It was on that instant that The Shadow acted. Alone, between two formidable dangers, he made an amazing effort to elude them both. On the left of the road was a low wall lined with the trees. On the right was a hedge.
Those black-clad hands gave the wheel of the coupe a mighty twist to the right. The car spun on two wheels. It shot over the low curb, and knifed its way through the matted thickness of the barberry hedge!
Its tires digging deeply in the soft turf of a bush-covered lawn, the car sped onward, The Shadow's amazing skill guiding it along its lurching way.
It crashed through shrubbery, and skirted low-branched trees. Its gleaming lights showed an oddly formed course toward a wooden picket fence that bordered an extension of the lane.
The wooden spikes crackled as the car drove its way through to safety. Almost toppling as it struck the bumpy path beside the lane, the car righted itself as the deft hands whirled the wheel.
With Glade Tremont's body bouncing crazily at his side, The Shadow piloted the car down the narrow, winding roadway, heading away from the crossing where the touring car had awaited him. A long shout arose from the slope behind. The gleaming lights of the touring car had spotted the return of the coupe. The low-bodied car took up the pursuit that Biff Towley had lost.
Back on the side street, Biff, his sedan stopped past the spot where The Shadow had hurtled his car from view, joined in the mad race to overtake the man who had fled.
As his sedan turned the corner and sped down the lane after the distant taillight of the touring car, footsteps pounded along the sidewalk beside Biff's car. Half a dozen running hoodlums were bringing up the rear.
By a swift, daredevil chance, The Shadow had shot from a death trap. Two cars and more than a dozen desperate gangsters were on his trail. In the coupe, grimly clutching the jostling wheel, The Shadow laughed as he bumped on through the night. He was on a narrow winding road that might lead nowhere. What would be the outcome of this mad race?
His captive was bobbing helplessly at his side, but The Shadow gave no heed to the man whom he had taken. He was engaged in the thrill of the moment, his mighty schemes and well-laid plans depending entirely upon what might happen now.