Maude was suddenly surprised to notice that her wrist watch said half past nine. She didn't realize that she looked at the watch, because Cranston's gaze had been idly resting in the direction of her hands and arms.
'I've got to go back to the apartment,' decided Maude. 'Don't worry about taking me there, Mr. Cranston. I can go alone.' Cranston wouldn't allow that; but he finally agreed to ride by subway, instead of taking the limousine. It was when they came up from the subway, a block from Maude's apartment, that the
girl expressed real alarm.
'You mustn't come farther,' she insisted. 'It - well, it mightn't be safe!'
'Not safe?' interposed Cranston. 'If this neighborhood is as dangerous as all that, I certainly cannot allow you to go the rest of the way alone.'
Maude tightened her attractive lips. Her hand gripped Cranston's arm, with
the sincere clutch, that her fingers had displayed the night before.
'The boy friend's jealous,' she declared. 'He knows I've met you; that is,
somebody may have told him. But I didn't say who you were. That's why I didn't want you to bring your car.
'And the same goes for you, Mr. Cranston. Maybe Pink - I mean, maybe this guy that thinks he's got a corner on me, will be tough enough to have a couple of gorillas around here. By 'gorillas', I don't mean monkeys from the zoo. I mean sluggers!'
CRANSTON chuckled. Then he took Maude's arm and started her in the direction of the apartment house, ignoring the girls continued protests.
Maude's argument persisted. She became watchful, particularly when they passed the side door of the apartment house. It was dark along that portion of the street, especially in the service alley. Maude feared that there were lurkers present.
She was right. Two figures were crouched in waiting. When Maude and Cranston had passed, the pair exchanged growls. They decided they'd get Cranston on the way back.
'That's what Bugs told us,' argued one. 'He says to let the dame get upstairs, so she won't know what happened. Then we can handle this stuffed shirt.'
'Suppose he don't come back right away?' queried the other. 'Whatta we do?
Wait here, maybe all night?'
'Don't worry. He'll, be back. We gotta keep an eye peeled, though, to see he don't hop no cab.'
The apartment house was an old one, with a large, but deserted, foyer. As he conducted Maude toward the elevator, The Shadow spoke in a lower tone than usual, but in Cranston's style.
'Go to the side door,' he told her. 'Wait there, and watch what happens in
the street.'
Maude's eyes were wide, startled. But when Cranston turned and strode out through the front, she could do nothing but obey his instructions.
What Maude witnessed a few minutes later, was something that left her even
more astounded.
She saw Cranston come along the side street, pausing to look over his shoulder for a cab. He spotted one coming from a few blocks away; but instead of halting, he did the one thing that Maude feared. He stepped deliberately toward the darkness of the service entrance.
Husky shapes launched from the gloom. Maude gave a scream; tried to yank open the heavy side door. She wouldn't have reached Cranston in time to warn him; but it wasn't necessary.
A sweatered arm swung toward Cranston's head; the fist at the end of it tried to sap him with a blackjack. That arm stopped short as Cranston's hand clamped it. Whipping back into the light, he flayed the thug with a terrific forward heave; then snapped the rowdy all about.
Lashed like a human whip, the husky took a long dive toward the curb. The Shadow had chosen the right direction for the fling, for he had pointed the fellow for a suitable target: a large fire plug.
The thug rammed that metal object with his skull. The quick reverse of The
Shadow's swing served an additional purpose. It took him from the path of a second attacker, who was wielding a chunk of lead pipe. The fellow took a swing
at Cranston, only to miss him by a foot and a half. He didn't have a chance to try another wallop.
Spinning in, The Shadow took a square punch at the footpad's chin. The jolt lifted the slugger off his feet; his head went back with a terrific snap.
He didn't have far to travel, for he was almost against the wall.
Maude yanked the door wide just in time to hear the impact of the second rowdy's skull against the side of the apartment house.
IT had all happened with such suddenness, that Maude hadn't judged the rapidity of Cranston's action. She saw him smoothing his clothes in leisurely fashion, as if he had scarcely exerted himself. Stepping to the curb, he waved to the approaching cab.
By the time the taxi stopped, Maude saw Cranston lifting the two limp thugs, a hand clamped tight to the sweatered neck of each. He bundled the pair into the cab. Opening a wallet, he extracted a five-dollar bill from it.
'Drop them somewhere in Central Park,' he told the driver, 'and keep the change. They'll be more comfortable sleeping it off in the open, than they would be in the alley.'
'A couple of drunks, huh?' grunted the driver, 'Well, suit yourself.
You've said it with five bucks, mister, and that clinches it.' As the cab wheeled away, The Shadow joined Maude in the apartment house. Her admiration for Cranston had received another boost. He rode up with her in the elevator, while she expressed her enthusiasm.
Outside Maude's apartment, Cranston spoke a quiet good-by; then paused long enough to smoke a cigarette, while Maude continued to relate her recollections of the fight.
'Say!' she exclaimed. 'The way that bird hit the fire plug! You'd have thought that was what it had been put there for! And when you handled the other
guy, I thought the wall wouldn't stand the strain. I'm going to take a look at the bricks tomorrow, just to see -'
A telephone bell began to ring. It was in Maude's apartment. Cranston said
good-night again, and turned toward the elevator. He heard the apartment door go
shut and stepped back quickly to listen in on Maude's conversation.
Through the thin door, every word was plain.
'Oh, hello, Pinkey.' Maude's tone was scornful. 'So you called the Bubble Club. Couldn't wait, could you, to find out if anything happened here?...
Listen, if my new friend is a creampuff, they mixed in TNT when they made him.'
'Those gorillas of yours looked like baboons when he was through with them! He used jujitsu stuff, and how it worked!... Get this, Pinkey. If you want to keep in good with me, don't try any more rough stuff on my friends...'
'You won't see me tonight? That doesn't bother me. Go on over to the Bubble Club, since you have to. Maybe you'll get some sympathy from old Baldy Ondrey.'
When Maude hung up, she looked out into the hall, hoping that Cranston had
not yet gone. The hall was empty. Maude was disappointed. Since she didn't expect to see Pinkey, she would have liked to go out with Cranston. It didn't occur to Maude that since Pinkey had business at the Bubble Club, Cranston would have reason to be there also.
The Shadow had learned that a conference of crooks was due. When Pinkey and his pals discussed their next plans, they would be favored with the presence of an unseen listener.
He would be The Shadow.
CHAPTER X
CRIME'S CONFERENCE
When The Shadow reached the old residence that housed the Bubble Club, he went directly to the roof above the secret elevator. The trapdoor was tightly fixed; but it didn't take The Shadow long to jimmy it.
His method of persuasion was both efficient and noiseless; and the latter factor was important. While The
