"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 241 - Vengeance Bay" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

"You wanted protection," declared Speed. "Good protection, Mr. Bron. The best way to find out how
good a thing is, is to give it a trial. That's what I've done. What I'm doing now is proving it."

Bron hadn't caught on to what Speed meant, but The Shadow had. Turning from the door, he was
starting back along the passage. It wasn't necessary for The Shadow to hear the words that Speed spoke
next:

"I posted a couple of my crew outside the Club Plaisance," Speed was telling Bron. "They trailed you
here to see that nothing happened to you on the way. This lamp is flashing a light outside the alley door,
to bring them in here. They'll repeat the orders I gave them. I told them that if they ran into any guy who
was mooching into your business -"

The thing that Speed was mentioning had at that moment happened. It involved one slight error on The
Shadow's part. He had mistaken those men who trailed Bron as enemies of the refugee, whereas they
happened to be friends and protectors, supplied by Speed Falley!
Knowing what Speed's orders must have been, The Shadow wanted no quarrel with the crew of the
ex-smuggler who intended to help Vedo Bron; hence, divining Speed's purpose with the lamp cord, The
Shadow was on his way out.

It was too late: The Shadow had listened too long. As he reached the turn in the passage, the blaze of a
flashlight met him; with it came the savage shouts of Speed's two henchmen, in from the alleyway.

With that shout, they branded The Shadow as a foeman of the very sort that Speed had told them to
expect!

CHAPTER III. TWO WAYS OUT
WITH a tremendous fling, The Shadow hurled himself upon the two men in the passage. Of one thing he
was certain: their only weapon, at the moment, was the flashlight they shared between them. They knew
what the summons from Speed meant; he was calling them into conference with Bron, the man they had
protected.

Therefore, it was The Shadow who was springing the surprise attack; not these two who blocked his
path. If he could fling them from the way and make a quick departure, the status of the present situation
would, if anything, be improved.

The Shadow was willing to let these men boast that they had driven off an unknown marauder. He
wanted to learn what the alliance between Bron and Speed would produce.

Had the passageway been one foot wider, The Shadow would have succeeded in his drive. Meeting his
unwanted opponents head-on, he hurled them backward, sending their flash light with them; then, as they
sprawled apart, The Shadow sprang ahead and between them.

One man, stopped by the wall, made a wild grab for The Shadow's ankle and clutched it. It wouldn't
have happened had the fellow been a trifle farther away.

Spilling headlong, The Shadow was only halfway to his feet when his adversaries came leaping blindly for
him. They weren't empty-handed; one man had a revolver, the other a knife. The weapons didn't glint in
the darkness; but The Shadow was quite sure that the men had drawn them. Reversing his attack, he hit
with a low drive, his shoulders meeting the knees of the lunging pair. They went over and above The