"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 095 - Death Rides the Skyway" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

thrusting his arms at Crofton's throat, beginning an unwarranted attack before The Shadow's agent had
even threatened him.

Crofton swung aside to avoid Danning's leap. He thrust out a brawny hand and clapped it hard against
the secretary's shoulder, giving a wide lunge with his arm. Danning spun around helplessly and sprawled
to the floor like a man of straw.
Unhurt, he whimpered and knelt cringing. Crofton gestured toward the door; Sowbry nodded solemnly
and placed his hand upon the knob.

A hysterical cry from Danning. With the servants, Crofton turned about. The three stood startled as they
viewed the insane bulge of Danning's eyes. Their faces showed alarm as they caught the glimmer of a
revolver that the secretary had drawn.

Frenzied, Danning had become a menace. Still intent to keep visitors from Seton Hylap's study, he had
brought a weapon into play. He was ready to shoot; ready to kill, should any man attempt to step across
the threshold of the room he sought to guard.

CHAPTER II. FLIGHT IN THE FOG
"MOVE away!"

Danning fairly shrieked the words. Sowbry sidled along the wall; Crofton copied the action in the other
direction. Danning's glare fixed upon the chauffeur, now the most prominent of the trio whom he
covered.

"You, too, Durfee!" ordered the secretary. "Get back from that door! All of you keep away from it! Far
away!"

The revolver wobbled slightly as Danning kept shifting it back and forth, making a semicircle that caused
him to turn his head as well.

The revolver was traveling with Danning's eyes. That was the fact that gave Crofton an opportunity.
Sowbry and Durfee were too alarmed to act; but Miles Crofton had faced situations of this sort before.
His sinews tightened; he waited for half a second, then launched a spring.

Crofton's leap was perfectly timed. It came at the instant when Danning's eyes had swung directly toward
Durfee, the farthest member of the trio. Danning did not hear the onrush; it was through nervousness that
he sensed it. Coming up from his crouch, the secretary tittered a cry and swung back toward Crofton.

DANNING was too late. The Shadow's agent was surging with full force. As Danning tried to aim his
gun, Crofton's right hand crisscrossed and clutched the secretary's wrist. Danning's finger pressed the
trigger as his hand went up. The revolver barked while pointing toward the ceiling. A bullet crackled
deep into the plaster.

Danning's cry ended. Bowled backward, the secretary flattened to the floor. His head struck the
upholstered side of a chair; the blow half stunned him. Danning moaned as his fingers loosened. Crofton
snatched up the revolver just after it clattered to the floor.

Rising above Danning's huddled form, Crofton looked toward Durfee and Sowbry. Then, as a gesture of
alliance, he extended the revolver to the chauffeur, who accepted it. That done, Crofton spoke briskly to
Sowbry.