beard.
He was keeping close to a torch, so that his features would be visible, adding to the impression that the scene was actually lighted.
The Shadow wanted to reach the alcove behind the professor. As he neared it, he heard a creaking sound from the opposite direction. Someone else was crawling into the scene, quite as invisibly as The Shadow.
Pausing, The Shadow watched the floor.
Professor Scorpio pointed, gave a dramatic cry. All eyes gazed downward. A disk of light appeared, uncannily, upon the floor. There were gasps from many of the women present, as the glowing circle enlarged.
THE SHADOW recognized the deception. It was the old materialization game. The person who had crept in from the alcove was wearing a luminous robe under a dark cloth. Mere manipulation of the cloth in its withdrawal, accounted for the appearance of the light.
Then the cloth was gone entirely, but the figure still appeared dwarfed. The person in the luminous robe was crouched, performing gyrations in front of Professor Scorpio. As the figure rose, inch by inch, it gave the impression that it had grown. Then, of a sudden, it expanded. A full-fledged spirit stood in sight.
To The Shadow, acquainted with such frauds, the spook looked definitely phony. Cheesecloth, smeared with luminous paint, was not a good enough disguise to fool a practiced eye. But to the other onlookers, most of whom were farther away than The Shadow, the sight was quite impressive.
The 'spirit' certainly knew his business. He kept on the move, giving the luminous cloth a shimmer that, at moments, produced a really ghostly effect. The spook was a man; his voice, a deep whisper, revealed the fact. His face was a man's too, but it was a mask attached to the luminous hood of his robe.
There was a reason for the mask. That became apparent when the spook neared Paula Lodi. Seeing the outline of the false face, the actress gave a shriek:
'Francois!'
A buzz from the other sitters told the rest. Francois was Paula's first husband, who had departed into the land of spirits after a prolonged binge during the days of Prohibition. Professor Scorpio had supplied his accomplice with a mask that perfectly resembled the departed Francois.
'Take these!' Paula had risen; her hands were glittering, as she started to peel rings from her fingers.
'Take these baubles, Francois! Carry them back to the land of spirits-'
Professor Scorpio voiced a rumbling objection as he sprang forward. Much though he liked the gems, he didn't want to spoil the act by anything so palpable as a gift to a spook. Such trickery was antiquated when there were skeptics present.
But Scorpio was late with his objection. Another man intervened more rapidly. The sweep of an arm sent Paula spilling back into her chair; then the same man leaped for the spook. The man who was cracking up the seance was Howard Carradon, Paula's living husband.
The dodging 'Francois' wasn't quick enough to get away from Carradon. The room became a bedlam, as the living husband tried to choke the dead one. Then Professor Scorpio was in the fight, struggling to get Carradon away from his precious spook.
Though close enough to settle the fray, The Shadow let it go to its conclusion, which came quickly enough. The ghost made another transformation; it dwindled in the combined clutch of Scorpio and Carradon. They were wrestling with a deflated spook, because the man inside the luminous robe had managed to slip out of it.
Unseen in the darkness, the fellow dived for the alcove; but The Shadow heard him go. There was a clatter of a hinging board, a slam as it went back in place.
Again, because of the shouts, no one heard the sounds except The Shadow. He was at the spot in the alcove where the clatter had occurred. Rolling against the wail, he felt the floor drop with his weight.
Then, as The Shadow began his drop to the abode of the departed spook, he heard a shriek from the living room. It was too late to return when the cry came. But The Shadow heard the words, recognized them, along with the voice that uttered them.
The shriek came from Paula Lodi:
'My jewels!'
CHAPTER V. COVERED FLIGHT.
HARRY VINCENT was among the first to spring to the aid of Paula Lodi. He had almost reached the actress, when he was shouldered aside by a milling throng of excited persons who were bashing through the dark.
Most of them were simply excited; but there were some-how many, Harry did not know-who were thinking of Paula's jewels. Grabbing at an arm that flew in his direction, Harry found it smooth. The arm was Paula's; its bracelets were gone. Rings, too, were absent from the hand that Harry managed to clutch.
Then his grasp was lost. There was the clatter of a chair; another shriek as Paula went over backward. A flying slipper hit Harry in the face. The crooks had overturned Paula and yanked the bangles from her ankles, sending the slippers ahead of them.
It was Paula, coming to hands and knees, who tripped Harry as he tried to grab at men in the dark.
Except for the quick workers who had stripped away the jewelry, Harry was one of the few persons in the room who seemed to know what it was all about. Alone, he could do nothing. Too many people were blocking him off, even though they did not mean to stop him.
There were shouts for lights. The milling mass of howling humanity was swirling toward the door.
Suddenly, the lights came on, pressed by a disheveled man who had reached the door.
Harry saw Niles Rundon, very much the worse for wear. He had managed to keep his wits, like Harry; but Rundon, too, had met with difficulties.
So had Henry Denwood. The white-haired man was flattened at the spot where Harry left him, under a pile of floundering people.
Crooks had made a clean sweep of Paula's jewels. The blond actress was staggering to her feet, half-dazed. Her black dress was shredded, hanging by one strap. The mobsters had ruined it when they tore away the diamond brooch.
As order came from chaos, Rundon pointed wildly from the door; his finger was directed toward Professor Scorpio, who was still struggling with Howard Carradon. Rundon's yell was echoed by others who saw the fray:
'Get the professor!'
There was good reason to get Scorpio. Though the professor hadn't snatched the jewels personally, he was as good as caught with other goods. He and Carradon were still fighting for the remnants of the spook, which, in the light, definitely looked like cheesecloth.
Once captured with such goods, Scorpio would be branded as an impostor. The professor knew it and struggled fiercely. Starting for him, along with others, Harry looked for The Shadow. Seeing no sign of Cranston, he decided that his chief had headed on another mission.
Perhaps The Shadow had gone after the jewels. Even in the drive for Scorpio, Harry recognized that the gems were more important than the professor. It was that thought that guided Harry's later actions, through scenes that occurred with bewildering speed.
It started with a lucky break for Scorpio; the first of several that came the professor's way. Swept ahead of the rush toward Scorpio was Paula Lodi. She didn't grab for the professor; instead, she seized Carradon.
She was shrieking to her husband that her jewels were gone. Carradon didn't care about the gems as much as he did about Paula. Sight of his wife in the ragged remnants of her black dress made Carradon turn to her protection. The gesture helped Professor Scorpio.
Getting possession of the cheesecloth with one hand, the professor let go with the other fist. Instead of Paula floundering into Carradon's arms, he dropped into hers.
Having put that punch to Carradon's jaw, Scorpio scooped up the dark cloth that went with the cheesecloth. Springing away, he grabbed at the first handy weapon-one of the flaming torches.
Swinging the fiery cudgel, Scorpio was beating off attackers, among them Harry, when the second break came. Again the room lights were extinguished; but not by Rundon, or anyone in the room. No one was near the wall when the lights went off. Somebody down in the cellar had pulled the main switch.
WILDLY, Professor Scorpio made the most of the fresh darkness. He flung the flaming torch into the alcove, threw the cheesecloth and the dark cover along with it. He was getting rid of past evidence, along with present. Without the torch in hand, he couldn't be found in the crowd.
