to
slay.
As Perry's gurgle ceased, a strange change came over the pallid face. It brought bewilderment to Lopez.
That face was blackening, as though an invisible shade of night had advanced to cover it.
The strange transformation turned bewilderment into sudden fear. One second more and the pressing
thumbs would have finished their task. But the approach of the spectral blot had its effect. In momentary
terror, Lopez released the pressure.
A gurgling sigh came from Perry's lips. With the thought that his quarry was not yet dead, Lopez bent
forward to resume his clutch.
Then the splotch of approaching blackness moved. The face of the gasping victim was blotted by a
solidness that came from nowhere.
With startled eyes, Lopez saw that blackness become a hand with inky glove. Turning in consternation,
he found himself within the grasp of a figure clad in black.
All that Lopez saw was a pair of gleaming eyes that shone from beneath the brim of a slouch hat. Beyond
that, all was mammoth blackness.
With a startled scream, the South American shot upward to meet this unknown foe. His body was caught
in a viselike grip. A powerful arm pressed his chin upward.
Then, as though in the sling of a mighty catapult, Lopez was hurtled upward and backward. His light
body spun wildly in the air. Whisked through space, he was precipitated forward, landing forcibly upon
the floor. There he lay, bereft of his senses.
A strange sight! Lopez, unconscious, flattened on the floor. Perry Wallace, in the guise of Alvarez Legira,
lying with eyes still closed as his weakened fingers sought to remove an imaginary grasp from his neck.
Above them, the dominating figure in the room, a man clad in black cloak and soft hat, whose burning
eyes were glowing spots of flame.
The Shadow, messenger of life and death, had arrived upon the scene. With one swift stroke, he had
saved the life of Perry Wallace, and had hurled Lopez into senselessness.
Perry opened his eyes. Before his blurred vision, The Shadow was no more than a moving mass of
blackness. Before the rescued man could regain his normal faculties, he felt himself lifted bodily and half
carried to a chair. There, with his collar plucked open, he gasped for breath until the effects of the
strangling hands had passed away.
Then Perry looked around him. First, he saw the body of Lopez. He wondered if the man was dead. He
could not understand what had happened to Legira's secretary.
Perry rubbed his eyes and looked toward the window. It was then— for the first time—that he really
saw The Shadow.
THE sight of that uncanny being brought new bewilderment. That tall form, clad in its garb of sable hue,
might have been a specter from the other world. Entrance to this room seemed impossible. How had this
stranger of the night arrived?
Perry repressed a shudder. The gleaming eyes were directed toward him, and in them Perry could see
neither friendliness nor enmity. He realized that he owed his life to this weird personage; yet the man in
black seemed an avenging phantom. Had he rescued that he, in turn, might slay?
With difficulty, Perry managed to regain his composure. The unreality of the situation came as an
unexpected tonic. Through Perry's mind ran the single, important thought. Despite all that had
