From far above, they heard the wild echoes of a mocking laugh. The Shadow, with the distance he had gained, was ready now to foil all pursuit with his elusive skill.
The frenzied gangsters were spreading and calling to their fellows. There was still a chance to trap the man they hated; and they were determined to use it.
A sudden end came to their last opportunity. A police siren sounded. A patrol rolled up, and uniformed men leaped from it.
Harry Vincent’s rescuer had sent in word that trouble was brewing near the old pawnshop. A detail of police had been dispatched to that locality. The officers opened fire upon the scattered gangsters.
Mobsmen were fleeing from the scene. Disorganized, they sought to escape this menace. And The Shadow was forgotten.
The main drive was directed toward the blind alleyway beside the old pawnshop. Some of the gangsters who were there fled in the face of gunfire. A few, trapped, opened a determined attack upon the police. They were quickly overpowered.
Uniformed men hurried in through the open door. They stumbled over dead and wounded gangsters.
Shots came from the inner room. A policeman staggered. Another officer approached the door, and blazed straight at a propped-up man who lay against the wall. It was Hank Farley, resisting to the last.
He had fired his final shots with his left hand. The policeman’s bullet finished his career of crime.
AWAY from the scene of battle, skulking gangsters reported the carnage that had taken place with the advent of the police.