The Silent Death

CHAPTER XXI. TUBES OF DOOM

IN Professor Urlich’s laboratory, a fiendish plan was nearing its completion. Cliff Marsland and Clyde Burke, still bound beside the wall, were watching preparations that they knew would mean their doom.

All the lights in use within the room had been concentrated on this side of the laboratory, which was near the front of the building. Sanoja and Rasch, the scientist’s willing servants, had fitted gleaming incandescents with reflectors so that a vivid glare pervaded this limited field.

Professor Urlich was seated in a folding armchair, with the air of a director in charge of a rehearsal. His orders, barked in foreign tongues that the attendants understood, had brought forth prompt obedience.

Yet the forthcoming experiment had required considerable time for preparation.

Cliff Marsland had ceased to feign grogginess. Clyde Burke, beside him, was also fully conscious.

Despite the cold terror which Professor Urlich’s presence caused, both of The Shadow’s agents were strangely fascinated by the details of the work which now seemed completed.

Directly in front of the two men stood a huge tripod, mounted on a circular base. This was a skeleton structure that ran on wheels, and its three legs gave it the grotesque appearance of a lonely gallows. At the top of the tripod were extended arms that supported a rim of metal.

This upper circle supported a huge carboy. The glass vessel, incased in wickerwork, gleamed with greenish hue. Its stopper, which had been inserted in place, was a glass plug from which extended two flexible pieces of shining hose.

As Sanoja pressed a little lever beside the rim that supported the carboy, the large container rocked slightly, showing that it was on a pivot that would enable it to be inverted. Sanoja readjusted the lever and the big vessel ceased to sway.

On either side of the central tripod stood a low skeleton base with upright rods that terminated in rings.

There were two of these, both large and massive.

Each pedestal held a container of thick glass, shaped like a mammoth test tube. Neither of the prisoners had ever before seen such tremendous cylinders of glass. The tubes were more than eight feet in height, and more than two feet in diameter.

As final preparation, Urlich’s men had brought forward two caps of metal large enough to fit over the large tubes. They had attached a hose to each cap. Professor Urlich cackled joyously as a signal that everything was ready.

CLIFF MARSLAND studied the face of the fiend. A demoniacal glee illuminated Urlich’s features. The scientist had watched the work of his servants with increasing interest.

In spite of that fact, Cliff had noticed that the professor never failed to note the three unlighted incandescents that projected above the spiral stairway at the center of the laboratory. Those bulbs were scarcely visible in the darkness beyond the concentrated illumination; but had one suddenly commenced to gleam, the professor would have spied it on the instant.

“We are ready, now,” remarked Professor Urlich, his eyes focused upon the silent prisoners. “Inasmuch as you are to be the subjects of my experiment, I shall explain its operation to you.”

He beckoned to Rasch, who appeared with a small tube that contained a tiny white mouse. The servant, a grin on his dull face, held the tube in the light. The prisoners noted that it was capped with a metal cover that had a round hole in the center.

Professor Urlich babbled in a foreign language. Sanoja passed a glass bottle to Rasch. The man held the tube in one hand, the bottle in the other, and poured a greenish fluid from bottle into tube.

A sizzling, smoky mixture manifested itself. The green was tinged with white and fumes slowly came from the hole in the cover. Slowly, the liquid cleared.

Simultaneous gasps of amazement came from Cliff and Clyde. The white mouse had vanished. The tube contained nothing but a watery fluid!

“It has always been my wish,” proceeded the professor, “to attempt this experiment on a larger scale. The greenish fluid which you observed — the same liquid which is in the large carboy — is virtually a universal solvent. It has no effect upon glass; but that is about the only substance which it does not dissolve with rapacious power.

“The pieces of hose which project from the carboy are my own invention — a flexible material which possess certain properties found in glass. It has been used to withstand the power of the solvent.

“Perhaps it is unkind”—Urlich’s eyes were gleaming with irony— “to discuss the details of this experiment with my subjects. Perhaps you would prefer to be as the white mouse was: ignorant of what is to come.

However, I have already given you a very complete inkling, so I may as well proceed.

“Your lives mean nothing to me. Your deaths, however, would be advisable. In order to leave no evidence of my experiment, I find it most convenient to destroy you as I have done with the mouse.

“These large test tubes were made for such an experiment as this. One tube for each of you. After that, we shall attach these lengths of hose, invert the carboy and let the solvent do its work.”

CLYDE BURKE chewed his lips. Cliff Marsland stared steadily ahead. Each man realized now the fiendishness of Professor Urlich’s cunning, scheming mind. More horrible death could scarcely be imagined. To be dissolved, while totally helpless, within a mammoth tube of glass!

Both of The Shadow’s agents could feel the terrible sensation of that vitriolic fluid that was to come!

Professor Urlich cackled wickedly. He saw the consternation on the faces of his intended victims. He was joyed by the thought of the swift, silent death that was to be theirs.

Even more did he relish the cunningness of his scheme. To reduce these living men to nothing but a slimy sediment; then to pour out the remains that could leave no vestige of a clew to the crime that he had perpetrated!

This was death supreme; crime raised to the level of scientific achievement. Professor Urlich had no desire to question his victims. Let them call out for mercy if they would; babble secrets of The Shadow. If their words seemed important, the experiment could be delayed. If not, it would go on.

The Shadow meant little to Professor Urlich now. The very fact that he held one — possibly two — of The Shadow’s agents in his power meant that The Shadow must have died from the fumes of Thomas Jocelyn’s sighing death.

Clyde Burke was staring hopelessly at the merciless countenance of the professor. Cliff Marsland was looking beyond, toward the distant rear of the laboratory. His eyes blinked suddenly. Had he seen a motion by what appeared to be a doorway? Had he seen a barrier open; then close?

Was it imagination, or did Cliff catch a glimpse of a moving form that glided along the hazy wall, unseen by any of the others present? The thought, at least, offered a ray of hope.

Cliff heard a nervous gasp from the man beside him. He spoke in an undertone, without moving his lips:

“Steady, Clyde. Steady. Stick it out, old man.”

The reporter nodded. The test tubes were swinging forward, on swivels from the tripod pedestals.

Professor Urlich’s servants approached and lifted Cliff Marsland.

The Shadow’s agent offered no resistance. His body slid into the tube; it swiveled upright, and Cliff could see the attendants going to get Clyde Burke. Helpless, he watched them slide the reporter into the other tube.

BOTH containers were upright now. Professor Urlich and his minions seemed grotesque shapes through the curved walls of the tube. Clyde Burke, inspired by Cliff’s bravery, was staring at them also. Professor Urlich was pointing toward the caps.

Suddenly, the scientist stopped. He was staring upward toward the row of lights above the central stairway. The red incandescent had become suddenly illuminated.

Some one was within the outer zone of death — the portico that surrounded the circular building!

Harsh orders burst from the professor’s lips. Sanoja and Rasch nodded as each caught the message intended for him. They were to proceed with the experiment. Their master had other work to do.

Hastily, Professor Urlich crossed the laboratory, and opened the door that led to the hollow cylinder.

Rasch brought forward a ladder and mounted it. He stood beside Cliff’s tube and motioned to Sanoja to pass him the first cap.

Clyde Burke groaned within the mammoth test tube that held him prisoner. This was the beginning of the end. One cap; then the other; after that death that would be terrible despite its rapidity.

Then, suddenly, Clyde’s eyes opened wide. Coming into the realm of concentrated light was a mass of blackness that bore only the grotesque semblance of a human form, when viewed through the curving glass.

Clyde emitted a cry of exultation. It escaped his lips despite his effort to restrain it. The shout caused a hollow echo from the huge test tube. Sanoja turned; so did Rasch. Terrified gasps came from Professor Urlich’s henchmen.

Standing before the tubes of death stood a tall figure clad in black. Menacing eyes glared from beneath the broad brim of a slouch hat. From the folds of a black cloak extended a gloved hand that held a powerful automatic, ready for action.

Rasch cowered, with upraised hands, as he stood upon the ladder. The metal cap clattered from Sanoja’s fists as the man on the floor also raised his arms. Steadily, The Shadow approached. His mocking laugh came in clear, fantastic tones of triumph.

Professor Folcroft Urlich would find no victims here when he returned; nor would he find tubes of colorless liquid where living men had come. The Shadow had arrived to foil the scheme of silent death!

The Shadow’s glowing eyes brought terror to the enemies who viewed them. Those eyes were glaring now. They knew all; they saw all. Not only did they observe the cowering minions of Professor Urlich; they also perceived the cause of the scientist’s sudden departure.

The Shadow had seen the red light that still glowed above the central staircase! Again, his laugh reechoed through that laboratory where death had been frustrated!