"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 172 - Battle of Greed" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

simultaneously, another hand pulled the cord of a floor lamp near the chair.
Brought to his feet by a clasp that held him like an iron claw, George Ellerby was whipped
full about. He couldn't voice the shriek that he had intended; his only articulation was the
chatter of his teeth.

The voice from the safe was explained. The whispered mockery had been delivered by
George's captor, for the balked crook heard the tone again, this time from hidden lips.
Trained past George's shoulder, the laugh had stirred the confines of the safe, the walls
magnifying the taunt in the fashion of a sounding box.

George Ellerby was facing the being who had laughed. In the modified glow of the shaded
lamplight, he saw a figure cloaked in black; solid, yet spectral, because of its remarkable
arrival. Solid, too, was the automatic that a black-gloved hand had drawn—a big .45 that
could have swallowed the puny weapon in George's pocket.
Above the looming gun were eyes that burned, as they reflected the lamp's glow. Those
eyes, alone, were visible features; the rest were obscured by another portion of the cloaked
person's attire—a slouch hat—black, like the cloak—with broad brim down-turned at the
front.

George Ellerby, engaged in crime de luxe, had been "rapped" by the mysterious avenger
who was feared by all crookdom, from bigshots who posed as men of repute, to the skulking
hordes of the underworld.

There was no mistaking the identity of George's captor.

He was The Shadow!

CHAPTER II. THE SHADOW'S TERMS
CROOKS displayed varying modes of behavior, when confronted by The Shadow under a
situation such as this. Though all showed fear, some went sullen, others whined for mercy,
while the most desperate of their ilk turned berserk and offered maddened fight.
George Ellerby was terrified; but that was all. From the man's whole look, The Shadow
recognized that this was George's first attempt at crime. The facts that he carried a gun
along with his flashlight, that he had used picks and skeleton keys to force an entry below,
were evidence of calculated preparation for this initial venture, not of previous experience at
housebreaking.

The Shadow had forbidden this young man to continue with his crime; had drawn him from
the brink of a committed robbery.

Shame was the expression that clouded George's face, as his terror abated. All his forced
bravado was gone. He neither asked for mercy, nor expected it. He knew that he had gone
beyond the limit of right behavior, and would deserve whatever The Shadow decreed. His
whole game was known, for George was hearing it detailed.
In steady, sibilant tones, The Shadow reviewed the steps by which George Ellerby had
reached his present status. He told how George had visited Rupert Sandersham; had
guessed the combination of the safe through carelessness on the part of Atlee, the
secretary. He described George's earlier trip here, when the young man had studied the
house from the outside.