Only through preserving the pretense of oblivion could The Shadow hope to withhold these scheming fiends. Yet how, from oblivion, could he hope to wage the combat?
In the face of this dilemma, The Shadow laughed! His brain had evolved some system whereby odds such as these could be met. What means could this hopeless situation afford?
Only The Shadow knew!
The Shadow always knows.
Chapter XVI — A Perfect Scheme
Doctor Savette smiled grimly as he leaned back in his easy-chair. He was alone in his front room, reviewing the past, and thinking of the future. Attired in evening clothes, he had the pose of a gentleman of culture.
Four days had passed since Biff Towley's mob had met and fought The Shadow. The affray had caused a great stir in the newspapers. The garbled and incorrect accounts had been accepted seriously. Solemn sleuths had solved the situation — so they supposed. It was assumed that a crowd of gangsters had gone to the dock to meet rumrunners coming in from the Sound.
Another crew of mobsmen had come to muscle in. One band had been victorious.
Glade Tremont, prominent attorney had unfortunately been trapped in the fray. The victors had fled, leaving the dead and wounded. Glade Tremont had escaped with only slight injuries. Certain of the battling mobsmen had been identified with a gang leader named Biff Towley. He was not in New York. It was supposed that he had fled — perhaps before the fight — fearing that he was to be deposed as chief. Some effort was being made to find him, but the attempt was not widespread. Glade Tremont had gone away for a rest. He had been through a grueling experience. His departure from New York had been virtually unmentioned in the newspapers.
All these reports were good news to Gerald Savette. But he had still another reason to be pleased. The Shadow had completely disappeared. Unmentioned by the press — for no one had suspected The Shadow's hand in the Long Island affair — the one enemy whom Savette and Tremont feared had passed into oblivion.