But these meant nothing, compared to the crowd ahead. “Boney” and his mob, though not in view, were waiting there until the sedan might appear. Ruff knew what Snakes was thinking. He added a comment.
“Maybe Boney won’t get a chance,” laughed Ruff. “Jake’ll be driving slow when he comes this way. These birds with me” — he was nudging his hand back toward the alley — “are handy with the rods. I’ve got some other sharpshooters across the way, too.”
“It’s time the car was starting,” observed Snakes.
“Give them time,” growled Ruff. “Give them time.”
Snakes was staring. He fancied that he had seen a motion at the side of the sedan. Was some one lingering there, in the darkness of the car? The stoop-shouldered watcher growled his disapproval of the delay. Ruff came back with a laugh.
“I’ve fixed that all right,” he remarked. “If the car don’t start, we’ll know why, quick enough. See — there’s a guy looking in now!”
A tough-looking rowdy had arrived alongside of the sedan. He had crept up from the sidewalk. Another was approaching from the opposite side of the street. One was reaching for one front door of the sedan, the other for the door opposite.
The doors opened simultaneously. A startled growl came from Ruff Shefflin. Out of one door tumbled the sprawling form of a man. A similar figure dropped from the other. Jake and Caulkey, Ruff’s two watchdogs. Both had met with disaster the moment that they had entered the sedan!
What was the answer? Only that the stranger had not trusted the two men sent to drive him away. Despite the caution of Ruff Shefflin’s henchmen, the two had been knocked unconscious by unseen blows dealt them in the darkness of the car!
ANOTHER advancing gangster had leaped forward with the two who had opened the doors to let Jake and Caulkey drop out. This man was the gang leader, “Woody,” who was serving as Ruff Shefflin’s lieutenant. Ruff and Snakes saw Woody yank open the rear door of the sedan, and throw the rays of a flashlight inward while he held a revolver in his other fist.
Even from the distance of the alley where they watched, Ruff and Snakes could see the answer. The glare of the flashlight showed the interior of the sedan in all completeness. The car was empty!
Snakes Blakey realized the truth. The person who had entered the sedan had slipped out the other door after knocking out Jake and Caulkey. He was hiding there now, in the darkness at the side of the car. If Woody would only throw the flashlight’s beam to the street side of the sedan!
In answer to the thought, Woody performed the action. The farther door of the sedan swung outward. The glare of the flashlight hit the street; with it came other rays from new torches that approaching gangsters threw toward the focal point.
Of a sudden, the left side of the sedan was illuminated. It was then that a cry came from Ruff Shefflin’s harsh lips — a cry that was echoed from other spots along the silent street.
Moving swiftly from the car, swinging straight into the center of the focused lights, was a weaving form in black. Like a hideous specter of the night, this strange creature had come into view.
For one brief instant, amazing suspense hung over all. It was upon that instant that Ruff Shefflin shouted forth his realization of identity — the name of the being whom he had been set to trap. The gang leader’s cry was filled with fury, yet the venom of his recognition was tinged with the note of uncontrollable fear.
For the name which Ruff was uttering was one which the underworld held in awe.
“The Shadow!”
CHAPTER X
THE SHADOW’S FLIGHT
RUFF SHEFFLIN had recognized The Shadow. So had the others who now thronged the street. All these men of mobland were amazed, with one exception — Snakes Blakey.
The sneaky gangster who served as Gray Fist’s emissary had known the identity of the stranger who had entered the car. Snakes, however, had wisely refrained from mentioning it. He knew the reason why Gray Fist had ordered out the hordes of gangdom. It would take many to battle with this one — The Shadow.
Snakes had looked for the unexpected. He had not believed that The Shadow’s strategy would come so soon. Indeed, Snakes had believed that The Shadow had come to yield to Gray Fist’s ultimatum. Snakes had expected the trouble later — when The Shadow would find himself completely trapped.
The Shadow had done the unexpected. He had anticipated treachery on the part of Gray Fist. He had known that the pretended offer of safety had been a fake. Snakes realized this; at the same time Snakes was elated. For although The Shadow had met Gray Fist’s subterfuge, Gray Fist, in return, had prepared for The Shadow’s counterstroke.
Mobsmen, human wolves, fight in packs. Lone combatants would have feared The Shadow’s wrath. Gray Fist had foreseen the fact, and had not trusted to a mere handful of gorillas. He had turned loose the hordes of gangland. He had known that stark terror would change to fiendish rage once a host of mobsters realized that they had the opportunity to defeat their greatest enemy!
So had Gray Fist reckoned. So had Snakes Blakey known. But the first reaction of the surrounding mobsters was one of individual terror. Startled eyes that saw The Shadow produced the natural response. Despite their numbers, the gangsters who had uncovered The Shadow dropped away. Skulking rats, they looked for cover as quickly as possible.
The Shadow acted. Amid the glare of the receding flashlights, his gloved hands swung. Huge automatics thundered the first shots in the battle. One straight-aimed bullet sped through the door of the sedan. A wild cry sounded. Woody, the gang leader, who had dropped back at sight of The Shadow, came tumbling rearward to the sidewalk through the door which he had first entered.
The mobster who had previously opened the front door of the sedan, was the recipient of The Shadow’s other bullet. With a piercing shriek, this mobster crumpled, and his flashlight clattered uselessly to the paving of the street.
Flashlights clicked out. From the darkness blazed new bursts of flame. The Shadow, weaving his way across the street, was picking his enemies from amid the gloom. Snarling gangsters were firing wildly with revolvers, aiming at the spots where they could see The Shadow’s automatics blaze. But The Shadow, moving weirdly, was merging with the darkness of the houses. Revolver shots were wild. The bullets from the automatics were shooting true.
RUFF SHEFFLIN cried an order. Out from the alley behind him piled four mobsters. From across the way, another four appeared. Dropping close to the sidewalk, they fired in vain at an unseen target. Ruff, commander of these forces, clung to the safety of the alley, with Snakes crouching beside him.
“Look!”
Snakes snarled the word to Ruff in exultation. From the doorway of the Black Ship, a squad of mobsters was spreading across the street. These men were dashing forward, forming a living wall which no one could penetrate.
“They’ll get him!” growled Ruff.
Then came the bark of automatics. From the temporary shelter of a niche in an opposite wall, The Shadow had spied the advancing squad. The thundering cannonade of his automatics came in swift staccato. One mobster sprawled forward. Another paused, swayed, and collapsed. A third and fourth went down like nine-pins.
The squad broke for shelter. Leaping for alleys, for the steps of houses, they sought safety points from which they could resist the weird attack. Then came a cessation of The Shadow’s fire. This lull was cleverly induced.
The mobsters, as they raised their guns, looked in vain for new bursts of flame. The Shadow had downed his adversaries when they were in the open. He foiled them now that they had taken to ambush.