A minute passed; then came a buzzing sound. The door pushed open as Moose pressed against it. The gang leader entered, with Garry at his heels.
Here was a strange passageway. Gloomier than the other corridor and narrower, it led to a short flight of steps.
The men went up to a landing, with a door at the left. Then they descended the same number of steps. The passage turned to the right at a right angle.
Along this they walked; then arrived at another turn to the right. This portion of the passage brought them to an abrupt ending, with a closed door at the right.
Shargin knocked. There was another buzz. The door opened. The gangsters stepped into a strange, dimly lighted den.
THIS room, square in shape, was situated completely within the four passages which the visitors had followed. That, in itself, was an oddity; but the appearance of the room was even more remarkable.
It was a peculiar medley of Oriental lavishness and Occidental practicability.
The main furnishings of the room were Chinese. The paneled walls were decorated with painted dragons. The chairs, the single couch, and all the trappings, were bizarre. Taborets, splendid in color, served as stools.
Yet, in the midst of this Pekinese setting was a roll-topped desk with swivel chair and a dial telephone of French style.
The single occupant of the room was himself a mingling of West and East. He was a Chinaman whose parchmentlike face would have befitted a Tibetan lama.
He was garbed in American clothing, but his garments were a somber black, save for his white shirt and collar, and the stiff, white cuffs that showed at his wrists.
He was Wing Toy, the modernesque Tong leader, under whose regime the devastating wars of Chinatown had come to an abrupt ending.
Moose Shargin and Garry Elvers stood in the presence of the Celestial big shot.
Wing Toy waved them to seats. Moose chose a curved Chinese chair. Garry rested himself upon a taboret.
The Chinaman looked peacefully at Moose, as though waiting for the gangster to state his errand. Moose responded.
“How’s the guy making out?” questioned the gang leader, inclining his head toward the opposite wall.
“As usual,” responded Wing Toy.
“That’s good,” commented Moose. “We’d figured on getting him out of here before this, but—”
“There is no hurry,” declared Wing Toy.
“I know that,” declared Moose. “But we’re up against a tough situation, Wing Toy. You remember what you told me when I brought him here — that if any one else came for him, there would be trouble—”
“I remember.”
“Well, we figure that some one is coming for him; and we want the trouble to land.”
Wing Toy placidly awaited an explanation.
“There’s one guy,” stated Moose, “just one, who is wise to the fact that we took this fellow Galvin away.”
“A policeman?”
“No.”
WING TOY shrugged his shoulders. He was indifferent to any forces other than those of the law. Not because he feared them, but because it was his policy to keep in their good graces.
Wing Toy, as a power, had brought peace to Chinatown. He took his tributes from the leaders of small tongs. He engaged in the opium business only indirectly.
Detectives found him useful and helpful. They never bothered him. He was applying the racket idea to the Americanized Chinese.
This was known to Moose Shargin; hence the gangster understood the Chinaman’s shrug. Nevertheless, he was anxious to convince Wing Toy that a real menace existed.
“Did you ever hear of The Shadow?” asked Moose.
“The Shadow?”
“Yes; the bird that tries to crimp anything he thinks is crooked, but doesn’t need the cops to help him—”
Wing Toy nodded suddenly.
“Yes,” he declared, “I have heard of him. Once a long time ago — this Shadow made trouble with some Chinese. He is the one that seeks your prisoner?”
“Yes. We’ve been watching for him, but so far, he has laid low. So we’re trying the decoy stuff. We’ve played it so he knows where we have gone. He may be on our trail now.”
“That was not wise,” observed Wing Toy. “It would have been better to have led him to some other place.”
“You don’t know The Shadow. He’s uncanny, that bird. Even now, it’s a safe bet that he knows we’re giving him some leads. But he won’t stop at any danger.
“If he knows where Galvin is, he’ll come there. So we figured it was best to bring him here. There’s another reason, too, Wing Toy. We knew that if anybody could trap him, you could.”
The Chinaman showed no notice of the compliment.
“I have no quarrel with The Shadow,” he said.
“That doesn’t make any difference,” declared Moose. “We have! You’re watching Galvin, aren’t you? If The Shadow comes here, it’s your job—”
“It is my job to take care of those who come here. Not those who are brought—” Wing Toy hesitated thoughtfully, and raised his hand for silence as Moose began an objection. “But there is a certain justice in your request. You are bringing The Shadow here — yet he is coming of his own free will. Is that correct?”
Moose nodded.
“Therefore,” said Wing Toy, in his slow, careful English, “while you yourselves would like to trap him, you feel that only I am capable.”
“That’s it,” said Moose, in a complimentary tone.
“Then,” declared the Chinaman, “it shall be what you call fifty-fifty.”
“How’s that?”
“I shall show you how to catch The Shadow. You shall do the catching.”
“Great!” exclaimed Moose, with a sidelong glance toward the silent Garry.
“You say that The Shadow does not fear danger?” questioned Wing Toy.
“He’ll go anywhere,” declared Moose. “But they say he is as clever as a fox.”
“The fox is clever,” said Wing Toy, “but it is man who has declared him clever. So man is clever as the fox. So we say in China, where man traps the fox, but the fox never traps man. Look.”
He arose and walked to the far wall. He pressed a hidden spot. A panel slid to one side, revealing a low, narrow opening.
This explained the landing in the passage. Ostensibly giving access to a side room, the landing also allowed for this short tunnel. Wing Toy pointed to a dim door at the end of the cavity.
“There is the prisoner,” he said. “Behind that door. Could you find this opening? Would you care to enter?”
The panel closed as Moose Shargin answered.
“I couldn’t find it,” he declared. “You remember how I tried? I’ve seen you open it half a dozen times yet it beats me.”
“Answer my other question. Would you care to enter it, if you did find it?”
“No, I don’t think I would.”
“Very good. People are not supposed to find that place. They are not supposed to enter it. Come here.”
Moose advanced to a spot slightly to the left of the mechanical panel.
“Try to find an opening here,” suggested Wing Toy.
The gangster ran his hand up and down the wall. Suddenly he touched a secret spring even though his touch was blundering.
A duplicate panel opened. It revealed another short tunnel, with a door at the other end. A light shone through a tiny round window, like through a porthole.
With an exclamation of surprise, Moose entered the short passage and put his eyes to the window. He came back with a questioning look on his face.
“I can see into Galvin’s room from there,” he said. “He’s asleep—”
“That is not important,” said Wing Toy. “You found the spring, did you not?”
“Sure. It was easy.”
“You went through the opening, did you not?”
“Sure. I wanted to see through that little window in the door.”