"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 125 - The Cup of Confucious" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

THE CUP OF CONFUCIUS
by Maxwell Grant

As originally published in "The Shadow Magazine," May 1, 1937.

Out of the dim past of ancient China comes the Cup of Confucius filled to
the brim with modern intrigue and murder! Only The Shadow can fathom the
mystery held within its priceless jade sides!


CHAPTER I

DYNAMITE I

THE broad concrete approach leading to the New Jersey entrance of the
Holland Tunnel was jammed with an orderly procession of automobiles as far as
the eye could reach. Although the hour was late, the usual jam of tunnel
traffic filled every lane with trucks and pleasure cars in a slow-moving,
bewildering mass.
Yet there was no confusion or excitement. Lights blazing overhead gave
the
scene the appearance of midday. The lines of traffic slowly converged, passed
the ticket booths where busy cash registers tinkled. Cars roared down the
smooth incline that led onward into the square maw of the tunnel. But in spite
of the efficiency of the tunnel police, the waits were frequent. Drivers read
papers or dozed, most of them bored and sleepy.
Lamont Cranston, however, was wide awake. He sat behind the wheel of his
imported, beautifully streamlined coupe and his hawklike eyes were alert and
intelligent. It amused him that people stared with envy at his shining car,
yet
took no particular interest in him. It pleased Lamont Cranston to remain
anonymous and unnoticed.
For Lamont Cranston was The Shadow, mysterious avenger of crime. The
Shadow, garbed in trailing cloak and slouch hat of black, roamed the reaches
of
the underworld ferreting out crime in his lair and bringing to justice those
criminals who flouted the law! The name of The Shadow was a byword of terror
in
the far corners of crimedom!
There was a real Lamont Cranston - a world traveler who spent most of his
time exploring odd corners of the globe. Membership in New York City's
exclusive Cobalt Club was his. He maintained also a palatial estate in New
Jersey, but was seldom at home. Because of this, The Shadow at times adopted
Cranston's personality and physical characteristics, thus being able to appear
in public and gain knowledge of crime in the making that could not be his if
he
passed as The Shadow.


TO-NIGHT, The Shadow in the guise of Cranston was returning from