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

end his decreasing weakness. All went black momentarily; then the darkness moved, and from its strange
mass shone two sparkling eyes.

The figure of a living being was projecting itself through the opened skylight. Some rescuer had opened
the barrier from the roof, and was descending into the studio!

The puzzled glimmer that came in Sartain's eyes was noted plainly by Professor Urlich, who was peering
through the opera glasses from the office across the street. The scientist, studying each fading gasp of the
doomed man as he might have examined a germ cell in a microscope, detected instantly that something
had happened.

A peculiar grunt escaped the professor's lips as he lowered the opera glasses to view the studio instead
of the face upon the desk. Jocelyn and Ricordo heard the ejaculation. With one accord they delivered
questions of surprise, wondering what Urlich had seen.

"Something has happened from above!" exclaimed the professor. "I could tell it from Sartain's eyes. Our
victim is reviving. What is there, above him? Can you see?"

The three men were crouching close to the sill of the opened office window, trying to gain a view of the
space above Sartain's head. They were seeking the answer to the riddle. It came with unexpected
suddenness.

A MASS of blackness dropped downward from the top of the studio. It spread out momentarily upon
the floor; then rose upright to become the tall figure of a being clad in black, a sinister shape beneath a
flowing cloak, a hidden head covered by a broad slouch hat.

"Through the skylight!" blurted Jocelyn.

"Some intruder," snarled Urlich, "come to spoil my plan of death -"

"The Shadow!"

The final cry came from Larry Ricordo. The gang lord was trembling with excitement. His companions
turned toward him. They could see the whiteness of his face beside the window.

"The Shadow!" Consternation filled Ricordo's voice. "He stops at nothing! He will save Sartain! He is our
enemy!"

To Jocelyn, the very tone of Ricordo's voice was alarming. The financier did not know the ways of the
underworld, he did not share the common fears of gangsters who dreaded the power of The Shadow.
But he sensed the menace from Ricordo's words.

To Professor Urlich, the gang leader's fright was also evident. Urlich, like Jocelyn, knew that Ricordo
had sighted a potential menace. The Shadow was leaning over Alfred Sartain, raising the millionaire's
body toward the reviving air currents that came from above.

Silent death had failed. Urlich, however, viewed The Shadow as an ordinary human, who had somehow
bungled into this situation. He gave no thought to the weird impressiveness of The Shadow's garb. His
one theme was his anger at the unexpected failure of his plot to end Alfred Sartain's life.