“Until tonight, I had no opportunity for escape. The door was locked; two men were on guard outside. Then I was mysteriously released. Harwin Dowser was the one who kept me prisoner, so he could blame Graham Wellerton!”
Harwin Dowser broke into an evil chuckle.
“What Eunice says is true,” he asserted coldly. “What difference does it make? Now that facts are known, I can stifle them. The outcome will be the same - since Graham Wellerton has made his will!”
There was evil triumph in the old man’s tone. Graham sensed a tremendous menace. He listened tensely while Dowser continued.
“Originally,” stated the lawyer, “I planned blackmail. Then came a better opportunity. I was working with Wolf Daggert. Carma Urstead played her part. Graham Wellerton made his will. It became easier to kill him than blackmail him.
“These masked men are not vigilantes. They are mobsters, brought here through Daggert. Their job is to slay Graham Wellerton. They will do so. Unfortunately, we will have to dispose of Sheriff Taussig also - now that he has learned too much. He will die protecting Wellerton from the vigilantes.
“I was going to let Delkin out of it. He will have to die also. His daughter also stands in our way. She will die. The two will be found murdered in their home, apparently victims of Graham Wellerton’s wrath.”
Still persistently malicious, Harwin Dowser stared at those who were to be the victims of his evil vengeance. He pointed to the documents in Sheriff Taussig’s hand.
“That old marriage license,” asserted Dowser, “arrived here by some mysterious mistake. We will discover the one we want - wherever it has been placed. The old license will be destroyed and forgotten. The will, however, will remain. Through it, I and my friends will gain Graham Wellerton’s entire estate.”
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.
The past was blotted. Graham’s two enemies, Wolf Daggert and Carma Urstead, were dead. Harwin Dowser no longer lived. The only persons who knew the truth were those who had heard it from Graham’s own lips: Ralph Delkin and Eunice.
Two mobsters, discovered bound in Dowser’s cellar, proved useful witnesses. They identified the false vigilantes as their pals. They were glad to have escaped the slaughter that had come to their evil companions.
The captured pair of gangsters said that they and their fellows had been paid to come to Southwark and follow orders. They knew Wolf Daggert as a smart Manhattan crook. They knew nothing of Graham Wellerton.
THERE was an element of shrouded mystery that perplexed those who had taken part in the affair. Some unseen personage had fought for the right that night. Graham Wellerton was convinced that he knew the identity of the hidden being.
The Shadow had obtained Carma Urstead’s real marriage license. He had brought it to Southwark, to substitute it for the false document which Carma had given to Harwin Dowser.
The Shadow, Graham was sure, was the one who had trapped the two gangsters in the cellar. His hand had released Eunice Delkin; the same hand had been ready for the final fray.
Snarling mobsters had fallen before The Shadow’s might. The master fighter had driven back the false vigilantes, and they had gone down in battle vainly trying to overcome his attack.
To Graham Wellerton, the presence of The Shadow seemed miraculous. Considering it, the young man realized that The Shadow had granted him powerful aid because Graham had chosen the straight road in preference to the path of crime which he had left.
EVENTS in Southwark had their sequel in Manhattan. On a certain night, some weeks after the struggle at Dowser’s, a click sounded in a darkened room. Weird bluish light threw wavering rays upon the surface of a polished table. Into the realm of illumination crept two uncanny hands; living creatures that came from darkness.
The resplendent girasol caught the flickering rays from the light, and threw them back with sparkling iridescence. The glorious jewel told the identity of the man who wore it; the eerie light named the place.
The Shadow was in his sanctum.
From an envelope, long fingers drew forth clippings and dropped them on the table. Unseen eyes studied the printed lines. These items were of varied import. The first ones which The Shadow read told of restitutions.
Bankers in New York and other cities had been the recipients of funds from unknown sources. Anonymous notes had told them that these moneys were replacements for cash and securities which had been stolen.
A single clipping spoke of another matter. It had been cut from the little Southwark daily, and it told of an important event in the Mid-Western town. Eunice Delkin had become the bride of Graham Wellerton.
The light clicked out. A soft laugh shuddered through the darkened room.
The Shadow had departed from his sanctum. He had voiced his satisfaction over the final events that marked the real beginning of Graham Wellerton’s new career.
The gentleman of crime had rejected the road of evil to take the path of right. His way was clear; opened by The Shadow. The secret of Graham Wellerton’s past would never be known.
For the facts of the young man’s forgotten past were recorded only in the secret archives of The Shadow - those massive tomes which, like The Shadow’s identity itself, would never be discovered!
THE END
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The Road Of Crime s-39 Page 15