CHAPTER XXV.
MAN OR WOMAN?
Man or woman?
I looked at the individual who was seated opposite to McGinnis, andasked myself this question.
The glance of those eyes had assured me that Daisy was Shadow.
But was Shadow man or woman?
Man I certainly believed him, and yet--well, I was dumfounded if everman was.
That swelling bust might be a work of art, but it seemed to me that itarose and fell too naturally to be anything but genuine.
True, I had had ample evidence of Shadow's ability in the art ofdisguise, yet still I could hardly believe this to be all making up.
Shadow saw that my eyes were upon him (or her), and also that I hadrecognized him.
McGinnis had been so plied with drink by Shadow, that he was too drunkto notice or understand the significance of a motion of the mysteriousdetective's hand.
Yet it said to me as plainly as words could have done:
"Be circumspect. Be careful. Do not betray me. Go away, and leave me toalone work out the scheme I have laid."
I obeyed.
I turned on my heel and left the place. As I was about to pass throughthe door I glanced back.
McGinnis was becoming very affectionate, and was winding his arm aboutDaisy's waist.
Since Daisy was Shadow we shall not mystify the reader, but simplyspeak of him by the name to which we are accustomed.
"Say yes, Daisy, won't you?" said McGinnis, with a slobber which hemeant for a kiss.
An expression of intense disgust on the other's face was not noticed bythe drunken villain.
"I'll think over it," was the reply. "But there's one thing, McGinnis,which I want you to understand, that I won't take up with a slouch."
"I ain't no slouch," protested McGinnis. "Why, I've----" and thenstarted again, he began recounting his exploits in a boastful tone.
Shadow listened, his ears drinking in the other's words with an avidityequal to that of the leech, as it sucks the blood of the victim towhich it has fastened.
The detective heard partially what he wished to hear, and his eyesbegan to gleam with a red and dangerous light.
Deftly, and with a purpose, he now and then interpolated a word todirect McGinnis' mind into other channels, and at last the end towardwhich he had aimed was gained.
Out of his own mouth McGinnis had convicted himself.
Distinctly, unequivocally, he had fastened on himself a terriblecrime--a crime which it was Shadow's sworn purpose to avenge.
"Thank Heaven!"
So earnestly did Shadow utter this exclamation that it fixed theattention of McGinnis, stupid with drink as he was.
Shadow saw it, and hastened to remove the impression made on the mindof the villain.
"Let's have another drink," said McGinnis, as soon as his mind wasagain at ease.
"You've had enough," said Shadow.
"I want another drink," growled McGinnis, now in his ugly state ofintoxication.
"No," was the decided rejoinder.
McGinnis clenched his fist and brought it forcibly down on the table.
He swore that he was not going to be dictated to by a woman.
"Very well," said Shadow, coolly. "You were the one who was anxious fora partnership. It wasn't me. If you drink another drop I'll bust up thewhole arrangement."
Muttering under his breath that he would tame her when the time came,he nevertheless did not order the drink.
For Shadow's purpose McGinnis was now drunk enough.
"Come, let's get out of this," at last remarked Shadow.
"All right, Daisy," hiccoughed McGinnis. "Goin' home with me, ain'tye?" with a leer.
"Yes."
"Bully for you. You're a gal of the right stripe. Sail ahead--give us awing, though, for I'm kind o' unstiddy on my pins. An' I say, you mustbe well seasoned, 'cause you don't show the effects of this bout's muchas I do."
"I've drank many a stout lad under the table," was the laughing reply,and McGinnis looked at his Daisy more admiringly than before.
Too drunk to know even where he was going, Shadow found no trouble inleading the villain whither he wished, since McGinnis now trusted himcompletely.
"What a mash!" McGinnis kept muttering to himself, and every time theypassed under a street-lamp he insisted on having another look at hisdarling Daisy's face.
"What's zish?" he finally asked, reeling unsteadily and glancingaround. "What's zish? Where'sh the house? Zish is a dock!"
Shadow had led him to a lonely and deserted pier on the east side oftown.
Click!
Click!
It was a pair of handcuffs that produced this clicking, as they weresnapped on McGinnis' wrists.
Realizing what had been done, and nearly sobered by the shock ofsurprise, McGinnis started back, and, raising his hands quickly, triedto bring the handcuffs down on Shadow's head.
Shadow started back in time to save himself.
Then McGinnis made an attempt to fly.
Shadow was too quick for him.
In less than a second he had drawn and cocked a revolver, and withone spring reaching McGinnis' side, he planted the muzzle against thevillain's temple.
"Be quiet, unless you wish to die instantly!" Shadow sternly said, andthe villain paused and stood trembling like a leaf.
McGinnis' head was more sobered than his body, and when Shadow suddenlytripped him, his feet flew out from under him, and down he heavily went.
Shadow seemed working in a systematic way, seemed to have plannedeverything exactly as it happened, for when he sprang on the fallenvillain he held a gag in his hand.
At the revolver's muzzle McGinnis yielded, and permitted the gag to beplaced in his mouth.
Shadow next fastened his feet, and when the villain was perfectlyhelpless the detective coolly sat down on the string-piece, to waituntil the liquor's effect had passed more away.
McGinnis' fear tended to sobering him quickly, and just as a distantchurch-clock was striking ten, Shadow arose and then knelt beside thevillain, at whom he gazed with a fixed look that indicated unalterablepurpose.
"McGinnis, your time is short," the mysterious detective sternly said."Make your peace with Heaven if you can. In three minutes you die!"
There was no mistaking the tone in which these words were said.
McGinnis was by this time sober enough to understand the full importof the words, and he began to writhe, and strain, and try to burst hisbonds.
The wisdom of Shadow's gagging him was now apparent, for had he beenfree to do so, the villain would have bawled and shrieked like a madman.
"I abhor a murderer, and I shudder at thoughts of murder," Shadow wentcoldly on. "But I stifle all such feelings for the sake of avenging ina fitting manner the death of one who was more than all the world tome, whom you robbed of life. Now you know why this terrible fate hasovertaken you."
It was a fearful sight, that of this man struggling with such fierceintensity to burst his bonds, to free his hands, to save his life.
Like the Nemesis he was, Shadow remained kneeling beside McGinnis, andin calm, cold voice, counted the expiring seconds.
"The three minutes are gone," he finally said, in a tone that was harshbut unwavering, and then----
"Avenged!" muttered Shadow, as he glided away from the spot a fewminutes later. "Tom, I have kept my oath! Darling Tom, the same fatethat was meted out to you, I have meted out to your murderer!"
Just as the clock struck eleven, and I was preparing for bed, a notewas brought to me.
"Waiting for you. Important! SHADOW."