“You see? He is in the trap. Should any one else come in, the lights would turn on, one by one. Should any one go down the stairs instead of up, the lights would turn on the other way — backward.”
He pressed another switch.
“Now,” he announced, “the door is closed below. The bookcases are closed. No one else can enter. The three traps are filled. Each has taken its one man.”
“You’re smart, Loy Rook,” declared Sneaks. “I didn’t figure there’d be three of them. I didn’t know—”
“Loy Rook is very wise,” returned the old Mongolian. “He does not watch with closed eyes. He has known that his house contained an enemy. A young man — so good a secretary — would not work here at a cheap price. So the trap was made ready for him. Tonight, he has fallen!”
Sneaks glanced toward the door at the end of the room. Behind that barrier were the three snares with their helpless victims. Two men and their would-be rescuer had fallen into the toils!
“Let’s haul them out now,” suggested Sneaks. “They’re groggy, aren’t they?”
“Two are asleep,” declared Loy Rook. “The one who came last is not asleep.”
“What!” exclaimed Sneaks. “That’s The Shadow, Loy Rook! The man we want to get! Not asleep—”
“He is dead!” was Loy Rook’s slow reply.