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

At another snarled order; the crew began shoving stones down into the shaft. There was a clatter as
chunks of rocks descended, followed by the clanging thud of a huge boulder that three men shoved
together. Others finished by dumping sizable stones into the pit and kicking smaller fragments as a final
offering.

As the group was turning to load the oblong box into their waiting vehicle, their snarly spokesman
scoffed:

"Those Dalebury yaps want to find a dead guy down below. All right, they'll find one - The Shadow!"

CHAPTER III. CREATURES OF BLACKNESS
MUFFLED by the confines of the shaft itself, the rattle of gunnery and the crash of rocks failed to carry
out through the vast vault of Echo Cave. Thus such sounds remained unheard by the citizens of Dalebury,
who were at that moment arriving outside the cave.

They had come in plenty, these representatives of a long-delayed quest.

Police chief, district attorney, both had their satellites. Endorf was along, followed by a dozen other
friends of Morgan, who regarded him loyal to the dead man's memory. In the midst of this throng was
Shep Kroot, no longer handcuffed, since he was to point the way to where the box was buried.

After a brief confab at the entrance of the cave, about half the group entered, leaving the rest outside.
Spreading through the cave the glare of flashlights made wide swaths, bringing shimmering effects from
the limestone formations.

Shoving Shep ahead of them, two officers reached the blocked passage that marked the safety limit.
There, the police chief shouldered forward and took Shep into personal custody. Standing beside them,
Hubert Endorf watched the police and others clear a path through the passage that The Shadow had so
recently covered.

Away from the focused flashlights, Endorf could give play to his nervous feelings. He liked this darkness,
even though it reminded him too much of Morgan.

The cave picked up the voices and the clatter as men forced their way through to the deepest chamber,
but the sounds lessened as the work progressed. Word was coming back that Shep hadn't lied about the
dynamite job. The debris showed definite signs of a blast. Then came the report that the final obstacle
had been removed.

Men were crowding into the stone-strewn chamber, half a dozen of them. They saw what looked like a
hole in the floor, beside the far wall. Approaching, men stooped to probe. The hole became a solid form
as flashlights fell upon it. Then hands were clutching a human figure, drawing it upright, as one hoarse
voice proclaimed:

"It's Morgan's body - wrapped in a black shroud!"

The very suggestion froze all hearers except one. He was the person that these finders had mistaken for
the body of a long-dead victim. The husky voice and its reverberations stirred The Shadow from his
daze!