Two bullets struck the steel surface of the Pullman. One ricocheted and hit the State policeman. The injured man rolled beneath the car just in time to escape a fatal shot.
Maddox crouched beside the shattered window. The cold breeze served to revive him. Grim and determined, he awaited the next attack.
The troopers were retiring. Maddox could see them slinking away. He fired, but they were out of range. He suddenly sensed danger from beneath. He leaned cautiously from the window, sure that he would be unseen.
He fancied that he saw a form below. Down came his gun. Then a black shape seemed to rise. A long, black arm swung upward. It knocked the automatic from the murderer’s hand. A backward blow from that same arm, and cold metal struck Maddox behind his ear. He managed to roll into the safety of the drawing-room, scarcely conscious.
Out of the night, The Shadow had returned to strike!
The retiring State policemen paused. They could not see what had occurred; yet they were sure something had happened to their enemy. The one uninjured trooper dashed boldly to the side of the car. Scrambling up to the window, automatic in hand, he leaned through.
Maddox had lost his loaded gun; now he swung weakly with the empty automatic that remained. The State trooper dropped away, firing point-blank as he escaped the blow.
All was still in the steel-walled stronghold after that.
When the State policeman entered through the window, he found Maddox lying dead, sprawled over the lifeless body of Acting Inspector Zull.
The train moved on its way, with the troopers in charge. The two wounded policemen were taken to a hospital at the next town.
Hardly had the Limited departed from that isolated spot before a roar came from a near-by field, the site of an old landing place for airplanes. A plane rose in the air and sped southward.
AT next morning’s breakfast, New Yorkers read the news. Heroic Herbert Zull had gotten his last man!
Accompanied by one associate, he had boarded the Canadian Limited and had sought to capture Bob Maddox, now known as the escaping murderer who had slain Zachary Mitchell.
Zull had shot Maddox; but evidently the murderer had killed his captor after Zull’s companion had left the train. State police had arrived and finished the criminal after an attack upon his improvised stronghold.
The conductor and the passengers told varied stories. So did the State policemen.
Zull’s companion was unknown. It was probable that the inspector had told him to leave after the capture; that Zull intended to ride on with the prisoner.
It was simply known that Zull had called railway officials, and had arranged the stopping of the train; and that he had also notified State police to appear upon the scene to aid him.
To Bob Galvin, all was confused memory. He was free, back at his uncle’s old home.
Harry Vincent, his temporary companion and friend, had left. But Betty Mandell was home — happy and amazed to find that the real Bob Galvin fulfilled her expectations.
She was able to explain, in part. But both she and Bob were astounded when they received, from a mysterious source, the sum of three hundred thousand dollars, a legacy from the late Theodore Galvin.
Other persons in different parts of the country received sums that they had never expected. The Shadow, aided by the information gained from Theodore Galvin’s papers, made retribution to persons who had been swindled or robbed; and to the relatives of some who had died.
The finding of the bodies in the secret room of the Royal Building was sensational news.
It was learned that Hiram Mallory had led a double life, dealing with crooks to gain wealth. The broken window showed that Garry Elvers had fallen from that spot.
But it did not explain the false impression that Bob Maddox had gained when he had seen the gangster enveloped in The Shadow’s cloak. That had been deceiving in the gloomy room.
It was believed that the secret room was a hideout where the criminals had engaged in conflict among themselves. The two men who might have altered this opinion were dead — Richard Harkness and Zachary Mitchell.
Had the confession of Herbert Zull been made public, it might have been a clew; but The Shadow did not bring it to light. The masquerading inspector had atoned for his misdeeds.
That confession reposed, with Theodore Galvin’s cryptic map, along with other strange and remarkable documents, in the secret archives of The Shadow!