Tonight, Spider thought, would be his last in this sector of the underworld. So believing, the shifty gangster headed toward the Black Ship, to look in on whatever might be doing.
Furtively, with eyes frequently looking back over his shoulder, Spider pursued his timorous route. His shadow made a peculiar, huddled blot, as it passed beneath the glare of a street lamp.
Spider Carew still looked back over his shoulder after he had left the illuminated area. If anyone was on his trail - Spider always suspected such - the follower would be apparent now.
No human form appeared within the range of light. Spider grinned sheepishly.
Strangely, with all his caution, Spider was deceived. He had seen no sign of life beneath the street lamp, yet the indication was there. While Spider stared, a long streak of darkness glided across that zone of illumination. It was the elongated silhouette of a living person, yet Spider, looking for a solid body, did not see it.
Spider Carew went along his way. He did not look backward again. His hunched form threw its huddled blotch at every light; shortly afterward, that same long silhouette put in its inevitable appearance.
That patch of moving darkness had a sinister meaning. Silent and unseen, it was the sure indication of the presence which every skulking rat like Spider Carew feared above all others. The Red Blot’s spy would have been filled with trepidation had he known who was following him.
The Shadow, master of darkness, had picked up the trail of Spider Carew!
Where Spider went tonight, there would The Shadow be! Plotted crime was due to strike again. This time it was not from Spider’s suggestion, but the secret spy would be there to watch it.
Trouble loomed for The Red Blot’s minions. Unwittingly, Spider was acting as a guide to the scene of crime!
CHAPTER VI
THE BANK ROBBERY
WHEN Spider Carew left the dive known as the Black Ship, he headed off into a twisting course that eventually brought him in the neighborhood of the East Side Bank. Following the sidewalk just below an elevated structure, Spider made a final turn, and sneaked along a side street until he came to the building opposite the bank.
This was an old house which lad been empty for many months. Spider found a space at the side and wiggled through a window. A few minutes later, he was peering through a grimy pane at the front of the house.
Back at the spot where Spider had left the sidewalk, a gloomy patch of blackness showed strangely on the paving. There seemed to be no reason for that splotch of darkness. Motionless, it indicated nothing. Nevertheless, it was the mark of a living presence.
The Shadow, invisible in the semi-darkness, was studying the path which Spider Carew had taken. Keen, burning eyes were looking toward the window which the shuffling gangster had entered.
The Shadow knew that there could be no cause for crime within that dilapidated building. He readily divined that Spider’s only purpose could be that of a hidden watcher.
The front of the East Side Bank showed upon the other side of the street. The building was a brick structure that had the appearance of a jail. An antiquated institution, the East Side Bank still continued to do business with large wholesale concerns, which found its location a convenience. At the same time, the directors had not seen fit to modernize the building. Of all the banks in Manhattan, this one was least equipped to withstand a foray of accomplished burglars.
Spider Carew’s presence in the building across from the bank was a good indication that the bank itself was intended as a target for crime. The Shadow, moving silently along the street, below the level of Spider’s vision, spotted the space between the bank and the adjoining building.
Picking a strategic point, the being of darkness crossed the street so artfully that his passage was indicated only by a flitting splotch upon the asphalt. Gaining a place some distance below the bank building, The Shadow worked his way backward toward the entrance of the alleyway.
SPIDER CAREW did not see The Shadow. Peering from his window, the squeamish little gangster was too engrossed with what he was viewing at the side of the bank.
Dim light glimmered through from the street a block away; and against that glow, Spider saw the outlines of human forms.
Socks Mallory and his men! They were here now.
As Spider watched, he saw the raiders turn toward the side of the bank. The surprise attack had begun. No time was being lost. A little door, set in an areaway that opened from the passage, was the spot which had been picked by the attackers.
Spider Carew thought that he, alone, was viewing these operations. He was wrong. The Shadow had reached the entrance of the passage. His keen eyes were viewing the activity. Yet The Shadow, a silent, unseen shape, remained motionless; then glided slowly away in the direction from which he had come, moving rapidly from the beleaguered bank.
Keenly, he had sensed that an attack upon the mob would drive the criminals back along their chosen avenue. In flight, the gangsters would head for that distant street. That was where The Shadow would forestall them.
Spider Carew could hear the muffled sounds of a breaking door. Steel jimmies had done quick work. The henchmen of The Red Blot were breaking through. The dull ringing of a bell came to Spider’s ears. The alarm was sounding.
Spider knew the efficiency of bank alarms; and the quickness with which police could respond. Socks Mallory and his marauders had entered. They would be returning shortly. It was nearly time to join them.
The little mobster unlocked the sash of the old window and raised it, ready to drop out into the street. Then, as the report of an automatic reechoed through the space opposite, Spider dropped back to a spot of shelter, and peered over the sill in front of him.
A flash of flame from down the alleyway. Another reechoing shot! Someone had entered from the farther block, to open fire upon the men who were guarding the broken door! Spider could hear a wild cry rising - passed along by those on watch!
Revolver shots burst forth. Spider Carew watched an amazing conflict. A squad of mobsmen were tumbling into the space beside the bank, opening fire upon this unexpected enemy who had entered the path which they had left open for retreat.
THOSE within the bank had heard the surprise. Their work unfinished, they were coming to aid, thinking that the police had already arrived.
Well had The Shadow planned! He had waited until the crooks had broken through, and had started the alarms. Now, by swift attack, he was harassing them while the law was on the way!
Spider Carew saw one mobsman collapse; then another. The rest were clinging close to the edges of the passage, seeking refuge in the space that led into the rear of the bank, firing vainly at an invisible fighter whose very presence seemed elusive.
Blasts from the automatics came at unexpected intervals. When mobsters fired at a spot, The Shadow was no longer there. The strange battle continued; then came the clang of a police car, swinging from the distance.
The mobsters under Socks Mallory could not have heard that noise, but their leader must have sensed that police intervention was imminent. Spider Carew saw half a dozen revolver bursts at once; then another outpour; then a pause.
The answer?
Powerful blasts from the automatics wielded by the hidden fighter at the other end of the passage. The mobsters began a sudden retreat toward the street from which Spider watched. They fired blindly; then broke into a run. One of their number tumbled forward, to be dragged along by two of his companions.
The police car was coming down the street. Spider could see its lights. He saw the mobsters scatter. Socks Mallory was among them, as they ran down the street, firing back at the police car as they fled.
The automobile jammed to a stop directly in front of the bank building. A mobster jumped up from nowhere; leaping upon the hood of the car, he aimed straight through the windshield. Spider saw a flash of flame from the
