"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 024 - Six Men of Evil" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

SIX MEN OF EVIL
Maxwell Grant
? CHAPTER I. AT THE BORDER
? CHAPTER II. BOLD CRIME
? CHAPTER III. WALTON EXPLAINS
? CHAPTER IV. THE CIVIC FUND
? CHAPTER V. THE SECOND ALIBI
? CHAPTER VI. THE SHADOW SUSPECTS
? CHAPTER VII. A THIRD CRIME
? CHAPTER VIII. HELD FOR MURDER
? CHAPTER IX. THE SHADOW FINDS
? CHAPTER X. THE FORCED CLEW
? CHAPTER XI. THE MESSAGE DELIVERED
? CHAPTER XII. GUNS IN THE DARK
? CHAPTER XIII. THE RESEARCH
? CHAPTER XIV. THE MOON MESSENGER
? CHAPTER XV. THE AZTECS TELL
? CHAPTER XVI. THE FOURTH PLOT
? CHAPTER XVII. INTO THE NIGHT
? CHAPTER XVIII. THE SHADOW STRIKES
? CHAPTER XIX. THE SHADOW STRIKES AGAIN
? CHAPTER XX. BEYOND THE LAW
? CHAPTER XXI. THE SHADOW SPEAKS
? CHAPTER XXII. FIVE OF THE SIX
? CHAPTER XXIII. "THE CHICQUATIL"

CHAPTER I. AT THE BORDER
THE torrid Mexican sun had set. The lingering rays from the distant horizon threw a faint afterglow that
presaged a sweltering night. The gloom barely outlined a party of weary horsemen who were wending
their slow way through patches of mesquite, heading northward.

The men were talking. Their voices were hushed as though the dimness of the arid plain held them in awe.
Solitary wanderers in a deserted plain, they were temporarily traveling through a world peopled by
themselves alone.

The voices faded. The horses dragged along through silence. The mounted figures were dimming in the
gathering night. Then the tension broke as one of the plodders emitted a savage, growled oath.

The curse brought a coarse laugh from one of his companions. Grumbled mutterings followed from the
others, with one exception. A single rider maintained his steadfast silence.

"We'll get there before dawn," growled the man who had cursed. "Yes - we'll get there - and then
what?"

"We've got our divvy," returned one of his companions, thumping his hand upon a rough sack that lay
across his horse's back. "That's enough, ain't it, bo?"
"Sure," cut in a third voice. "Every guy for himself. That's the only way we can make a go of it."

The dull, labored thudding of hoofs replaced the brief conversation. Then a querulous speaker cut in with
a protesting opinion.