It would be sure death for The Shadow now! To stop the approach of these men, he must show himself. Otherwise there would be a horde to clamber as one about that tilted coupe.
"Hold it!" exclaimed Biff, to the three men near him. "Watch when he shows his head—"
Before the men could heed their leader's warning, The Shadow's tall form appeared suddenly at the rear of the coupe, rising above the top — at the very spot where he had made his earliest appearance. He, too, had heard the shouts and now his eyes could see the cluster of gangsters who were nearing the pier. But these were not his quarry.
The Shadow had outguessed Biff Towley. He had realized the very situation that was springing through the swarthy gangster's mind. Springing upward, almost on top of the car, The Shadow was a mighty monster of the night.
The height of his position, the proximity of the touring car — both gave him an advantage which Biff Towley had not anticipated.
Down swept the hands that held the automatics. Only long, spitting flames revealed the presence of the guns. The quick shots were directed at the two men in the touring car, one in front the other in the rear. Both were raising their revolvers, as they crouched behind the doors.
The Shadow clipped the front man in the shoulder. The gangster managed to return the shot, but his aim was faulty. The Shadow's next bullet smashed the man's arm. He dropped his gun and fell to the protecting floor.
The other automatic was not idle. While the left used two shots to wound the man in front, the right hand swung toward the man in the back of the car.
He was crouching, thinking himself safe. In that he was wrong. The Shadow made a living target of his huddled form.
Biff's lone companion saw The Shadow, and made a mad dash forward. He fired wild as The Shadow's body swayed. The answer was a whistling shot that felled the unwary gangster.