From unseen lips the eerie sound pealed forth and echoed from the heavy walls as though a horde of demons had emitted the reverberated cry.
With that laugh, Frederick Froman’s confidence vanished. Like Ivan Motkin and Parker Noyes, he quailed before the presence of The Shadow — The Shadow come for a reckoning!
CHAPTER XXIII. THE SHADOW DECIDES
THE dungeon of doom had become a place of judgment. The weird scene formed an incredible fantasy.
Whatever the outcome of this meeting might be, it was apparent that The Shadow would demand a reckoning.
Like a being of retribution, he dominated these men of crime. His fearful automatic pointed as a threat; his brilliant eyes flashed beams of dreadful light. Bright as the sparkling gems within the treasure box, they shone with commanding power.
Silence pervaded that stone-walled room. Motkin was cowed. Noyes was cringing. Even Froman, the man who had threatened, drew away from the phantom in black.
With The Shadow’s presence, all had become unreal. Anything might happen, now. Hopes of security or triumph had vanished. Three men of evil awaited The Shadow’s judgment!
The Shadow spoke, and his tones were a sinister whisper that might have come from a limitless space beyond. Those eerie notes were the utterances of unseen lips.
“I have come to demand a reckoning” — The Shadow’s voice was spectral — “a reckoning from you who have killed! I have come to end the rule of bloodshed. No longer will these baubles” — his flashing eyes turned toward the chest of gems— “cause crime and destruction. That has been ended.”