"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 096 - North Woods Mystery" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

carried through. Tam's sorrowed gaze became stern; his firm fists clenched.

There was a motion of the screen. Tam did not discern it. He was too preoccupied in his study of Loon
Kow. One panel of the screen swung wide. From its edge came a vicious, glaring face. Then huge
shoulders; below the right, a hand that gripped a bloody knife.

The man from the screen was a gigantic Mongol, a type of Chinese seldom seen in Manhattan. He was
the slayer of Loon Kow. The Mongol's glare foretold another murder. That knife he gripped was
intended for the heart of Doctor Roy Tam.

Slowly, gloatingly, the slayer moved forward. Step by step, he closed the distance between himself and
Roy Tam. Three feet more would have brought him within range to wield his knife. Then suddenly, the
Mongol stopped. Doctor Tam was rising from beside the body of Loon Kow.

Oblivious to the menace that threatened him, Doctor Tam looked into the desk drawer. He moved his
right hand slowly downward and stopped his fingers just above the revolver, wondering whether or not
to touch it. The Mongol edged closer. His long right arm went back past his hip, ready to deliver an
underhand thrust.

Thought of murder must have seized Doctor Tam. Inspired by some knowledge of danger, the Chinese
physician swung about. He saw the huge killer; Tam's eyes met those of the glaring Mongol. Instinctively,
Tam gripped the revolver and tried to bring it from the drawer.

He was too late. A fierce snarl tore from vicious lips. The Mongol's big right hand sped forward, driving
the long-bladed dirk straight for the heart of the hapless Doctor Tam!

Then came the incredible.

A PISTOL shot ripped from the doorway of the room. A tongue of flame stabbed straight toward its
desired mark. The bullet from a .45 automatic cracked the Mongol's speeding wrist. The assassin's hand
flung wide, as if suddenly it had been struck by a diving fist.

Loosed fingers lost the knife. The blade sizzed wide of Tam and clattered to the floor. The Mongol's
snarl changed to a hideous howl. Half rolling, half sprawling, the would-be murderer staggered away
from Tam and struck the floor beside Loon Kow's body. Gripping his broken wrist, he glared toward the
spot from which the shot had come.

Tam turned also. His eyes showed a gleam of joy.

Framed in the doorway was a figure cloaked in black. It was the shape of a being who had silently
unlocked the barrier by a method of his own. Above the folds of the arrival's cloak were burning eyes
that gazed from beneath the brim of a slouch hat.

Gloved hands projected from the cloak. The right gripped a smoking automaticтАФthe weapon that had
dispatched the needed bullet. The left hand rested upon the knob of the fully opened door. Tam knew his
rescuer. The arrival was The Shadow!

Grim avenger who battled crime, The Shadow had arrived to save a friend. For of those in Chinatown
who owned allegiance to The Shadow, none was more loyal than Doctor Roy Tam.