"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 026 - Murder Trail" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

The light went out. Harry Vincent felt a sudden dread amid the gloom.

Out of the darkness came a low, eerie whisper. Its strange note made Harry tense. The Shadow was
speaking in a sinister voice that seemed unreal. Only once before had Harry Vincent so fully realized the
commanding force of his mysterious master; that had been upon the eventful night when The Shadow had
plucked him from death's brink.

"Follow the trail," came The Shadow's words. "The man was here last night. He chose this spot at
randomтАФthree o'clockтАФmake inquiriesтАФ learn his destination -"

The young man understood the vital orders. Some one had dropped from the air. That man had been
traced by The Shadow. A stranger in a place chosen through necessity, the man must have sought to gain
his location. His first stop would have been a habitation close by.

"I understand," declared Harry. There was no response from the darkness. Harry hesitated; then realized
that he must go back along the road until he reached his car. With the coupe he could take the paved
road and run along the trail toward the nearest town. Harry was a trained investigator for The Shadow.
He knew how to do the work that was now required of him.

PLODDING along the dirt road, Harry experienced the strange sensation that some one was close
beside him. The feeling was intermittent; at times, Harry was sure that The Shadow was here; then he
would suddenly become convinced that the invisible companion was gone.

When he reached the coupe, Harry clambered into the car and turned on the headlights. The focused
glare illuminated the road ahead. Strange, long silhouettes of black spread across the dirt byway. They
seemed to sway as Harry watched them; but he could not discern whether any one might be the shadow
of a man or merely the blackness caused by some tree beside the road.

The starter clattered; the motor throbbed; and Harry urged the car into gear. As he neared the paved
highway, he caught the sound of a purring mechanism. Staring upward, Harry caught a fleeting glimpse of
a mass that was lifting itself through the air.

The autogyro! Silently, swiftly, The Shadow had returned to his ship. He was rising now, in his
mysterious departure. No lights twinkled. Only the thrum of the motor told of The Shadow's course. The
purring died away while Harry Vincent listened from his car.

For Harry Vincent remained with a quest before him. The Shadow, his strange task accomplished, had
gone into the upper realm of the night.

While Harry was performing his simple task, The Shadow had more difficult matters to do.

CHAPTER V. IN THE SANCTUM
ANOTHER night had come, and with it darkness. But it was not the shroud of night that pervaded this
hidden room somewhere in Manhattan. This place was dominated by the blackness of closed walls and
ceiling. It was a spot where daylight never cameтАФthe sanctum of The Shadow!

Click!

The sharp sound brought lightтАФa strange, eerie glow that filled a corner of the room. A bluish illumination