With a quick thrust, Mayhew pushed the door entirely open and strode into the room. As the detective sergeant advanced, something shot upward from the floor.
From the blackness in the foreground, a hand caught Mayhew’s wrist.
Upward went Mayhew, lifted by the powerful strength of a man who had materialized from nothingness! The detective was helpless in the toils of an amazing hold that twisted his body sidewise and spun it back toward the door.
THE electric torch dropped to the floor. Mayhew’s finger pressed the trigger of his revolver, but the shot drove itself harmlessly into the wall.
Then the detective lost his hold upon the gun.
The suddenness of Mayhew’s Waterloo had left the nearest patrolman completely off his guard. The sound of the revolver shot awoke him to action.
He leaped forward, and as he did so, Mayhew’s form was precipitated against him with terrific force. The patrolman was hurled to the floor by the impact.
The policeman at the door of the outer room could only see a mass of writhing figures. From them arose a vague form that swept across the room in the direction of the window.
It was lost in darkness the moment that it passed the range of light from the outer room, but the officer leaped after it, firing wildly as he went.
The blundering attacker was easy game for The Shadow. As the policeman dashed into the darkness, two quick hands grasped him by the ankles.