CHAPTER VIII
FORCED LANDING
MARGO LANE liked Kent Allard, as did the other members of the cruise
party. It didn't take her long to find out why the pilot of their deluxe plane
was celebrated.
Several years ago, Allard had started on a nonstop flight to South
America, only to disappear from civilized ken. He had reappeared after a few
year's absence, in company with some Guatemalan Indians of the almost forgotten
Xinca tribe.
Having landed in their midst, Allard had become the ruler of the Indians,
and the departure of their white chief had been a cause of sorrow to the entire
tribe.
It didn't occur to Margo that Allard could have been in America,
particularly New York City, during the years when he had reputedly been among
the Xincas; yet such was the actual case. The reason, too, was as definite as
the fact itself.
Kent Allard was The Shadow.
To hide completely his identity from crimeland, he had pretended to
disappear, before beginning open war upon the rulers of the underworld. Of
course, as The Shadow, he had found it necessary to appear in public, so he had
adopted the guise of Lamont Cranston.
Day in, day out, The Shadow posed as Cranston, and had almost come to
regard the name and personality as part of himself. As Cranston, he could meet
his various secret agents, among them Margo Lane, without necessarily hiding
the fact that he was also The Shadow.
Should they be forced, under unexpected pressure, to declare that Cranston
was The Shadow, he could simply drop that personality forever and keep his
enemies hunting him until doomsday. Doomsday, in their case, would be
translated by what would probably happen to them if The Shadow caught up with
them while they were on the hunt for Cranston, the man they could never find.
There were times, rare indeed, when The Shadow did drop the guise of
Cranston and become himself: Kent Allard.
This was one of those times.
The Shadow wanted to go to Centralba. He couldn't very well go as
Cranston. The gatomontes, or secret police who served as Castenago's private
organization, were very suspicious of all wealthy Americans who visited
Centralba.
About all that such visitors could do would be to buy up concessions which
had been sold to half a dozen others. Through various technicalities, all such
concessions, together with the purchase money, became the eventual property of
Luis Castenago.
Meanwhile, the gatomontes kept "protecting" the visiting Americans, to
such a degree that they were glad to get out of Centralba, regardless of
financial loss.
In his way, Luis Castenago made such big-time confidence men as Murk
Wessel look like very small children who hadn't been broken of the habit of
swiping pennies off stacks of newspapers. So, to meet Castenago properly, The
Shadow was choosing a unique mode of entry into Centralba.
