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

There were many versions of The Shadow's flight from Debrossler's. All of them accepted the testimony
that the fugitive had been the Gray Ghost, back again. Some of the stories had the Gray Ghost vanishing
like a will-o'-the-wisp from a circle of thwarted captors.

While he listened to such chatter, Harry watched all who came to the club house or the pier. Not one
man whom he had seen, tallied with the requirements. Some were tall, but lacked weight. Others were
husky but only of medium height. One man who might have tallied proved himself a dub when he entered
a canoe, nearly tipping it. Harry doubted that he could be the Gray Ghost.

Watching the pier, Harry heard some one on the veranda whisper:

“Here come the Debrossler girls. Pierce Gilden is with them.”

A sporty roadster had wheeled into the drive. Harry saw a young man alight and help two girls from the
car. Thinking of the Gray Ghost, Harry studied Gilden. He noted that the young man, though tall, was of
slight build. The notation, of course, was nonessential. Pierce Gilden, of all persons, could not have been
the Gray Ghost last night.

THE group approached the veranda, to be surrounded by eager questioners. Harry heard calls for exact
descriptions of what had happened with the Gray Ghost's return. The girls began a wild story. They had
been almost hysterical; they were ready to credit the Gray Ghost with a complete evanishment. Gilden
was called upon to support their testimony.

“Maybe he is a spook,” declared the young man, solemnly. “But I'd have to be shown. When he hit me in
the hallway, he bowled me over like a ten-pin!”

Some one inquired if Gilden had actually grabbed the Gray Ghost. Gilden nodded.

“I had hold of him,” he asserted, “but he was as slippery as an eel. An electric eel would be better. The
jolt that hit me was as hard as an electric current!”

“That's what you said before, Pierce,” insisted Louise Debrossler, “and that's why I think the Gray Ghost
is really a ghost. Human beings cannot deliver an electric current.”

“I said that I was jolted,” repeated Gilden, “just as badly as if I had grabbed a live wire. But I didn't get a
shock.”

“You would not have described it as you did, Pierce,” declared Jane, “unless you had really experienced
something uncanny when you seized the ghost.”

“Let's drop it,” expressed Gilden, impatiently. “I'm fed up with all this talk. Call the Gray Ghost whatever
you want. If I'd had a gun, he would have stayed where he was. Ghost or no ghost, a bullet would stop
him. I'll have a gun later. This permit business is a good idea.”

The trio went toward the pier, followed by questioners. Harry watched the departure; then chanced to
turn toward the club house door. He stared at a man who had just stepped out on the veranda.

Tall, heavy-built, this newcomer was a young man with a rugged, square-jawed face. His profile was
choppy; Harry noted the glint of eyes that stared from beneath straight-lined brows. The man looked like