Evening star., 1927-03-19
The Gray Phantom's Romance
ASTONISHING A Advenfures of an Unusual Hero
by street& Smith Corp

| places awaited him out there, if he
could only get through the window.
| Even an extra inch or two added to
its width would enable him to wiggle
| out of the trap. But how
The answer came to him with sud.
| den, binding force. Yet it was sim.
| pie and obvious enough; in fact, the
| only reason he had not thought of 1t
! before was that his mind had been
| searching for something more intri-
| cafe and remote. II had not occurred
to him that the extra inch or two that
! he needed could be provided by the
! simple expedient of dislodging the
! window frame.
Already his fingers were tearing
and tugging at the woodwork. lie
noticed that the easements were
! thick, so that the removal of the
! frame would give him considerable
additional space, yet he had been at
work only a few moments when he
discovered that his plan was far
more difficult of execution than he
| had expected. The frame, at first
glance, ill-ftting and insecurely fas-
tened, resisted all his efforts. His
nails were torn and there were
bleeding scratches on his fingers. He
looked about him for something that
he could use as lever.
Some one was trying the lock, then
loud pounding on the door.
"Open" comma anded a voice.
The Phantom, failing to find any
implement that would serve his pur-
pose. inserted his fingers beneath the
sill and tugged with all his strength,
Come and get mer' was the taunt
he flung back over his shoulder. Then
he pulled again, but the sill did not
yield. He Strengthened his body and
attacked the perpendicular frame on
the right. but again he encountered
nothing but solid resistance.
The games up, Phantom" said
the voice outside the door. Might as
well give in. If you don't Wen bust
the door"
The Phantom worked with frantic
strength. His knuckles were bruised,
his muscles ached, and sweat poured
from his forehead.
I'm drill a hole through the first
man who enters this room" he crieG
loudly, hoping that the threat would
cause the men outside to hesitate for
a few moments longer before batter
ing down the door. Then, placing his
feet on the sill, he centered his efforts
on the horizontal bar at the top.
A quick glance through the window
uniform standing with his back to u
shed. Evidently the Gordon was tight
ening. Even if he succeeded in get
ting through the window he would
have to fight his way through hui
man barrier. The outlook was almost
hopeless, but he persisted with the
tenaclty that comes of despair He
sprang from the sill, turned the cleo
trio light switch, plunging the room
into darkness and hiding his move
ments from the eyes of the man out
side. then leaped back to his former
position and tugged frenziedly at
the horizontal piece.
OF a sudden his hand slipped and
a metallic protuberance scratched his
wrist. With habitual attention to de-
tail, he wound his handkerchief
around the injured surface, stopping
the flow of blood If by miracle he
should succeed in getting out, he did
not care to leave behind any clues
to his movements. Another sharp
glance through the window satisfied
him that the man at the shed was
not looking in his direction. Then
he ran his fingers along the horizon
tai frame. found the object that had
wounded him and discovered that ii
was q nail.
Inc nuDDuD OUTSIDE the door nad
ceased momentarily. Suddenly there
came a loud crash. as if a heavy |
body had dashed against the door. |
The Phantom, a suspicion awakening |
amid the tumble of his racing |
thoughts, fingered the nail, twisting |
it hither and thither. 1t occurred to |
him in a twinkling that it was an
odd place for a nail, since it could
serve no apparent purpose. In a
cainer moment he would have
thought nothing of it, but his nina
was keyed TO that tremendous pitch
where minor details are magnified.
Another crash sounded, accom-
panied by an ominous squeaking of
cracking timber
He bent the nail to one side, motto
ing that its resistance to pressure was
elastic, differing from the inert feel
of objects firmly imbedded In solid
wood. An inspiration came to him
out of the stress of the moment. He
twisted the nail in various direc-
tions. at the same time tugging ener
getically at a corner of the frame.
Once more a smashing force was
hurled against the door, followed by