The Shadow had expected this. He slipped into the outer room, closing the door behind him.
The spreading gas seemed to batter at the barrier, like a ghoulish, living creature thwarted of its prey.
No living person could have survived that killing vapor.
Three men had been doomed by this, the last of the insidious traps that had been made for murder.
They had been saved, by the intervention of The Shadow!
The window by the grating was open. The fumes thinned; then whirled in the direction of the opening. Sucked by the cool air outside, the deadly gas was gradually drawn from the room.
A stifling odor still persisted, but the menace of death had passed.
Commissioner Weston and his companions were pounding madly at the door of the little room.
They had smelled the pungent odor that had trickled from the study into the bedroom. They had sensed the cause, and had flung wide the windows to protect themselves.
With fresh air close by in emergency, they were trying to break down the barrier that restrained them.