Southwark. As a former member of this community, you are entitled to your freedom here.”
“You are making a mistake,” retorted Graham coldly. “I have no business in Southwark. Much though I detest the town, I was unjustly forced to be its guest for a period of thirty days. I have no money; I have nowhere to live. Therefore you will be forced to arrest me again for vagrancy.
“After the thirty days - or as many more as you choose to give me - have ended, I intend to leave this contemptible district where thieves are honored and rogues hold office -“
Graham broke into a sneering laugh as he saw the furious expression on Justice Schuble’s face. Harwin Dowser, evidently here in Graham’s behalf, sprang forward to make a plea that the young man’s contempt be overlooked. Sheriff Taussig and Ralph Delkin did not know what to say. It was Eunice who solved the problem.
Stepping forward, the girl looked squarely into Graham’s eyes. Her expression of disapproval was one that caused Graham to end his condemning statements. Then, turning to the justice, Eunice made the winning plea.
“Please forget this outburst,” the girl said. “Graham does not realize what he is saying. He will not be a vagrant while he is here in Southwark. My father and I are inviting him to live at our home. He should have been informed of that before his release was mentioned.”
“Very well,” decided Schuble. “I shall overlook the contempt which has been expressed. I am releasing Graham Wellerton in the custody of Ralph Delkin.”
It was Eunice, again, who ended all objections. Before her father could step forward, she had extended her hand to Graham. The young man was too stupefied to exhibit the discourtesy which he had shown to Ralph Delkin that morning. Mechanically, he shook hands with Eunice; then received the clasp which Ralph Delkin extended.
THE Delkins took Graham in their automobile. When they arrived at the house, Delkin remarked that he would make arrangements for new apparel and whatever else Graham might require. He added that there would be a job for Graham in the plant. It was then that Graham regained his challenging air.
“You’re going to a lot of useless trouble, both of you,” he asserted. “I don’t want your friendship. I hate Southwark, and I have no regard for anyone who lives here. If you think that you are doing me a kind turn, you are wrong. If you insist upon my remaining here, I can tell you in advance that you will be sorry.”
“Don’t talk that way, Graham,” responded Delkin, in a kindly tone. “My friendship toward you is a real one -“
“Graham will learn that, father,” interposed Eunice. “He will appreciate our sentiment. He will learn to like it here.”
Graham Wellerton made no remark. He was prepared to resist any display of friendship that came from Ralph Delkin, but he could not force himself into an argument with the girl who had persuaded her father to do him this kind turn.
Graham’s silence indicated that he was willing to remain. Without further discussion, Ralph Delkin conducted his resentful guest to the room which had been provided for him. Thus did Graham Wellerton begin a new term of residence in the town where he had spent his boyhood.
Ralph Delkin, at Eunice’s behest, had played the part of good Samaritan. He had accepted Graham Wellerton in memory of the young man’s father. Little did he suspect that he was sheltering a man who had but recently been the leader of a band of desperate crooks.
To Graham Wellerton, a short stay at Delkin’s home would prove acceptable purely as a period of recuperation. In his heart, the man who had returned to Southwark was planning a new career of crime.
For the present, only, he was accepting the conditions imposed upon him. In his heart, he carried no thanks toward the people who had shown him friendship.
Soon he would go his way again. With a new start, he would take up crime with a spirit of vindictiveness. Alone, Graham Wellerton smiled grimly as he thought of the past. Wolf Daggert would be out of his life; Carma would never find him.
There was only one person whom Graham Wellerton considered as a menace. That one was the strange, unknown being called The Shadow.
What did The Shadow matter? Graham was sure that he could travel beyond the reach of the master of crime.
In that surmise, Graham Wellerton was wrong. The Shadow, weird and mysterious, was to play an unexpected part in events which were already shaping Graham Wellerton’s destiny.
CHAPTER XI
THE SHADOW SUSPECTS
DAYS had passed since Graham Wellerton’s arrival in Southwark. Days had drifted into weeks. Freed from the necessity of crime, Graham Wellerton had entered a period of restful recuperation. He had, through misfortune, gained security which he would not have known had he met The Shadow face to face.
Had Graham Wellerton been leader of the band which The Shadow had encountered in Grand Rapids, the depredations of the holdup gangs would have been ended. The Shadow, after his forced elimination of King Furzman, had dealt a terrific stroke against the foes of the law.
Yet crime had known only a brief interlude. New events had arisen in the Middle West, to inform the warring master that his final stroke had not been one of complete elimination. Facts, in the form of newspaper clippings, were proof that work still lay ahead.
In a high floor of a New York office building, a chubby-faced, lethargic man was sitting at a desk, studying newspapers that lay before him. This quiet individual, Rutledge Mann by name, was known to his friends as an investment broker. Actually, however, Mann served as contact agent for The Shadow and one of his duties was the assembling of printed crime news.
Clipping as he perused the out-of-town newspapers, Mann had assembled a small heap of items pertaining to successful raids made by bank robbers in small towns of the Middle West. As he put the clippings into an envelope, Mann leaned back in his chair and stared idly from the window.
The towers of Manhattan did not attract Mann’s eye. The investment broker was lost in thought. He was speculating on affairs which concerned The Shadow. This was a relaxation in which Mann seldom indulged; but recent events had caused him to wonder just what lay behind the present chain of circumstances.
By his constant reading of the newspapers, Mann had learned to detect the hidden presence of The Shadow in many instances. Of The Shadow himself, Rutledge Mann knew very little. The investment broker merely supplied information and handled detail work for his unknown master. But whenever Mann discovered the unusual in the news, he could sense that The Shadow had loosed his hand against those opposed to the law.
There had been bank robberies in New York. One raid had been shattered on the same day that another had succeeded. Then such raids had ceased in the East.
The next occurrence had been an attempted holdup in Grand Rapids - one which had been mysteriously foiled.
Mann, reading between the lines, decided that The Shadow had accomplished that deed and had terminated the outrages of successful robbers who had headed West from New York.
So far - good. But what of the intermittent robberies in small towns - the work of a few men - that had been occurring since?
Mann again picked out a reason. A few of the last gang must still be at large, committing depredations on a small and stealthy scale.
Shortly after sending the first notices of such robberies to The Shadow, Mann had received word to communicate with Harry Vincent, one of The Shadow’s active agents. Mann had given Harry a sealed envelope which had come by mail from The Shadow. Mann knew only that Harry was to go to a town called Southwark, to make certain investigations.
What did Southwark have to do with the bank robberies? Most of them were in the vicinity of that town - in fact, today’s clippings told of raiders breaking into a bank not more than fifty miles from the town where Harry Vincent was stationed.
But why had The Shadow singled out Southwark as a headquarters for his agent? That problem completely perplexed Rutledge Mann.
The investment broker sealed his envelope of clippings. He walked into an outer office. There, the
