A scream from Tam Sook. The Shadow’s deflected bullet had scored a hit. The Chinaman was wounded. His trap had failed. The Shadow was still a menace. More shots, if they came through that ebony bulwark, would spell Tam Sook’s doom. The Chinaman did not wait.
Though wounded, he showed remarkable fight. He bobbed up from behind the table like a mandarin-clad jack in the box. His left hand shot out and caught the farther edge. His right hand swung forward with a long, terrific sweep as his body surged across the table top.
A knife glimmered as Tam Sook hurled it across the room. The deed was a swift one, performed before The Shadow could respond. As the automatic barked another bullet toward Tam Sook’s unprotected body. the flashing blade was already on its murderous course.
Had Tam Sook aimed the knife for the hanging shape of The Shadow, he would have certainly gained a hit. But such a stroke, to end The Shadow, would have had to reach his heart. That was why Tam Sook had chosen a different mark.
He had thrown the knife above The Shadow’s head, choosing as his target the white hand that clutched the wicket bar. Straight for the glimmering girasol. That had been Tam Sook’s aim. The Chinaman’s hope was to loose the hold that alone kept The Shadow from destruction.
The speeding weapon missed by the fraction of an inch. The whizzing blade breezed the knuckles of The Shadow’s fingers as it flashed between two bars of the wicket and bounded from the metal door beyond the anteroom. The Shadow’s clutch remained unloosened.
But Tam Sook fared less happily. In his venomous effort to dispose of his uncanny foe, the Chinaman had made himself an unprotected target. The quick response of The Shadow’s automatic was a shot that found its mark.
Half across the table, Tam Sook jounced upward as the bullet reached him. Writhing in agony, the Chinaman sprawled forward. His body could not stop its lunge. His clutching claws slipped as they tried to grasp the edges of the ebony stand.
Sliding forward in twisting fashion, Tam Sook delivered a high-pitched cry as his momentum carried him clear beyond the table edge. Pitching downward, head-foremost, the dying Mongol plunged into the darkened abyss. His scream trailed as he fell. Then came a dull crash from beneath. Faint, gasping moans reached The Shadow’s ears from far below. Then came silence.
Grimly, The Shadow laughed. It was the first sound that he had uttered since his arrival in this den of death. Echoed mockery was token of The Shadow’s triumph over the fiendish efforts of Tam Sook. That laugh, also, was foreboding. Its hollow mirth told of the danger which The Shadow still faced.
Hanging from the bar of the wicket, The Shadow was still above the opened pit. There was no means by which he could open the door. While he remained in this predicament, The Shadow could rely upon endurance only to prolong his life. Should his firm hold weaken, he would follow Tam Sook into the depths.
THIS was an emergency for which The Shadowy was fortunately prepared. When he fared forth upon adventure, The Shadow necessarily equipped himself for obstacles. Time and again, he was forced to scale outer walls in order to gain a goal. To accomplish this, he carried special devices in the form of rubber suction cups.
While his left hand still retained its hold upon the bar, The Shadow thrust his right beneath his cloak. He left his automatic there. In its place, he brought out a greased rubber disk. He pressed this firmly against the surface of the door and twisted it in place. Carefully, he released the bar and drew his hand away.
The suction cup held.
The left hand went beneath the cloak and brought forth a second disk. This clamped against the wall and showed its ability to grip. Twisting the right hand cup free, The Shadow moved along the wall.
Hand over hand, a hazardous course. The Shadow moved beetlelike among the hideous paintings that glared from the sides of this outlandish room. Ordinarily, The Shadow would have utilized emergency disks that fitted to his feet. The difficulty of adjusting them had forced him to forgo those aids to safety.
In order to reach a spot of security, The Shadow had to tour half around the room. He made the first corner. Suction cups squidged as he continued to the next. At the second turn, The Shadow paused; both disks pressed firmly to the wall.
There, he pressed his feet against the painted face of a Chinese devil and arched his body backward. The action eased the strain upon his arms. For two long minutes, The Shadow remained, swaying slightly from left to right that he might relax his muscles for a new ordeal. Then he resumed his precarious way.
Foot by foot, along the gilded painting of a Chinese dragon, The Shadow followed the final course. As he neared his goal, he moved upward on the wall. His climbing progress carried him above the arch of the half dome. The Shadow’s feet settled upon the very edge of the ebony table.
The Shadow knew that the blackwood stand was firmly clamped. Hence he relied upon his foothold. He loosened one suction cup with a twist and shook it free from his hand. It bounced upon the table and rolled into Tam Sook’s chair.
The Shadow did not attempt to pull away the second cup. Such a twist, without the holding force of the other disk, would have precipitated his balanced body back into the yawning pit. The suction cups had a tendency to resist release.
Holding the edge of the archway with his free left hand, The Shadow managed to pull his right from the grip-glove that covered the clamped cup. That done, he eased into the nook and gained Tam Sook’s chair.
Bending below the table, The Shadow discovered the pedal of which the Chinaman had spoken. He stooped and pressed it with one hand. Rumbling, the portions of the floor came up in place. Beside the pedal was a clamp. The Shadow swung it and held the pedal down. The room was restored to its former order.
WITH a soft laugh, The Shadow climbed upon the table and pried his suction cup free from the spot above the arch. He made a close examination of the desk. There he found control buttons and pressed them. The door with the wicket slid open; also the barrier beyond the anteroom. The Shadow let them shut.
He knew that there must be other controls somewhere on the stairway up which he had come. But what means had Tam Sook used for exit from the room? Closer examination gave the answer. Above each switch was a little catch. The Shadow pressed both devices. The doors slid open.
Slowly, the catches moved like pointers on a dial. It required half a minute for them to reach their limit.
Then the doors slid shut automatically. This was the means whereby Tam Sook had been wont to depart from his strange den.
On the other side of the table was a single switch with a catch above it. The Shadow knew that this must control the door that showed in the end of the room. He felt sure that Diamond Bert must have arrived here by that entrance. The Shadow decided to use it as an exit.
He found a light switch centered beneath the table. He pressed it. Darkness filled the room. Then The Shadow pressed the catch that controlled the single door. With glimmering flashlight, he saw the barrier slide open. Stepping from the nook, he made in that direction.
Passing through the portal, The Shadow found himself in a sloping space beneath a pair of steps. A click; the sliding door went shut. That did not disturb The Shadow. He found a release that opened a section of the stairway. He went through and pushed the steps shut behind him.
The twinkling flashlight showed that The Shadow had reached the normal portion of the house. This flight of steps led up to a small attic. At the bottom, where The Shadow now stood, was a heavy door, bolted.
The Shadow extinguished his light and softly drew the bolt. He stepped into an outer hall.
This house fronted upon a side street. The proof was a dull glimmer from lights along the thoroughfare.