"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 268 - Murder Lake" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

Through a narrow passage where the drip from stalactites echoed like anvil clangs on the stalagmites
beneath, The Shadow reached a widened chamber that represented the new limit of the cave. Sweeping
the floor, the tiny flashlight picked out a clump of tumbled debris which marked the deeper passage.

Working his way through rough-hewn crevices, The Shadow found definite evidence of the dynamite
charge that Shep had mentioned. Limestone specimens were chopped off sharply. Everything likely to
break had been broken; hence The Shadow needed little caution.

A turn in the passage promised to bring him into the final chamber where Shep and his companions had
stowed the oblong box. Then, as The Shadow shouldered past the final turn, his little torch extinguished
itself instantly.
It wasn't needed. The Shadow had come into daylight!

THE illumination came from high above, down a long, vertical shaft that had its opening above the cliff,
where the sunset was still in evidence.

By that trickle of light The Shadow saw heaps of stones, not of limestone origin, piled on the floor of the
little chamber. The blast of a few months ago had caved the chamber's roof, bringing masses of debris
that buried the oblong box, but at the same time opened an outlet to the world above!

That Endorf had looked into the situation was evident. He must have found the shaft by a private trip to
the cliff top. Its existence probably had much to do with his hiring of expert talent to get rid of the telltale
box. For Bevry's workers were already here!

From his narrow passage The Shadow saw two men, their backs turned toward him. They were of
stocky build, much brawnier than Bevry. They had completed their brief excavation and were raising the
oblong box from its forgotten resting place. Watching the casket come upright, The Shadow saw that it
had been attached to a rope leading up the shaft.

Gazing upward, the men spread their arms. Morgan's improvised coffin began a smooth upward trip,
hoisted by a block and tackle. As it went it revealed a rope ladder hanging down the far wall of the
narrow shaft. As soon as they were sure that the box was properly on its way, the two men started up
the ladder, one waiting until his predecessor had gone a considerable way.

Like a shape materialized by the cave's own gloom, The Shadow glided forward, crossed the stone pile
and caught the bottom rung of the dangling rope ladder. Looking up, he saw why the men had worried
about proper clearance. Some thirty feet above, the shaft narrowed slightly and made a slight bend of its
far wall.

The two ghouls had waited for the hoisted box to go past that danger spot. Similarly, the second man had
allowed the first to get by the slight bend, before beginning his own climb.

It was now The Shadow's turn to apply the same process. There was no need to hurry the climb. Rather,
caution was the watchword. The box, then the men, were due to reach the outlet at intervals of about one
minute each. The Shadow could certainly cut that time along the final stretch of the hundred-foot climb.

It would take these marauders more than a minute to stow the box into a waiting vehicle, preparatory to
departure. The last thing they would ever expect would be the arrival of a mysterious challenger from the
very pit which they were so positive was empty.