
bay. He had seen no one come in that direction.
Close against the fence itself, The Shadow was working at strands of barbed wire. Oddly,
those wires were fitted to the outside of the pickets, indicating that the deputies had placed
them there. The Shadow tightened the wires as he probed the positions of the barbs. A
flashlight was approaching, but he coolly continued his task.
Just as the ray focused upon him, The Shadow dwindled. There was a surprised shout as an
observer saw solid blackness melt groundward. The man sprang, spied nothing but the turf.
The Shadow was lunging inward, coming up beneath the beam.
There was a jolt as figures met. The deputy's arms went wide. The flashlight scaled like a
flare in the blackness. Somersaulted, the deputy flattened on the ground, too dazed to offer
fight. The Shadow shoved the brief case through the pickets. Using the tightened wires as
ladder rungs, he climbed the fence.
Hands gripping the posts, his shoes alone encountering the wires, The Shadow had no
trouble with the barbs. Dropping beyond the top spikes, he scooped up the brief case. He
was gone, past a series of hedges when an electric lantern glared through the picket posts.
Patrolling deputies were certain that they had encountered an intruder, but they could not
vision his quick, vaulting climb over the barbed-wire pickets. They spread to search their
own terrain; were astonished to find their quarry gone.
Other amazement was due elsewhere.
DEEP within the fenced grounds, the isolated mansion stood dark and formidable, except
for a few dimly lighted windows. The house jutted almost to the cliff edge, but the spot that
The Shadow chose was a massive front door at the center of the building.
There, he pressed a bell button. A clang sounded from deep within the house. Half a minute
passed before bolts grated. The door opened and The Shadow stepped into a huge, dim
hall, to face a stolid servant who stood with unbelieving eyes.
It was not the visitor's appearance that startled the servant, for The Shadow was no longer
clad in black. Instead, he was attired in an ordinary business suit, wearing a dark-gray,
flexible hat. In the light, his face showed as a thin, hawkish profile, bronzed of complexion,
masklike in expression. What bewildered the servant, was the fact that such a stranger
could have passed the surrounding cordon.
Though quiet in gaze, The Shadow's eyes saw much. Beyond the servant's shoulder, he
spied the doorway of a room to the left of the big hall. There, a girl's pale face was visible.
She was attractive, with light hair that showed plainly against the darkness of the doorway.
Despite the strain that deepened her expression, she displayed a curiosity when she saw
the visitor.
Another servant was arriving from the back of the hall. The girl darted from sight. The
Shadow, still holding his brief case, indulged in a quiet smile as the servants ranged beside
him. Coolly, The Shadow announced:
"'My name is Kent Allard. I have come to interview Ferdinand Relf. He will know who I am."
The calm tone was impressive. One servant received the calling card that the visitor drew
from his pocket. The other ushered Allard into a small reception room on the right. The door
closed, leaving the visitor alone.