“Yes,” said Wilbart. “And a chauffeur.”
“They’ll let you drive by,” declared the sheriff.
Wilbart looked perplexed. Then, seeing that Howard was waiting for him to leave, he nodded to Tex and Cap. Stepping to the ground, the magnate closed the door behind him.
“What’s the trouble, sheriff?” inquired Tex, affably. “You aren’t going to slough the wheels, are you? I thought we were going to be allowed to run all the games in this town.”
“That’s not what I’m here about,” stated the sheriff. “Who is this fellow here with you?”
“Captain Guffy,” introduced Tex. “He runs the Ten-in-One — the sideshow.”
“He’s with the show, then. Helping you run it?”
“He owns the Ten-in-One.”
“All right. He can hear what I have to say. Nobody’s going off this lot tonight without my permission.”
“The customers?” inquired Tex.
“There’s no more coming in. We’ve looked over the ones that are here. They’re mostly folks from Hamilcar. We know them.”
“Who do you mean by ‘we’?”
“The men in my posse. I’ve got sixty of them, all around the grounds. Just posted them.”
“What’s up?” demanded Tex, furrowing his forehead in worried fashion. “I don’t get it, sheriff.”
“There was a bank robbery in Almsburg last night,” explained Howard. “The robbers got away; but a watchman saw them. He took the number of their car. We found it this afternoon, near this lot. We think the crooks are hiding out with your circus.”
“That’s no reason to keep people away from the show,” retorted Tex, hotly.
“No?” queried the sheriff. “Well, I think different. You’ve heard my orders. You can tell your people to stay in bounds.”
“I can’t tell them anything,” pleaded Tex, suddenly. “Listen, sheriff. This show is going broke. I don’t want it to fold. I have to go into New York on the next train to see if I can raise some money. It’s all the more important, now that you’re killing the little business that we might do tonight.”
“Go ahead,” agreed the sheriff. “I’ll let you past. You’re the head man of the outfit. You can leave. Will Captain Guffy be in charge?”
“Yes,” replied Tex. “He and my general manager, Stuffy Dowson. Wait a minute. I’ll call Stuffy.”
He stepped to the door and called for Stuffy. The general manager appeared for instructions. The sheriff looked over Tex’s shoulder to get a view of Stuffy.
“Get my kiesters, Stuffy,” ordered Tex. “They’re all packed. Hurry them up. I’m leaving town.”
“One of my men will drive you to the station,” informed the sheriff. “Come along with your bags. We can get a car out in front of the lot.”
Stuffy showed up with the suitcases. There were two bags; both large and heavy. Tex took one and ordered Stuffy to carry the other. Cap Guffy waited at the door of the office while the sheriff walked with Tex and Stuffy to the entrance of the midway.
INTENT as he watched Tex’s departure, Cap Guffy did not sense a slight motion at the window in the front of the office. Nor did he see the phantom shape that reached the ground beside the truck.
That form was still invisible when it reached the fringe of the circus lot. Enshrouded in gloom, The Shadow watched Tex and Stuffy place the heavy bags into the rear of a parked sedan. Tex took the seat beside the driver. The sheriff gave an order and the car rolled away.
Pacing men with rifles formed a large encircling cordon about the circus lot. The glare of the lights was sufficient for these sentinels to distinguish moving figures. But their eyes failed them when a spectral shape glided noiselessly toward the roadway. In the gloom, that form was nothing more than an elongated splotch of blackness.
A creature of the night, The Shadow was proving his power to pass unseen. His soft laugh was no more than a whispered echo. It marked the end of Zoda. The Shadow had resumed his cloak of blackness.
Finished with his temporary role, informed of the situation which existed, The Shadow was ready for the aftermath of crime. On the lot and off, he was preparing to play his part in the events that were due tonight.
Circling the pacing members of the posse, The Shadow again displayed his uncanny spell. With the glide of a grim ghost, he chose another opening and retraced his course back toward the office where Cap Guffy awaited the return of Sheriff Howard.
CHAPTER XII
ONE MAN MISSING
WHEN Sheriff Howard returned to the office he promptly began to issue orders to Cap Guffy and Stuffy Dowson. The veteran showmen listened soberly while Howard explained his plan for rounding up the bank robbers.
“Run the circus as usual,” the sheriff said to Stuffy. “You do the same with your show, Captain. My posse will see to it that everybody stays on the lot. Meanwhile, I’ll be strolling around with the watchman and a couple of my deputies.”
“Looking for the crooks?” questioned Stuffy.
“Yes,” replied Howard. “We’ll go into the circus tent like we were regular customers. Give us seats in the box right in front of the main ring. We’ll be looking over the whole tent. If we don’t see the men we want, we’ll go to the other shows and look in the concessions.”
“And if you don’t find them then?”
“We’ll scour the lot. Line up everybody. I could do that to begin with; but I don’t want to. It’s better as a last resort. You see” — Howard paused craftily — “I reckon that those robbers don’t know the watchman saw them. If they’re here with the circus, they’ve probably got the swag hid somewhere. So they’ll try to stand pat, not knowing that we’ve got the goods on them.”
Cap Guffy was seated at a desk. He was weighing the sheriff’s words. Cap had no comment. He kept strumming on the woodwork while he stared toward the speaker. Stuffy Dowson, however, did not keep silent.
“Say” — Stuffy wagged a finger toward the sheriff — “maybe those roughnecks was in on that bank robbery. There was five of ‘em blew on the night we was leaving Burnsville.”
“Last night, eh?”
“Yeah.”
“Are they back with the show?”
“I don’t know. We can’t keep tabs on them roughnecks — leastwise, I can’t. But the five of ‘em was supposed to tear down Cap’s top. They wasn’t there when we needed ‘em.”
“Are they back with your tent now?” questioned the sheriff, turning to Cap Guffy.
“No.” Cap shook his head emphatically. “The boys that set up my top was the ones that Stuffy brought up instead of the bunch that blew.”
“Where would the fellows be then, if they returned?”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe with the big top,” put in Stuffy. “They could have slid in with that crew. If they don’t know nothin’, you’re likely to see ‘em while the show is on.”
“Good,” decided the sheriff. “Now we’ve got to do something to explain why I’ve got a posse here. You two chaps go out and spread the news that this town is hot. Tell your people that a lot of toughs tried to bust up a carnival that played here a couple of weeks ago.
“Tell them that’s why I’m on the job. I want to stop any riots that may start. That’s why all the circus folks have got to keep in bounds. We’re protecting them as well as the town people.
“That story ought to hold them — all except the five guys that we’re after. And if the five try to beat it, we’ll nab them easy. And listen: while you’re spreading the news, check up and see if any hands are missing.”