THE FIVE CHAMELEONS
by Maxwell Grant
As originally published in "The Shadow Magazine," November 1, 1932.
Great wealth, and years of patience - all toward a tremendous scheme of
evil. And The Shadow, alone, to thwart them!
CHAPTER I
A SQUEALER DIES
"THE SHADOW!"
The hoarse, frightened cry came from a man who cowered beside the wall of
the little room. His beady, blinking eyes were staring wildly at a tall form
clad in black.
"Yes, I am The Shadow!"
The reply came in a mocking whisper, from unseen lips. A cold pause
followed; then the sinister voice repeated its taunting statement.
"I am The Shadow. I bring you doom, Hawk Forster!"
The cornered crook could only stare in terror. "Hawk" was facing The
Shadow, dread avenger, whose name brought fear to the hordes of the underworld
- even to the overlords of crime.
To such rats as Hawk Forster, a meeting with The Shadow occurred only once
in a lifetime. The cringing gangster knew the verdict that now awaited him.
Death!
The Shadow, tall and mysterious, garbed in black cloak and slouch hat, was
a stern, inexorable figure. His countenance was obscured by the upturned collar
of his cloak and the tilting slope of his dark hat.
Hawk Forster, blinking nervously, could see only the glow of two
penetrating eyes that shone from unfathomable depths. Those eyes were the sign
of doom!
A single arm extended from the folds of the black cloak. The gloved hand
held an automatic. The muzzle of the gun was trained upon the huddled gangster.
THE setting of this strange scene was the squalid room of an old hotel. An
open bag upon the floor showed that the gangster had been about to leave. A
doorlike window, with the dim rail of a small balcony beyond, showed the path
by which The Shadow had entered to surprise the fleeing man.
"You fear death." The Shadow's voice was ironic. "You killed two men in
cold blood, but you fear death, yourself. So I shall let you live" - the sudden
hope that came in Forster's eyes ended with the next words - "for a little
while!"
The crook chewed his puffy lips. His face had turned white. His eyes were
pleading.
The Shadow laughed again - the same sardonic laugh that had announced his
presence here.
