Then Harry Vincent, operative for The Shadow, was gone. The room was empty and still. The Shadow’s mission was ended.
The Shadow knew. The Shadow had heard. The Shadow had spoken. He had warned men against crime, and his words had passed unheeded.
What menace threatened Seaview City?
Only The Shadow knew!
CHAPTER III
FOUR KINGS AND AN ACE
THE SHADOW had spoken facts!
While Rufus Cruikshank, mayor of Seaview City, was still talking to his companions in the palatial lobby of the Hotel Pavilion, master minds of crime were gathering beneath that very roof!
Two men were seated in the living room of a suite de luxe in an upper story of the great hotel. One was a huge bulk of a man, past middle age. He still carried a youthful air and smiling face; yet his heavy, bluff countenance had a hard-set look, that belied the friendly twinkle in his eyes.
Many persons in other parts of the country would have recognized this man, but he was a newcomer to Seaview City, and virtually unknown there. He was “Big Tom” Bagshawe, proprietor of a chain of palatial gambling houses, located in many parts of the United States. His most famous establishment was in Florida, where Big Tom was usually seen.