Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-17
The Gray Phantom's Romance
ASTONISHING Adventures of an Unusual Hero.
. &
Copyright by Street & Smith Corp.

window and watched the procession
below. After his long and monotonous
seclusion at Sea Glimpse the life OF
the city acted as gentle electric
| stimulant on his nerves. He glowed
and tingled with sensations that had
lain dormant during long months OF
tedium, and the strongest and ractest
of these was a feeling of ever-present
danger.
The Gray Phantom did not deceive
! himself. His present adventure was
by far the most hazardous of his ca
reer. On the one hand he was threat.
ened by the nimble-witted man-hunt-
ers of the police department, and on
the other by the henchmen of the
Duke. His only hope of safety lay IN
his subtle intelligence, which had sell
dom failed him in moments of danger.
and the temporary protection afforded
by his beard.
Luckily, the only photograph Of him
in existence, the one the newspapers
had displayed on their front pages the
morning after the murder, showed him
smooth shaver. The beard, giving him
maturer and somewhat more profess
sional appearance, afforded thin and
yet satisfactory disguise, but 1t would
be of scant use if by the slightest mis-
step or careless move he should at
event, certain records filed away In
the archives of the police would quick
ly establish his identity as the Gray
Phantom. Nevertheless, he was pleased
that the descriptions carried by the
newspapers had made no mention of
a beard.
There was measure of safety, too,
in the sheer audacity with which he
was proceeding. The man-hunters
might look everywhere else, but they
would scarcely expect to find their
quarry living sumptuously at first
class hotel. His free and easy mode
of conduct, unmarked by the slightest
effort at concealment, afforded a pro-
lection which he could not have found
in the shabbiest howell and under the
most elaborate disguise.
Yet, despite all the safeguards his
brain could invent, the situation was
perilous enough to give the Gray
Phantom all the excitement his nature
was a keen sparkle in his eyes as he
left the hotel and went out on the
streets. The very air seemed charged
with a quality that held him in state
of piquant suspense. The policemen
appeared more alert than usual, and
now and then snatcheS of converse
ton reached his ears from little groups
at street corners and IN doorWayS VINO
were avidly discussing the Gage MUIR
der and the chances of the Gray
Phantom being caught.
At each subway entrance and ele-
waited stairway loitered a seemingly
slothful and impressive character
whom his trained eye easily identified
as q detective.
Chuckling softly in his beard, the
Phantom walked on. No one seemed
to suspect that the striking and fault.
lessly CARRIED figure that sauntered
down the streets with such carefree
and easy stride, looking for all the
world like a leisurely gentleman out
for his morning constitutional, might
be the object of one of the most thor
ough and far-reaching man hunts ever
undertaken by the police. Occasionally
he paused to inspect a window dis
play, incidentally listening to discus
sion in which his name was frequent.
ly mentioned. The East Houston
street murder, which under ordinary
circumstances would have attracted
but passing notice, had become a tre-
mendous sensation because Of the
Gray Phantom's supposed connection
with it.
Gradually he veered off the crowded