The Shadow took a straight path through the dark, into a veritable catacomb, hollowed in the very base of the building that formed this modern city block. The passage ended in a stone barrier, many yards away from the opening leading into the County National Bank.
Here The Shadow, in total darkness, found a portion of stone wall that drew backward.
His hands, plying here and there, discovered a catch that operated another panel. Quietly, The Shadow slipped through the opening. He waited in silence for a few minutes, then turned on the rays of the torch.
He was in the basement of the Middletown undertaking establishment — a room that could serve either as a storage place or a temporary morgue. Stacks of coffins stood at the sides of the room. A large sliding door in the farther wall denoted an entrance to another compartment. The Shadow laughed. The sound that emerged from his hidden lips filled the air with a convulsive shiver that stifled itself within the stone-walled room.
The Shadow was gone; back the way that he had come. Once more his seeking light glimmered through the hollowed passage. He stopped at a spot halfway along the lengthy corridor. Here he found another portion of the wall that bore the features of a secret exit. The black-clad man drew back the wall. He discovered a panel similar to the one that he had used when he had effected his first entrance into this strange catacomb. He pressed a lever and made his way from the corridor, carefully closing the opening behind him.
His flashlight, guarded carefully, showed him that he had reached a downstairs room in the Middletown Trust Company. It was similar to the room in the County National Bank. But here there was no grating. The side of a doorway formed the edge of the secret panel, and The Shadow's keen inspection soon found that the upper molding of the doorway moved to the left, allowing the right side of the doorway to move upward, thus releasing the panel in the wall. With this knowledge at his disposal, The Shadow extinguished his torch and moved silently upstairs.
There was no watchman prowling through the banking room. Satisfied that he would be free from interruption, The Shadow removed a black bag of tools from his cloak. He began to work upon the vault. As he progressed, he seemed to discover certain peculiarities in its construction.
It was not long before, the master hand completed its work. The vault stood open, and The Shadow entered.
The tiny flashlight, bobbing here and there, showed plainly that Judge had not exaggerated the resources of the Middletown Trust Company. Vast quantities of bills, of all denominations, were stacked in their proper places.
The Shadow began a patient examination. At times, his light went out, and he remained silent in the steel-walled cavern. Then his inspection began again.