Stacks had inferred that reinforcements had been brought from Chicago. All told, there were nearly fifteen men here tonight. It was as large a crew as on the previous incursion; but then, the fight had been in the open. Tonight, it would be a question of trapping unsuspecting victims at close quarters.
“All right,” growled Hub. “You lead the way, Stacks. Keep together, gang. There was a snooper in with us the other night. Nothing like that’s going to happen again. I’ll give the orders as we go along.”
The men moved quietly among the trees. With the moonlit clearing as a guide, Stacks led the way around the fringe of woods. After the process of circumnavigation, he stopped as he neared the sloping hillside. Turning away from the clearing, Stacks led the way upward.
It was quite dark under the trees, and Stacks was forced to conduct the crowd by a zigzag course in order to make sure of finding the cabin. The contour of the hill was helpful. Stacks knew that he was keeping close to the dotted line that had showed upon The Shadow’s chart.
TONIGHT’S plans bad been made immediately after Stacks had reached Hub Rowley at the road house. The big shot had decided to wait long enough for Carter Boswick and Harry Vincent to reach their destination. Furthermore, he had found it necessary to attend to important details before setting forth.
At present, Stacks Lodi had only one apprehension — namely, that he might fail to discover the end of the trail as quickly as Hub Rowley had expected.
Stacks worried as he trudged along until the glare of his flashlight suddenly revealed the side of the old cabin. At Hub’s growled bidding, a pair of gangsters leaped forward and entered the building. They reported that it was deserted.
Changing his direction, Stacks Lodi soon located the clump of trees. Here, running his flashlight low, he discovered the same mark that Harry Vincent had found. It was the beginning of The Shadow’s guiding trail.
Stacks pointed out the mark to Hub Rowley. He found other marks farther on. Soon the entire band was following the circuitous course over the rocks.
Clambering down the corkscrew twists, they neared that strange spot which The Shadow had seen from the air — where The Shadow had come and left, only to have his presence noted by a man in the darkness, whom, in turn, The Shadow had tracked.
First The Shadow had found this place. Then a second man. After that, Harry Vincent and Carter Boswick. Now, as a final touch, Hub Rowley, accompanied by strangers whom Stacks Lodi had not seen in the light, was here with his evil crew!
There was no indication that any one had passed this way within the last half hour. Hub Rowley growled for silence.
“We’ve given those bozos time to get here,” declared the big shot, as he viewed the crack between the rocks, which Stacks Lodi’s flashlight showed. “Maybe they’re here — maybe they aren’t. So we’ll find out — and be ready for them either way.
“When we get inside, I want two men to stay at the first good spot to lay. If our birds come in, close on them and give them the works. Meanwhile, the rest of us will go ahead — and if those bozos are already in, we’ll have them trapped like rats.”
Having finished these instructions, Hub turned to the man beside him and asked a question. After the response, Hub ordered Stacks to extinguish the flashlight. The mobsters, spread out among the rocks, waited in silence and darkness while Hub Rowley conferred with his companion.
It was evident that the big shot respected this man’s advice. Stacks Lodi remembered the talk of another person involved in Hub’s scheme of crime.
Stacks grinned to himself as he realized that much must be at stake tonight. He realized that only he and Twister Edmonds had possessed a considerable insight of the work that was brewing.
As favored underlings, Stacks had figured that he and Twister would come in for a good share of the proceeds from this enterprise. Twister was dead, slain in the battle at the cabin. Stacks Lodi had no regrets. Twister’s death made him the only favored henchman.
Stacks could figure a very definite reason for the present delay. Now that they had reached the entrance to the cavern, there was no need for haste.
If the men whom they sought had already entered, they were trapped for now. If they had not arrived, they would reveal themselves when they came, because of the difficult corkscrew path that they would have to follow.
At last the break arrived. Hub Rowley had finished his conference with his companion. Stacks noted that the second of Hub’s unknown friends was silent, merely serving as a henchman to the mystery man whose advice had been sought by the big shot.
Two had come with Hub; five with Stacks. That made a total of nine men altogether — a powerful squad to deal with two victims. Yet Stacks Lodi could not repress a momentary shudder. Here, in the dark, his mind was reverting to The Shadow.
In Havana — aboard the Southern Star — at the Junction House — by the cabin in the clearing. Each time, a mysterious being had come from nothingness to break down the plans of those who had sought Carter Boswick’s life.
Would such intervention occur again tonight? Stacks hoped not. He felt that he could rely on Hub Rowley to deal with The Shadow, should the menace appear.
Then came the command for action. Hub Rowley’s growl ordered Stacks to enter the break between the rocks; and to save his flashlight until he had moved well in from the opening. Stacks responded without delay.
Probing his way, he moved into the crevice. After twenty feet, he turned on his torch. The light revealed a twisting, natural course through broken rock.
Stacks Lodi was leading the murderous squad along the path that Harry Vincent and Carter Boswick had so recently taken. The trap was closing. Men of crime were here to deliver death!
CHAPTER XX
THE HIDDEN MINE
WHILE Stacks Lodi was conducting Hub Rowley and the mobsters along the wooded hillside, Harry Vincent and Carter Boswick had been making progress through the strange cavern which they had entered. A narrow, winding course through broken, rocky walls had led them on a tortuous descent of more than a hundred yards.
Progress had been slow. The roughness of the passage had delayed them; moreover, The Shadow’s instructions had named nothing beyond the entrance. Therefore, both were alert, watching for any sign that might indicate the purpose of this odd corridor beneath the hill.
Harry’s flashlight suddenly revealed an opening ahead. The beams glittered against the rocky wall of a man-hewn passage into which this natural channel entered. They stopped to find themselves coming into the side of a sloping mine shaft that ran at right angles to the course which they had followed to this point.
Side by side, the two men paused. Harry let his flashlight swing back and forth. The shaft which they had encountered was nearly eight feet in height, and almost the same in width. It sloped slightly downward to the left.
Harry’s light glittered upon rusty rails that had been installed for the running of ore cars.
“Look what we’ve struck!” exclaimed Harry. “This shaft must be a couple of hundred yards in length!”’
“No wonder they gave up the vertical shaft down by the cabin.” asserted Carter. “It must have been more or less of an experiment.”’
“Certainly,” responded Harry. “This rocky hill was a better bet. They sure gave it a trial after they abandoned the pit in the clearing.”
“Looks like they may have been getting results,” observed Carter. “See the sparkle on the wall over there? It’s mineral ore, all right—”