The Shadow's Justice s-28

by Maxwell Grant

  “Apparently. Come on, Carter, let’s get going! We’ll talk about it on the way to my car.”

  Packing some of their belongings, Harry and Carter strode out into the clearing. Harry maintained silence while they looked over the field of battle. Five mobsmen lay dead—among them was Twister Edmonds, whom neither knew.

  “There must have been more than a dozen of them,” remarked Carter. “If we figure five dead, and at least the same number wounded, they were pretty well mopped up.”

  THE two men reached the woods and advanced cautiously, using a flashlight as a guide. They had brought only essential luggage, so were not heavily burdened. Both were on the alert for hidden enemies.

  “Where are we bound?” questioned Carter.

  “To Summit Lake,” answered Harry. “Town just over the Wisconsin line. Hotel there—that’s where we’ll stop.”

  “In these outfits?”

  Carter was referring to khaki knickers and leather puttees which both were wearing.

  “Why not?” asked Harry. “This is primitive country. They won’t refuse to admit us at the Summit Lake Hotel. If we—” He stopped abruptly and skimmed his flashlight in wide circles, revealing a myriad of clustered tree trunks.

  “Hear anything?” questioned Carter.

  “I thought so,” responded Harry. “Move along easy.”

  He extinguished the light, and the pair went silently forward. The night had clouded, and it was quite dark. After twenty or thirty yards, Harry stopped Carter with a grip, and waited before he again turned on the light.

  “Keep listening,” said Harry grimly. “Some of that mob may still be around. I thought I heard something moving off in the dark among the trees. I think we’re clear now.”

  “Over the Wisconsin line,” mused Carter softly. “That’s not far south of here, is it? Say—I didn’t think this northern peninsula of Michigan was so far up.

  “It’s a strip between Wisconsin and Lake Superior,” reminded Harry. Then, with a laugh: “We’ve both been doing a good bit of map reading lately.”

  Carter’s thoughts reverted to Harry’s plans. He knew that this trip to Summit Lake must be in response to instructions left by The Shadow. The idea of abandoning the cabin was now becoming distasteful to him. He had a feeling of mistrust, awakened by his chance discovery of Drew Westling. Harry sensed Carter’s uneasiness.

  “We’ll be back,” said Harry, in a confidential tone. “It’s best to be away. Now that The—that my chief is here, we’ll begin to get results. Leave it to him for the time being, Carter.”

  “All right,” agreed Carter. “We need a change for a day, anyway. That was a tough ordeal tonight.”

  They reached the spot where they had left the coupe and found the car untouched. Harry took the wheel, and the journey began. Both riders felt an immediate fatigue; but Carter Boswick retained enough initiative to begin a cautious questioning regarding Harry’s mysterious chief.

  Under the present circumstances, and in accordance with a notation that he had read in The Shadow’s message, Harry replied with a more detailed explanation. It was essential that he should retain Carter Boswick’s confidence; and with millions at stake, it was natural that Carter should have qualms.

  IN brief phrases Harry mentioned the strange part that The Shadow played in the affairs of the underworld. A man who moved by night, a lone wolf arrayed on the side of justice, this weird being could strike terror into the evil hearts of the most hardened crime masters.

  The Shadow, Harry stated, was a man of many capabilities. Even as his agent, Harry did not know The Shadow’s abode. He had been rescued from hopeless predicaments by The Shadow’s intervention. In fact, his acquaintance with The Shadow had begun when he had been snatched from the brink of death by the being whose will he now obeyed.

  Harry’s words might have sounded fanciful to any but Carter Boswick. But with the recent demonstration still vivid in Carter’s mind, there was no doubt of The Shadow’s power.

  Carter was still mulling over the amazing events and linking them with his remarkable escapes in Havana and aboard the Southern Star, when the coupe rolled into the outskirts of Summit Lake.

  Harry and Carter not only found the Summit Lake Hotel to be an excellent one; but they also discovered that their garb was an accepted form of attire. Harry and Carter obtained adjoining rooms.

  It was after three o’clock, but all-night card sessions were in progress. The two arrivals decided to stroll about a bit before retiring. Their nerves needed quieting after the excitement of this night.

  On the veranda of the hotel, they finished a belated pipe smoke, and finally went inside. The period of vigilance had ended, and the change was a welcome relief. This was the very thought that Harry expressed to Carter, who had agreed.

  Both were wrong. While they were going up to their rooms, another car was stopping outside the door of the Summit Lake Hotel. A new guest cautiously ascended to the veranda, and peered inside before entering. This newcomer grinned as he inscribed his name upon the register, and noted the signature of Carter Boswick.

  For the new guest was none other than Stacks Lodi. He was one of the few who had scurried to safety in time to escape The Shadow’s fire. He had been hiding among the trees when Harry Vincent and Carter Boswick had passed. He had heard the reference to the Summit Lake Hotel.

  In the woods, Stacks had been afraid to attack two men alone. Here, in a crowded hotel, he was also unable to act. But he had brought himself upon the definite mission of trailing these men whose lives Hub Rowley wanted.

  The big shot’s mob had been defeated; but strategy might succeed where massed strength had failed. Even with The Shadow as an enemy, Stacks Lodi was willing to play the spy. The man was grinning his evil leer when he went up to the room assigned to him by the clerk.

  His part was passive now, Stacks knew; but sooner or later, the men whom he was watching would return to the zone of danger. To-morrow, he would communicate with Hub at the Michigan road house. From then on, any move by Harry and Carter would be reported to the big shot.

  The Shadow’s agent and the man whom he protected were still under surveillance by the cunning underling who served as Hub Rowley’s spy!

  CHAPTER XVII.

  OUT OF THE SKY.

  LATE the next afternoon a strange ship of the sky appeared above the forested area north of the Wisconsin-Michigan border. Its flight was leisurely, due to the spinning blades that whirled horizontally above it.

  The Shadow’s autogiro was flying above the wilderness!

  To the sharp eyes that stared downward from the ship, every feature of the terrain was clearly visible. The autogiro settled slowly. Less than a thousand feet from earth, it hovered above one spot.

  Directly below was the clearing with the miner’s cabin in the center. No bodies were there now. They had been removed at dawn, through a cautious foray directed by Hub Rowley. The big shot had found his men at the cars, and had lain there throughout the night.

  All gangsters were gone, however. The Shadow had ascertained that fact. All seemed deserted below. The cabin was silent; the vertical mine shaft yawned, a square hole in the ground. These, however, were not the only objects that The Shadow sought.

  In one brief flight, The Shadow was accomplishing something that had not occurred to Carter Boswick—a complete survey of all the territory about the cabin. The autogiro, after a slow hesitation that seemed a halt, turned toward the rising hillside. Beneath it was a structure that Harry Vincent and Carter Boswick had not discovered in their short survey on the ground.

  This was a shack, halfway up the hillside. The building was sheltered amid the trees. Another unusual landmark was visible from the air. This was a path, so long forgotten that it could not have been noticed by a person on the ground, but which was slightly apparent from above.

  The path began at the edge of the clearing by the hill. It ascended, past the shack, to fade upon the hillside. With strange precision, the autogiro seem
ed to follow that path until it reached a new angle of vision.

  This brought another discovery—one that could not possibly have been made upon the ground. A cracked rock revealed itself in the midst of a thick cluster of trees and dried underbrush. As the autogiro circled, slowly nearing the ground, the meaning of that concealed ledge became apparent.

  So artfully hidden that only a thorough and prolonged ground search could have uncovered it, was an opening between the rocks—the entrance to a hidden mine shaft on the hillside!

  The tones of a weird laugh mingled with the throbbing of the autogiro’s motor. The ship poised, seeking a landing spot.

  An ordinary plane would have taken to the clearing, and landed there with difficulty. But this windmill of the air was scornful. It descended with the easy motion of a parachute, and came to rest upon a flat ledge a few hundred yards away from the spot where the rocky opening was located.

  The landing was rough. The giro’s wheel bumped as they struck irregular stone; but the hand that guided the plane used the utmost skill. The wheel made scarcely more than a single turn. The tilting ship righted itself, and rested in the barren spot like a huge bird come to earth.

  THE SHADOW’S aerial inspection had been wisely planned. The conflict that had been waged in the clearing had caused a temporary withdrawal of the opposing forces. With a short interim at hand, the mysterious investigator had utilized air navigation as a method of observation.

  Had an ordinary plane been used, its swift flight would have required more circling and interrupted study of the scene. With the hovering autogiro, The Shadow had gained quick results.

  The darkening ground made excellent cover for the new progress of The Shadow. A black-clad figure appeared beside the plane. It glided stealthily along the ground, and reached a wooded area.

  Feeling his way through the dusk, The Shadow, like a floating phantom, reached the clump of trees that his keen eyes had observed from an altitude of a thousand feet.

  A flashlight flickered, and its rays showed the clustered barrier of wooden trunks. The position of the trees; the formation of the rocks; both conspired to completely conceal the opening which The Shadow sought. Even in the brightest light of day, a procession of men could have passed by this spot with no chance of detecting the hidden opening. Only The Shadow’s positive knowledge sufficed him now.

  The probing light picked a course around jutted points of tree-protected rock. It found a twisting, natural path of stony base. The Shadow’s form poised momentarily above an overhanging rock; then sidled to the right, and glided to the ground below. Twisting into a short crevice, The Shadow halted directly in front of a cavernous opening.

  The flashlight gleamed distinctly now. It showed a narrow, rock-jutted course that extended at an angle into the hill. The figure in black seemed to hide the light, except for brilliant flickers which occasionally glowed beyond it. Then both light and form were gone, into the recess of the earth!

  Silence pervaded the place where The Shadow had disappeared. The moon, rising above the horizon, threw an eerie glow over this hidden scene as the gathering night increased. A motion occurred beyond the clump of trees that guarded the entrance of the cave.

  That sound might have been the plunging of some wild animal. At first, there was nothing to indicate the positive presence of a human being. But the constant effort to work a way through the barrier soon betokened the action of a person. Then came pauses while a man breathed heavily.

  Had some one, spying from the ground, noted the arrival of The Shadow’s autogiro? Had that person, heading toward the spot where the ship had landed, seen tokens of The Shadow’s presence through the glow of the probing flashlight?

  This seemed the probable case yet the searcher was blind in his efforts. He could not make further discovery. His plowing in the brush became a clamber over jagged rocks.

  It was then that his form became momentarily visible in the fringe of moonlight. The second investigator reached one of the overhanging portions of rock that hid the cave.

  Here, all search would have ended fruitlessly. Perhaps, by day, the second man might have readily guessed that some important spot was below; but in the moonlight, his cautious, creeping form was heading toward the other side of the rock, away from the important spot.

  It was chance that aided this new searcher. As he reached a cluster of saplings, he paused and stretched beneath the trees, listening between heavy breaths.

  A glimmer of light had caught the searcher’s attention. This glow had come almost from beneath the rock that he had just abandoned. It was like distant lightning, obscured by a heavy cloud—a chance flash that revealed nothing, yet which gave positive evidence of activity.

  AS the spying man watched, the light was repeated. Then the flicker came for a third time, and its glow gave the momentary sign of a blackened shape that was emerging from the rock.

  That, however, was the last betraying signal. Had the spying man tried, he could not have gained an advantage over The Shadow. For the moment that the outside had been reached, the master of darkness extinguished his light completely, and became a being of seeming nothingness.

  The watcher waited. He listened for something to indicate where the arrival from the cavern had gone. No clew came. The Shadow, creeping through the blackness of the half-buried rock, was returning over his corkscrew course with the utmost skill. That being of blackness could feel his way over ground once established. The Shadow’s caution was supreme.

  Long, tense minutes passed. The man who watched was breathing heavily. Lying still, he gave sounds that could reveal him to listening ears; but The Shadow, with silent motion, had faded into nothingness.

  At last, after twenty minutes, the spy became impatient. He had seen no new trace of the light; he inferred that the person below had gone away through the darkness.

  It was then that the watched moved. He emerged from trees into moonlight, and cautiously urged his way toward the side of the rock. His own flashlight glimmered, focused on the ground. Step by step, it revealed a rocky path; and after short difficulties, the new searcher found himself before the opening in the ground.

  A muffled gasp of elation came from the man’s lips. Probing cautiously into the gap, he used his light as a guide, and entered. Sure that the stranger of the night had departed, he could not resist the desire to conduct an investigation of his own.

  After the second searcher had disappeared a new phenomenon took place. Silent motion occurred among the saplings where the spy had lain.

  A soft laugh came from hidden lips as the form of The Shadow rose into the fringe of moonlight. Keen eves glistened from beneath the brim of a slouch hat. The folds of a black cloak hung shroud-like from The Shadow’s shoulders.

  Coming softly through the blackness. The Shadow had sensed the presence of the spy. He had waited, a creature of invisibility. It had become his turn to watch.

  More minutes elapsed. The Shadow, aware of every action that the spy had taken, was waiting for the man’s return. The patience was rewarded. A glimmering ray of light announced that the second prober was returning.

  At last his figure became plain as he emerged from the cavern and picked his way, by lighted steps, back up the rock. When the man reached the saplings, The Shadow was no longer there. Flat upon a ledge of overhanging rock, the being of darkness lay invisible.

  The second searcher nervously made his course off through the trees. Intermittent flashes showed the route that he was taking. All during that passage a figure stalked close behind his heels. The Shadow was following him to his destination.

  This proved to be the shack which The Shadow had observed from the air. Not far from the cavern, it formed a hidden abode among the trees.

  The man’s business there was brief but active. In the dim glow of an oil lamp, he gathered together various articles of food, blankets, tools. Bundling these, he extinguished the lamp and took it also. Then he emerged from the shack, and went back toward the hidden cav
ern, using his intermittent flashlight to guide the way.

  Through the window of the shack, The Shadow’s probing eyes had seen all. Now, once again, The Shadow was following the unwitting man who believed that he had gone. Observed had become observer. That was The Shadow’s way.

  WHILE the man laboriously lowered his burden from a ledge of rock, The Shadow’s eyes still watched. When the man had finally reached the entrance to the cavern, the one who peered from darkness still remained unseen. At last, the flickering of a flashlight proved that the man from the shack had entered the cavern to stay.

  The Shadow had learned the man’s purpose. The cave which be had discovered and probed would be his abode.

  A low, sinister laugh sounded through the moonlit night. The Shadow, too, had probed that cavern. He knew and understood the purpose which had guided the man there.

  For The Shadow, keenly watchful, had seen the face of the man who had entered the cave. He had divined the fellow’s purpose. Well had The Shadow studied the motives and cross-purposes that were rampant in this vicinity, where crime and death had come.

  New action lay ahead. The Shadow’s weird laugh betokened the activity of his mighty brain. The way to wealth had been discovered. It could be laid open to Carter Boswick now.

  The Shadow’s aerial visit had been made with the purpose of nullifying crime. Its successful result had proven to The Shadow’s liking. The presence of the watching man from the shack had proven an unexpected factor. But The Shadow included even this in his calculations.

  A moving form of obscure proportions flitted through the trees. The figure stopped beside the autogiro, and noiselessly stepped aboard. The motor purred with rhythm. No ears could hear it now. The one man in this locality had buried himself beneath the earth.

  The blades above the ship were whirling. The autogiro moved forward. Its wheel lumbered across a smooth extent of rock, headed directly for dangerous, jagged points beyond the flat ledge. Before the wheel reached those menacing barriers of stone, the autogiro was in the air. Its flight was tending upward. It cleared the fringe of trees, and rose perfectly into the moonlight.