The Shadow 259 The Hydra by Maxwell Grant

Author:Maxwell Grant [Grant, Maxwell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Street & Smith
Published: 1942-12-14T23:00:00+00:00

He wanted all hands to be present, which they were. Even the stage hands!

They were three, those stage hands, the former attendants at the scientific museum. Along with a dozen actors, they were getting their cut of two thousand dollars each, the rest to be retained by Medor, the Hydra Head, for benefit of himself and the other leaders of the sinister organization.

Forward moved The Shadow. His laugh grew as he came. Plotters heard it when he was almost among them. Like Medor, the rest wheeled to find themselves under the muzzles of two moving automatics that threatened all with the doom that they thought they had already delivered to The Shadow!

By then, The Shadow’s laugh was striking a strong pitch. Strident, it hurled its sinister mirth for the audience to hear. Beyond the curtain were people who should be told what the real crimes of the actors were. Not fanciful

exaggerations of French Revolutionary lore, but modern, streamlined villainy done by criminals who used a theater as their hideout and fancy costumes as their disguises!

Fiercer, more chill-inspiring than the crash of the guillotine was that accusation of The Shadow, a mocking laugh for the world to hear. Persons out front didn’t have to see what was happening backstage to know that crime was uncovered. With one mighty taunt, The Shadow was shattering the Hydra’s latest game, throwing Head Seven and his followers into complete panic.

They did just what a disorganized group would do: some lunged forward independently, others dodged for shelter, while a few actually fled. Some let their money flutter in their excitement; the rest clung to their share of the stolen funds, tightly and grimly. All, however, were yanking weapons of their own. Nobody who served the Hydra ever went unarmed.

The Shadow’s guns blasted first. Tongues of fire stabbed the nearest foemen before they could jab their own revolvers in return. Tongues of flame with bullets of metal that cut a swath through the ranks of murderers. Asking for such treatment, they were allowing The Shadow no choice but to give it.

The principal members of the cast were the ones who took the brunt.

Across

the sprawling forms of King Louis, Danton, and Robespierre sprang The Shadow, wheeling to a better vantage point where he could deal with the rest. In particular, he wanted Medor, but it wasn’t judgment to forget the others.

Guns were popping from all about the stage; even those who had started to flee were rallying for the fray. And Medor wasn’t where he could be touched.

Clutching the great bulk of the bank swag, the Hydra Head was keeping behind his followers as he shouted for them to flank The Shadow and thus dispose of their mutual menace. Time was short, and Medor wanted to keep it that way for The Shadow.

Wheeling toward the center of the stage, The Shadow was revolving like a human gun turret, but there was still a chance to trap him. Keeping behind a screen of charging followers, Medor continued his urging shouts.

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