CHAPTER XXII
THE PHANTOM'S RUSE
The words had an electrifying effect on The Phantom's nerves. Not morethan a minute could have passed since Starr's departure, and hisimagination pictured the scene that soon would be enacted in Helen'sroom. He strove valiantly to shake off the numbness that had beenbrought on him by horror and loss of blood.
Out of his half-closed eyes he saw Slade standing in a listlessattitude a few feet from where he lay. Evidently he was depending onThe Phantom's unconsciousness to last a while longer, for he was idlytoying with his pistol and seemed rather bored. Two of the other menwere removing their wounded comrades, and for the moment no one wasobserving The Phantom. A sharp realization that he must act at oncequickened his thoughts and stirred his energies. His mental picture ofHelen and her desperate peril stimulated his reserve forces of mentaland physical vigor.
Warily he glanced about him, then crawled swiftly and silently towardthe point where Slade stood. Suddenly he rose to his knees and jerkedthe pistol from Slade's hand. In another moment he was on his feet,stifling Slade's loud cry for help by a blow with the weapon. Withouta glance behind, he ran as fast as he could in the direction taken byStarr. His mind was already at work on a plan. A new force, morepowerful than mere bodily strength, seemed to speed him on. Despitephysical weariness and the sharp twinges in his shoulder, he felt asif nothing could resist him. If only there was yet time----
Reaching the top of the stairs, he turned at random in the hall. Alow, drawling chuckle, uttered in a voice he recognized as Starr's,drew his attention to one of the doors near the end of the corridor.He approached cautiously and looked in.
What he saw assured him that he had arrived in time. He took in thescene with a single glance. A powerful man, one of those he had foughtin the hall below, was seated on the edge of the cot, holding Helen'sweakly resisting hand in his huge paws. In the center of the room,with a smile of gratification on his lips, stood Vincent Starr, andThe Phantom saw that he was transferring the contents of the bottle tothe syringe. Evidently it was a slow and tedious task.
The Phantom waited until Starr had finished. He flexed his muscles,then lunged forward. Before either of the two men could move, thehandle of his pistol crashed down on the head of the individual seatedon the cot. With a queer, fragmentary squeal, he slid from his seatand lay prone on the floor. In an instant The Phantom had whirled onStarr, who seemed completely taken back by the sudden interruption,and jerked the syringe and the empty bottle from his hands. Then, withall the strength he could muster, he crashed his fist into Starr's jawand sent him spinning to the floor. Thrusting the empty bottle intohis pocket and gingerly handling the syringe, he fled from the room.
Despite his pain and weakness, he smiled as he sped on. Once more TheGray Phantom's quick mind and elastic energies were about to reverse aseemingly hopeless situation. But the danger was not yet past, and thehardest task was still to come. Starr, only partly stunned, would soonrecover his wits, and then, with a hue and a cry, the pursuit wouldstart. The thought made The Phantom quicken his pace as he ran towardthe entrance of the hidden chamber.
A din and clamor sounded in the distance as he reached the point wherea sliding panel in the wall afforded egress to the spiral stairway.Quickly closing the opening behind him, he ran down the steps. Thepursuers, he knew, would never be able to locate the entrance, and forthe present he was safe. He stepped inside the room and switched onthe light, then placed his automatic, the syringe, and the emptybottle on the table.
Doctor Tagala was lying on the bed, just as The Phantom had left him.As the light went on, he gave a hoarse gasp of amazement and trieddesperately to rise.
"Didn't expect to see me so soon again--eh, doctor?" The Phantomremoved his coat and proceeded to clean and bandage his wound as wellas he could. "You tricked me very neatly, I'll admit, but the rusedidn't quite succeed. Even if it had, don't you realize that you wouldhave been left here to starve to death?"
The doctor continued to stare at The Phantom, who rather enjoyed hisstupefaction. He glanced at the bed from time to time while he tookseveral articles from a cupboard and dressed his wound. When he hadfinished, Tagala began to strain uneasily at the cords fettering hishands and feet.
"Useless exertion, doctor," advised The Phantom. He walked to the bedand regarded the physician with a frown. Then he quickly took thesyringe from the table and placed a knee on Tagala's chest. Tagalasquirmed and heaved, but to no avail. With his left hand The Phantomtook one of the scientist's arms and pressed it firmly downward.
"Steady now, doctor. This is only a dose of your own medicine, youknow. You seemed quite proud of it when you told me how you discoveredit." The Phantom took the syringe in his right hand, between thumb andthird finger, and pricked the doctor's flesh with the needlelikepoint. "I'm a rank amateur at this, but I'll try to manage. I believethe proper way is to inject the stuff into a vein, but that's aticklish job, and I won't attempt it. This method is a little slower,but just as effective."
The scientist, at last perceiving The Phantom's aim, struggledfrantically to free himself, but the ropes and the pressure againsthis chest rendered him helpless. Slowly and firmly The Phantom pressedagainst the piston with his index finger, gradually discharging thecontents of the syringe into the physician's tissue. Tagala soonceased struggling, and the look of mute agony in his face told that hehad an acute realization of his extremity.
Finally The Phantom tossed the empty syringe aside and removed hisknee from the doctor's chest. Then he picked up the empty bottle andheld it so Tagala could read the label.
"Series A!" gasped the doctor, and a grayish pallor overspread hishideous features.
"You seem to know what it means," observed The Phantom. "Starr tookpains to assure me that the contents of this particular bottle wouldproduce death in thirty minutes. Now, doctor, don't you think you hadbetter tell me where the antidote is hidden--truthfully this time?"
Every trace of color had fled from the scientist's face. He glared atThe Phantom with a mingling of dread and rage in his eyes.
"Yes!" he groaned at length. "I will tell you. You have me where I cando nothing else. But, if I tell you, you will bring me a bottle of theantidote?"
"Assuredly. I am not a murderer. It isn't for me to punish you foryour crimes. I am resorting to this method only because it seems theonly way to influence you and save eight lives.'
"You give me your word of honor?"
"My word of honor."
Tagala heaved a vast sigh. "Very well, then. The other time I gave youan accurate description of the bottles, although I deliberatelydeceived you in regard to where they were." He spoke fast andraspingly, as if realizing that every moment was precious. "Listencarefully," he went on; and then he gave The Phantom clear anddetailed directions which the latter memorized. He knew that this timeTagala, actuated by mortal fear, was telling the truth.
His pulses throbbed exultantly as he left the room and hurried up thesteps. Shouts and scurrying feet told that Starr's men had not yetgiven up their search for him. The hardest and most dangerous part ofthe task was still ahead of him. The slightest accident or misstepmight yet cheat him out of the hard-earned success that now seemed sonear. He groped forward cautiously, tightly clutching his pistol,infinitely alert against the slightest sign or sound of danger. Thesearchers were evidently in another part of the house, for he reachedthe laboratory without encountering anyone.
He throbbed and tingled with suspense and excitement as he entered.Doubts and fears came back to him. Had Doctor Tagala lied to him,after all? Did the wily Mr. Shei have still another ruse in reserve?Was he once more walking into a trap? Would Helen and himself be ableto escape from Azurecrest with the precious antidote in theirpossession? He was torn between maddening misgivings and serene hopesas he crossed the floor of the laboratory. Tagala had mentioned acloset in a corner of the room where, in an ingeniously concealedhiding place, he would find the bottles. His heart raced fast and hardas he stepped insid
e. His hands trembled and there was an insistentthrobbing at his temples as he began to follow out the scientist'sdirections.
Ten minutes later, with pockets bulging and a great joy in his heart,he emerged from the closet. He had found ten small bottles in all, andeach one, according to the directions on the label, contained a fullcourse of treatment. The antidote in his possession was more thansufficient to save the lives of all of Mr. Shei's victims. But he hadpromised to deliver one bottle to the doctor; and with The Phantom apromise was a promise, even when made to a blackguard of Tagala'stype. It would mean delay and additional risks, but he would not goback on his word. Holding the automatic in readiness for instantaction, he began to make his way back to the secret chamber.
He had covered about half the distance when suddenly he heard a shoutat his back. It was followed by a sharp command to halt. Other voicestook up the cry until the house resounded with a chorus of harsh andexcited exclamations. Clear and loud, issuing commands to right andleft, the voice of Vincent Starr was heard above all the others. ThePhantom paid no heed. He ran swiftly along, feeling that everything inlife depended upon his ability to elude the pursuing throng. A pistolcracked spitefully; then a bullet, aimed low, whistled past his knees.The Phantom ran faster and faster, summoning all his remainingstrength.
Now he was only a few feet from the wall, but a swift backward glancetold him that the nearest of his pursuers was almost at his heels. Hefound the deftly hidden knob that controlled the sliding door, andpressed it. The wall parted, and in an instant he had passed throughthe opening, but someone was already tearing at his coat, and he couldnot close the aperture behind him. Carried on by their momentum,several men pressed and shoved against his back, pushing himprecipitately down the spiral stairs. One by one his pursuers rushedthrough the opening at the top, shouting wildly as they slid andtumbled down the perpendicular stairway.
"Get him!" shouted Starr, one of the last to pass through the opening."Don't let him get away this time!"
A sense of bafflement took hold of The Phantom as he saw his pursuerspouring into the little chamber, but of a sudden the glow of aninspiration came over his face. The accident that had prevented himfrom closing the opening had been a thing in his favor.
He had left the light on upon leaving the room the other time, and nowa touch of his finger plunged the chamber into darkness. He knew itwould be some time before the others found the switch. Groping in thedark, he slowly made his way to the cot and thrust a bottle of theantidote into the hook of Tagala's arm. The others would have to cuthis ropes later. Elbowing his way among men running wildly hither andthither in the darkness, he came to the foot of the stairs once more.Quickly he tiptoed to the top and closed the sliding panel, wellknowing that Starr's men would be unable to master the mechanism thatcontrolled it. He chuckled softly as he descended again and once moremixed with the scampering throng below.
"Where is The Phantom?" shouted a voice which he recognized asStarr's. "Get him, men--get him! We may lose millions if he slips awayfrom us. Can't someone make a light?"
The Phantom was crouching in a corner. "Better give Tagala a hand," hecalled out. "He is badly in need of help. And don't worry about yourmillions. They will be the least of your troubles after this."
He darted across the floor before the others had recovered from theiramazement. Pushing and wriggling, he reached the opposite wall. Hefumbled along its surface until he found a hidden lever. At his toucha narrow door slid noiselessly open. Beyond it was the tunnel by whichhe had entered the house upon his arrival. For an instant, beforeclosing the door behind him, he paused in the opening.
"Starr," he called, an ecstatic throb in his tones, "The Gray Phantomalways wins in the end."
The door closed, and The Phantom started toward the other end of thetunnel. Starr and his men would remain prisoners in the chamber untilthe police could reach Azurecrest and take them into custody.
With a brisk step, wholly unconscious of the pain in his shoulder, TheGray Phantom hurried toward the light of day--and Helen.