The ominous sound of that commanding whisper hissed through the low cavern like a voice from the dim beyond. Birdie Crull, his physical being on the border of death, could not resist. With a last spontaneous effort, he placed his signature to the truthful confession, which told that he had murdered Frank Jarnow and Harvey Griffith.
The weakened murderer collapsed as he completed the last stroke of the pen. Before Marquette could catch him, he toppled from the chair, and lay dead upon the floor of the cavern.
“Watch the prisoners.”
The voice of The Shadow was a sibilant tone, that aroused both Vincent and Marquette. Turning, they left the body of the dead crook, and covered Windsor and Vernon.
No one else was in the room. Like a phantom of the Stygian darkness, The Shadow had disappeared. He was gone — and none had seen him vanish.
But he left behind him the sound of a gibing laugh; a long, whispered laugh; a laugh of triumph that resounded throughout the cavern, as though it came from its walls.
CHAPTER XXXIII
THE OUTCOME
When Vic Marquette and Harry Vincent marched their prisoners through the tunnel to the farmhouse, they discovered which way The Shadow had gone. For Jerry, the man who was the shipper of the counterfeiting gang, lay trussed upon the floor of the farmhouse cellar.
The Shadow had surprised him, and had easily overcome him. Harry cut the ropes that bound Jerry’s feet, and he was lined up with Windsor and Vernon.