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
