The old man paused. His evil nature was to the fore. The four who were doomed knew well that there was no escape. With great wealth awaiting him, Harwin Dowser, now turned fiend, would certainly show no mercy.
TENSE silence. No one moved. Dowser turned to the pretended vigilantes. He raised his hand as in a signal. It was the token that murder should be done.
As Dowser acted, Sheriff Taussig overcame all hesitation. Thrusting his hand in his pocket, he reached for his revolver in an effort to make a last attempt for life.
Graham Wellerton was madly trying to shield Eunice Delkin. The girl’s father saw that he could not aid. Carma Urstead was scurrying toward the side of the room. Wolf Daggert and Harwin Dowser were calmly drawing revolvers.
All these actions, performed by those of both factions, apparently meant nothing as the vigilantes leveled their guns to shoot. But before a single revolver shot broke forth, an interruption came with amazing suddenness. From the side door of the room, a pair of automatics burst loose with unexpected results.
No one had seen the presence of The Shadow as the master of darkness had arrived to watch this drama. Those who stared now saw only long tongues of flame that came with the startling cannonade. Masked mobsmen fell as bullets struck them.
Those behind turned to meet the attack. Quick shots were fired toward the spot where The Shadow stood.
Well had The Shadow calculated.
The only bullets that came in his direction were those dispatched without accurate aim. Before his enemies could fire deadly shots, The Shadow dropped them with his unerring marksmanship.
The first four vigilantes went down; as the second squad leaped to the fray, distant shots sounded beyond the front door. The Shadow’s agents: Harry Vincent and Cliff Marsland, the latter brought from New York, were opening fire upon the outside watchers!
The reserve mobsmen wavered. Shots from the unexpected quarter made them hesitate. That was all The Shadow needed. His mammoth automatics continued their rapid fire, Two mobsmen, one wounded, the other unscathed, staggered through the big room toward the hall. The others lay as victims of the fray.
To Sheriff Taussig, whose gun was in his hand, The Shadow left Harwin Dowser and Wolf Daggert for the moment. The automatics were barking through the hallway, to stop the gangsters who were fleeing, and to halt those who were tumbling in from outside.
Taussig had Wolf Daggert covered; had the sheriff acted as The Shadow had expected, he could have dropped the gang leader and covered Harwin Dowser.
Taussig, however, paused; and while he held Wolf at bay, Dowser performed the action. The lawyer fired. Taussig staggered with a bullet in his shoulder.
Graham Wellerton fell upon Wolf Daggert and wrestled with the gang leader. Wolf’s gun barked as Graham yanked it from him. Wounded in the left hand, Graham staggered back and fired point-blank as Wolf leaped upon him. The gangster fell victim to a bullet from his own revolver.
Ralph Delkin was grappling with Harwin Dowser. The lawyer broke free and aimed at Sheriff Taussig, who was lying on the floor. Graham Wellerton, his wounded hand pressed to his body, aimed his revolver at the old lawyer. Graham’s action was too late to prevent the shot that was planned to kill Ellis Taussig, but another hand acted while the young man faltered.
A roar from the door. The Shadow had delivered another bullet from the automatic. Harwin Dowser screamed as the revolver fell from his shattered hand. Graham Wellerton, already pressing the trigger of his revolver, could not stop. His bullet entered Dowser’s body. The fiend collapsed upon the floor.
Weakened by his wound, Graham Wellerton leaned upon a chair. It was then that a new factor entered the fray.
Carma Urstead was creeping toward the doorway to the living room. Suddenly the woman arose. Her face was evil as her hand leveled a mobsman’s revolver toward Graham Wellerton’s body.
EUNICE DELKIN saw. With a call of warning, the brave girl leaped forward and placed herself between Graham and the leveled gun. Carma Urstead sneered. Coldly, she aimed to slay Eunice Delkin. The girl never wavered.
As Carman looked toward the object of her aim, she saw a form beyond. Looming within the doorway at the side of the room was the tall figure of The Shadow. Cold eyes — a steady automatic — both were turned toward Carma.
The woman stood petrified, with finger upon the trigger of the revolver. She was afraid to fire. She knew that she was in the power of The Shadow! Slowly, she began to retreat; the glare of those steady eyes made her falter.
The Shadow warred with men. Evil though Carma Urstead was, the master fighter had no intent to slay her. He knew that the very terror of his presence would prevail; that Carma would weaken before his inflexible gaze. The gun was already wavering in the woman’s grasp.
But Sheriff Taussig, prone in a corner of the room saw only Carma and Eunice. He did not know why Carma hesitated. He observed the evil glare in the woman’s eyes; he fancied that she was withholding vengeance merely to enjoy it more fully. The Shadow was beyond Taussig’s range of vision.
Raising his revolver, Sheriff Taussig propped himself on his right elbow, and pressed the trigger of his weapon. With that shot, Carma Urstead staggered. The revolver fell from her hand as she collapsed. Like the others, the woman had paid the penalty of crime.
A strange, creepy laugh shuddered through the room. Startled eyes turned toward the doorway. They saw nothing — these persons whom The Shadow had rescued. The master fighter, with a quick swish of his sable-hued cloak, had merged with the gloom beyond the door.
The Shadow’s work was done. Justice had prevailed over insidious crime. Only a trailing laugh remained, an eerie sound which died with mystic echoes after the weird visitant had departed.
Graham Wellerton alone understood the meaning of that sinister cry. To him, the uncanny mirth meant more than The Shadow’s triumph. It signified that this master fighter who knew all the circumstances had left him — Graham Wellerton — free to pursue his future along the path of right.
CHAPTER XXV
THE STRAIGHT ROAD
THE consequences of the fierce fight at Harwin Dowser’s were amazing to Graham Wellerton. Villains had brought doom upon themselves, and when reason had formed from chaos, Graham found himself freed from the threatening dangers of his past.
Sheriff Ellis Taussig, recognized instrument of the law in Southwark, was the man who took control of the entire situation. To Taussig, the crimes of Harwin Dowser and his associates were evident, while the charges made against Graham Wellerton were doubtful.
The facts were plainly told. Harwin Dowser had coveted Graham Wellerton’s millions. The attorney had joined forces with two schemers of criminal tendencies: Wolf Daggert, New York gang leader, and Carma Urstead, adventuress, who claimed to be Graham Wellerton’s wife.
Blackmail failing, Graham had been tricked into making a will in the woman’s favor. The villains had plotted murder; and to cover it by making Graham’s death seem justifiable, had kidnaped Eunice Delkin. They had also called in New York mobsmen, and disguised them as local vigilantes.
With these evil deeds uncovered, Graham Wellerton stood forth as a man who deserved sympathy. The only charges made against him were those which had been advanced by scoundrels.
Moreover, an important document — one which had in some mysterious fashion replaced a false one — acted further in Graham’s behalf. This paper was the marriage license that proved Carma Urstead to be the legal wife of Wolf Daggert.
Eunice Delkin’s testimony showed that she had been used as a pretext for the murder of Graham Wellerton. Ralph Delkin, his daughter restored and the truth known, was profuse in his admiration for Wellerton’s courage.