“Remember. I am — The Shadow!”
The revelation of the stranger’s identity brought weird thoughts to Mann’s mind. He had heard of The Shadow, the mysterious man of the night. He had half suspected his employer’s identity; but the actual statement brought a sense of realism that he had not experienced before.
The cab had come out of the park; it was whirling along a side street. The lights of an avenue were ahead. Mann heard a shrill hiss from the dark figure beside him. Before he could look toward The Shadow, the cab swerved suddenly and one wheel climbed the curb.
Mann clutched the strap that hung beside the window. The cab had stopped, and the driver was expostulating with a man at the wheel of a car alongside. A policeman arrived at that moment.
“All right,” Mann heard the officer say to the driver of his cab. “Pull along. Wait. You’ve got a passenger? Better see if he’s all right.”
The door was swung open; the inside of the cab showed clear beneath the glare of a street lamp. Mann, in answer to the policeman’s question, said he was unhurt. And then, before the door closed, gasped in astonishment. Dazed, eyes bulging from their sockets, he sat still as the cab rolled on toward his apartment.
For the light that had entered the cab had shown no other occupant. Rutledge Mann was alone!
Somehow, in the space of a few short seconds, the mysterious figure beside him had left the cab.
Invisibly, The Shadow had vanished into the night!