He also knew that Croaker Zinn must be the head of this secret crew. He had not noticed Croaker on the circus lot; probably the mobleader was keeping out of sight. Hank, Cliff decided, was just one of the gang who had stepped to a position of small authority with the circus. He was the fellow who took on the mobsmen who came from Beef Malligan.
When they reached the office, Hank entered without ceremony, beckoning to Cliff to follow him. Stuffy Dowson was just inside the door. Hank greeted him by his nickname; then spoke to Tex Larch who was sitting by a desk.
“What is it, Hank?” questioned the circus owner, wheeling in his pivoted chair.
“I’m hirin’ another roughneck,” informed Hank. “Brought him up here with me, Mr. Larch. This is the fellow.”
Tex Larch eyed Cliff.
“He looks all right,” commented the circus owner. “Sure you need him, Hank?”
“We can use him. Looks like a couple of roughnecks are gettin’ ready to blow. We may need more before we leave this burg.”
“All right, Hank.”
Tex wheeled back to the desk. Hank nudged his thumb toward the door. Nothing further was necessary. Cliff Marsland had become a roughneck with the Larch Circus and Greater Shows.
Outside the office, Cliff and Hank bumped into Captain Guffy coming over from the Ten-in-One. As they sidestepped Guffy, Cliff paused to let a girl walk by. She, too, was bound for the office. Her attractive face and her red hair brought a recollection to Cliff. He fancied that he had seen the girl before.
“Who was the girl?” Cliff questioned Hank, as they were walking toward the circus tent.
“Lucille Lavan,” informed the mobster. “The skirt that does the high wire act in the big top.”
Cliff nodded. He had seen Lucille’s picture on the billboards, coming into town. That was why he had recalled her face. Then his thoughts of the girl dwindled. Cliff’s brain pondered on a more immediate subject.
Cliff had reached his goal. He was a member of the crooked band traveling with Tex Larch’s circus. Tonight, he would find opportunity to slip down to the town of Marlborough and send a wire to New York.
For Cliff Marsland sensed that crime was already brewing. Wise to the ways of crooks, he could tell that the atmosphere was already charged with some lawless game. More than that, Cliff could see the menace of the future.
Word to The Shadow! That was Cliff’s next step. From the inside of the racket, The Shadow’s agent was prepared to notify his mysterious chief that he had found a hot-bed of crime!
CHAPTER VI
SPIES OF THE NIGHT
“TAKE a look around the lot, Stuffy.”
It was Tex Larch who spoke. Stuffy Dowson nodded. He stepped from the office and closed the door behind him. Tex Larch was alone with the two persons who had just entered: Captain Guffy and Lucille Lavan.
“What’s up, Tex?”
Guffy put the question as soon as Stuffy was gone. He knew that Tex wanted privacy to talk some business. Like Tex, Guffy was blunt and to the point.
“Nothing to worry about, Cap,” responded Tex. “Just wanted to talk things over with you. Jonathan Wilbart was in here tonight.”
“Jonathan Wilbart!” The exclamation came from Lucille Lavan.
“Jonathan Wilbart in person,” declared Tex. “Wanted to buy me out. Like he tried to do before.”
“A stubborn fellow, Wilbart is,” commented Cap Guffy. “What did he offer you?”
“We didn’t get that far, Cap. I told him there was no sale. He walked out.”
“You did right, Tex!” put in Lucille. “The nerve of him! After all the years you’ve been in the show business! I would like to have talked with him!”
“He would have liked to talk with you, Lucille,” returned Tex, with a slight smile. “You’re one of the two reasons why he wants my show.”
“You mean he wants me to star with one of his circuses?”
“That’s it, Lucille.”
“Never! I’d quit the show business before I’d work for Jonathan Wilbart!”
“Hm-m.” Cap Guffy was the one who spoke in response to the girl’s outburst. “What do you have against Wilbart, Lucille? I didn’t know you went in for grudges.”
“I don’t.” Lucille pouted wistfully. “I know I’m wrong. I wouldn’t mind Wilbart if he wasn’t trying to buy Tex out. You know how I feel about it, Cap. Tex is — well, he’s been like an uncle to me — and I know what this show means to him. It’s not Wilbart I don’t like — it’s anybody who’d try to take me away from this show.”
“Suppose I should sell out, Lucille?” inquired Tex.
“You wouldn’t,” retorted the girl.
“But suppose I had no dough,” persisted Tex. “Suppose I’d have to fold.”
“You’ll never fold. You’ve got too many friends in the business, Tex. If you really had to find money — well, I’d help raise it for you.”
“I believe you would, Lucille. I know you would. Well — Wilbart’s not buying this outfit. Just the same, it’s not easy to talk him out of trying.”
“Why not, Tex?” inquired Cap Guffy.
“I’LL tell you why,” returned Tex. “Wilbart is a man who goes after business in a big way. He deals fair enough; but he gets what he wants. That’s why he worries me. He wants this show.
“He says he needs Lucille and Wernoff — wants them for star acts. Wants to put them with his other shows. That part’s on the level. But he also says that he would scrap this outfit if he bought it — he didn’t say ‘scrap’; he said ‘absorb’ — but it amounts to the same thing.”
“He probably would.”
“I don’t think so. That’s where he’s trying to bluff me. I think he’d keep on running this show as a small-time outfit. He might build it over and trade on the name of Larch.”
“Maybe you’re right, Tex.”
“Well, that would be his privilege if he bought the show. So he keeps coming around here — and he picks every week that looks like a bloomer. What’s the answer? He knows I’m losing money, Cap. He’s figuring that I’ll have to sell. So pretty soon he’ll get the idea that I don’t want to sell to him. He’ll think I’ve got a grudge against him.”
“Let him think it, Tex.”
“I don’t want to, Cap. If Wilbart thinks that I’m prejudiced against him, he’ll try some other stunt. That’s what I’m afraid of.”
“You mean he’ll go after the midway?”
“Right. Those concessions are paying for their privileges. Suppose they hear that they can open with one of Wilbart’s circuses — play better towns and fork over less dough. How long do you think they’d stick with me?”
“I don’t know, Tex.”
“A couple of weeks, maybe. That’s all. What if Wilbart offered to buy your Ten-in-One?”
“I wouldn’t sell it. I’m like you, Tex. I’m sticking in the show business.”
“Suppose, Cap” — Tex eyed the sideshow owner steadily — “suppose I offered to buy your Ten-in-One. Would you sell to me?”
“Not a chance, Tex.”
“Well, suppose you found you had to quit. Would you let me take over the Ten-in-One?”
“I might.”
“That’s all I want to know. Listen, Cap: you’re doing business even if I’m not. These crowds that pass up the big top seem to like the Ten-in-One. They’re bum burgs for a circus, but they’re good spots for a sideshow.”
“It looked that way tonight, Tex.”
“Well — suppose I gave Wilbart the idea that I’d bought out your Ten-in-One. Suppose I told him that what I was losing in the big top, I was making up along the midway. That might make him think a bit.”
“It ought to.”
“All right. Give me an option on the Ten-in-One. I’ll give you a thousand dollars as a deposit. Call it a tentative sale. Date the papers back a couple of weeks. We’ll put you down in the pay book as sideshow manager, on a salary.”