"That seems what you may call foolish!"
"I don't know about that, professor."
"What!" Doctor Zerndorff's voice indicated great surprise. "You would believe that there is one that they would call as master — one person that they would not know, and yet would do as he would say?"
Cardona paced back and forth across the room. He rubbed his chin speculatively, as though seeking a reply to Doctor Zerndorff's question. Then he turned and looked directly at the criminologist.
"I have heard of something as strange as that!" he said. "Yes, professor, right here in New York!
"You and I think in very practical terms. You have dealt with bombers — with men that hide and work like snakes in the grass. I have dealt with gunmen, who shoot in the open — anywhere.
"But I have encountered a man who is a master! No one knows who he is. Yet I have seen gangsters who have become like frightened children at the mere mention of his name!"
"Ah!" exclaimed Doctor Zerndorff. "And who is this so wonderful person?"
"They call him The Shadow!"
"The Shadow?"
"Yes!"
"What does he do? Is he one criminal like the rest? Could it be that he is the one of which they may speak?"
"No," said Cardona thoughtfully. "He is not a criminal — nor is he a detective. That is, so far as I know. He may be one or the other. In fact, you can't really tell what he may be.
"He strikes in the dark. He has his agents, but we have never discovered them. He has been at war with crooks, and at certain times, they have fallen into our hands through his efforts. At the same time, he will not hesitate to battle with police and detectives if they interfere with his plan!"
"Why is he called 'The Shadow?'"
"Because that is what he is — The Shadow! He moves in the dark. He disappears like a will-o'-the-wisp. His voice has been heard — over the radio. He has broadcast once a week over a national hookup."
"And yet you do not know what man he is?"
"How could we tell? We have wanted him at times; but have always found that we have been mistaken. We have never been able to identify him enough to warrant an investigation.
"Some people have called him a myth — yet I know that he exists."
"You have seen him?"
"Yes! Always clad in a cloak of black, with his face hidden beneath the brim of a huge, turned-down hat. Then he disappears.
"Sometimes I have met men whom I believed were The Shadow. But there has been no proof."
"I should like to meet this man," said Doctor Zerndorff thoughtfully. "This one man that you call The Shadow. He must know the one way that is sure to deal with those that have brains bad with crime. That is to fight them without the law.
"It is the only way that is sure. I have been with the law for so many years that I have seen that! Very often, Herr Detective."
"You are right, professor," agreed Cardona. "Well, maybe we'll hear from The Shadow yet!"
"Ah! You think so, yes? Why is that?"
"This is a big case, professor. We've got the right men, all right, and we're going to hold onto them. But there may be more to it — gangsters and guns, as well as these bomb planters.
"If there are, it's big; and if it's big — well, that's when The Shadow may show up! If we've got to the heart of it, well and good; if we haven't — then — look for The Shadow!"
"The Shadow!" repeated Doctor Zerndorff.
Cardona nodded. He went toward the door.
"Well, professor," he said, in parting, "we'll need you any time now. The inspector will be up to see you. We can count on you for full cooperation, professor?"
Doctor Zerndorff bowed.
The door closed behind the detective. Doctor Heinrich Zerndorff stood motionless. The eyes of the celebrated criminologist glowed with interest.
In all his years of warring against crime, this famous man had never before heard a practical-minded detective speak as Joe Cardona had spoken.
"The Shadow," said Doctor Zerndorff, in a low, thoughtful voice, with guttural accent. "I should like to meet this man that they call The Shadow. I should like to meet him, yes!"
He turned and went into his laboratory. There he encountered his serving-man, who questioned him in German.
"They have gone, sir?" the man asked.
"Detective Cardona has gone," replied Doctor Zerndorff, in the same language.
"But Herr Inspector?"
"I did not see him."
"He came a few minutes after Herr Detective—" The man's expression denoted bewilderment. "I told him to join Herr Detective, in the room upstairs, to await you!"
Doctor Zerndorff turned suddenly. He left the laboratory and went into the room where he had talked with Cardona.
The chair in which the detective had been sitting was turned with its back toward the door. It would have been easily possible for someone to have entered without Cardona's knowledge.
Doctor Zerndorff crossed the room and whisked aside a curtain that hung beside the window. He saw nothing but the wall. He glanced quickly from the window but saw no one in the street below.
Then he stepped across the room and studied the curtains that hung upon each side of the window. The top of the curtain on the right was stretched fully eight inches farther than the one on the left.
"Otto," called Doctor Zerndorff.
His man entered.
"The curtains are not even," said Doctor Zerndorff, in German.
"I am sorry, sir," came the reply. "I always keep them even, sir."
There was a slight look of puzzlement on the man's face. He arranged the curtains with his usual precision and Doctor Zerndorff noted that he narrowed the one on the right to conform with the one on the left.
The curtain which Otto moved was directly behind the chair which Cardona had occupied.
"This Shadow," murmured Doctor Zerndorff. "I think some day I shall meet him!"
CHAPTER VII. THE HUNTED MAN
WHEN Joe Cardona had mentioned the name of The Shadow to Doctor Heinrich Zerndorff, he had obeyed a sudden impulse. This had not been due entirely to chance. Cardona had been thinking of The Shadow.
Whenever the detective encountered the unexplainable in any mystery, he always thought of The Shadow. In this particular case, the unexplainable had entered. It concerned the finding of the bomb in the office of Barr Childs.
Cardona had admitted that he had received a tip-off. It had come over the telephone. He had been told to go to that particular office in the Financial Building, and that there he would discover a planted bomb.
So he had acted. He had found the bomb. But he had not been able to trace the phone call, nor had he any evidence that pointed to the identity of his informant.
The search for the person who had called Cardona at headquarters had been one of the many mystifying details that had come up during the investigation.
Inspector Burke, Doctor Zerndorff, and the others knew that Cardona had received a phone call. But all had taken it for granted that the quizzing of the suspects would clear this minor mystery. Such was not the case.
The voice that Cardona had heard had seemed vaguely familiar. The detective had encountered The Shadow in the past. He had heard the voice of The Shadow. It had differed on various occasions, and in this present instance, Cardona was too wise to mention his idea that The Shadow was the one who had called.
After all, the man of the night was officially a myth. The bombing investigations were moving satisfactorily, and the subject of The Shadow was a good one to forget.
The fact that the unexploded bomb had been placed in the Financial Building fitted in with the accepted theory that the series of crimes had been actuated by terrorists.