The Spider Strain | Page 6

She
probably will dance with a lot of chaps and give me time to do my
work. I'll be more careful, too, if she is there--be afraid of making some
silly mistake and wrecking our happiness. By the way, do
these--er--other chaps of whom you spoke know that I am going after
that locket?"
"They know that I am after it, and that you are one of my trusted men,"
The Spider replied. "And so, naturally, they will think that you are on
the job when they see you at the Barker place."
"Suppose they will be there, too? Are they the sort that could go to a
place like that?" Warwick asked.
"I haven't the slightest idea, Warwick."
"I'd better lose no time then, what? I'll get to work as soon as
possible--nab the silly thing before anybody else can!"
"That would be best, I think. Do you want any help?"
"I fancy not," Warwick replied. "I'd probably work much better alone
in such a case. I may use Togo, if it proves necessary. He is worth a
dozen ordinary men."
"Very well; have it your own way and use your own methods," the
supercriminal told him. "All I'm interested in is the proper result. I want
that locket, Warwick. I must have it--and I don't want you to fail!"
"My word! You speak as though I always had failed!" Warwick
complained. "Never failed yet, have I?"

"There is a first time for everything, Warwick," said the supercriminal,
"and I am not eager for this to be your first failure. Keep your eyes
open for the others. I am sorry that I can give you no definite
information concerning them."
"Then I suppose I'll have to be suspicious of everybody--what?"
Warwick said. "I'd better toddle along now, old and respected sir! I
have to see Silvia again, hurry home, dress--all that sort of silly rot.
'Bye!"
"Good luck, Warwick!"
"Thanks, old sir and employer! I fancy that this will not be a very
difficult job. Getting a silly locket that hangs on the end of a chain--my
word!"
"Ten thousand in it for you, Warwick. That will pay for a honeymoon."
"Not for the sort that Silvia and I intend having, but it will help some,"
Warwick replied "'Bye!"
Warwick left the den of The Spider, and hurried down the stairs to
where Silvia was waiting for him.
"Everything is jolly well all right, dear girl," he reported "I have a
couple more tasks to perform for your uncle and then I am to
be--er--free. Understand? And then--!"
"You'll be careful, John?"
"Of course! My word! Be jolly well careful when a mistake would
mean my losing you! We are going to Mrs. Burton Barker's place
tonight, remember!"
"Will you have work to do there, John?"
"Now, now! Little girls should not ask too many questions, you know!"
"But I am interested!" Silvia declared. "And perhaps I might be able to

help you!"
"Heaven forbid!" Warwick exclaimed fervently. "Allow you to run into
danger--what? My word!"
"Oh, perhaps you think that I am not clever enough to help you," she
accused. "Please remember, sir, that The Spider is my uncle, and some
of the same strain of blood that is in his veins flows through mine!"
"Why, my dear girl!"
"And I'd like to help you," she coaxed.
"But I don't fancy that you can in this--er--particular case," Warwick
told her. "Perhaps you may in the other--the last one--we'll see about it
later. We can't afford to take any unnecessary risks, you know. I'll tell
you a bit more about it tonight. Have to toddle along now--dinner, dress,
all that sort of thing. 'Bye!"
Warwick kissed her again, and then he hurried out to the curb. But he
shivered as he sprang into his roadster.
"Just fancy a girl as sweet as Silvia running the danger of arrest to help
me steal a silly locket," he mused as he drove rapidly up the boulevard.
"My word! It isn't being done! Not the proper sort of thing at
all--what?"
Chapter 3
Togo Shows Emotion
TOGO was the peer of all Japanese valets, as John Warwick often had
said--and yet he was more than that. Though the world in general did
not suspect, Togo himself was a valued member of The Spider's band,
and had been for years before John Warwick was induced to join it.
Togo had worked for the supercriminal in the old days in Paris, and he
knew many things about the band that even John Warwick did not

know. The deeds of The Spider and his men and women were mild now
to what they had been in those days before an accident made a cripple
of the supercriminal and prevented his active physical participation in
the band's doings. Though