Evening star., 1927-03-19


ering with suspense, his mind fixed
with desperate intentness on dim,
tantaliZing hope, the Phantom con-
tinued to bend and twist the nail in
all possible angles. He knew that at
any moment the door was likely to
collapse, and them
He uttered a hoarse cry of elation.
OF a sudden, as he bent the nail in
new direction, it gave a quick re-
bound, and at the same instant the
frame yielded to his steady pull, as if
swinging on a hinge, revealing an
opening in the side of the uncom'
monty massive wall. For a moment
his discovery daZed him, then ter
rife crash at the door caused him TO
pull himself together, and in a mo-
ment he had squeezed his figure into
the aperture.
He drew a long breath and wiped
the binding. smarting perspiration
from his face. Thanks to an acct
dental scratch on the wrist. he had
discovered Sylvanus Cages emer
gency exit. And none too soon. for
already, with splitting crash. the
door had collapsed under the re
peated onslaughts of the men outside,
and several shadowy forms were
bursting headlong into the room.
The Phantom. wedged in the mar
row opening, seized the side of the
revolving frame and drew it to, A lit
tie click signifed that a spring had
caught it and was holding it in place.
Excited voices, muffied by the inter-
vening obstruction, reached his ears.
He smiled as he pictured the con
sternation of the detectives upon dis
covering that once more the Gray
Phantom had lived up to his name
and achieved another of the amaz
ing escapes that had made him feared
and secretly admired by the keenest
sleuths in the country.
lie had no fear that the police
would follow him, for his discovery
of the secret exit had been partly ac-
cidental and partly due to the accel-
Grated nimbleness of mind that comes
to one laboring under tremendous
pressure To the police the nail on
the top of the window frame would be
nothing but a nail II is the hunted,
not the hunter. whose mind clutches
at Straws, and they would never
guess that the nail was lever in dis
guise. The Phantom, as he Contem-
plated the ingenious arrangement,
found his respect for the dead mans
inventiveness rising several notches
From the other side of the wall
came loud curses mingling with
dazed ordinations. baffied shouts
and expressions of increduiity. With
a laugh at the discontinue of his pur
suers. who but few moments ago
thought him ineXtricably trapped, the
Phantom moved n little farther into
the opening. 1t appeared to be slant
ing slowly to the ground. and it was
so narrow that each wriggling and
writhing movement bruised some por-
ton of his body. Inch by inch he
worked his way downward, wondering
whittier the passage might lead. Now
the voices in the room were almost
beyond earshot, and he could hear
nothing but a low, confused din.
Presently he felt solid ground at
his feet, and at this point the passage
turned in horizontal direction.
There was a slight current of dank
air in the tunnel. suggesting that it's
opposite terminus might be cellar
or other subterranean compartment.
Limbs aching, he moved forward, |
with slow twists and ceilings of the
body.
He estimated that he had al |
ready covered half a dozen yards, and
he wondered how much farther the
passage might reach. One thing |
puzzled him as he writhed onward |
Why had Gage not made use of the |
secret exit on the night of the mur
der? Was il, perhaps, because the |
murderer had come upon him so sud
denly that he had not had time to
reach the hidden opening?
He dismissed the question as too
A few more twists and
Jerks, and he found himself in an
omen space where he could stand up
right and move about freely For a
few moments he ftfnbled around in
he inky darkness, finally encounter
ing a stairway He ascended as
1uietly as he could, taking pains that
the squeakings of the decaying
stairs should not disturb the occu-
pants above. Reaching the top. he
listened intently, while his hand
searched for a doorknob. Slowly and
with infinite caution he pushed the
door open. Again he stopped and
listened The room was dark and
still, and he could distinguish no OBJ
jects, yet his alert mind sensed pres.
ence and he felt pair of sharp eyes
gazing at him through the shadows.
Then out of the gloom and silence
came a voice:
Don't move"'
The words were a bit theatrical,
but the voice caused him to start
sharply A few PAGES ahead of him
he saw a blurry shape. His hand
darted to his hip pocket; then he re-
membered that he had left his pistol
In the grip at his hotel, for when he
started out he had not expected that
les ONCE IN A LIFETIM