumps upon the floor, meant that things were happening in the living room that The Shadow had so suddenly deserted. But there had been no shots. Nothing less than gunfire seemed enough to demand The Shadow's aid. With the fight a mere brawl, with crooks outnumbered, it was better to trail Barcla.
There was much that the professor's tool could tell, under The Shadow's persuasion. How much was a question; but it would be enough to make Barcla's capture worthwhile. Barcla would tell facts that Professor Scorpio would stoutly deny, if questioned. What was more, Barcla would reveal them without Scorpio's knowledge.
In a game like this, it was best to attack the weak links first. Once they were gone, the stronger ones would fall through their own sheer weight. That was why The Shadow kept to Barcla's trail.