The Blue Sphinx

CHAPTER XIX THE BREAK ARRIVES

MOONLIGHT had revealed the stealthy attack on the Latuna Museum. It had shown men of crime moving in and out. And all the while, that shimmering illumination had bathed the interior of the Sphinx Room, where a blackened form was still drilling at the base of the built-in pedestal.

Barred by two sets of doors, the Sphinx Room was totally detached from the rest of the museum. That was why The Shadow had no need to muffle the work that he was doing. It also explained why The Shadow had not heard the entrance of the invaders.

He had caught the faint sound of the bell that the crooks had rung. But The Shadow, like the watching policemen, had supposed that the tinkle indicated the arrival of another shift. Had a single shot been fired during the invasion, The Shadow might have had an inkling of trouble. But shots had proven unnecessary.

The distant blast from the quarry had been the only new sound that had reached The Shadow. But now, as the cloaked worker paused in his drilling, his keen ears caught an unexpected noise.

It sounded like an echo of The Shadow’s own drilling. It came from the rear of the Sphinx Room, below the floor.

Swiftly, The Shadow arose and moved to the solid wall at the back of the room. Grotesque in the moonlight, he became a listening shape, as silent as an ebony statue.

A soft laugh. The Shadow knew what was taking place. Men outside were chiseling into the bricked barrier that backed the sealed vault underneath this very room. They were trying to carve through to the spot that housed the museum’s treasures.

Cliff Marsland had reported that the blow-off would not come until tomorrow night. It was possible that this was preliminary work on the part of an advance squad. But The Shadow, thinking of the police who served as watchmen, knew instantly that the risk would be too great. Something must have happened within the museum before Konk Zitz would order work outside.

SWIFTLY, The Shadow headed for the front of the Sphinx Room. The huge Blue Sphinx looked on with placid eyes as the cloaked master inserted a pick in the lock of the doors. The barriers yielded promptly. The Shadow stepped into the anteroom.

As cautiously as on his first trip to the museum, The Shadow probed the outer lock. A muffled click announced success. Slowly, The Shadow drew one half of the double door inward, while his keen eyes peered into the front hall. He heard the click of footsteps.

Clyde Burke and the two gorillas had neared the outer door. The crooks were nudging their captive with their ready guns. They were to watch this fellow until later. Such had been Konk Zitz’s order. But, as they made the turn, one fellow sidled a pace ahead.

Clyde saw his chance. Twisting suddenly, he swung away from the man beside him and launched a hard punch for the fellow’s jaw. The gorilla staggered. With a mad dive, Clyde sprang for the corner that they had just passed, hoping to reach it before his other guard could respond.

The gorilla was too quick. Swinging as he heard the scuffle, he leveled his revolver at the darting form of Clyde. Finger on trigger, he snarled viciously as he prepared to press.

Clyde heard the snarl. He also heard the roaring shot that followed it. Yet he found himself dashing on, unscathed.

Behind him, the gorilla was crumpling. The crook’s revolver dropped clattering to the stone floor, unfired. The would-be killer had never pressed the trigger. The shot that Clyde had heard had blazed from the entrance to the anteroom.

Firing on the draw, The Shadow had loosed the thunder of an automatic to drop the aiming gorilla.

Though wiry, Clyde lacked power behind a punch. The man whom he had slugged was still on his feet. That fellow, half turned, saw the burst of flame that came from the anteroom. He did not wait to see the second gorilla fall.

Savagely, the remaining ruffian aimed his ready gat for the blackness where the enemy lurked. He fired a quick shot that clanged through the brass facing of the door, into the woodwork beneath. As he completed aim, he was ready with another trigger squeeze. It never came.

A half second was the interval. The Shadow dealt in finer fractions. The automatic roared its echoing message from the confines of the anteroom. It stopped the gorilla’s second attempt. With masterful aim, The Shadow sent his adversary sprawling.

While the crook was still on the fall, the door of the anteroom swung open. Into the lighted hall came the cloaked shape of The Shadow.

CLYDE BURKE had reached the Medieval Room. It was dimly lighted; and off in the further corner, Clyde saw a terrible scene. On the instant, he realized why Konk Zitz had come out chuckling.

Cliff Marsland, bound, was lying face downward with his head forced in the trough of the guillotine. Clamped in place, he could not move. One crook was standing in the foreground, while the other was preparing to loose the cleaverlike ax that had chopped off aristocratic heads in the era of the French Revolution.

Both men stopped short as Clyde came hurtling into the room. As he rounded the corner by the Iron Maiden, they thought that he must be one of their band, coming with some new order from Konk Zitz. Dimly lighted, the exhibit room did not supply sufficient glow for prompt recognition.

“Duke,” the nearer man, suddenly realized what had happened. Yanking a gun, he aimed point blank at Clyde, while he cried to Dopey, at the guillotine:

“It’s the mug reporter—”

Clyde’s swinging arm struck Duke’s wrist as the fellow fired. The shot went wide. As they locked in a struggle, Duke managed a glancing stroke with his gun. Clyde’s hold loosened.

“Get Marsland!” ordered Duke. “I’ve got this mug—”

Dopey, one hand on the release, had drawn a revolver with the other. His head turned as he heard a sound at the far door. With staring eyes, Dopey saw The Shadow. He caught the sound of a taunting laugh. Dopey aimed. He never fired.

The Shadow’s automatic spoke. Sizzling through between the bars of a Chinese torture cage, the bullet found its mark! The cage occupied the center of the exhibit room. To reach the far corner, The Shadow had been forced to risk deflecting bars.

That necessity had prevented him from dealing instant death to Dopey. The vicious thug sagged and dropped his gun. But with his other hand, he tried to release the ax blade. His left fist was tight. Then came another withering blast from the automatic.

Aiming higher, The Shadow shattered the dying killer’s wrist. Dopey’s fingers relaxed. His body slumped to the floor beside the guillotine. Cliff Marsland’s life was saved.

DUKE, rolling Clyde Burke to the floor, had heard the shots. Coming to his knees, Duke forgot the reporter and aimed straight for The Shadow. He had the bead he wanted. He pressed the trigger while The Shadow was swinging toward him.

But as Duke launched his seemingly certain shot, a quick hand caught his wrist. Clyde, half groggy, had seen the menace. His thrust was just in time. His yanking hand spoiled the aim. Duke’s shot whistled inches away from The Shadow’s wheeling form.

Snarling, Duke yanked clear and aimed again. As he fired a quick, wide shot, The Shadow’s automatic spoke in unison. Duke slumped forward to the floor. The snarl ended in a dying cough.

Clyde Burke was coming to his feet. The Shadow, by the doorway, hissed an order. Clyde turned toward the guillotine. He could hear distant cries; he knew that The Shadow must go out to repel invaders. It was Clyde’s job to release Cliff.

Reaching into an opened exhibit case, The Shadow seized a poniard and sent the weapon sizzling through the air. The knife landed squarely in a broad post of the guillotine and quivered there, flashing in the dim light.

Clyde, breaking loose the clamp that held Cliff’s head, looked up as he heard the whirring blade. Dragging Cliff from beneath the guillotine’s menacing ax, Clyde reached for the poniard and wrenched it from the wooden post. He used the blade as a knife to cut Cliff’s bonds.

Cliff came to his feet. He grabbed Duke’s revolver, and Clyde snatched up Dopey’s. Together, they dashed out into the hall, where they could hear the sounds of shots. They saw The Shadow, by the front corner of the hall, firing out through the opened doorway. Returning gorillas were dropping back from his fusillade.

Wheeling suddenly, The Shadow pointed his agents to the opened door of the anteroom. Shots came from outside as they took to the designated cover. Roars resounded from a second automatic that The Shadow had drawn. A hoarse cry of a wounded raider came from beyond the outer door.

Then, with a swift whirl, The Shadow came swinging across the floor. His automatics — he was wielding one with each hand — sent blazing flames in the direction of the attackers. No shots responded as The Shadow swung into the anteroom where Clyde and Cliff were waiting.

Both agents expected to see The Shadow keep up the fight through a partly opened doorway. Instead, The Shadow swung the door shut. As he clicked the lock, Clyde suddenly realized the reason for that action.

Something thudded against the outside of the closed doors. Balked in a revolver fusillade, Konk Zitz had brought up a different method of attack. The Shadow, scenting a faint odor in the outer hall, had expected it.

Tear gas bombs. The same weapons that had enabled the invaders to overpower the police were now being used against The Shadow and his agents. The Shadow had closed the doors of the anteroom just in time.

He could not open the door to meet those incoming gorillas. Konk’s rallied forces would come equipped with gas masks. The Shadow and his rescued aids had only one avenue of retreat. That lay into the Sphinx Room.

Windowless, with walls that only The Shadow could scale, that inner chamber seemed no better than a hopeless trap, so far as Clyde and Cliff were concerned. Men were already pounding at the doors of the anteroom; trying to break through the metal facing.

Then, at this moment that offered nothing but despair, a dull blast came from the back of the museum. The building gave a quiver. Pounding from the hallway was resumed.

Standing in the darkness of the anteroom, The Shadow laughed.