There, beneath a glittering ball of bejeweled light, stood a silent, unmoving form. Chief Yates saw it — he also saw the rifle that the figure held.
Men were wondering as they gazed in amazement. But to Chief Yates came understanding.
He knew who this rescuer was. He knew, now, the person who was there to prevent the slaughter. The police were surging forward, but Yates could only stare upward in dumbfounded admiration.
The man in the tower was The Shadow!
CHAPTER XXII
THE SHADOW DEPARTS
THE police had reached the end of the pier. They were battering at the door of the closed building. Chief Yates, recovered from his stupor, was shouting commands. His word was being passed back as he ran ahead.
Now, events happened in amazing sequence. The roar of a powerful motor sounded beneath the bottom of the pier. As Chief Yates reached the rail, a mighty monster seemed to lurch forward from beneath.
With gleaming, brilliant searchlight, a long, swift speedboat shot out into the ocean. Yates — like his companions — raised his gun too late. They fired into the waves as the boat whirled away.
Seated in the rear, surrounded by three other men, was Wheels Bryant. He was at the wheel. Chief Yates uttered a cry of rage as he recognized the face of the man who had been known as Rufus Cruikshank.
Then came a shout of exultation. Speeding inward to intercept the course of the escaping craft were two swift yachts, their lighted decks revealing men with revolvers. They were the first of a scattered line of ships coming from the harbor.
The escaping speedboat swerved. It wanted to avoid these craft; to elude them; to slip away between them. Its motor roared as it turned broadside to the pier. The maneuver was a faulty one. The fast boat was forced to head along the beach; then turn again.
“They’ll get him! They’ll get him!”
Yates shouted in triumph as he saw Wheels Bryant swing directly toward the pier; then turn in the direction of the harbor. Cleverly, the big shot had managed to make the yachts speed past him; but he was heading directly toward a third big boat that was sure to block his course.
Then came a gasp from the helpless police who lined the pier. With the speedboat out of revolver shot, they could do nothing. They saw the glistening barrel of the big machine gun as it turned over the side of the boat.
The purpose was plain. Wheels Bryant was about to run the gauntlet; run it with the odds all in his favor. With that terrible instrument of death, the men on the approaching yacht stood no chance. Before they could deliver a single shot, their decks would be raked by a deadly fire!
THE speedboat made a new maneuver. With remarkable skill, Wheels Bryant turned the helm so that the ship pointed directly toward the spot where the yacht was heading.
With its greater speed, the escaping craft would cut across the bow of the yacht, swing by, and slaughter the unknowing yachtsmen. Then it would head to sea, outstripping all the harbor craft — away to safety, after wholesale murder!
With his new maneuver, Wheels Bryant was bringing the speedboat almost to a stop. It was brutal — fiendish — unnecessary — the plan of a demon in human form, who wished to gloat over victims whom he could well spare.
With a groan, Yates turned away. His pleading eyes — he knew not why — turned upward toward that brilliant tower, toward the silent being in black who had been forgotten in this new excitement.
The police chief stared at what he saw. The rifle had been raised; it rested against the shoulder of the being in black. The left hand was at the muzzle. The black glove — plain in the brilliant light — was pressing a pineapple-shaped object to the rifle.
The hand moved away. The bulging object remained. The rifle spoke. The projectile flashed as it shot on its way. In one split second, Chief Yates knew its meaning.
A rifle grenade!
A deadly missile developed by the World War — a device that could be discharged with accuracy — it was on its way! Swinging, Chief Yates stared at the speedboat. It was turning, momentarily almost motionless upon the waves, heading for its terrible attack.
Then, into that boatload of human fiends, crashed The Shadow’s message!
A terrific explosion sounded. The speedboat seemed to leap into the air. In a bursting, flaming flash, Wheels Bryant and his evil crew went to their doom!
Like a thunderbolt from the sky, The Shadow, with unerring aim, had sounded the death knell of the supermind of crime. With Wheels Bryant perished the last of his kings — Shifter Reeves.
The speedboat was a shattered hulk upon the waves. It floated there, filled with the broken remains of the men who had deserved to die.
The yachts were swinging in, quick to pounce upon the battered prey. With a deep sigh of gratitude, Police Chief Yates again turned his eyes toward the black figure in the tower.
The Shadow!
It was he who had ended the kings of crime; ended their evil by a valorous deed that had saved the lives of men who were to be massacred by fiends.
The Shadow’s triumph!
IT would be a great moment for Chief Yates now. Up there in the tower was a superman who had done superhuman work. He could not leave. For once The Shadow, the lone wolf who fought crime, was in the limelight.
Now, he would be forced to descend and reveal himself in person to the hordes who would be there to cheer him.
The thousands of witnesses understood. Eyes from everywhere were turned toward the tower, where the black form no longer moved, but seemed to be shrinking to obscurity.
The police on the end of the pier were cheering. The cry was being carried back. Its echoes rippled to the board walk, where thousands had gathered along the rail.
The shouts of human voices sounded above the roar of the breaking surf. Huge crowds had seen the doom of the escaping craft. They knew that justice had triumphed; although they — unlike Chief Yates — did not know the source of the bolt that had so unexpectedly fallen.
Now there was motion in that tower. The Shadow was rising, pointing his rifle upward from his lofty perch. His figure blotted out the seaward portion of the glittering ball of light. What was the meaning of this new action?
The answer came from above. The rifle spoke again. A rocket shot skyward! Then tiny lights twinkled high over the pier. They were descending. Into the range of illumination appeared a machine that came coasting downward with the gracefulness of a settling bird.
An autogyro!
Chief Yates recognized the strange craft. It had come to the Seaview City airport two days ago. With its huge horizontal windmill whirling above it, the queer plane seemed almost motionless in mid-air.
Its pilot was guiding it toward that lofty perch. The Shadow was standing there — on a projecting, equatorial platform that girded the globe of light.
Looming larger as it neared the pier, the autogyro settled leisurely until its wheels seemed to pass on either side of the balanced figure in black. Two arms reached forward and upward. They grasped the shaft between the wheels.
Then, with renewed roar, the autogyro swept forward. Its descent ceased; its speed increased. The form of The Shadow raised. With cloak flowing in the breeze, the agile figure gained the bottom of the ship and disappeared up into the cabin!
That happened as the plane whirled above the spot where Chief Yates stood. The ship was rising in the air, roaring fast across the black waters of the ocean, sailing onward, upward, until it, then, was lost in the great beyond.
The Shadow’s work was ended!
The Shadow was gone!