The Grove of Doom

CHAPTER XX. TRUTH IS TOLD

HARVEY CHITTENDEN was well into the grove of doom before his startled mind began to realize the menacing atmosphere of the strange area beneath the beeches. Despite the ardor that had brought him on the search, the young man stopped and stood hesitant.

Some weird fear was clutching his heart. He was afraid to go on, yet his pride would not allow him to return. Slowly, he began a new advance; then stopped short in instinctive dread as something rose to block his path.

Before him, rising almost from nothingness, stood a tall form garbed in black. Like a ghostly inhabitant of this dread domain, The Shadow was here to prevent Harvey Chittenden’s progress.

Wild thoughts whirled through Harvey’s brain. Was this the menace of the grove, this black-clad being who seemed a portion of the spectral gloom? No — quick recollection transported Harvey’s thoughts back to the night when Zachary and the mobsmen had attacked. Then, The Shadow had come to save him. Why should The Shadow threaten him now?

Afraid to budge, Harvey stood motionless, awaiting The Shadow’s bidding. It came. A low, barely whispered voice, issued a firm command.

“Lie down. Stay close to the trees. Do not move!”

The tones were sibilant, like the sigh of a light wind. Yet every syllable was clear to Harvey Chittenden.

He could not disobey this strange command. Dropping to the ground, he crawled beside the nearest tree trunk, and remained there, while The Shadow’s tall shape glided close beside him.

“Not a sound,” came The Shadow’s whisper. “Say nothing! Wait!”

Harvey waited. Slow minutes went by. He could see the burning eyes beneath the black-rimmed hat. The Shadow was gazing intently over the path on which Harvey Chittenden had come. The young man stared in that direction. Half hidden behind the tree trunk, he sensed the approach of others across that brown-carpeted stretch.

Harvey saw The Shadow no longer, yet he made no effort to go against the orders he had received.

Gripping the tree trunk, striving madly to shake off the terrible, unreasoning fear that had settled over him, he saw his wife, Mildred, coming through the trees, accompanied by his friend, Craig Ware.

A slight rustle beside him reminded Harvey of The Shadow’s presence. He looked toward the being in black. He saw a gloved hand clutching a small round object; then the hand disappeared beneath the cloak and returned, carrying an automatic. Harvey stared toward the approachers. He was afraid to emit a cry; and, somehow, he trusted in The Shadow.

CRAIG WARE and Mildred Chittenden walked directly past the spot where the young man was watching. They did not see Harvey. Turning to follow them with his eyes, Harvey noticed that The Shadow was no longer beside him. Then with bulging eyes, Harvey realized that The Shadow had gone ahead, farther into the fastness of this strange grove.

Mildred Chittenden stopped suddenly as Craig Ware grasped her arm. The showman spoke in a low, quiet voice. His words were plain to Harvey, farther back. To Mildred, Craig’s voice carried a menacing note as the gloom of the grove seemed to muffle its bass tones.

“We are near the center of the grove,” declared Ware. “Close to the danger zone. It is here that we shall stop.”

“But where is Harvey?” whispered Mildred fearfully.

“He is with the others,” came Ware’s cryptic reply.

Mildred stared squarely into the showman’s eyes. Now, the girl’s body shuddered with the greatest fear that she had known since her advent to Lower Beechview. Ware’s eyes were glistening with a fiendish glow — a strange, incredible light that Mildred had never before seen in them. Was this a hallucination, caused by the strange surroundings?

Mildred gasped as she realized that Craig Ware had suddenly developed the appearance of a fierce, insidious fiend! The showman’s previous words came to her lips in a frightened echo.

“With the others—”

“With the others,” hissed Ware, with a wicked grin. “With Walter Pearson, the lawyer. With Calvin Merrick, the wise detective. With Galbraith, Wilbur, and Zachary. Four Chittendens have died beside this spot!”

The man paused with a fiendish leer. Then, as he fairly spat words from his lips, Ware continued:

“You ask me how I know?” His question was a fearful laugh. “I shall tell you — before you, too, are dead. It is I who have caused these deaths, to exterminate all who were connected with the evil line of Chittendens.

“You call me Craig Ware. That is but part of my name. My full name is Craig Ware Chittenden. I am the only son of Sidney Chittenden, the eldest brother, who should have inherited the great estate of Upper Beechview.

“I have the certificates to prove my claim. I was born just after my father died. My mother told me the story of my father’s unhappy life. For years, I have nourished one great scheme of vengeance.

“I searched for all who bore the name of Chittenden, hoping that I could harm those of this last line. I met your husband, Harvey. I heard his story. I became his friend — so he supposed. I came here to arrange the deaths of the others; then to send Harvey to his doom.

“I have succeeded. You, as Harvey’s widow, must also die. Then I shall depart — and months from now Craig Chittenden, last of all the family, son of Sidney, shall come into his own! There is a menace in this grove — a menace of my making. It killed those who knew too much. It killed those who blocked my ambition. You, too, must die, for you are the last barrier — and now you know my story.”

Mildred Chittenden could not move. She realized it all now. Bewilderment was on her face as she tried to piece the portions of this terrible drama.

Craig Chittenden saw her puzzlement. He laughed.

“It was I who talked to Lei Chang,” he explained. “I, not Harvey. It was Jessup whom you saw going from the house to the grove. Jessup was my man. I am glad that he is dead. I need him no longer. He carried rabbits to the grove and dead bodies from it. Hardened in barrels of cement, the corpses were cast to the bottom of the Sound!”

IT all seemed incredulous to Mildred. Despite her fear, she could not help but question this fiend who threatened her with death. An insane notion seemed to grip her mind.

“Jessup — bringing rabbits — to Lei Chang—”

Craig Ware was sneering as he gazed with pitiless eye. The girl’s silly perplexity pleased him. He made no answer.

“Rabbits — rabbits—”

Still Mildred repeated the words. Still Ware leered.

“Rabbits” — the word was uttered in a spectral tone close beside the pair — “of course there were rabbits. They were to feed Koon Woon.”

Simultaneously Ware and Mildred swung in the direction of the voice. A look of terror came over Ware’s hardened face. A gasp of hope emerged from Mildred’s lips. Five feet away, tall and mysterious, stood The Shadow!

Bright eyes flashed from beneath the hat brim of the being in black. A firm gloved hand held its automatic, with the muzzle directed squarely toward Craig Ware. The Shadow was master of the situation.

“You have told your story,” came The Shadow’s whispered tones, “but you have not told all, Craig Ware. You have said nothing of Koon Woon, who has failed you today. Koon Woon is with Lei Chang; but he has not acted. For I prevented Harvey Chittenden from reaching the fatal spot that lies ahead.

“Lei Chang has heard your voice, and he restrains Koon Woon until you give the call. That was the order he received from you yesterday; that Koon Woon should continue to kill all intruders, but wait when you came here — wait until you could leave this helpless girl to her fate. That plan is ended now, Craig Ware.

“You lured Walter Pearson to his death by a false message, and made calls that seemed to indicate he was alive after the time he died. You had the trap ready, and it caught Calvin Merrick. When Jessup reported a conversation he heard upon the hill, you snared Wilbur Chittenden by a call he thought came from Harvey. Then Galbraith Chittenden died when you calmed the dog, and enabled him to go through the grove to search for Wilbur.

“You thought that Zachary had died also. You were wrong, as you learned later. By good fortune, Zachary escaped the doom of Koon Woon the first time, only to fall into your trap when Harvey sent him off. He thought that Harvey was the plotter. That was the reason for his attack upon his brother. You had prepared to wait to slay Harvey and his wife. Jessup’s death was to your liking, for Jessup had worked for you, and knew much.

“Your crimes have found you, Craig Ware Chittenden. Not once again will your vile vengeance fall. You cannot call Koon Woon to do your evil bidding.”

A fiendish sneer came over Ware’s purpling face. With wild eyes, the arch-plotter stared toward the boughs ahead, picking a spot which seemed familiar to him.

“Koon Woon is there!” His voice rose to a cry. “Lei Chang will loose him! Lei Chang is waiting. Give the call, Lei Chang!”

As Ware was speaking, The Shadow turned. His automatic swung upward. Its aim followed directly on the path of Ware’s fixed gaze. Thus, by Ware’s own mistake, had The Shadow located the unseen hiding place.

The automatic barked. The bullet sped among the leaves of a bough a dozen feet from earth. It was answered by a terrified scream from within the branches.

Tumbling headlong from the tree came the misshapen form of Lei Chang. Mildred gasped as she saw the sinister Chinaman sprawl upon the ground; then the body rolled over, and the pockmarked face stared upward as the head twisted crazily.

The Shadow’s shot had felled the yellow demon. Lei Chang’s neck was broken in the fall. The slave of Koon Woon was dead. Never again would Lei Chang call his Master!

The weird laugh of The Shadow rolled its mocking tones beneath the silent beeches!