"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 101 - The Gray Ghost" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

By taking to the wall, he had left searchers baffled. By reaching the Sound, he had gained access to a
water route, a much safer course than any he could have taken by land.

At the shore, The Shadow found a decrepit pier that had probably been built by a former owner of
Windler's house. The old recluse had abandoned the landing place. Its paint had become a faded gray.
The Shadow streaked the flashlight along the broken-down pilings, which were flimsy, for the pier had
never been a strong one. The glow showed what The Shadow hoped: a dab of white against one post.

The Gray Ghost had docked a rowboat at Windler's old pier. The side of the craft had scraped a piling.
Judging from the height of the white paint above the water, and allowing for the tide, The Shadow could
calculate the approximate size of the boat. He knew that the Gray Ghost would have preferred a
rowboat to a small motor craft. Oars could be handled with a degree of silence; the put-put of a motor
would have been difficult to cover.

RETURNING to the coupe, The Shadow ordered Harry to drive toward Debrossler's. As they reached
the road that led down to the Holmwood Beach Club, The Shadow gave another order. Harry took the
road to the club.

Lights glowed; music was audible as the coupe neared the Sound. The club's pier was a large one, wide
enough for cars to park. There was also a broad driveway to the left. The club house stood beyond that
space. Fully a dozen cars were parked in the drive.

A dance was in progress at the club. Guests had therefore parked their cars in the drive. Some had
already left; but the space looked ample for at least fifty cars. It followed that no one had parked upon
the pier. That space was used only when persons came to the beach to swim.

The Shadow whispered to Harry. The agent drove the car out to the end of the pier, swung crosswise
and extinguished the lights. Total darkness covered the coupe. The Shadow stepped to the pier.

Following the side of the pier most distant from the club house drive, The Shadow moved inshore.
Turning his flashlight toward the water's edge, he saw a stretch of hard sandy beach. Situated below the
pier, on the right side when one faced the Sound, that strip of beach was completely isolated. No one
could have viewed it from the club house; which was several hundred feet away.

There were boats drawn up to the inner edge of the beach. The Shadow took to the sand; he
approached the boats and used the flashlight. He found a white rowboat, its sides dripping wet. Running
the flashlight along the sand, he saw the scraped line along which the boat had been drawn from the
water.

There were no traces of footprints. The Shadow sought the answer in the boat itself. He found the clue
he wanted.

A broad, thick piece of canvas was wedged beneath the bow. Folded hurriedly, it formed a crumpled
mass. The Shadow pulled out the canvas and spread it across the boat. He flicked his flashlight.

Dirt, dust, wet sand.

All were conspicuous upon the canvas. They showed the Gray Ghost's trail.

Not only had the canvas served the murderer at the flower bed and beyond the stone wall; he had utilized