"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 027 - The Silent Death" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

"Sartain's face is hopeless," declared Urlich. "His lips show that he is panting. The prolonged gasps of a
dying man. Ah! This is wonderful, my friends! It, too, gives me a thought of new and scientific deathтАФof
sure deathтАФof silent death."

He laughed; then added:

"But I must not digress with scientific ideas. I retain all that I gain by way of inspiration during my
experiments. Our chief concern now is the final moment of Alfred Sartain's existence. It will not be long
deferred.

"Those eyes, my friends, are staring heavenward, looking for hope, seeking help"тАФthe professor
chuckled mirthfullyтАФ"and seeing nothing but the closed pane of a skylight!"

Larry Ricordo joined in the professor's laugh. Thomas Jocelyn, though unnerved by the sight of
approaching death, also managed to emit a halfhearted tone of mirth.

"Perfection," murmured Folcroft Urlich. "Death by misadventure. A man who realized too late that his air
supply was gone. One whose strength had failed so greatly that he was unable to ring for help, or call by
phone, or open door or window. That will be the coroner's verdict.

"Guns in the hands of gangsters cannot match this subtle scheme. They are crude. They reveal murderous
design. We have stayed them for to-night. You, Jocelyn, see the safety of my ways. You, Ricordo, can
appreciate their artistry.

"Staring eyes that look for hope will soon stare upward no longer; Alfred Sartain is doomed!"

The professor paused to deliver a cackle of elation; then his lips formed a triumphant phrase:

"Doomed by silent death!"
 CHAPTER IV. THE SHADOW ARRIVES
ALL was a blur before Alfred Sartain's weakening eyes. The doomed millionaire was staring toward the
ceiling. As Professor Urlich had divined, Sartain's eyes were upon the closed skylight. Through Sartain's
hopeless brain were running those very thoughts that the fiendish scientist had declared as probable.

Through that barrier lay the last chance for safety. Sartain knew now that he might have tried the skylight
first. Yet he completely lacked the slightest vestige of strength that might have enabled him to undertake
the task.

Through the skylight! If the heavy glass would only break; if it would only open! It was impossible,
Sartain knew, yet as he felt the creeping power of death, the millionaire instinctively gazed toward that
one way of hope.

Black spots danced before his eyes. The glass of the skylight seemed faded and obscure. Steady gasps
came from the doomed man's lips. Then they broke into one amazed pant of wonderment.

To Sartain's blurred vision, the skylight appeared to be moving upward! The dull glow of the city-lighted
sky was visible above!

Simultaneously a whiff of chill air reached Sartain's nostrils. The reviving puff sustained him sufficiently to