Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 044 by Maxwel l Grant

Author:Maxwel,l Grant
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf

CHAPTER XXIII. TRAPPERS TRAPPED

THE tables were turned on Wendel Hargate. The man who had launched the attack into Eli Galban's domain was in the power of his enemy. Thibbel, Hargate's fighting henchman, had died. With Hargate was an assorted trio of victims who were sharing in his fall.

Harry Vincent, agent of The Shadow; Joe Cardona, representative of the law-these were two whose presence here had not been of Hargate's making. Terry Barliss, however, had come with the captured millionaire. To Harry Vincent, Terry's presence was something that seemed unexplainable.

Eli Galban was chuckling. His face wore its deceptive touch of friendliness; yet the chuckle betrayed a

subtle form of latent evil. With an imperious gesture of his hand, Galban gave orders to his minions. They seemed to understand.

While Sanyata closed the door to the cellar, Fawkes, with a venomous snarl, ordered the prisoners to cluster to the stairway. Sanyata returned and drew a revolver. Together, these henchmen of Eli Galban marched their victims upward.

Hargate and Terry went first, with hands raised. After them came Harry Vincent and Joe Cardona. A silent group, these men were being herded toward Galban's lonely third-story abode. The threats of guns behind them kept them in order. They tramped past closed doors on the second floor; then up the final flight to the third, where an opened space in the wall admitted them to Eli Galban's room.

The old man was already there. He had come up in the elevator with Mercher. The secretary, still careful of his wound, was slumped in a chair. Galban ordered Fawkes to line the prisoners against the wall.

The cheery room seemed gloomy now. The shuttered windows had been barred. Sanyata closed the portal through which the group had come. The doorway formed part of what appeared to be a solid wall.

DROPPING into his accustomed chair, Eli Galban surveyed the men whom he had captured. Keenly, he decided that Joe Cardona must be the detective working on the case of Compton Salwood. With a hearty chuckle, Galban began to speak.

"I have been looking forward to this visit," he laughed. "To this time when I could have my desired guests together. It will enable me to dispose of trouble-making blunderers at one time."

The old man paused to meet the sullen gaze of Wendel Hargate. The millionaire's discomfort seemed to please Eli Galban.

"Even now," chuckled the old man, "all of you do not understand. Since none of you will ever trouble me again, it will please me to explain the facts that you have sought. It was considerate of me to allow you to come up by the stairway in this house. It enabled you to view locked doors that hide the secrets that I have so closely guarded.

"One door conceals my press; another my bindery. A third hides the studio. A fourth, my storage room. I am a man of many parts-with capable assistants. Sanyata is a clever copyist of manuscripts; Mercher is an excellent imitator of old printing. Both are skilled at binding.

"Here in this house, I forged the spurious works which were substituted for rare books and manuscripts.

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