Grant, Maxwell - The Shadow 253 - The Vampire Murders by Maxwell Grant

Author:Maxwell Grant
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Detective, Mystery, Crime, Suspense, Adventure, Thriller
Publisher: Street & Smith Publications
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

THROCK heard the calls too, and turned around just as The Shadow arrived. With a savage shout, the haggard servant aimed his reloaded gun straight for The Shadow, mistaking him for the vampire, mysteriously returned.

Catching Throck’s wrist, The Shadow drove the fellow’s gun hand upward and the revolver chattered in the air. But as they reeled together, The Shadow and Throck, they came half through the French windows.

Harry wasn’t the only person who saw them. Clabb and Sabbatha saw all of the struggle; Cedric was in time to witness half of it; while Warren and Gail caught the finish - which was the most graphic part. By then, the rough-and-ready grapple had gone The Shadow’s way, and he climaxed it by smothering Throck into submission.

No vampire could have done it better. Throck was in the doorway, whereas The Shadow had wheeled to the balcony. What the witnesses saw was a man-sized thing of blackness that spread its cloak like a pair of great bat wings, enveloping Throck completely in the folds.

Throck sagged, and for the moment it looked as though his fate would be comparable to Frenton’s.

Only Harry knew the truth - that Frenton had met one foe, Throck another. But Harry couldn’t stop the surge of men who lunged for The Shadow: Clabb first, next Cedric, and finally Warren; while old Sabbatha held a candelabrum high to guide them, the flames from the wicks adding an insane gleam to her old eyes.

With an opening swish of the cloak that looked like wings, The Shadow was gone, while men were blundering across Throck as the servant clambered up from the doorway. They glimpsed The Shadow on the roof and Cedric produced a gun, along with Warren’s. But when they fired at the spot where The Shadow faded, he was gone. Moonlight, gleaming suddenly, showed only the bare, paintless shingles of the roof!

The Shadow had swung beneath the eaves. There, in deep darkness, he had hooked one arm across a projecting beam and was putting on the suction cups. He looked back to the balcony, saw Cedric and Warren staring all about. At moments, they saw fantastic things along the wall and probed with shots; but all they clipped was rustling ivy.

With the two turned the other way, The Shadow moved off along his part of the wall, where there was no ivy. He was just swinging a corner when Throck glimpsed him, for the servant’s eyes were very good in darkness.

But Throck didn’t matter; nothing but clicks came from his antique gun. He’d unloaded it with those shots in the air. The Shadow had counted six of them while the revolver was spouting in volcanic fashion.

Turning at Throck’s cry, Cedric and Warren saw only a blank house corner, so didn’t waste their last few shots. Throck was emphatic, though, in stating that he’d seen the vampire disappear in that direction, and Clabb gave a corroborating nod.

Thus was the way paved for a most astounding mystery to follow. At the doorway,

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