"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 252 - Judge Lawless" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

him to his feet.
Had Judge Lawless merely thumped his gavel, the scene would have become a
bitter battle wherein outnumbered crooks would have suffered badly,
considering
that the police had them covered for a start. But the Judge wasn't even able
to
grab his mallet, let alone swing it.
The beefy police lieutenant had reached the bench and was holding the
fake
judge powerless under the muzzle of a revolver. Though his leer was ugly and
his
lips spat venom, Judge Lawless was raising his hands, and at the sight of his
action, crooks did the same. Then cops were among them, frisking them, tossing
an assortment of guns on the stone floor.
It was all over, very, very quickly, this round up of the Lawless gang,
and Dave Channey stood much bewildered and somewhat horrified, as he wondered
at his own status.
Dave's name wasn't on the list; nor had the police found a gun on him. Of
those two points in his favor, the list could be the more important.
Fleech, the so called court crier, had that list; what he had done with
it, Dave didn't know. Probably Fleech hadn't found a chance to eat it, but he
might go to that extreme if he saw the opportunity. If only the police would
search the fellow! Raised hands clenched Dave was almost on the point of
offering such a suggestion, when Fleech acted on his own.
As police produced handcuffs to slash on the wrists of prisoners, one
approached Fleech. Near the bench, Fleech turned excitedly to the uniformed
attendant, and exclaimed:
"Not yet! Don't take them yet... they aren't all here! The list... in my
pocket... it will tell you! If you wait -"
 The lieutenant gestured for Fleech to lower his hands. The squealer did
so
and produced the list. Taking the sheet, the officer turned to the bench and
proffered the list with a bow. Judge Lawless received it with his left hand,
while he picked up the gavel with his right.
Then with a hard swing, that seemed inspired by his vicious grin, Judge
Lawless drove the gavel to the table. Its resounding smash was an announcement
that the court of injustice was again in session, with Judge Lawless presiding
on the bench!


CHAPTER II

CRIME'S VERDICT

SO swift was the reversal of events, that the result left Dave Channey
breathless. Judge Lawless wasn't the only performer in the startling drama;
the
police were running him a close race. In their case, the term "police" fitted
them about as well as the title "judge" suited Lawless. For they weren't
police