Combined, their losses might total more than a quarter million, but not in cash. Claremont's argument still stood. It was due to be shattered, though, as The Shadow could tell from the trend of the conversation. It was Carradon who struck the answer.
"I've got it!" he exclaimed. "It's Scorpio, the alibi artist, all over again. The fellow is so crooked he can't think of anything straight. When anything legitimate comes his way, he tries to think how he can use it to cover something else.
"Suppose we didn't have all the goods on him. Suppose he was still in his Castle, under suspicion of the heaviest sort, but with nothing fully proven. What would our reaction be, after what Claremont just told us? Why, we'd go over to see Scorpio, and apologize for ever suspecting him of crime!"
Carradon's analysis brought a chorus of assent. It fitted perfectly with Scorpio's actions all along.
Claremont's arrival could be regarded as Scorpio's trump card. No one wondered any more why the professor had so brazenly waited out events.
Niles Rundon picked up where Howard Carradon left off.
"What about tonight?" queried Rundon, suddenly. "Are you going to stand by and let Scorpio get away with something else?"
Some listeners were puzzled. Rundon laughed.
"You don't think the professor will pass up Claremont's cash, do you?" continued Rundon. "Carradon is right; this deal is Scorpio's alibi. But it's also his chance to more than double his haul, here at Lake Calada."
A buzz circled the group. Henry Denwood looked toward Lamont Cranston. He caught the slightest of nods.
"Claremont must be warned," decided Denwood. "At once."
The statement produced derisive chuckles that grew into hearty laughs, with Grendale's booming loudest.
"Warn Claremont!" expressed Grendale. "Why, he's warned us! Anyone who interferes with his affairs will probably get a load of slugs from a blunderbuss or whatever kind of gun that old miser has over at his place.
"I've never known it to fail. The men who can squeeze pennies out of people and turn them into millions, are always the quickest to hand over their wealth to clever fortune hunters."
The rest seemed to agree, with the exception of Cranston. The Shadow felt that the rule did not apply in Grendale's own case. The financier was a first-class penny squeezer, but he had never shown himself open-handed or big-hearted toward anyone.
All that, however, was apart from the major theme. The question was: would Scorpio visit Claremont?
The answer was unanimously yes. Which produced another question: What could the committee do about it?
Denwood suggested calling in the sheriff, but he was promptly overruled. Should Sheriff Kirk agree to call at Claremont's, it was a foregone conclusion that Scorpio would not show up. On the other hand, if the sheriff knew that volunteers were going to Claremont's against the old eccentric's wish, he would probably use his authority to prevent such an expedition.
It was Grendale who summed it up, with the first really sensible suggestion that he had made that afternoon.
"We've got to handle this ourselves," he declared, emphatically, "and do it outside the law."
The thing seemed justified, the more the group considered it. In fact, several of the others had been on the point of putting the same proposal. Two points were at issue: Claremont's property rights, and the quest for Scorpio. Denwood found the situation comparable to a previous one.
"When we wanted Barcla," he reminded, "we let Scorpio go through with a séance, knowing that Barcla would surely come. We had men in the offing, who closed in and prevented Barcla's departure. In this case, we know that Scorpio will visit Claremont. Perhaps our former method will work again."
Denwood looked toward Cranston as he spoke. He knew that it was The Shadow, not the deputies, who had assured success the night of the séance. He was sure that The Shadow would act again, this evening.
"Excellent, Denwood!" agreed Grendale. "We caught Barcla with the goods-those spooky robes that he was wearing. We'll get Scorpio with the goods, in the shape of Claremont's money."
"Not at all" returned Denwood, "because the money will be a voluntary gift. Scorpio will be taken because of his past crimes. Even if it happens on Claremont's property, I think the captors will be justified."
ALL were enthusiastic, but The Shadow could foresee a sudden cooling. He was smiling slightly when it came.
When Carradon proposed that they form a party for the trapping of Scorpio, everyone favored it but no one wanted to be included, not even Carradon himself. He had beaten the others to the proposal, apparently in order to get out of it.
"Come, gentlemen!" exclaimed Carradon. "You are all big losers. Aren't you willing to take a risk in order to regain your losses?"
Apparently, they weren't. Grendale argued that they had lost enough already. Gillespie, Jamison, and Albion concurred with him. Derisively, Grendale demanded:
"Why don't you go, Carradon? You're a loser, too."
"No, no," smiled Carradon. "Paula is the loser. Those were her jewels. I've lost nothing."
"Then take the risk," retorted Grendale, triumphantly. "You have a score to settle with Scorpio, anyway.
He had you cooped up for a few days underground."
Carradon gestured toward Rundon and Harry, said, "They were prisoners, too."
"Then why don't you all go?" parried Grendale. "You're all in the same boat." He chuckled, feeling that he had made a jest. "All in the same boat; that's it! Go in a boat together, over to Claremont's this evening."
No one laughed at Grendale's self-appreciated joke. Carradon's face had sobered, with recollection of his imprisonment under Indian Rock. Looking at Rundon, Carradon saw an expression that matched his own. Both glanced toward Harry Vincent. He, too, was serious, but his eyes were gazing elsewhere.
Harry was awaiting a flash from The Shadow.
"I'll go," decided Carradon, suddenly. "Someone has to break the ice, and it appears that I am justified."
"Which puts it up to me," declared Rundon. "I was in trouble before, along with Carradon, and both of us got out of it. I'll go along with you, Howard."
Harry caught a glitter from Cranston's eyes, while Carradon and Rundon were shaking hands to close the deal. When the pair turned toward Harry, he met their combined stare squarely and said:
"You may count me in."
Grendale was on his feet, warmly pounding the shoulders of the venturesome three. He winced a bit, when Albion added to the approbation by saying that he and the other losers-which included Grendale-would combat any lawsuit that Claremont might institute against the trespassers.
The commotion simmered down to a discussion between the three volunteers. They decided that they would start from the Community Center at dusk, using a canoe to reach Claremont's property, which was only about a mile away. The water route was preferable, since Claremont's preserves were surrounded by a picket fence, which might be troublesome to cross.
"If Scorpio comes by water," declared Rundon, "we will probably hear him. But my hunch is, he'll use the woods."
"We'll have to close in on the bungalow, then," put in Carradon. "If we don't hear Scorpio climbing the fence, we'll certainly know when he goes into the house."
"The fence is a big help," added Rundon. "It means we'll have Scorpio boxed when he leaves."
"Except for the water front," reminded Carradon. "It's a pretty wide expanse at Claremont's."
The point in question bothered the listeners. In picturing the lake front at Claremont's, they also recalled Scorpio's getaway on a previous night, when the professor had transformed himself from a robed mystic into a limber cross-country runner.