“The light will show outside,” protested the lawyer.
“Let it show. Nobody will see it except our men. Nobody else ever comes out here.”
“That’s true. Still, it’s wise to play safe.”
“Yes. When it’s necessary.”
“All right, Tony. It doesn’t matter. The others will be here shortly.”
“They’ll be here by eight, sure. They’ve been waiting for this night. It’s the biggest yet.”
“Yes, and they deserve it. They’ve done some good work in the past. Every one will get his correct percentage, and I can tell you that this will be by far the best.”
The dark-faced man licked his lips in anticipation.
“Well,” he said, “I deserve my share. I pulled the job.”
The old lawyer chuckled.
“Yes,” he said, “you pulled the last part of it - the easiest of all. You’re a great one, Tony, to take credit for the job.”
“Why did you pick me, then?”
“You know why. Because I have you like that.” The lawyer snapped his thumb and forefinger together with an emphatic gesture.
“You’re a wise man, Mr. Bingham,” Tony said. “You have the goods on everybody. You could make them work for nothing, and they’d have to do it. Instead of that you give every one of us a fair piece of the swag.”
“That’s what counts, Tony.”
“There’s only one thing that gets me, Mr. Bingham. How did you fix Burgess?”
The old lawyer looked suddenly about the room.
“Say nothing about that, Tony,” he ordered. “I only told you because you were afraid of the Laidlow house on account of the murder. I wanted you to be sure that I knew who did it.”
“I know that. I’m keeping quiet, you bet. I just wondered how you fixed a guy like that.”
“I don’t tell my affairs, Tony. But I’ll let you know about this one. You have a right to know, because you went in there three nights ago and brought me the box.
“I had been watching Burgess. I knew what he was doing. He had the combination to the safe, but he did not know that it contained the information regarding the place where the gems were kept.
“Knowing what I did about Burgess - that he had been taking money that belonged to his employer - I met him one day and told him that he had only one way out - to work with me. That’s why he did it. The murder was his own idea. He was scared. I helped him out of it. Lucky for him I was waiting outside.”
“How did you know that there was a note in the safe, telling where to find the stuff?”
“You ask too many questions, Tony.”
“All right, chief. I won’t ask any more.”
“Well, I’ll answer the last one, then. I handled a case for Geoffrey Laidlow a few years ago. In discussing his affairs, he mentioned that he was the only man who knew where the jewels were kept, but that he had a message in his safe that would tell the place - only no one would ever be able to puzzle out the message. I think Laidlow forgot that he ever told me that much.”
“But you got the message and doped it out!”
“I learned its secret. That is sufficient.”
Harry could see that Tony would have liked to ask more questions, but the lawyer had leaned back in his chair and had closed his eyes, as though to shut off the questioning.
Tony rose from the chair and walked over to the window.
Harry slipped out of sight. The man in the room began to hum a tune in excellent voice. The melody was close to Harry’s ears and sounded loud, obscuring other sounds.
Then something fell heavily upon Harry’s back. It flattened him against the porch before he could even gasp!
A man had come upon him in the darkness.
With one hand free, Harry struck out at his antagonist. The man grappled in return. Then Tony jumped through the window and joined in the fray.
Harry rolled free and staggered to his feet. Battling in the darkness, his fist landed against a man’s face. The fellow went down upon the porch. It was Tony who had fallen.
Ezekiel Bingham, aroused from his nap, had arrived with the lamp. He was holding it at the window. Its feeble light illuminated the space where Harry was now meeting he who had attacked from behind.
The fellow’s hand was pushing Vincent’s chin upward. Then that hand slipped.
Hooking his wrist behind the man’s neck, Harry gained the winning hold and cast his antagonist to the porch. The effort made Harry lose his balance, but he caught himself against a post, and made ready for the leap to the ground.
Then his triumph ended. Something smashed against the back of his head. Harry turned, half stunned, and was met by a pair of strong fists that rebounded from his face. Tony had come back into the fight. His first blow had been delivered with a piece of wood that he had snatched from where it lay on the ground.
“Good work, Tony,” prompted Bingham. “Come on, Jake. Help him out.”
The man whom Harry had thrown joined his companion.
It was inevitable that Harry should go down under their flailing fists - they were at him from both sides. As he fell, both men jumped on Harry. Under the double pummeling, Harry at length lapsed into unconsciousness.
“Found him here on the porch,” panted Jake as he arose from Harry’s inert form. “Tony and I have fixed him proper. Fetch a rope.”
The old lawyer produced the required article. Harry’s motionless body was trussed in the coils of a long, heavy clothes line, his arms and legs doubled up together.
“Bring him in,” ordered Bingham. “Let me look at him.”
The unconscious man was laid on the floor of the room. The old lawyer held the lamp above his face, which was bleeding and distorted.
“Don’t know him,” declared Bingham tersely. “Never saw him before that I can remember. Put him over there in the corner.”
Jake and Tony obeyed. The motionless body of Harry Vincent was flung without ceremony on the spot that the old lawyer had designated.
CHAPTER XXXII
ENGLISH JOHNNY ARRIVES
OLD Ezekiel Bingham looked at his watch. It showed a quarter of eight. He was alone in the room with the captured interloper, who lay seemingly lifeless. The man had not moved since he had been brought in from the porch.
The door opened; Tony and Jake entered, carrying lanterns. Another man was with them.
“Here’s Spotter,” said Jake. “Just came up in his car. We met him outside.”
The newcomer was short and thin, with a wicked-looking face and beady eyes. The top of his head was on a level with Jake’s shoulder; and Jake, despite his broadness, was not over six feet tall.
“Hello, Spotter,” greeted the old lawyer. “We just had some trouble here. Did you make a good search, boys?”
“We did,” declared Jake emphatically. “There’s nobody else around. This fellow we caught is probably some prowler who happened to be going through the woods. Did you ever see him before, Spotter?”
The short thin man stepped across the room and gazed at the face of the man on the floor.
“No,” he said. “He ain’t a crook; he ain’t a bull. I can tell you that by lookin’ at him. He’s some fellow from town who must have been walkin’ through the woods. Tony tells me he was lookin’ in the window when you caught him. Anybody might come lookin’ in if they was comin’ by.”
“That sounds logical, Spotter,” declared Bingham with approval. “Your opinion is worth a great deal. You know every criminal in the business; and you know every detective on the force. You are a valuable man.”
“Sure, I knows them all,” said Spotter. “That’s why they calls me ‘Spotter,’ ain’t it? What good is a name if it don’t mean nothin’?”
“Well, it’s good business,” declared the lawyer. “You see, Tony, there was a good reason to keep the window shut, with the shade down. I have taken that precaution while you were on your tour of inspection.”
“Guess you’re right, Mr. Bingham,” admitted Tony.
“How did you happen to discover the man, Jake?” inquired the lawyer.