To these viewers, The Shadow had not returned from a single death. He had come back from three.

Killed first by knives and guns, Ying Ko had committed suicide by flinging himself down a great shaft, and Shang Chou had finally given him a crushing death with the idol, Yatku. No wonder The Shadow's laugh made the Dragon Cult men cringe!

Sight of him did even more. Entering from the doorway, blackness became alive as its cloaked arms pressed Weston and Marne aside. Into full light stepped The Shadow. Folding his arms, he approached the Dragon Cult men, who crouched beseechingly, all babbling at once. They were pleading with Ying Ko, begging him not to consign them to the land of ghosts and demons whither he had gone, only to return. They would have listened fully to the words of Ying Ko, if Shang Chou had not interrupted him, that time they met before.

Amid this amazing scene, a baffling thing was happening. The power that cowed the Dragon Cult men was having no effect upon the Chinese who were covering Marne, Weston and the police. Possibly it had transfixed them, for they were making no effort to attack The Shadow. But their guns were still firm against the backs of the men they were keeping covered.

Then, as The Shadow turned, the two detectives in the corner noticed that the Chinese behind Weston and the other helpless men were garbed in American clothes. They weren't members of the Dragon Cult, at all. They were other Chinese, who had moved through the cordon, thanks to the general order that all Chinese were to be pa.s.sed through.

Chinese working with The Shadow! Such was the dawning answer, and it was the right one. These Chinese belonged to Dr. Roy Tam. The Shadow had ordered them, because he needed them to augment the forces of his agents.

Then, contacting Burbank, The Shadow had learned full details of the situation at Marne's. Since the way was open to Chinese only, he had brought Tam's men through with him in the wake of the Dragon Cult followers.

Posted police had seen those yellow faces and let Tam's men through; but they hadn't seen The Shadow, gliding invisibly amid the Chinese throng. Nor had they guessed that these Chinese in American garb had stopped off while going up to Marne's, to let the incoming police pa.s.s them.

Not only here, but out in the hallway, members of Cardona's ample squad were helpless under the pressure of Tam's men, working at The Shadow's behest. It was baffling, indeed, to every one - with the exception of a certain man.

THAT man was Alexander Marne. He made an angry gesture when The Shadow faced him, only to stiffen as a gun nudged him from the hand of Lee Sook, the Chinese who stood behind him.

Then Marne was covered by another gun: The Shadow's. A gloved hand produced the big .45 with a simple upward flip. Under his crossed arm, The Shadow had gripped that gun beneath his cloak.

Gesturing the automatic toward Marne's safe, The Shadow ordered in sibilant tone: "Step forward, Marne, and open the safe!"

Marne hesitated, and then complied. The Shadow's other hand reached toward him, and into it Marne listlessly dropped the head of the Jade Dragon. Subdued members of the Dragon Cult pressed aside to open a path as Marne proceeded forward, forced onward by The Shadow's gun, which was now against his back.

There was no more hesitation from Marne. He was nervous while amid the Dragon Cult men banked so tightly on each side of him, but he worked his fingers rapidly upon the safe combination. When the door came open, The Shadow pressed Marne aside and began tumbling bundles from it, many of them representing large sums in securities.

Behind the bundles was a coffer; upon it, an ivory box. The Shadow was close enough to see the ivory box, but the crouched Dragon Cult men were at too low a level to spy it atop the coffer. When The Shadow ordered Marne to bring down both items, the rugged man complied, but he hid the ivory boxbehind the coffer as he did.

Turning Marne about, The Shadow marched him to a table by the door. At The Shadow's whispered command, Chinese guns relaxed from the backs of Weston, Cardona, and the detectives with the Tommy-guns. By this time, the commissioner was too interested in proceedings to stop them, no matter what Marne might argue.

Nor was there any chance of the two machine-gunners letting rip at the members of the Dragon Cult.

Everything had calmed down, and the Dragon Cult men were too cowed to start a rush that would make their slaughter necessary.

Indeed, everything else had slid from mind except the matter of The Shadow's business with Alexander Marne. The Shadow gestured toward the coffer. Marne opened it, keeping the ivory casket behind it, away from the Dragon Cult men.

The contents of the coffer told enough.

To the brim, the chest was filled with gems - the acc.u.mulated collections of Walstead, Dayland, and other previous victims. Royce's imitation gems, of course, had been weeded from the loot. Here were spoils that should have belonged in the lair of Shang Chou, not in a safe owned by Alexander Marne!

Facts struck home to Commissioner Weston and Inspector Cardona, facts that The Shadow had suspected for a long time, and had finally established: namely, that Shang Chou, in private life, was Alexander Marne.

But the thing didn't dawn fully on Marne's Chinese dupes, the Dragon Cult men, until The Shadow slammed the coffer shut and picked up the ivory box.

A babble began at sight of the box; it increased when The Shadow dropped the segments of the Jade Dragon onto the coffer lid. Piece by piece, The Shadow fitted them to the pointed pendant that made the dragon's tail. Then, with a sweeping gesture, The Shadow turned about and set the dragon's head into place.

A roar broke from the men in Chinese jackets; a roar of approbation for The Shadow. He, Ying Ko, had told them that he could a.s.semble the Jade Dragon without recourse to crime, and he had done so. The Shadow, not Shang Chou, was ent.i.tled to supreme honor, and these Dragon Cult men were voicing it.

Moreover, they were rising to surge forward, not to attack The Shadow but to overwhelm Alexander Marne, the pretender who had worn Chinese disguise and called himself Shang Chou!

The Shadow raised his hands to restrain the Dragon Cult men. Weston, Cardona, and their companions pressed forward, just in case of trouble. So did Tam's men, though it seemed that they should have been watching Marne. Instead, they gave the false Shang Chou an opportunity too good to miss.

Finding himself unwatched, Marne scooped up the Jade Dragon with a sweep of his hand, flung its contents into the ivory box, and bounded out, carrying his prize!

THE way wasn't open to the stairs. Tam's men and released detectives blocked it. So Marne used the folding doors that led into the living room. Managing to unbolt them, he plunged through, as, from close behind him, came a pursuing laugh telling him that The Shadow was right upon his heels.

Though not the first to go after Marne, The Shadow had flung others aside to clear a path. Tam's men were helping him; they kept the way open for Weston and Cardona to be the next in line. Then Tam's men were holding back the Jacketed Chinese who wanted vengeance most. They would get theirvengeance in due time.

Spurred by The Shadow's laugh, Marne crossed the living room; there, he turned and yelled something to his scattering guests. As The Shadow loomed into sight, a dozen men sprang into action. They formed a tuxedoed throng, led by such socialites as Errol Garvin and Don Feldon. From their pockets they were drawing revolvers, to aim at The Shadow!

The cloaked figure wasn't a target when they fired. The Shadow knew exactly what was coming, which was why he wheeled into a hallway toward the kitchen. Garvin, Feldon, and the others who formed Marne's real murder squad went bounding after him. Among the guests were servants, who also belonged to the murder crew.

Marne, still shouting that he was Shang Chou, dropped to a corner to draw his own revolver.

By carrying the surge to the rear of the living room, The Shadow had left Marne's crowd open to a flank attack, that promptly came. Weston and Cardona supplied it, with detectives aiding. It was a case of revolver shots only, for Tommy-guns wouldn't do, with so many innocent guests making for cover after the guilty ones had begun their charge.

Garvin and Feldon spun to meet the police attack. That was the moment for a jab from the other flank.

Harry Vincent led it, coming from the hall, followed by The Shadow's agents. They had come up in an elevator, purporting to be guests bound for Marne's. Their shots, inserted timely, broke the thrust that was directed at the police.

Then, before tuxedoed crooks could rally, the real surge came. The Dragon Cult men were loose. They swarmed into the living room, saw the men with guns, and overpowered them. No words were needed from The Shadow to explain who these men were. From the moment that Garvin, Feldon, and their friends took sides with Marne, they gave themselves away.

Finding that he could pose as the Chinese mystery man, Shang Chou, Alexander Marne had decided that his real followers could do the same. He had chosen Americans for his compact tribe of killers, and they had operated in Chinese garb, to lay the real blame on Shang Chou's dupes, the Dragon Cult members.

Dupes no longer, the Dragon Cult men understood, and they were suppressing their betrayers in no uncertain style. But when they came to look for Alexander Marne, he was gone. Profiting by the chaos, the crime master had ducked from the living room, found an elevator, and fled.

As Chinese swarmed into the outer hall, they heard the clang of another elevator door, that was closing upon blackness. With that clang came the echoes of a laugh they knew The Shadow was on his way to overtake Shang Chou, and his parting mirth was an invitation for others to follower after him!

CHAPTER XX. SECRET OF THE DRAGON.

TO Chenma, alone in her tiny underground apartment, the past few hours had been an ordeal. She had seen nothing more of Shang Chou, nor had she talked to Tseng, the faithful doorman. She wanted to see no one except Ying Ko, The Shadow, and that, Chenma believed, would be impossible.

A sudden knock at Chenma's door startled her, for it was unlike any knock she had heard before.

Opening the door, Chenma started to shrink back at sight of Shang Chou. Then, remembering that she was a Manchu princess and had preserved her status with the Dragon Cult, even while aiding The Shadow, Chenma faced Shang Chou calmly. It wasn't rage that made Shang Chou's manner strange. He was excited, out of breath from some mad chase. Chenma was suddenly elated by the thought that something had gone wrong with Shang Chou's final crime; something that The Shadow might have successfully arranged, even though unable to be on hand for victory.

"Quickly, Chenma!" spoke Shang Chou, in short-breathed style. "Have you seen Tseng?"

The girl shook her head.

"Then find him!" Shang Chou ordered. "Look everywhere for him! Tell him I wish to see him in my apartment."

Shang Chou turned away, adjusting the silver robe that he was wearing. Chenma was sure that he must have been outside his preserves; that he had picked up the robe when he returned, and had put it on hastily while hurrying to his apartment. Chenma turned away, too, in order to hunt for Tseng.

There wasn't much ground to cover in the hunt for Tseng. Shang Chou had blocked his premises even more than before, so that all pa.s.sages ended blind, in panels or walls that could be doors through which the respective members of the Dragon Cult came to their meetings.

There were some cross pa.s.sages, like the connections of a web, and it was among these that Chenma expected to find Tseng, making his rounds. She had completed about half the circuit, when she heard a low call from the direction of her own apartment. Hurrying there, she found Tseng.

"I heard you in the pa.s.sages, princess," Tseng told her. "It is unwise to move about so. Shang Chou might return and discover you."

"Shang Chou has returned," informed Chenma. "Five minutes ago. He wants to see you, Tseng, right away!"

Tseng turned toward the door of Shang Chou's apartment. He'd moved only a few steps, when a m.u.f.fled blast sounded from beyond the door. Chenma hurried up; together, they opened the door and looked.

The room, clearing of smoke, revealed a gaping hole in its far wall.

"Shang Chou has fled!" exclaimed Tseng. "I remember when that door was blocked. He wanted no one to know of its existence, because it is a private route, the one he was keeping should he need ever to escape!"

That Shang Chou needed to escape was evidenced by a whispered laugh that came from the pa.s.sage behind Chenma and Tseng. Turning, they saw The Shadow, and both stared in disbelief. Their eyes, however, were to see more marvels, in many numbers.

If the police had flashed word ahead to halt a man answering the description of Alexander Marne, The Shadow's task would have been eased. But Marne had outraced such word, and when he finally slipped The Shadow, the cloaked pursuer was forced to go around by Chenma's message window.

The time lost by The Shadow was made up by others. They were the new marvels that Chenma and Tseng viewed. They came with a clatter as The Shadow's laugh ended - the members of the Dragon Cult, using their various routes to Shang Chou's, this time seeking their former lord to destroy him!

WITH eyes that were both amazed and grateful, Chenma saw The Shadow point the way. The Dragon Cult men shouted the name of "Ying Ko!" with a zest that proved he had become their leader. They ignored Chenma and Tseng, but to keep those two from the path of the trampling horde, The Shadow pressed them into Chenma's apartment. The Dragon Cult men were piling through the hole that Shang Chou had blasted for an exit. Right after them came new invaders, police in dozen lots. They'd found quick ways into Shang Chou's domain by simply following the Dragon Cult men.

Among them was Inspector Cardona. Waving his men ahead to the chase, he looked in at Chenma's door and saw the Manchu girl Politely, Chenma introduced herself and stated that she approved the search for Shang Chou. At that moment, Dr. Tam arrived with some of his men, and started to tell Cardona about Chenma's messages.

Cardona gave an understanding nod; when he looked toward Tseng, Chenma declared simply: "This is Tseng. He helped me send the messages."

Another nod from Cardona, and then he was on his way with Tam, to join the hunt for Marne or Shang Chou, whichever the fugitive might prove to be when they overtook him.

A whispered laugh came from the corner of Chenma's room and The Shadow stepped into sight from behind the door, where he had watched Chenma's interview with Cardona. The Shadow's whispered tone added his own approval; then he, too, was gone, closing the door behind him. He was also concerned with the hunt for Marne, alias Shang Chou.

Tseng was pouring his thanks to Chenma for having identified him as her helper. With a smile, Chenma responded: "You are the one who deserves thanks, Tseng. You, as much as I, did your utmost to defeat Shang Chou. We have both proven ourselves to the police and are now free to go and come, or do exactly as we choose -"

Chenma's hand was on the door, as though she intended to go as she chose. But Tseng planned otherwise. His laugh, close behind Chenma, was different from any tone that the girl had previously heard him give.

Turning, Chenma looked into Tseng's eyes and - the muzzle of a gun!

They were not the eyes of Tseng, as she knew them. They were the eyes of Shang Chou!

The Dragon Cult master and his doorman were one!

If Chenma had only realized that Shang Chou's own self was a disguise; that in ordinary life he was an American named Alexander Marne, she could have looked for such deception. Since Marne had to make himself up to look like one Chinese, there was no reason why he couldn't play the part of another.

The thing that had fooled Chenma was the pretended loyalty that Tseng had chosen. She realized, at this moment, what a sham it had really been. Knowing that Chenma would find ways to contact the outside world, Shang Chou had aided her as Tseng. Aided her in such a manner that the word she sent was always too late.

Once there had been an exception - in the case of Burton Royce. There, Tseng had played dumb by design, and had named Louis Walstead by using the term "Number One Man." Clever, these Chinese, when they were really Americans in disguise. Tseng had covered his falsity very neatly.

He wasn't trying to cover it any longer; not so far as Chenma was concerned. "Yes, I am Shang Chou," he hissed. "I sent you to look for Tseng, and while you searched, I became Tseng. I shall go now, to hunt for Shang Chou, the man they will never find. They will think he doubled back among the many pa.s.sages and will think it with good reason.

"For when they return, they will find you dead, the victim of Shang Chou's vengeance. I, Tseng, shall be the loudest in my grief, and they will believe me, because you told them they could trust me. So now, my adopted niece, prepare to die!"

Those words, "Prepare to die," were echoed, not in other words but by a laugh that quivered in from the door that Chenma's hand had partly opened. They were addressed to Alexander Marne, or to Shang Chou, or Tseng, however he might prefer. They carried a threat, too, in the form of a big gun.

The Shadow's .45 was poking through the door, his eyes a burning glow above it.

IT happened very swiftly. As Marne wheeled, snarling, to aim at The Shadow, the cloaked fighter pushed the door and wheeled into the room.

The door edge came right at Marne and he jumped backward to avoid it. Finishing the spring, he jabbed his gun and fired.

He was too late. The Shadow hadn't stopped in the doorway. He was hurtling through, spinning about as he came, and in his sweep he gave an easy flip in his free hand that sent Chenma half across the room, away from the scene of the duel.

Marne's shot blasted empty s.p.a.ce, and as he swung, hoping to make a better try, The Shadow's big gun answered.

Marne's body took the jolt. He reeled out into the hallway, turned back, trying to get his gun in action.

Commissioner Weston, arriving far behind the pack, had entered Shang Chou's preserves and was almost at hand when The Shadow's shot resounded. Coming from a corner, seeing a vicious-eyed Chinese taking aim at The Shadow, Weston let his gun go off with Tseng as the target. The range was less than a dozen feet, and Weston didn't stop with a single bullet.

He saw Tseng slump under the hail. If The Shadow hadn't mortally wounded his foeman, Weston certainly had. Frothy lips were giving their last gasp as Weston stooped to took at Tseng's thin-bearded face. Then a gloved hand, intervening, wiped away the visage at which Weston gazed.

Before the commissioner's astounded eyes, The Shadow changed the dead man's face to that of Alexander Marne!

It was simple enough. The Shadow simply peeled away a silk mask, wig and all, that was drawn over Marne's face. Then, while the commissioner arose, staring, The Shadow tossed him other exhibits.

One was another tight-fitting mask, with wig and long mustache that represented the face of Shang Chou.

Another was the silver robe that the Dragon Cult master wore. The Shadow had found them both behind a secret panel in the wall of Shang Chou's apartment.

But the final exhibit came from the robe that Marne wore as Tseng. It was the ivory box holding the pieces of the Jade Dragon. Handing it to Chenma, The Shadow gestured toward Weston. Then, with a parting laugh, he was gone through the apartment of Shang Chou, not to join in the useless search but to find a route of his own to the outside.

His work finished, The Shadow had no need to stay, and his laugh, as it echoed back, carried a note offinal triumph over the notorious Shang Chou.

LATE though Weston had been in arriving at Shang Chou's, his friend Lamont Cranston was later. He finally showed up while Weston was inspecting the meeting room of the Dragon Cult, and the commissioner introduced him to Chenma.

As the girl's eyes met Cranston's, she knew that she had found another friend. His eyes reminded her of the eyes of The Shadow.

After Weston had related the details of crime's climax, Cranston gave an understanding nod.

"Too bad, commissioner," he said, "that we couldn't see the things that were so obvious to The Shadow."

"What do you mean?" inquired Cranston.

"These alibis among the Dragon Cult men," remarked Cranston. "They always had them - all of them. It must have finally occurred to The Shadow that none of them was in it. Too bad you didn't watch the Americans who came here on the sightseeing busses, or just dropped by to have a look at Chinatown."

"Yes, they were the real robbers," acknowledged Weston. "They must have held their meeting here, before the Dragon Cult a.s.sembled. They were gone, and off on crime, by the time the later meetings were finished."

Chenma interrupted, holding up some rice-paper slips.

"But Shang Chou gave these out!" she exclaimed. "Those that bore his mark told which men were to help the quest for the Jade Dragon!"