Terrific thumping came from the panel. It ceased for a moment. Loo Look spoke tensely in Chinese. There was an almost inaudible click.
Tiger Bronson knew the sound. Woo Ting had opened the panel!
With a cannonlike roar, Loo Look’s revolver blazed into the blackness. The Chinaman discharged an entire volley directly into the space before him.
The noise reechoed. Then came silence.
Loo Look pressed the button of a flashlight; the gleam revealed a motionless figure lying before him, its arms extending into the room.
The squatty Chinamen bent forward with a cry of triumph. As he did, the figure’s arms came upward and seized him by the throat. Loo Look gurgled as he fell. His light dropped to the floor and went out.
Bronson realized the truth. The slight click of the panel had warned The Shadow. He had dropped to the floor below the line of Loo Look’s hasty shots.
Woo Ting came to the rescue. He pressed the switch that illuminated the room; but as he did, the tall man with the black mask had already emerged from the passage.
As the lights came on, he fell upon the two Chinamen who were pressing toward the entrance. He flung them aside, and leaped across the room.
Woo Ting dodged, and drew a long knife. But The Shadow’s objective was the light switch. He reached it, and pressed it. Again the room was dark.