Yet the final triumph had been still greater. Working upon an intuitive clew, The Shadow had trailed Silk Elverton, in time to end the crook’s career before the murderer could strike down a new victim.
A creepy laugh floated from the window. Its strident mockery came to the ears of those below. Men stared at one another; shivering at the sardonic tones of that mirth which seemed to come from an invisible source.
The laugh of The Shadow! It stood for the triumph of justice over wrong. It was the aftermath of The Shadow’s final stroke against the villains who had planned the silver scourge — the mammoth crime that The Shadow had doomed to failure.
There was one who did not hear the echoes of that taunting laugh. The body of Silk Elverton lay silent by the curb. The man who had come from the dead had returned to those with whom he belonged. The man who had boasted that he stood above the law — the man who legally was free — would never again plot crime.
The law of The Shadow had pronounced him dead! The hand of The Shadow had fulfilled the judgment of The Shadow’s law! Dead in name, Silk Elverton was dead in fact!