“I’m going to play it safe — make it look like a straight gang job. Even the old doctor won’t know the difference. You and your crowd can carry that old boy out of here right under my nose. If something goes wrong, drop him. He’ll testify that I tried to save him.
“If all goes well, I’ll stick right here until the end of the month, when my lease expires. Then I’ll go on my way. No one will ever know that Doctor Arberg paid a private visit to an obscure gem collector named Lorskin.”
“Smart stuff,” affirmed Mitts. “You always played a cute game, Sparkles. Leave the job to me — I’ll bring up the gang while you’re talking to old whiskers. You want us in the kitchen?”
“Yes. Bust in when the time looks ripe.”
Sparkles Lorskin tossed the newspaper aside. He began to remove the jewels from their box. Mitts Cordy watched this procedure. Both men were looking toward the table. They did not see a peculiar motion upon the floor.
A long streak of blackness, a flat splotch that bore a startling resemblance to a silhouette, was drawing itself along the floor, receding toward the door. The gliding shape upon the carpet was not a token of an approaching person; it was the sign of a departing visitor!
As it dwindled and finally vanished, it indicated that someone had entered while these men conferred; that the same unseen visitant was moving away, unheard in his departure!
Had Mitts Cordy been followed to this place? Had invisible eyes been watching his arrival? Had listening ears overheard the plans for crime?
Only coming events could answer that question. Yet, had either Sparkles Lorskin or Mitts Cordy seen that moving silhouette upon the carpet, they would have suspected the presence of a sinister visitor whose proximity boded them ill.
For the phenomenon of a gliding shape of blackness, the passage of a soundless silhouette — these were manifestations which cautious crooks feared more than open, visible signs of a human enemy.
Stealthy, gliding darkness; such was the sign of The Shadow, the strange, mysterious being whose hidden hand dealt death to men of evil. His very identity a veiled secret, The Shadow was a menace that all gangdom dreaded.
The arrangement of the jewels was ended. Sparkling shafts of light came from glittering gems upon the table. Wealth and rarity awaited the arrival of Doctor Johan Arberg. Here was a shining snare that gave no inkling of the danger which lay behind it.
Sparkles Lorskin arose. The crook paced the floor at the very spot where the gliding shape of the blackness had been. He saw no sign of The Shadow; nor did Mitts Cordy. Both men of crime were ready for the evil work which they had planned.
Grim death was awaiting the arrival of Doctor Johan Arberg.
CHAPTER II
GEMS AND GUNS
SPARKLES LORSKIN and Mitts Cordy were two men who worked efficiently. The snare which they had prepared for Doctor Johan Arberg was not the first effort of their evil cooperation.
Sparkles had the instinct of a ferret when it came to locating valuable collections of jewelry. Mitts, a bold ruffian who led a hardened crew, was always ready to follow the lead which Sparkles gave.
The gems which at present lay upon the table in Sparkles Lorskin’s apartment were the spoils of raids in which Mitts Cordy had played the leading role. Sparkles, who always had money, paid cold cash for the work which Mitts performed.
This was an effective arrangement. Mitts Cordy preferred jobs that were laid out for him. He liked to avoid the trouble that attended the disposal of stolen goods to a fence. Sparkles, who preferred planning to action, and who was willing to bide his time in selling stolen valuables, was also satisfied. He was in a position to reap the greater profit.
Sparkles considered Mitts as much a henchman as an associate. Mitts admired Sparkles. Tonight, more than ever before, Mitts envied his companion’s quiet nerve.
The gang leader knew that the gems which lay on the table as a lure for Doctor Arberg represented thousands of dollars in stolen goods. The police, had they suspected where such valuables lay, would be here in an instant.
Yet Sparkles did not fear them. Posing as an obscure collector of gems, he had deliberately opened communication with a prospective victim. Mitts Cordy and his gang, instead of setting forth on a foray, had come to Sparkles Lorskin’s own abode, there to aid the shrewd jewelry crook in the accumulation of further pelf.
Mitts Cordy watched Sparkles Lorskin pace the floor. The gang leader then turned to study the layout of the apartment. The door that led to the kitchen was almost directly opposite the entrance to the apartment. The table was slightly off line between the two portals.
Sparkles noted his companion’s calculation. With a shrewd smile, he explained the proper arrangement as he indicated two chairs near the table.
“I’ll be facing the kitchen,” he declared. “I’ll have Doctor Arberg in this chair at the side. You’ll get my sign when it’s time to break in. Work quick—”
Sparkles paused as a buzz came from the wall. He walked over to answer the telephone.
Mitts heard his brief conversation. Sparkles turned quickly as he concluded.
“It’s the old boy, himself,” he said, in a low tone. “Duck out, Mitts, and wigwag the crowd below. He’ll be up here in a couple of minutes.”
As soon as Mitts Cordy had passed beyond the door to the kitchen, Sparkles Lorskin opened the main door of the apartment. He heard lethargic footsteps on the stairs. He bowed as a stoop-shouldered man came into view, carrying a portfolio. The visitor approached, and his white beard wagged.
“Mr. Lorskin, yess?” came the high-pitched question.
“Yes,” replied Sparkles, with a smile. “I am glad to meet you, Doctor Arberg.”
The physician received the crook’s handclasp within the door of the apartment. As Sparkles closed the barrier, the visitor’s eyes saw the glittering gems upon the table. A cry of interest came from Doctor Arberg’s lips. The old man placed his portfolio on the floor.
“Ah!” he exclaimed. “These are wonderful, yess! It is good that I should have come here.”
The elderly man sat down in the very chair that Sparkles had assigned for him. Still wearing his satisfied smile, the crook took his own seat and watched the visitor examine the gems that lay before him.
Sparkles was particularly interested in Doctor Arberg’s face. The Dane possessed a countenance that was both kindly and dignified. He wore a heavy white mustache and well-trimmed white beard, yet the strength of his features was apparent beneath.
Physically, however, Doctor Arberg presented no problem. His slow stride up the stairway had been proof of his advanced years. Lorskin, who had never met the blood specialist before, placed Arberg’s age at about seventy-five. The physician was active for a man of that age, but it was plain, by his actions, that he was well past his physical prime.
“By the way, Doctor Arberg,” purred Sparkles Lorskin, “I trust that you have not told anyone of your intended visit here—”
The speaker paused as Arberg slowly shook his head in negative reply. The old physician seemed too interested in the gems to give a verbal statement.
“You understand,” resumed Sparkles, “that I am willing to make a great sacrifice in disposing of these jewels. That is why I did not want it noised about that they were for sale. I did not want to be annoyed by troublesome bargain hunters.”
“Certainly not,” agreed the old physician.
“Of course,” continued Sparkles, “I am interested in only cash transactions.”
Doctor Arberg looked up from the table. A smile appeared amid the white beard. Reaching in his pocket, the physician drew forth a thick bundle of bank notes. Sparkles stared as he saw bills of five-hundred and thousand-dollar denominations.