Maxwell Grant - The Shadow 027 by The Silent Death

Author:The Silent Death
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-11-15T00:41:29+00:00

The tones of a strange, whispered laugh came to the detective's ears. Cardona reached the outer office, and threw the beams of his light toward the outer door, just as it closed. The detective hurried to the hall.

He was too late. The Shadow was gone.

After a long interval, Cardona weakly returned to the inner office. The floor was soaked with water from the cracked bottle. The detective picked up the telephone from the desk. His eyes ran along the wire that connected it with the box.

Joe Cardona's backward stagger had brought that wire free. The sleuth made an examination. He discovered that the cord was a dummy. He picked up the telephone. It, too, was a faked article.

Some one had removed the genuine phone and its wire. This instrument had been installed in its place. It was not a telephone. It was an ingenious death machine. Quickly, Cardona unscrewed the parts. He found himself possessing a remarkable device.

The receiver contained a short, stubby pistol barrel. Behind it was the hammer; out dropped a large, empty cartridge. Filled with a special charge of explosive powder, this deadly weapon had discharged its bullet with a sharp pung, accompanied by the puff of smoke.

There was a dry battery in the post of the telephone. This, connected with the receiver hook and the wire between base and receiver, had supplied the current that released the hammer of the pistol. Down and up—Cardona went through the motion with the hook. Both actions were required; the hammer rose and fell.

Certain death—silent death! Cardona had escaped it tonight. The fiend who had designed this instrument had planned well.

CARDONA did not know that the idea had occurred to Professor Folcroft Urlich when the scientist had seen Alfred Sartain's actions with the telephone within the studio where doom had been slated to strike.

The detective knew only that the vigilance of The Shadow had saved him from certain death. Vaguely, the detective realized that The Shadow might have been the one for whom this fate had been intended. A man, jiggling the hook, would surely have the receiver to his ear.

The conjecture was correct. The Shadow, scenting a death trap, had finally centralized upon the telephone. He had watched Cardona's actions, and had acted when the crucial moment had been reached.

Other thoughts were buzzing through the detective's mind. This deadly instrument could well be accepted as a device intended to slay Gardner Joyce, the occupant of this office. That made a third intended crime.

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