Bright eyes flashed from beneath the hat brim of the being in black. A firm gloved hand held its automatic, with the muzzle directed squarely toward Craig Ware. The Shadow was master of the situation.
“You have told your story,” came The Shadow’s whispered tones, “but you have not told all, Craig Ware. You have said nothing of Koon Woon, who has failed you today. Koon Woon is with Lei Chang; but he has not acted. For I prevented Harvey Chittenden from reaching the fatal spot that lies ahead.
“Lei Chang has heard your voice, and he restrains Koon Woon until you give the call. That was the order he received from you yesterday; that Koon Woon should continue to kill all intruders, but wait when you came here — wait until you could leave this helpless girl to her fate. That plan is ended now, Craig Ware.
“You lured Walter Pearson to his death by a false message, and made calls that seemed to indicate he was alive after the time he died. You had the trap ready, and it caught Calvin Merrick. When Jessup reported a conversation he heard upon the hill, you snared Wilbur Chittenden by a call he thought came from Harvey. Then Galbraith Chittenden died when you calmed the dog, and enabled him to go through the grove to search for Wilbur.
“You thought that Zachary had died also. You were wrong, as you learned later. By good fortune, Zachary escaped the doom of Koon Woon the first time, only to fall into your trap when Harvey sent him off. He thought that Harvey was the plotter. That was the reason for his attack upon his brother. You had prepared to wait to slay Harvey and his wife. Jessup’s death was to your liking, for Jessup had worked for you, and knew much.
“Your crimes have found you, Craig Ware Chittenden. Not once again will your vile vengeance fall. You cannot call Koon Woon to do your evil bidding.”
A fiendish sneer came over Ware’s purpling face. With wild eyes, the arch-plotter stared toward the boughs ahead, picking a spot which seemed familiar to him.
“Koon Woon is there!” His voice rose to a cry. “Lei Chang will loose him! Lei Chang is waiting. Give the call, Lei Chang!”
As Ware was speaking, The Shadow turned. His automatic swung upward. Its aim followed directly on the path of Ware’s fixed gaze. Thus, by Ware’s own mistake, had The Shadow located the unseen hiding place.
The automatic barked. The bullet sped among the leaves of a bough a dozen feet from earth. It was answered by a terrified scream from within the branches.
Tumbling headlong from the tree came the misshapen form of Lei Chang. Mildred gasped as she saw the sinister Chinaman sprawl upon the ground; then the body rolled over, and the pockmarked face stared upward as the head twisted crazily.
The Shadow’s shot had felled the yellow demon. Lei Chang’s neck was broken in the fall. The slave of Koon Woon was dead. Never again would Lei Chang call his Master!
The weird laugh of The Shadow rolled its mocking tones beneath the silent beeches!
CHAPTER XXI. KOON WOON
WITH abrupt, startling suddenness, The Shadow had brought an end to Craig Ware’s plotting. But in the deed that marked the death of Lei Chang, the avenger in black had been forced to turn away from Craig Ware. A man less bold might not have gained the courage to act with precision; but Ware, seeing one last opportunity, leaped forward, drawing his revolver.
The Shadow had anticipated the attack. He turned with incredible swiftness. Before Ware could press the trigger of his gun, The Shadow’s automatic was full upon him. Instinctively, Ware threw himself to the side, but the automatic spoke. Gasping, Ware rolled upon the brown ground, his revolver falling from his grasp. Mortally wounded, the man of evil had been felled.
Dying, Craig Ware knew that his reign of terror had been ended. Yet in his weakened body lay a last ounce of evil strength. As The Shadow’s form turned away, Ware, with a desperate effort, raised his hand to his lips and emitted a low, weird whistle.
Mildred recognized that call — the signal between Ware and Lei Chang. The Shadow heard it also, and he knew its hidden meaning. In his last moment of life; Craig Ware had summoned Koon Woon!
Ware’s hand had dropped. His eyes were glassy, and his lips were blood-flecked. He would not live to see the result of his last vile deed, but he had summoned forth an instrument of vengeance upon the one who had thwarted him.
The Shadow had turned toward the tree from which Lei Chang had fallen. Mildred Chittenden, recoiling from the writhing body of Craig Ware, had unconsciously moved toward that spot. Now, seeing the dead form of Lei Chang close by, the girl had moved no farther.
Harvey Chittenden, back by the tree from which he watched, did not sense what was about to happen.
He had thought Lei Chang to be the menace of the grove, for he had not clearly understood the sinister utterances of Craig Ware.
Only The Shadow knew the dread event that was coming — the arrival of Koon Woon, in answer to Ware’s dying call. The Shadow’s eyes were flashing as they gazed up toward the copper-leafed branches.
The Shadow knew the identity of Koon Woon!
Then, silently, swiftly, the terror of the grove came into being. From the boughs near where Lei Chang had hidden, a huge head stretched forth, followed by a long, twisting body. Glazed, reptilian eyes stared wickedly as the long, serpentine form of a monstrous snake swept downward.
Koon Woon was a huge python, nearly thirty feet in length! This giant snake, largest of the constrictor species, possessed the grip that could crush a man-eating tiger within its sinuous coils!
Koon Woon!
THE SHADOW knew the monster’s story. He had gained it from Choy Lown, in the old Celestial’s study. Koon Woon, greatest of all the reptiles in the famed snake temple at Penang! A snake captured by men to be kept as a god!
This was the terrible creature which Lei Chang had called The Master. To Lei Chang, Koon Woon had for years been an object of worship. The python, easily tamed, had learned to obey the summons of its slave. Here, to this strange clime, Craig Ware had brought Lei Chang, and with him one of the most formidable type of death-dealing creatures that existed on the face of the earth!
Koon Woon, the mighty python that for years had strangled victims in the jungle, was trained to conquer human foes! Lei Chang, with crafty wisdom, had tempted the great monster with a rabbit diet, lest Koon Woon sleep too long after devouring a human body.
Now, Koon Woon, to whom this grove was as much a home as the grotesque snake temple where others of his kind were imprisoned, was stretching forth his great head to eye a new victim. When Koon Woon was loosed, nothing could restrain him!
The great snake possessed a skin of mottled yellow-brown, a hue that blended with the leaves of the copper beeches. Up in the trees, a natural habitat for a python, the twisting form had been coiled invisibly. Now, with his great tail anchored to a tree trunk, Koon Woon was shooting his mighty body downward.
This was the monster that had caught five men in its sinuous grasp, and had made short work of a large, fierce dog. Koon Woon always sought the nearest victim, and here, within range of that swiftly moving head, stood Mildred Chittenden, helpless and unaware of the approaching menace.
The Shadow leaped forward, intent on reaching the girl before the python grasped her. Shots from the automatic would have been in vain. The Shadow hurled his gun aside as he sprang to the rescue. The race was an unequal one. The long, uncoiling snake possessed the advantage. It was Koon Woon’s change of purpose that saved The Shadow’s effort from futility.
The python, when it spied the girl, withdrew its head to start a downward drive. Such snakes are living pile drivers. With its prey so helplessly close, Koon Woon was returning to deliver a mighty blow with his great head. The momentary interval enabled The Shadow to clear the ground. As Koon Woon struck downward with a long, terrific drive, the black-garbed rescuer seized the girl and threw her clear of the python’s crushing stroke.