Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 135 by Maxwel l Grant

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

CHAPTER XI

THE MAN ON THE GIRDER

FOR a dozen miles or so nothing happened. Lights grew in the distance and waned with a roar in the rear of the speeding train. Roads crisscrossed and vanished. Marshes spread out in the darkness and were in turn whisked away by

mean clusters of wooden houses along the straggling rear ends of towns.

The Shadow maintained his careful watch on the car where the masked man was hidden. But he did not allow his attention to stray too much from the rushing countryside. He was by no means certain as to what would actually happen.

It seemed incredible that one man could successfully overcome four armed guards and steal a sealed box car and its contents. Was the masked man aboard expecting help from another quarter? The Shadow had no answer to that problem as yet.

He continued to alternate his glances between the Pooltex car behind him and the rushing darkness beyond the freight.

The locomotive whistle wailed from far ahead.

Suddenly The Shadow saw two things that tensed him for trouble. One was the smooth ribbon of a concrete road that abruptly began to run parallel with the tracks. The second - and more important thing - was the sight of a speeding

automobile on that level road.

The car was without illumination of any kind except for its tiny parking lights. Its speed was almost an exact match for that of the onrushing freight.

It seemed to hover almost exactly opposite the car where the masked man was hiding.

Suddenly The Shadow saw a tiny flash of light from the train. A brief wink

of brilliance that was instantly gone. He guessed what it was. An electric torch

in the hand of the masked stowaway.

The car speeding along the road promptly answered the signal. Its parking lights went out for a second and then flashed on again. To The Shadow the meaning of this performance was clear enough. It meant: "Everything O.K. Ready for action."

But what action? The only possible service the crook in the speeding automobile was capable of on a wild ride like this was the passing of a message

to the man on the freight.

It was absurd to think that a message could be successfully tossed across.

The road was nearly thirty feet away from the whizzing railroad ties. Even with

a weighted envelope the thing was impossible, hopeless at such speed.

Yet The Shadow expected a message to be passed. He knew that the crooks against whom he was operating were men of imagination and daring. Some clever method must be ready. He waited to see the outcome.

IT happened sooner than The Shadow anticipated. The automobile suddenly began to speed ahead. Bit by bit it crept forward, gaining on the train's speed

with every revolution of its wheels. Its bright headlights snapped suddenly on,

revealing the road ahead with clear fidelity.

The Shadow saw that the road in front of the rushing automobile was curving inward toward the train. A quarter mile ahead the road made a sharp right-angled turn and crossed the tracks. Was the

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