“We got your phone call, Cliff,” said Nipper, as they rode along. “Give us the lay. We’re ready for anything!”
Cliff was bewildered. Then understanding dawned. During that twenty-minute interval between phone calls, The Shadow had called Nipper, and had told him to be on hand with Patsy and Dave. In doing so, The Shadow must have simulated Cliff’s voice to perfection.
These were the men whom Cliff was to meet! It was Nipper who had saved his life — but back of it lay the action of The Shadow!
“Pull up here, Patsy,” ordered Cliff. He left the car and entered a store a short way down the street. He called the usual number, and heard the quiet voice.
Briefly, Cliff explained what had happened. Then came the instructions that Cliff had not received before. He nodded, almost to himself, as he listened to the words over the wire.
Back in the car, he instructed Patsy where to drive. The car stopped in an obscure street behind a parked truck.
“We’ll wait here a while,” said Cliff, as he and his men clambered into the truck, “and while we’re waiting, I’ll tell you what we’re going to do.”
DOWN on a Brooklyn dock, a crowd of men were assembled. They were dock wallopers, and they stood idly by while a smaller group conferred.
Bart Hennesy and his chief lieutenant, Spunk Hogan, were talking with Hoke Larrigan. There was antagonism in the air.
Technically, the dock wallopers all owed allegiance to Bart Hennesy. Some of them had come with him and Spunk. Less than half of the crowd were Larrigan’s workers, although this was a dock where Larrigan held sway.