The Golden Quest

CHAPTER XVI. IN THE DEPTHS

QUICK action had always been The Shadow’s forte. Not only when he took the offense; but when he found need to protect his own position. Grim abandon was a measure that he could seize upon when circumstances demanded it.

Such had been his system when he had caught sight of Jubal’s hurtling bomb. The Shadow had realized that some desperate device was coming into play. He had remained above ground on the chance that Jubal would fluke the opportunity.

In an instant, he had picked the one way out; seeing the bomb coming close to his nest of rock, he had entrusted himself to the depths of the mine shaft. His backward fall had thrown him away from the jagged points that marked the inner end of the shaft.

At that, The Shadow took no easy fall. He struck bottom just before Jubal’s pineapple burst. He kept on rolling, huddled in his cloak, down the lesser slant. His automatics clattered in the darkness; his tight fists helped to break his tumble.

With the end of The Shadow’s roll came the deluge of debris from above. Chunks of stone rattled downward. They struck before they reached The Shadow’s huddled form. The missiles bounced hard against The Shadow’s shoulders. A shower of earth half buried him as it shook loose from above.

Then the tiny avalanche ended as suddenly as it had begun. Loose stones, rattling one by one, were the only reminders of the downpour. The opening of the shaft had clogged.

Jubal’s bomb had worked too well. Had it started a steady, chunky cascade of massy stone, The Shadow might not have survived the ordeal. He would, possibly, have been buried where he lay. The very power of the explosion, however, defeated its main purpose.

THE SHADOW arose unsteadily. He was badly jolted by the fall. Blood stained his gloved fingers as they probed in search of cuts. The Shadow moved his left arm slowly. He limped as he moved downward in the shaft.

Then, satisfied that he was uncrippled, The Shadow produced his little flashlight and found the automatics that he had released in his fall.

The Shadow paused. From way below came a hollow shout. He listened. A mumbling came through the shaft. As The Shadow moved downward, he caught the blink of distant lights. His laugh was a weird whisper that rustled through the tunnel.

Harry Vincent and the others had heard the gunfire. The explosion had come as the finale to the fight outside the shaft. Three men were coming back to learn the cause of the disturbance.

The Shadow raised an automatic. He turned out his light. Steadily, deliberately, he aimed high shots down the shaft. His automatic was thunderous in its delivery. Bullets ricocheted from the ceiling of the tunnel.

Advancing swiftly in the darkness, The Shadow fired again. He saw the lights bob away. He released more shots. He started with his second automatic. Lights went out.

The Shadow paused. He waited half a minute, then laughed softly as he turned on his torch and began to load his weapons.

No outlet here. That was the message that The Shadow had sent. Without revealing his identity, he had told his friends that danger lay along this path. Wisely, the trio had moved back farther into the mine.

In fact, The Shadow’s advance had created the impression that a squad of fighters were on their way.

Harry, Rex, and Vic were making quick progress for the depths. They were past the side passage that sloped downward. They had only one course: to that hole at the very end of the main shaft.

HARRY risked a light as they neared their objective. He called to the others to listen. No new sounds came from above. Harry offered a theory.

“Somebody’s crowded in on us,” he declared, firmly. “They’re waiting; if we start back, we’ll walk into a trap. Our best bet is through there.”

He flashed the light toward the opening that lay above chunks of broken rock. Vic Marquette shook his head.

“Where does it lead?” questioned the operative. “Only to some worse trap. I think we’d do better to hop for that side passage that we saw.”

“No,” persisted Harry, “we’d better pick this hole. I’ll tell you why. One man can hold it like a fortress by firing above the ledge. That means that two of us can look for other passages.”

“A good idea,” agreed Rex.

“It sounds all right that way,” admitted Vic.

To prove his agreement, the operative wedged through the hole and dropped beyond. Despite the tenseness of the situation, Harry and Rex could not help laughing at the funny sight that Vic made with his beard.

They followed Vic through and were surprised to discover that the passage led farther on. Harry was anxious to investigate, so Rex stated that he would stay on guard while his fellows began their search.

Carefully, Vic and Harry advanced. They flashed their lights with caution, probing the side passage as they went. Some distance on, they came into what appeared to be another main passage.

“Can there be two outlets?” queried Harry, in surprise. “This one leads upward. It ought to go somewhere worthwhile.”

“Do you think Brodford is all right?” returned Vic.

“Yes,” replied Harry. “For the present, anyway.”

“Then let’s go on,” suggested Vic. “You first, while I keep midway. Then I can get back to Brodford if you call.”

Harry started up the new slope, studying the walls as he went. He saw side passages and avoided them.

The main channel seemed the only bet. He noted that the walls here were dull; this was not a vein shaft.

But Harry was not thinking much of useless gold.

A sound came to Harry’s ears. He thought he could hear someone approaching down this shaft. He turned off his flashlight and crept forward to a turn. New sounds — clicking steps — gave Harry the impulse to learn who was coming. He flashed his light.

His torch showed men, some forty feet ahead. Instantly, a brighter light flashed from the group. Cries of recognition came from husky throats. A revolver barked as Harry ducked back behind the turn.

Harry had met another menace. In the brief moment when his light had revealed the group, he had recognized the leader. That man was Luke Trebold, the supervisor of the Chalice mine.

Trebold, too, had recognized Harry. Gunfire was the challenge which the supervisor had issued.

MORE shots were coming. Harry was ahead of them. He flashed his light as he stumbled down the shaft, calling to Vic Marquette. The fake hermit came up to join him. Harry panted quick word.

“Back with Brodford!” he exclaimed. “Hit the side shaft before they get here!”

“Who is it?” queried Vic. “Jubal?”

“No,” returned Harry. “Trebold!”

A startled exclamation from Vic. They found the side passage; as they scurried into it, they could hear the shouts of Trebold’s men, some distance behind. Harry gave quick phrases as he and Vic hastened to find Rex.

“We’ve struck the Chalice mine shaft,” he declared. “How — why — I don’t know. But Trebold recognized me. He’s an enemy! His crew is with him.”

They reached Rex’s stronghold. In quick sentences, they told of the new menace. Rex pointed up through the hole by which they had dropped here.

“Better that way,” he decided. “They’ve got us cornered here. Of course, there’re others; we already know that—”

“Don’t forget the side passage,” broke in Vic. “Maybe we can make it. Let’s try.”

As they scrambled up through the hole, a glow came from the far end of the Chalice shaft that they were leaving. Trebold and his men had picked their hiding place. The ruffians were coming in, around a turn.

Regaining the level of the Quest shaft, the three trapped men lost no time in speeding along their straight course. Their one hope was that those who had come from the Quest opening would not block their way.

“Here we are.” Vic stopped the others. He turned his light to the right. “Looks like this side passage goes down deep; but we’d better take it.”

Lights from behind made Vic’s course the only hope. Trebold’s outfit had come up through the hole and was pressing hard. Vic dived down into the slope to the right. Harry and Rex followed.

They paused for breath as they neared a level portion of the path. Harry called for time. He proposed a plan which struck him as their only hope.

“We don’t know what we’re going into,” he reminded. “We’ve got to use our heads before we’re blocked. Douse the light. Hold ready. We’re going to cripple some of these pursuers.”

They waited. Far back, they saw a blink of light. Trebold and his crew had entered this passage. They must have spotted the trio taking the turn.

“Creep back on them,” ordered Harry. “Ready with the guns when I give the light.”

Upward, slowly upward. Lights were blinking down. Harry flashed his own torch. At the same time he opened fire. Rex and Vic joined. Their shots were terrific as the weapons roared a message to the pursuers.

A cry from above. A light wavered. Then came answering shots. Harry twinkled out his flashlight. He motioned the others down the slope. They plunged to the safety of darkness.

Yards back, Trebold was snarling at his men. One of the ruffians had fallen; another was holding a wounded arm. The supervisor rasped an order.

“Keep after them!” was his command. “We’ve got them blocked if they try to come back! But there’s more of us than them. Get going—”

Trebold stopped short. A strange sound had struck his ears. It did not come from down in the passage.

It was back by the main shaft of the Quest mine, close by the turn that he and his squad had made.

The sound was the quiver of a sinister laugh. Scoffing, mocking, it rose as an eerie taunt within these rock-vaulted walls. Fierce gibes rose to a wild crescendo. The mirth broke, to send reverberating echoes down the passage.

Trebold wheeled with his flashlight. He threw the beam toward that entrance from the shaft. His light picked out a ghostlike shape, a cloaked form that looked like a living phantom.

Blurting a cry, Trebold raised his arm to fire. His hand trembled at sight of that shape that looked like some vengeful gnome or kobold. To the startled eyes of Trebold’s band, The Shadow was a specter that ruled these depths. They, too, felt dread; but, like their leader, they were ready to fire.

Shots preceded theirs. Automatics roared, with muzzles pointed down the slope. Tongued flames brought loud cries. Men staggered, firing wildly.

Trappers were trapped. Breaking while their fellows fell, villains stumbled downward, firing vain shots as they went.

Lights were out. This was a battle of gun flame in the dark. A fight by venomous men against an invisible foe who had the advantage of the corner where the side corridor met the main shaft.

Villains fired at the blaze of automatics. The Shadow aimed for revolver muzzles as they flashed. Low in the shelter of the main shaft peering through the semi-loophole of a jagged rock, he again held a strength that mocked at odds.

Shots from above; shots from below. Both lessened. Flashes were less frequent; but The Shadow’s fire was ever hard upon that of the foe. Final shots resounded. Stillness followed.

Then, through the silence, came the tones of a chilling laugh. The strange shudder sounded above groans.

Issued from blackness, it quivered through depths that were Stygian.

Complete silence came as the creepy mirth ended. The Shadow had fought another battle. Again, he was invisible in the hushed depths of the Quest mine. Once more, it seemed as though walls of rock had swallowed the master of the dark.