Part 29 (1/2)

”Word has just arrived,” continued the man who had first spoken, ”that the boat will be off Point Banda to-night. That will allow us to pick up the coffins before daybreak and bury them until such time as the American hounds are off their guard.”

”Yes,” grunted Sprague, ”and let's hope that that's soon. We must have fifty thousand dollars' worth of the stuff cached on the other side of the border and orders are coming in faster than we can fill them. I think it would be best to run this cargo right in. We can stage a funeral, if necessary, and avoid suspicion in that way. Wait a minute!

I've got a hunch! What about the b.u.m we carried in here last night--the one that tried to help Anita in her getaway?”

”Anita?”

”Yes, my girl. I can't remember that rigmarole you people call her.

Anita's her name from now on.”

”He is in the next room, unconscious. Two of the men dumped him in one of the empty coffins and let him stay there.”

”Good,” chuckled Sprague. ”We'll just let him remain--run him across the border, and bring his body back in a big hea.r.s.e. The coffin and the body will be real, but there'll be enough cans of dope packed in and around him and in the carriages of the 'mourners' to make us all rich. It's the chance of a lifetime for a big play, because no one will ever suspect us or even inquire into his ident.i.ty.”

Behind the thin wall which separated him from the next room Marks stiffened and his fingers wound themselves even more tightly around the b.u.t.t of his automatic. It is not given to many men to hear their death sentence p.r.o.nounced in a manner as dramatic and cold-blooded as were the words which came from the outer apartment. By listening intently, Ezra learned that the coup would be sprung sometime within the next few hours, the conspirators feeling that it would not be safe to delay, as the opium s.h.i.+pment was due before dawn.

Moving silently and aided somewhat by the fact that his eyes had become a little accustomed to the inky blackness, Marks made his way back to the place where he had awakened. He knew that that was where they would expect to find him and he also knew that this was the one place to avoid. So he located the door and, finding it bolted from the outside, placed himself where he would be at least partly sheltered when the party entered.

After what seemed to be an interminable time he finally heard a sound from the hallway--the soft slip-slip of felt shoes approaching. Then the bolt was withdrawn and the door opened, admitting the four men whom he had seen in the other room, and behind them, carrying a lantern, came the girl.

Nerving himself for a supreme leap, Marks waited until all five visitors were inside the room, and then started to slip through the open doorway.

But his movement attracted the attention of the man called Sprague and, with a cry of warning, he wheeled and fired before the operative could gain the safety of the hall. Knowing that his body, outlined against the light from outside, would make an ideal target, Ezra dropped to the floor and swung his automatic into action. As he did so the girl extinguished the lantern with a single swift blow, leaving the room in total blackness, save for the path made by the light in the hallway.

For probably twenty seconds there wasn't a sound. Then Marks caught a glimpse of a moving figure and fired, leaping to one side as he did so in order to avoid the fusillade directed at the flash of his revolver.

By a cry from the other side of the room he knew that his shot had gone home, and a moment later he had an opportunity to wing another of his a.s.sailants, again drawing a volley of shots. The last shot in his clip was fired with a prayer--but it evidently went home, for only silence, punctuated by moans from the opposite side of the room, ensued.

”That night,” concluded Quinn, ”a big sailing vessel was met off Point Banda and they found a full month's supply of opium aboard of her. A search of Lower California, near the border, also disclosed a burying ground with many of the graves packed with cans of the drug. The raid, of course, was a violation of Mexican neutrality--but they got away with it.”

”The girl?” I cut in. ”What became of her?”

”When the police reached the house a few moments after Marks had fired the last shot, they found that Sprague was dead with one of Ezra's bullets through his brain. The three Chinamen were wounded, but not fatally. The girl, however, was huddled in a corner, dead. No one ever discovered whether she stopped one of the bullets from Marks's revolver or whether she was killed by Sprague's men as a penalty for putting out the lantern. Undoubtedly, that saved Ezra's life--which was the reason that he saw that she was given a decent funeral and an adequate memorial erected over her grave.

”He also kept her jacket as a memento of the affair, turning the hatchet over to me for my collection. Under it you will find a copy of the wire he sent the chief.”

Curious, I went over and read the yellow slip framed beneath the weapon:

Opium smuggled in coffins. American, at head of ring, dead.

Gang broken up. Opium seized. What next?

MARKS.

”Didn't wait long for another a.s.signment, did he?” I inquired.

”No,” was the response. ”When you're working for Uncle Sam you come to find that excitement is about the only thing that keeps your nerves quiet. Sometimes, as in Marks's case, it's the thrill of the actual combat. But more often it's the search for a tangible clue--the groping in the dark for something you know exists but which you can't lay your hands on. That was the trouble with the Cheney case....”

XV