The Grove Of Doom s-37

by Maxwell Grant

  “You cannot go on this way,” insisted Ware, in a forceful voice, “You are losing all self-control, Harvey. This matter must be settled. The grove, once searched, will cease to worry you. I have suggested the method. I can go alone, or with others.”

  Harvey Chittenden drew himself up proudly. He faced Craig Ware and something in his bearing indicated his decision. Ware’s words had cut him to the quick.

  “You are right, Craig,” said Harvey slowly. “I must control myself. I must know that all is well. I must end this fearful reign of doubt. There is but one method. I must enter those woods and make a search. If I find no trace of any of my kin, I shall agree with you. But if any - Zachary most of all - lie dead, it is my duty to find them.”

  With firm, measured step, Harvey Chittenden walked straight to the grove of beeches. Craig Ware, almost stupefied, did not restrain him. Something in Harvey’s manner brooked no interference.

  Ware saw his companion walk under the boughs of the bordering trees; then advance farther into the mysterious, brownish gloom. A few moments later, Ware was staring only at copper-hued leaves that formed a motionless canopy over a hidden scene.

  A STRANGE look came over Ware’s face. Moving toward the trees, he called Harvey’s name. There was no response. Like a man entranced, Ware waited; then, as the silence continued, he turned and strode toward the house.

  “Mildred!” Ware’s cry rose to the upper story. Ware listened for the girl’s response.

  “Yes, Craig?” Mildred answered from within the front door.

  “Come here, quickly!” called the showman.

  Mildred Chittenden appeared upon the porch. She viewed Ware with alarm. She could tell from his expression that something unexpected had occurred. The girl ran down the steps. Ware turned and pointed toward the grove.

  “Harvey went into the trees!” gasped Ware. “He suddenly decided that he must go - to look for his brother Zachary. I am worried, Mildred, worried because I should have stopped him. I must follow him; but I wanted to tell you first.”

  “Come!” Mildred’s decision was a prompt one. “We must both go, Craig. I am afraid for Harvey. We must find him before some harm befalls him.”

  Ware hurried with Mildred to the edge of the grove. He pleaded with the girl to stay here; to let him go alone. Mildred was obdurate. Her dark eyes flashed in indignation.

  “Harvey is my husband, Craig,” she stated. “There is no time to lose. Both of us are needed to rescue him from that terrible place. I am sure that danger lies there. Together, we may be able to discover Harvey sooner. Come!”

  Craig Ware nodded. He reached in his pocket and produced a revolver. The showman had kept this gun upon his person ever since his return from Connecticut. There was no friendly smile on Craig Ware’s face now. His features were grim and tense. Like Mildred, he realized that a menace lay ahead.

  Precious moments had been lost. Harvey - ahead - nearing the center of the grove! All of Mildred Chittenden’s alarm came both to her mind and to that of Craig Ware. Together, the two advanced swiftly among the trees.

  The brownish soil was like a matted pad. The two visitors - man and girl - moved silently forward. They were in the gloom beneath the leaves that never rustled under a huge mantle that subdued all sound, and which, in this early morning light, threw a weird coppery hue upon the faces of the invaders.

  Neither Mildred Chittenden nor Craig Ware uttered a sound. They were listening for someone ahead, hoping that they might hear Harvey Chittenden in the distance. Their thoughts were their own. Neither dared offer a cry to disturb this spectral stillness.

  Lost from the outside world, pacing through strange corridors of irregular formation, seeing only tree trunks that looked alike, the two pursued their direct way through the grove. They could not tell exactly how far they had gone. The laden boughs above seemed as limitless as the sea.

  Not even the twitter of a bird came from the branches above. Not even the buzz of an insect could be heard beneath the trees. They were in a grove of gloom - within the spell of a doomed area that pressed its silent warning like an enfolding pall.

  They were nearing the center of the grove, now. Mildred was sure of that, yet despite her fear, the girl kept pace with the man beside her.

  Had some strange fate befallen Harvey Chittenden? Mildred could not tell. She only knew that the oppressiveness of this terrible spot signified that some dread disaster was awaiting!

  CHAPTER XX

  TRUTH IS TOLD

  HARVEY CHITTENDEN was well into the grove of doom before his startled mind began to realize the menacing atmosphere of the strange area beneath the beeches. Despite the ardor that had brought him on the search, the young man stopped and stood hesitant.

  Some weird fear was clutching his heart. He was afraid to go on, yet his pride would not allow him to return. Slowly, he began a new advance; then stopped short in instinctive dread as something rose to block his path.

  Before him, rising almost from nothingness, stood a tall form garbed in black. Like a ghostly inhabitant of this dread domain, The Shadow was here to prevent Harvey Chittenden’s progress.

  Wild thoughts whirled through Harvey’s brain. Was this the menace of the grove, this black-clad being who seemed a portion of the spectral gloom? No - quick recollection transported Harvey’s thoughts back to the night when Zachary and the mobsmen had attacked. Then, The Shadow had come to save him. Why should The Shadow threaten him now?

  Afraid to budge, Harvey stood motionless, awaiting The Shadow’s bidding. It came. A low, barely whispered voice, issued a firm command.

  “Lie down. Stay close to the trees. Do not move!”

  The tones were sibilant, like the sigh of a light wind. Yet every syllable was clear to Harvey Chittenden. He could not disobey this strange command. Dropping to the ground, he crawled beside the nearest tree trunk, and remained there, while The Shadow’s tall shape glided close beside him.

  “Not a sound,” came The Shadow’s whisper. “Say nothing! Wait!”

  Harvey waited. Slow minutes went by. He could see the burning eyes beneath the black-rimmed hat. The Shadow was gazing intently over the path on which Harvey Chittenden had come. The young man stared in that direction. Half hidden behind the tree trunk, he sensed the approach of others across that brown-carpeted stretch.

  Harvey saw The Shadow no longer, yet he made no effort to go against the orders he had received. Gripping the tree trunk, striving madly to shake off the terrible, unreasoning fear that had settled over him, he saw his wife, Mildred, coming through the trees, accompanied by his friend, Craig Ware.

  A slight rustle beside him reminded Harvey of The Shadow’s presence. He looked toward the being in black. He saw a gloved hand clutching a small round object; then the hand disappeared beneath the cloak and returned, carrying an automatic. Harvey stared toward the approachers. He was afraid to emit a cry; and, somehow, he trusted in The Shadow.

  CRAIG WARE and Mildred Chittenden walked directly past the spot where the young man was watching. They did not see Harvey. Turning to follow them with his eyes, Harvey noticed that The Shadow was no longer beside him. Then with bulging eyes, Harvey realized that The Shadow had gone ahead, farther into the fastness of this strange grove.

  Mildred Chittenden stopped suddenly as Craig Ware grasped her arm. The showman spoke in a low, quiet voice. His words were plain to Harvey, farther back. To Mildred, Craig’s voice carried a menacing note as the gloom of the grove seemed to muffle its bass tones.

  “We are near the center of the grove,” declared Ware. “Close to the danger zone. It is here that we shall stop.”

  “But where is Harvey?” whispered Mildred fearfully.

  “He is with the others,” came Ware’s cryptic reply.

  Mildred stared squarely into the showman’s eyes. Now, the girl’s body shuddered with the greatest fear that she had known since her advent to Lower Beechview. Ware’s eyes were glistening with a fiendish glow - a strange, incredible light that M
ildred had never before seen in them. Was this a hallucination, caused by the strange surroundings?

  Mildred gasped as she realized that Craig Ware had suddenly developed the appearance of a fierce, insidious fiend! The showman’s previous words came to her lips in a frightened echo.

  “With the others -“

  “With the others,” hissed Ware, with a wicked grin. “With Walter Pearson, the lawyer. With Calvin Merrick, the wise detective. With Galbraith, Wilbur, and Zachary. Four Chittendens have died beside this spot!”

  The man paused with a fiendish leer. Then, as he fairly spat words from his lips, Ware continued:

  “You ask me how I know?” His question was a fearful laugh. “I shall tell you - before you, too, are dead. It is I who have caused these deaths, to exterminate all who were connected with the evil line of Chittendens.

  “You call me Craig Ware. That is but part of my name. My full name is Craig Ware Chittenden. I am the only son of Sidney Chittenden, the eldest brother, who should have inherited the great estate of Upper Beechview.

  “I have the certificates to prove my claim. I was born just after my father died. My mother told me the story of my father’s unhappy life. For years, I have nourished one great scheme of vengeance.

  “I searched for all who bore the name of Chittenden, hoping that I could harm those of this last line. I met your husband, Harvey. I heard his story. I became his friend - so he supposed. I came here to arrange the deaths of the others; then to send Harvey to his doom.

  “I have succeeded. You, as Harvey’s widow, must also die. Then I shall depart - and months from now Craig Chittenden, last of all the family, son of Sidney, shall come into his own! There is a menace in this grove - a menace of my making. It killed those who knew too much. It killed those who blocked my ambition. You, too, must die, for you are the last barrier - and now you know my story.”

  Mildred Chittenden could not move. She realized it all now. Bewilderment was on her face as she tried to piece the portions of this terrible drama.

  Craig Chittenden saw her puzzlement. He laughed.

  “It was I who talked to Lei Chang,” he explained. “I, not Harvey. It was Jessup whom you saw going from the house to the grove. Jessup was my man. I am glad that he is dead. I need him no longer. He carried rabbits to the grove and dead bodies from it. Hardened in barrels of cement, the corpses were cast to the bottom of the Sound!”

  IT all seemed incredulous to Mildred. Despite her fear, she could not help but question this fiend who threatened her with death. An insane notion seemed to grip her mind.

  “Jessup - bringing rabbits - to Lei Chang -“

  Craig Ware was sneering as he gazed with pitiless eye. The girl’s silly perplexity pleased him. He made no answer.

  “Rabbits - rabbits -” Still Mildred repeated the words. Still Ware leered.

  “Rabbits” - the word was uttered in a spectral tone close beside the pair - “of course there were rabbits. They were to feed Koon Woon.”

  Simultaneously Ware and Mildred swung in the direction of the voice. A look of terror came over Ware’s hardened face. A gasp of hope emerged from Mildred’s lips. Five feet away, tall and mysterious, stood The Shadow!

  Bright eyes flashed from beneath the hat brim of the being in black. A firm gloved hand held its automatic, with the muzzle directed squarely toward Craig Ware. The Shadow was master of the situation.

  “You have told your story,” came The Shadow’s whispered tones, “but you have not told all, Craig Ware. You have said nothing of Koon Woon, who has failed you today. Koon Woon is with Lei Chang; but he has not acted. For I prevented Harvey Chittenden from reaching the fatal spot that lies ahead.

  “Lei Chang has heard your voice, and he restrains Koon Woon until you give the call. That was the order he received from you yesterday; that Koon Woon should continue to kill all intruders, but wait when you came here - wait until you could leave this helpless girl to her fate. That plan is ended now, Craig Ware.

  “You lured Walter Pearson to his death by a false message, and made calls that seemed to indicate he was alive after the time he died. You had the trap ready, and it caught Calvin Merrick. When Jessup reported a conversation he heard upon the hill, you snared Wilbur Chittenden by a call he thought came from Harvey. Then Galbraith Chittenden died when you calmed the dog, and enabled him to go through the grove to search for Wilbur.

  “You thought that Zachary had died also. You were wrong, as you learned later. By good fortune, Zachary escaped the doom of Koon Woon the first time, only to fall into your trap when Harvey sent him off. He thought that Harvey was the plotter. That was the reason for his attack upon his brother. You had prepared to wait to slay Harvey and his wife. Jessup’s death was to your liking, for Jessup had worked for you, and knew much.

  “Your crimes have found you, Craig Ware Chittenden. Not once again will your vile vengeance fall. You cannot call Koon Woon to do your evil bidding.”

  A fiendish sneer came over Ware’s purpling face. With wild eyes, the arch-plotter stared toward the boughs ahead, picking a spot which seemed familiar to him.

  “Koon Woon is there!” His voice rose to a cry. “Lei Chang will loose him! Lei Chang is waiting. Give the call, Lei Chang!”

  As Ware was speaking, The Shadow turned. His automatic swung upward. Its aim followed directly on the path of Ware’s fixed gaze. Thus, by Ware’s own mistake, had The Shadow located the unseen hiding place.

  The automatic barked. The bullet sped among the leaves of a bough a dozen feet from earth. It was answered by a terrified scream from within the branches.

  Tumbling headlong from the tree came the misshapen form of Lei Chang. Mildred gasped as she saw the sinister Chinaman sprawl upon the ground; then the body rolled over, and the pockmarked face stared upward as the head twisted crazily.

  The Shadow’s shot had felled the yellow demon. Lei Chang’s neck was broken in the fall. The slave of Koon Woon was dead. Never again would Lei Chang call his Master!

  The weird laugh of The Shadow rolled its mocking tones beneath the silent beeches!

  CHAPTER XXI

  KOON WOON

  WITH abrupt, startling suddenness, The Shadow had brought an end to Craig Ware’s plotting. But in the deed that marked the death of Lei Chang, the avenger in black had been forced to turn away from Craig Ware. A man less bold might not have gained the courage to act with precision; but Ware, seeing one last opportunity, leaped forward, drawing his revolver.

  The Shadow had anticipated the attack. He turned with incredible swiftness. Before Ware could press the trigger of his gun, The Shadow’s automatic was full upon him. Instinctively, Ware threw himself to the side, but the automatic spoke. Gasping, Ware rolled upon the brown ground, his revolver falling from his grasp. Mortally wounded, the man of evil had been felled.

  Dying, Craig Ware knew that his reign of terror had been ended. Yet in his weakened body lay a last ounce of evil strength. As The Shadow’s form turned away, Ware, with a desperate effort, raised his hand to his lips and emitted a low, weird whistle.

  Mildred recognized that call - the signal between Ware and Lei Chang. The Shadow heard it also, and he knew its hidden meaning. In his last moment of life; Craig Ware had summoned Koon Woon!

  Ware’s hand had dropped. His eyes were glassy, and his lips were blood-flecked. He would not live to see the result of his last vile deed, but he had summoned forth an instrument of vengeance upon the one who had thwarted him.

  The Shadow had turned toward the tree from which Lei Chang had fallen. Mildred Chittenden, recoiling from the writhing body of Craig Ware, had unconsciously moved toward that spot. Now, seeing the dead form of Lei Chang close by, the girl had moved no farther.

  Harvey Chittenden, back by the tree from which he watched, did not sense what was about to happen. He had thought Lei Chang to be the menace of the grove, for he had not clearly understood the sinister utterances of Craig Ware.

  Only The Shadow knew the dread event that was
coming - the arrival of Koon Woon, in answer to Ware’s dying call. The Shadow’s eyes were flashing as they gazed up toward the copper-leafed branches.

  The Shadow knew the identity of Koon Woon!

  Then, silently, swiftly, the terror of the grove came into being. From the boughs near where Lei Chang had hidden, a huge head stretched forth, followed by a long, twisting body. Glazed, reptilian eyes stared wickedly as the long, serpentine form of a monstrous snake swept downward.

  Koon Woon was a huge python, nearly thirty feet in length! This giant snake, largest of the constrictor species, possessed the grip that could crush a man-eating tiger within its sinuous coils!

  Koon Woon!

  THE SHADOW knew the monster’s story. He had gained it from Choy Lown, in the old Celestial’s study. Koon Woon, greatest of all the reptiles in the famed snake temple at Penang! A snake captured by men to be kept as a god!

  This was the terrible creature which Lei Chang had called The Master. To Lei Chang, Koon Woon had for years been an object of worship. The python, easily tamed, had learned to obey the summons of its slave. Here, to this strange clime, Craig Ware had brought Lei Chang, and with him one of the most formidable type of death-dealing creatures that existed on the face of the earth!

  Koon Woon, the mighty python that for years had strangled victims in the jungle, was trained to conquer human foes! Lei Chang, with crafty wisdom, had tempted the great monster with a rabbit diet, lest Koon Woon sleep too long after devouring a human body.

  Now, Koon Woon, to whom this grove was as much a home as the grotesque snake temple where others of his kind were imprisoned, was stretching forth his great head to eye a new victim. When Koon Woon was loosed, nothing could restrain him!

  The great snake possessed a skin of mottled yellow-brown, a hue that blended with the leaves of the copper beeches. Up in the trees, a natural habitat for a python, the twisting form had been coiled invisibly. Now, with his great tail anchored to a tree trunk, Koon Woon was shooting his mighty body downward.