A SUDDEN gasp came from Carpenter’s lips. Peering to his right, he saw the opened window. That was a way out — a coward’s way — but one that would end this hopeless existence. Back in prison, he could do nothing to aid his loved ones. It would be better for him to take his own life.
With a wild spring, Herbert Carpenter leaped to his feet. Let The Shadow use that automatic. Let him kill. What did it matter? Hurling himself past the being in black, Carpenter reached the ledge and prepared to throw himself into the depths below. He was over the sill, started on a wild dive to death!
Then something gripped him — an iron, viselike grasp that swung him back from the brink. Powerful arms hurled Herbert Carpenter back into the room.
The would-be suicide landed in the chair that he had left. The chair crashed beneath his weight, and Carpenter’s head struck the wall. Half stunned, he lay there, helpless.
“Death is not for you,” came The Shadow’s calm, low voice. “You will live — to suffer the penalty of your crime. Live, to return to prison walls. That is my judgment!”
There was no balking those fateful words. The Shadow had spoken. The Shadow knew. Carpenter, weakened and with broken spirit, could not resist.
“You are in my power,” declared The Shadow. “You have no alternative. You must obey my summons and my word. That is the verdict.”
Carpenter bowed his head in submission. He had told his story. The decision had been given. He would return to the penitentiary. His wife and children would remain in misery, his double-crossers would go unpunished.
Wearily, the helpless man closed his eyes. Pictures of grim gray walls conjured themselves before him. He was in the power of The Shadow — the man who dealt mercilessly with crime. Minutes went by; long, hopeless minutes. Carpenter gasped weakly, waiting for The Shadow’s further bidding. It did not come.
A strange wonder came over Carpenter. He opened his eyes weakly, and rubbed his forehead. His brains were swimming. For a moment, he could not grasp his surroundings. Then, as his wits returned, he looked up to face the being in black.