Cliff nearly slipped as he caught a thick lamp-post and turned to fire his remaining bullets at his pursuers. He saw the men leap wildly for cover. Then he began a last dash for his goal.
The pursuers made one last attempt at long-range, as Cliff reached the corner. A bullet ricocheted from the sidewalk and struck him in the leg.
He stumbled and fell; then crawled quickly beyond the corner and pulled himself to his feet, clutching the side of a building with his right hand.
He saw the car ahead of him, waiting by the entrance to the alley. He stumbled onward, wondering if he could reach it. His feet seemed incapable of action. He slipped and plunged forward, clutching against the wall of the building beside him.
Some one caught him as he fell.
To Cliff’s excited mind, it seemed as though a mass of darkness had come to life. Then powerful arms virtually lifted him the last few yards, and he was thrust through the open door of the car.
He knew then The Shadow had saved him. Somehow he understood it all — the strange disappearance and the rustling of the window shade in Tim Waldron’s room.
The Shadow had come and gone up and down the wall on the outside of the building! Above the black alley, he had crawled, a human fly, along the surface of projecting bricks!
When he had fired the shots that downed the menacing gangster, he had left the room by his own exit — through the window — to await Cliff’s arrival at the sedan!
Thoughts turned to confusion in Clifford Marsland’s mind. He knew that the car was moving, pulling away from the curb, traveling faster now. There were shots somewhere behind — far behind. The pursuers were being outdistanced.