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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40484 ***
+
+                          Black Star's Campaign
+
+                            A DETECTIVE STORY
+
+                          By JOHNSTON McCULLEY
+
+            Author of "John Standon of Texas," "Black Star."
+
+
+    CHELSEA HOUSE
+    79 SEVENTH AVENUE
+    NEW YORK CITY
+
+    Black Star's Campaign
+
+    Copyright, 1919 by STREET & SMITH
+
+    (Printed in the United States of America)
+
+    All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign
+    languages, including the Scandinavian.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER                                               PAGE
+
+        I. NEWS FOR THE SHERIFF                           11
+
+       II. A SHOCK FOR THE CITY                           17
+
+      III. THE NEW HEADQUARTERS                           26
+
+       IV. OVER THE TELEPHONE                             36
+
+        V. TRAILED                                        47
+
+       VI. WHAT KOWEN FOUND                               56
+
+      VII. VERBECK INVESTIGATES                           63
+
+     VIII. MYSTERY AND AN ALARM                           71
+
+       IX. ORDERS AND LETTERS                             78
+
+        X. A DOUBLE CRIME                                 85
+
+       XI. MORE MYSTERY                                   94
+
+      XII. ANOTHER TELEPHONE CALL                        101
+
+     XIII. INSIDE THE MUSEUM                             107
+
+      XIV. MISSING MASTERPIECES                          116
+
+       XV. SOME FISHERMEN                                124
+
+      XVI. HOT BREAD                                     132
+
+     XVII. MUGGS SEES HIS MAN                            141
+
+    XVIII. MUGGS MEETS DISASTER                          147
+
+      XIX. IMPORTANT INFORMATION                         155
+
+       XX. ON THE TRAIL                                  163
+
+      XXI. A TENSE MOMENT                                172
+
+     XXII. ON THE ROOF                                   183
+
+    XXIII. MUGGS GIVES A TIP                             192
+
+     XXIV. ON THE TRAIL                                  202
+
+      XXV. END OF THE TRAIL                              209
+
+     XXVI. THE BIG BLOW                                  218
+
+    XXVII. MUGGS TAKES A CHANCE                          227
+
+   XXVIII. THE ALARM                                     235
+
+     XXIX. CAUGHT IN THE NET                             244
+
+      XXX. MUGGS ARRIVES                                 249
+
+     XXXI. AN EMPTY NET                                  250
+
+    XXXII. THE LETTER                                    254
+
+
+
+
+BLACK STAR'S CAMPAIGN
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+NEWS FOR THE SHERIFF
+
+
+Sheriff Kowen looked up from his desk in amazement as the stenographer
+ushered in the woman. The name on her card had told him nothing, and he
+had expected to be confronted by some middle-aged, washed-out, tired
+wife and mother who would make a request to visit the jail and talk with
+an erring relative.
+
+What he did see when he raised his eyes and cleared his throat
+preparatory to indulging in his professional attitude, was a handsomely
+gowned, beautiful woman of perhaps thirty years, a woman who appeared to
+be exceedingly cultured and refined.
+
+Sheriff Kowen got out of his chair quickly, and placed one at the end of
+the desk for his visitor. Then he seated himself again, and looked
+across to her.
+
+She appeared to be nervous, almost distraught, on the verge of tears.
+
+"My dear Miss Blanchard," Sheriff Kowen said, glancing at the card the
+stenographer had handed to him, and for once forgetting his usual gruff
+manner, "is there any way in which I may be of service to you?"
+
+"I scarcely know how to approach the subject," she replied. The sheriff
+noticed that her voice was all that he had expected it would be--a voice
+that was modulated to the correct society pitch. "Such a thing as--as
+this is--well, I am not used to it."
+
+"Just take your time, and tell me in your own way," said the sheriff.
+"You have--er--some sort of a complaint to make?"
+
+"Yes, that is it. In the first place, we do not reside in this city
+regularly. We have a suite at a private hotel--my mother, my brother and
+myself. It is about my brother that I wish to see you."
+
+"He is--er--in trouble?"
+
+"Not exactly that, but--please tell me, first, Mr. Kowen, it is against
+the law to operate a gambling house, is it not?"
+
+"It most certainly is!" Kowen exclaimed. "When I was first elected, I
+fought gambling houses--got quite a reputation for working along that
+line. I fought the cheap ones, and I fought the pretentious dress-suit
+establishments--cleaned them out!"
+
+"Pardon me, Mr. Kowen, but one remains--else it is a new one that has
+opened recently."
+
+"What's that?" the sheriff cried, sitting up straighter in his chair.
+"If there is a gambling house running in my section of the country,
+it'll not run long!"
+
+"I--I feel almost like a spy," Miss Blanchard said. "I hate to be an
+informer----"
+
+"That is your duty in such a case, my dear young lady."
+
+"I feel it so, under the circumstances," she said. "I do not want to
+cause my brother trouble--but I have talked it over with mother, and we
+decided that I should come and tell you the whole thing."
+
+"I shall be glad to listen, Miss Blanchard."
+
+"My brother is twenty-one, just a boy, you might say. When we came to
+the city, he happened to make the acquaintance of some other young men
+who belonged to a very fast set. He began remaining away from home until
+the early morning hours, and drinking too much, and all that."
+
+"I understand, my dear young lady. Nine young men out of ten sow their
+wild oats."
+
+"And he began spending more money than he could afford to spend. Mother
+and I began to fear he would dissipate his share of my father's estate,
+for he controls it since he has come of age. We wondered where the money
+was going--and finally we found out."
+
+"Gambling joint?"
+
+"Yes, sir. A gambling den in a large house in the most exclusive section
+of the city."
+
+"Those are the places I like to smash!" Sheriff Kowen told her.
+
+"I can give you the address, Mr. Kowen. I understand that a man cannot
+get into the place unless he is properly introduced."
+
+"Naturally, they would be very careful," the sheriff said.
+
+"It is what you called a dress-suit sort of place. Perhaps I am doing
+wrong telling you this----"
+
+"Not at all. It is your duty," the sheriff assured her. "Nobody ever
+will know where I got my information."
+
+"I'd like to have the place closed up," Miss Blanchard continued, "so
+that my brother and other young men will not be robbed of their money
+and ruined. I suppose you would have to make a raid--I believe that is
+the term? I'd hate to cause my brother trouble, but a little scare
+might----"
+
+"I understand, Miss Blanchard. It is probable that he would be caught in
+a raid, placed under arrest for frequenting a gambling resort, and
+brought to jail. He would immediately put up bail for his appearance in
+court. He would give an assumed name, and not show up in the morning,
+forfeiting his bail. So there would be little publicity, but he would
+get a scare."
+
+"Oh, thank you! If it could be done that way----"
+
+"It can, my dear Miss Blanchard. We are determined to exterminate
+gambling houses. The court is in accord with me in this matter. Since
+you give me the information, you may be sure I'll protect your brother's
+interests to a certain extent. We'll frighten him a bit, but you need
+have no fear he will serve a term in jail, or anything like that."
+
+"I understand," said Miss Blanchard.
+
+"Simply give me the address--and then forget that you have seen and
+spoken to me. I'll do the rest. You must be very careful, of course, not
+to let your brother suspect that you have been here. He would inform his
+friends, and our raid would fail. Every time a raid fails, it hurts us.
+A certain part of the public, antagonistic politicians and newspapers,
+you see----"
+
+"I understand, Mr. Kowen. Here is the address--I have written it on a
+card."
+
+She placed the card before him on the desk. Sheriff Kowen glanced at it.
+
+"Ah!" he exclaimed. "So! I should say it was in the most exclusive
+section of the city. This is very valuable information, Miss Blanchard,
+if our investigation bears out your statements. I cannot thank you
+enough. There will be more to this than a gambling-house raid; the
+owners of the property must give the court a little explanation, I
+fear."
+
+"You are sure that I did not do wrong coming here like this?"
+
+"I am sure that you did quite right, my dear young lady. You perhaps
+have aided us in rounding up sharpers who fleece young men of their
+fortunes, and perhaps you have saved your brother. He is at the stage, I
+take it, where a little scare will do him a lot of good. You have done
+quite right!"
+
+"Then I must hurry away," she said, rising. "And I shall do as you
+said--forget that I have been here. My brother----"
+
+"I'll watch out for him, Miss Blanchard--a little scare and nothing
+more! It is the proprietor of the place and his partners we are after,
+more than the victims."
+
+Sheriff Kowen went as far as the corridor with Miss Blanchard, and then
+hurried back to his private office and began pushing buttons. He called
+before him certain of his deputies, gave them the information he had
+acquired, and certain orders, and sent them away. Then he touched match
+to cigar, leaned back in his chair, blew a cloud of fragrant smoke
+toward the ceiling, and chuckled softly. Sheriff Kowen had not had a
+chance to raid a gambling house of any importance for more than a year;
+and raiding a gambling house was his pet sport. He promised himself that
+this raid should be sensational in the extreme. Gambling houses were not
+going to flourish while Kowen was holding office as sheriff.
+
+As for Miss Blanchard, she drove in a taxicab to an exclusive private
+hotel, ascended in the elevator to the eighth floor, and entered a suite
+there.
+
+A woman of forty was sitting before a window looking down at the busy
+street. She was talking to a man of about the same age, a man who
+appeared to be a prosperous merchant, or something of the sort, and who
+looked up quickly when Miss Blanchard entered.
+
+"Well, Mamie, how about it?" he growled.
+
+"It was easy!" Miss Mamie Blanchard replied. "He fell for it so hard
+that I could almost see him bounce. He swallowed the bait, hook, sinker
+and line. We've played the game just right--that man would rather raid a
+gambling joint than eat!"
+
+"Think he'll get busy right away?" the man asked.
+
+"Busy? The instant he left me he ran back to his desk. I think that we
+can look for action to-night."
+
+"Well, we'll give him a chance. He'll want to make sure of the evidence
+first, of course, and we'll see that he gathers plenty of that without
+too much trouble. All the other details have been arranged. I'll issue
+orders this afternoon, and have everything in readiness. We can't go
+wrong on this."
+
+"And afterward?" the girl asked.
+
+"You'll get your reward, all right. If this man's town isn't crazy
+within forty-eight hours, it'll be something peculiar. You know your
+part, I suppose?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Get ready, then. I'll go, now, and get word to all the boys. I'm glad
+that the long wait is over, that we are ready to strike!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A SHOCK FOR THE CITY
+
+
+The deputies sent forth by Sheriff Kowen did their work well, and
+without experiencing much difficulty. Their investigations were
+concluded before nightfall, and the sheriff rubbed his hands together in
+glee when he received their reports.
+
+At eleven o'clock that night, he sat at his desk and answered telephone
+calls. At a certain place near the gambling house his men had gathered.
+Kowen knew from experience that it did not do to have them meet at his
+office or the county jail. There always was somebody watching, and any
+unusual activity would cause a warning to be flashed to every resort
+that had reason to expect a raid.
+
+"It's all right, boss," one of his deputies telephoned. "We've been on
+the watch since eight o'clock. There are about thirty men in the place
+now, and more coming all the time. They're pretty bold about it--feel
+safe, I reckon."
+
+"That's because they've been getting away with it for a few months," the
+sheriff replied. "We'll make 'em sick before morning."
+
+He finished smoking his cigar; then left the office and walked down the
+street to the corner, as he always did at that hour of the night. That
+was to make things appear natural, if anybody happened to be watching.
+He waited for a surface car, got aboard, and started home. At a certain
+corner, he alighted in order to transfer to another line.
+
+But Sheriff Kowen did not use his transfer to-night. He made sure that
+nobody was watching him, and then darted down a side street. He pulled
+his hat over his eyes, bent his shoulders forward, and walked rapidly
+down the broad avenue toward the exclusive residential section of the
+city.
+
+He had a mile to walk. He covered three fourths of it at a good pace,
+and then slowed down and became more alert. He passed another man on a
+corner.
+
+"All right, boss," the man whispered.
+
+"All right!" Sheriff Kowen answered.
+
+Kowen went on up the street. He stopped in a dark spot beneath an
+overhanging tree, and looked at a house in the middle of the block. He
+knew the property; it belonged to an old estate, and was handled by a
+well-known real estate firm. For years it had been without a tenant. The
+investigation made by the deputies during the afternoon had resulted in
+the information that it had been repaired and leased some three months
+before to strangers in the city, but people who had exhibited good
+references.
+
+It was some distance away from the other residences, and the lot was
+bordered by a high hedge, except in front. It was an ideal location for
+a fashionable gambling resort.
+
+As Kowen watched, he saw a young man saunter down the street, hesitate a
+moment, then enter the gate and hurry toward the house.
+
+"Another victim!" Kowen told himself.
+
+Now one of his deputies approached him, keeping in the shadows as much
+as possible.
+
+"Well?" Kowen snapped.
+
+"Almost forty men in there, boss," the deputy reported.
+
+"All our crowd ready?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"What time is it?"
+
+"Quarter after twelve. I looked at my watch as I walked under the light
+at the corner."
+
+"Let's get in action then," Kowen said. "I don't want any slips, now. I
+want to gather in the whole lot. Got the autos ready?"
+
+"They're ready, boss, waiting down the street a couple of blocks."
+
+"Signal them up, and we'll begin."
+
+The deputy hurried away. Sheriff Kowen crossed the street, turned in
+through the gate, and blew a whistle.
+
+On every side, deputies rushed toward the house, surrounding it
+immediately. Kowen ran up the steps and knocked at the door. An aperture
+was opened, a face peered out, there was an exclamation, and the
+aperture was closed again.
+
+"Into it!" Kowen cried.
+
+Deputies ran forward with axes and attacked the heavy door. The door at
+the rear was attacked in the same manner. Some of the men guarded the
+entrance to the basement, others watched the windows closely.
+
+The front door crashed down, and the officers poured into the house.
+From the second floor came a chorus of cries and shrieks. The lights had
+been extinguished, and electric torches flashed.
+
+"Watch those stairs!" Kowen cried. "Some of you clean out the
+basement--I want the entire crowd! I'll go above!"
+
+They made their way to the head of the stairs, smashed through another
+door, flashed their torches, found the light switch and turned it. The
+big room was bathed in light.
+
+Sheriff Kowen smiled grimly as he surveyed the scene. He saw faro and
+roulette layouts, poker tables, almost every gambling device known. Some
+two score of men in evening dress were crouching against the walls. A
+glance was enough to tell the sheriff the customers and the dealers. He
+slapped his hands together.
+
+"Round 'em up!" he ordered.
+
+His deputies sprang to obey. One by one, the men in the room were
+manacled, despite their protests. When Sheriff Kowen raided a gambling
+house, he did not do things by halves.
+
+A crowd had collected in the street by now. The automobiles Kowen had
+ordered were before the house, ready to receive their loads of
+prisoners. Kowen received reports from deputies who had searched the
+place from cellar to garret. He detailed men to guard the house and the
+gambling apparatus it contained, and then the parade began.
+
+The parade was always a big moment with Kowen. He stood at the curb and
+watched the prisoners pass him and go to the automobiles. He enjoyed the
+looks of wrath, of fear in the faces of these callow youths. Some of
+them he knew, but a very few. For the most part, the prisoners seemed to
+be strangers to him, but that did not bother Kowen. The city was a large
+one; a new crop of victims appeared every week, the sheriff knew.
+
+The prisoners were driven to the county jail and taken into the office.
+Kowen informed them as to the charges, and announced that bail would be
+one hundred dollars in each case, except that of the proprietor of the
+place. The jailer and bookkeeper got ready.
+
+It was then that Sheriff Kowen got his first surprise. With the
+exception of the proprietor, none of his prisoners would furnish bail.
+The arrest was an outrage, they declared. They had been informed that
+the ordinance against gambling was unconstitutional. They were going to
+jail, going to fight the case, and then sue for damages. They'd show
+Sheriff Kowen and his men that citizens had rights that should be
+respected.
+
+"Are you a bunch of lunatics?" Kowen cried. "Don't you worry about that
+gambling law--we've convicted many a man on it, men who had coin to
+fight their cases, too. And let me tell you men something--if you go
+into cells, your right names go down on the blotter. They'll go into the
+newspapers, too; and the people of this city will know just who the men
+are who smash laws and waste money!"
+
+"We're not worrying any about that stuff!" one of the prisoners told
+him.
+
+"Then you'll be searched and slammed into cells, believe me! And you'll
+be treated like ordinary prisoners. I have a faint idea that you'll be
+dead willing to put up bail by noon. These cells of mine are not
+comfortable suites. And you'll miss your baths and grapefruit in the
+morning, and your thin toast! Well?"
+
+None made reply. Kowen glanced around the room at them, and then an
+angry flush came into his face. He had half a dozen deputies there, and
+the night jailer and the bookkeeper. He had let the other deputies go,
+thinking this would be like other raids, that the prisoners would put up
+bail immediately or telephone for it, and hurry to their homes.
+
+"Line up against that wall!" he commanded. "If you are so eager to go to
+jail, we can accommodate you, all right. The jailer will search you."
+
+The jailer appeared before the first man, who started taking things from
+his pockets. Sheriff Kowen turned his back and started for his private
+office in disgust. Newspapermen were waiting there for him, and the
+sheriff did not dislike publicity.
+
+Then something strange happened!
+
+With the exceptions of the few men known to the sheriff, every prisoner
+drew something from his pocket. Something seemed to crash against the
+floor. There was a series of sharp explosions, and the office and rooms
+adjoining were filled with clouds of white, pungent smoke.
+
+The jailer opened his mouth to shout a warning, and toppled over on the
+floor without having spoken. Here and there the deputies were dropping,
+none of them having time to get out a revolver and fire a shot. Sheriff
+Kowen rushed in from his private office to have a cloud of the pungent
+vapor strike him full in the face. The newspaper reporters suffered a
+like fate.
+
+The prisoners were holding tiny sponges to their nostrils, and now they
+sprang into action. Some rushed to the street door and locked and barred
+it. Others drew the shades at the windows. One searched the jailer and
+got his keys, and hurried toward the door leading into the corridor.
+
+This door was opened. Four of the prisoners rushed down the aisle and
+came to a certain cell. Inside it a man was sitting on a bunk.
+
+"Good work!" he exclaimed.
+
+The door of the cell was unlocked, and the man stepped out. He led the
+way back to the office, glanced around it quickly.
+
+"Everything done?" he asked.
+
+"Everything done, sir," one of the men replied.
+
+"Let's go, then!"
+
+The street door was unlocked. Around the corner came half a dozen
+automobiles. They were filled, and darted away, scattering as they came
+to the first street corner.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Sheriff Kowen groaned and opened his eyes. One of his deputies was just
+regaining consciousness. The sheriff tried to get to his feet.
+
+"What--what----" he began.
+
+"They're all gone--jail door's open," the deputy gasped.
+
+"It----I know! Vapor bombs!" Kowen cried. "More Black Star work!
+Quick--look----"
+
+Kowen had managed to get to his feet now, and was rushing into the
+corridor of the jail. More deputies were regaining consciousness. The
+sheriff pushed past them and ran down the corridor. They heard him cry
+out.
+
+"Gone--gone!" he shrieked. "The Black Star has escaped! It was all a
+trick--that woman, the gambling joint--a trick to get all those men in
+here so they could do their work----"
+
+"Here's a note in the cell!" a deputy cried.
+
+The sheriff took it and ran back to the office. One of the deputies
+already was telephoning police headquarters and relating the story. The
+Black Star had been rescued! The supercriminal who had been tried and
+convicted, who was to start for the State prison on the following day,
+had made his escape!
+
+On the brow of each unconscious man left behind by the band there had
+been pasted a tiny black star--the criminal's mark. There was a row of
+them on the blotter-sheet. They were on the walls, on the casements.
+
+The reporters rushed for telephones. Here was news that would startle
+the city in the morning. Was the town in for another reign of crime?
+Would the notorious Black Star merely make good his escape, or did he
+have plans perfected? Was his band reorganized? Would he take vengeance
+for his arrest and incarceration?
+
+The note found in the cell supplied the answer. Sheriff Kowen read it
+quickly:
+
+     TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
+
+     Did you think for an instant that the Black Star would go to prison
+     to serve twenty years? It was a very clever rescue, was it not? And
+     for the months I have been held in jail, for the strain and worry
+     of my trial, I am going to make the city pay. My organization is
+     more perfect than before. My plans have been well made. The city
+     shall pay--pay--pay! And tell that fool of a Roger Verbeck, who
+     was instrumental in catching me before, that he will be helpless
+     this time. I defy him even to find the location of my headquarters.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+All the telephones were busy now. The pungent odor that had come from
+the vapor bombs had blown out of the room. Word was being flashed over
+the city that the Black Star had been rescued by his band, and that he
+had promised a wave of crime to pay for his incarceration.
+
+Nobody doubted that such would be the case. The city knew well that the
+Black Star always made good his boasts. Nobody doubted that his
+organization was greater than it had been before, and that clever plans
+had been made.
+
+The Black Star, they had reason to suppose, would not wait very long
+before striking, for that was not his nature. The city faced the great
+question:
+
+Where would the Black Star strike first?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE NEW HEADQUARTERS
+
+
+Roger Verbeck was the last of his family, a man who moved in the best
+social circles, who had wealth and good looks and friends, and an
+athletic body.
+
+It had been Roger Verbeck who had put the Black Star behind prison bars.
+When the supercriminal first began his work in the city, the police
+seemed to be unable to do anything against him. Verbeck had made a boast
+at a reception one night that he could capture the Black Star himself.
+That boast had led to many adventures.
+
+One of the Black Star's band happened to overhear the boast, for the men
+and women working for the Black Star were to be found in all walks of
+life, and there was nothing strange in the fact that one of them
+happened to be a guest at an exclusive social affair. At one stage of
+the game even Verbeck himself had been suspected of being a lieutenant
+of the master criminal.
+
+The Black Star had challenged Verbeck to make good his boast, and there
+had ensued a duel of wits. Whereas the master rogue had an organization
+at his command, Verbeck had nobody except Muggs.
+
+Muggs was a peculiar individual. Years before, Muggs had stood on a
+bridge over the Seine, in Paris, ready to fling himself into the water
+and end an existence that, in a fit of despondency, he had decided was
+not worth carrying out to its logical conclusion.
+
+Roger Verbeck had grasped him by the arm in time to save him, and had
+convinced Muggs that life was worth the living. So Muggs became attached
+to Roger Verbeck. He was known as Verbeck's valet, but he was a
+comrade-in-arms in reality. He shared Verbeck's adventures, and often
+turned failure into success. He was ready to fight for Verbeck at any
+moment.
+
+Muggs had worked with Verbeck against the Black Star, and when the
+master criminal finally was captured and incarcerated, Muggs had turned
+valet again. But Muggs was a man who demanded action, and time hung
+heavy on his hands. For Roger Verbeck was thinking of getting married,
+and he had small time for adventuring.
+
+Muggs was a small man, but one of great strength. There was nothing
+handsome about him. Some called him repulsive, but not in Roger
+Verbeck's hearing.
+
+Muggs had been a criminal and knew the ways of criminals. He had been of
+great value to Verbeck on numerous occasions, and once had saved his
+life. Between them they possessed nearly all human qualifications, and
+they made an excellent team.
+
+On the night of the rescue of the Black Star, Roger Verbeck had called
+upon his fiancée. He returned to his rooms shortly after the hour of
+twelve, and immediately went to bed, Muggs retiring a few minutes later.
+There was to be a golf tournament the following day, and Verbeck was a
+contestant.
+
+Both men were asleep almost immediately. Most of the tenants in the big
+apartment house had retired. In the office on the ground floor a sleepy
+clerk was attempting to keep his eyes open and read a magazine. The
+night telephone operator had gone to a restaurant a couple of blocks
+away for a midnight cup of coffee, and the sleepy clerk was watching the
+switchboard.
+
+There entered a gentleman from the street--a man whose face was muffled
+in his coat collar. He was well-dressed, very much the gentleman, and
+the clerk got up and hurried to the desk. Somebody with an important
+business message for one of the tenants, the clerk supposed.
+
+"Something I can do for you, sir?" the clerk asked.
+
+"Yes--go to sleep!" came the reply.
+
+The visitor drew a vapor gun and discharged it in the clerk's face. The
+latter gasped, and sank to the floor. The one who had used the gun
+stepped to the door and gave a signal. Three more men sprang from a
+closed car standing at the curb, and hurried into the lobby of the
+house.
+
+"Telephone operator be back in a few minutes," the first man said. "One
+of you remain here and get him. Answer any calls on the switchboard, so
+things will look natural."
+
+One remained; the other three ran quickly up the stairs, ignoring the
+elevator, which was in the basement, with a sleepy operator hoping that
+nobody would call him.
+
+The three made their way to the floor where Roger Verbeck had his suite.
+They listened outside Verbeck's door; then one of them inserted a
+skeleton key, pushed out the key on the inside, turned the lock and
+opened the door half a dozen inches.
+
+Again they listened, then opened the door wider and slipped inside. It
+was evident that they were well acquainted with the place. While one of
+them remained in the big living room, another went to the door of
+Verbeck's bedchamber, and a third to the door of the room used by Muggs.
+
+There came a sharp hiss. The doors were opened. Figures darted across
+rooms. Two vapor guns were discharged, and Roger Verbeck and Muggs were
+instantly rendered unconscious as they slept.
+
+"Easy work!" one of the men commented. "Get busy, now!"
+
+Muggs was gagged and bound and lashed to the bed. Roger Verbeck was
+dressed quickly by two of the men, while the third remained in the
+living room, listening. When Verbeck had been made ready, the man in the
+living room slipped into the hall, saw that nobody was there and that
+the elevator was still in the basement. He returned and gave a signal,
+and the other two picked up Verbeck and carried him into the hall.
+
+They went down the stairs, flight by flight, meeting nobody, and finally
+came to the office again, where the fourth man was waiting. The
+telephone operator had returned and had been rendered unconscious by
+means of a vapor gun.
+
+They carried Verbeck to the automobile, put him in it, got in
+themselves, and the machine darted away. Verbeck groaned, and once more
+a vapor gun was discharged in his face. He relaxed.
+
+"That'll do him until we get to headquarters," one of the men said. "We
+don't want him sick, and that stuff is pretty strong. What do you
+suppose the boss is going to do with him?"
+
+"It is an excellent plan not to go supposing what the boss is going to
+do with anybody," another growled. "I was in the other gang, and I
+happen to know that it's a good thing to let the boss attend to his own
+affairs."
+
+"Well, I didn't mean anything," snarled the other.
+
+The automobile traveled across the city, and after a time reached a
+large house that sat far back on a quiet lane. Here the car left the
+main thoroughfare, turned into the lane, and presently stopped before
+the veranda of the house. Roger Verbeck was carried inside. The
+automobile was driven around to the rear, and all its lights
+extinguished immediately.
+
+When Verbeck regained consciousness he was bewildered. He was in a room
+that was brilliantly lighted. He was stretched upon a couch, fully
+dressed. He could not comprehend it at all.
+
+He sat up and looked around the room. It was lavishly furnished, and in
+excellent taste. In the middle of the room was a long table, and there
+were a score of heavy chairs scattered about. There were two doors, one
+at either end of the room, but there did not seem to be any windows.
+Here and there tapestries hung on the walls.
+
+He heard a bell tinkle, and one of the doors opened. There entered two
+men, both wearing long black robes, and black masks.
+
+Verbeck knew, then. He had seen the costume of the members of the Black
+Star's band often before. He had even worn one once, while gathering
+evidence for use against the master criminal.
+
+So he had been abducted by the Black Star's men, and he had supposed
+that they were so scattered that they could make no move. Was he to be
+held as hostage, or something like that? Verbeck knew that the Black
+Star was to be taken to prison within twenty-four hours. Were these men
+going to avenge themselves upon him because he had been instrumental in
+sending their leader to prison?
+
+"Well?" Verbeck growled.
+
+Neither man answered him, but he really had not expected that. The
+members of the Black Star's band did not talk much. One of the men went
+to the side of the room, and threw back one of the tapestries, revealing
+a small blackboard.
+
+Why, this was exactly like the old headquarters of the Black Star, for
+they had conversed there by means of blackboards! Could it be possible
+that the band had gathered again, and were going to continue their
+nefarious work without their leader, the master mind that had guided and
+controlled them before?
+
+Verbeck watched as the man wrote:
+
+"Mr. Verbeck will remain quietly on the couch for the time being. If he
+does not, he shall be made unconscious again."
+
+"What is the idea?" Verbeck asked.
+
+"One is coming who wishes to hold a conversation with you," the man
+wrote on the blackboard.
+
+"How long shall I have to wait?" Verbeck demanded.
+
+"Until he comes!" the other wrote, and then dropped the tapestry and
+went to stand beside his companion before the door.
+
+Verbeck sat down on the couch again and regarded them. He felt in his
+pocket, found cigarettes and matches, and started smoking. His brain
+was not entirely clear yet.
+
+He wondered what the man had meant. Who was the person for whom he was
+waiting? Of course, it couldn't be the Black Star, Verbeck told himself.
+The Black Star was to go to prison the following day, to begin serving
+his sentence of twenty years. He had lost his last appeal. He had been a
+broken man, evidently, for the past two or three months had acted like
+one who had given up all hope of escape.
+
+Verbeck smoked the cigarette and lighted another. Again a bell tinkled
+in the distance. Again the door was opened. Roger Verbeck gasped.
+
+The robed and masked figure that entered was larger than the other men;
+and on the front of the hood that enveloped his head was a big, flaming
+black star of jet.
+
+The Black Star!
+
+Then Verbeck chuckled. He saw it now, of course. The band had elected
+another leader, and he had assumed the garb of the Black Star. Probably
+they expected to punish Roger Verbeck for what he had done.
+
+The man who wore the star advanced to the middle of the room. One hand
+came from beneath his robe, and Verbeck saw that he held a vapor gun in
+it. He made a motion, and the other two men left the room and closed the
+door.
+
+"So we have a new Black Star, have we?" Verbeck said.
+
+The man before him laughed, then took off his mask and tossed it aside.
+
+"Not a new one! The same one!" he said.
+
+Verbeck gave a cry and sprang from the couch. There could be no mistake.
+The notorious master rogue stood before him. Verbeck knew his face well
+enough.
+
+"But----" he began.
+
+"My friends rescued me during the night," the Black Star said. "It was a
+very pretty little plot, indeed. I may as well let you know that I am
+heading my organization again. My people have been collected by a
+lieutenant of mine who never ceased working while I was in your county
+jail. My band is stronger than it was before, and we are going to make
+the city pay."
+
+"Well, what about me?" Verbeck asked.
+
+"I have had you brought here to show you in what contempt I hold you,"
+the master criminal said. "You caught me before, but you'll not catch me
+again! Here is my new headquarters--take a good look. I suppose you'll
+be on my trail again?"
+
+"And I'll catch you again!" Verbeck cried.
+
+"It will be a pleasure to have you try, Mr. Verbeck. It adds spice to
+the game to have a good foe--and I'll admit that you are a good foe. It
+will be entertaining to outwit you continually, to make you the
+laughingstock of the city."
+
+"You tried that once before, and I had the last laugh!"
+
+"Pardon me! It is not time for the last laugh yet--but when the time
+does come, I shall have it!"
+
+"Well, what are you going to do with me?" Verbeck demanded.
+
+"My dear Mr. Verbeck! Did you imagine you were to be treated with
+violence? You know that I abhor violence of all kinds. I merely had you
+brought here so that we could have this little conversation. I shall
+send a letter to the newspapers telling them how I had you here and let
+you see my new headquarters. That will give the city its first laugh at
+you."
+
+"If I get the chance, I'll catch you!" Verbeck declared.
+
+"I intend you shall have the chance, my dear Mr. Verbeck. I shall render
+you unconscious again, and have you taken to a certain place in the city
+and left there. When you regain consciousness, start on my trail, if you
+can find it. You were unconscious when you came here, and will be when
+you depart. You understand? And I don't mind telling you, Roger Verbeck,
+that anything done by me and my band before my arrest was insignificant
+compared to what we intend doing now. I shall strike within twenty-four
+hours, Mr. Verbeck. You need not trouble to warn the city. I already
+have sent letters to the papers telling them of my intention."
+
+"And you can't get away with it!" Verbeck exclaimed. "I'll hunt you
+down----"
+
+"That is your privilege, Mr. Verbeck," the Black Star interrupted. "I
+flatter myself that I am a sportsman. I have you in my power at the
+present moment, and could keep you where you could cause me no trouble
+or annoyance. But I'd rather have you free to use your wits against
+mine. As I remarked before, it will add spice to the game. Heaven knows
+that the police couldn't even make it interesting for me!"
+
+"So you are going to stagger the city, are you?" Verbeck asked.
+
+"I am, Mr. Verbeck. We are going to loot the city more thoroughly than
+we did before. We have perfected certain plans, and shall strike soon."
+
+"Going to play your old game--going to let us know in advance what you
+are going to do?"
+
+"Possibly--at times," said the Black Star, smiling. "And I feel sure
+that this time there will be no little accident that will make it
+possible for you to take me into custody. By the way, how is your man,
+Muggs?"
+
+"In excellent condition," Verbeck said.
+
+"My compliments to him, when you see him again, and tell him for me that
+it will be a pleasure to clash with him. In a way, I admire Muggs. He is
+such a perfect type of a thug."
+
+"He is not the man to have for an enemy."
+
+"Bah! I could outwit a score of men like Muggs without calling any of my
+organization to my aid. Well, Mr. Verbeck, I am afraid that we shall
+have to terminate this interesting conversation. I must get a little
+rest, and confer with some of my people."
+
+He stepped back to the wall and pressed a button. Immediately the door
+opened, and the two robed and masked men entered the room. One of them
+held a vapor gun in his hand.
+
+Roger Verbeck was well aware that it would be a losing fight, yet he
+fought to his utmost. But the fumes were discharged, the pungent odor
+struck into his nostrils and filled his lungs, he was forced to gasp for
+breath--and unconsciousness claimed him.
+
+The last thing he heard was the sarcastic laughter of the Black Star!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+OVER THE TELEPHONE
+
+
+The chief of police, notified by Sheriff Kowen that the Black Star had
+been rescued cleverly by members of his band, dressed quickly and
+hurried to police headquarters, there to go into his private office and
+rave and fume, and relate to the world that Sheriff Kowen was an
+official who knew not the meaning of precaution and efficiency.
+
+"That's what he gets for being a bug on raiding gambling joints!" the
+chief cried. "Anybody would have known it was a plant--anybody with
+brains. We fight that fiend of a Black Star for more than a year, Roger
+Verbeck finally lands him, we convict the brute and have him handed a
+stiff sentence--and then an idiotic sheriff allows him to escape! Now I
+suppose we are in for another reign of terror, with every newspaper in
+town telling the dear public that the police are fit candidates for some
+old lady's home!"
+
+There was a lot more of this, while captains and lieutenants, sergeants
+and roundsmen held their peace and hoped that their superior would not
+make this an occasion for reprimanding them for some fancied mistake.
+The chief had worked his way up from the ranks; he was endowed with more
+brute force than intelligence, and he was a bad man when aroused.
+
+"Call Roger Verbeck's apartment, and get him on the wire!" the chief
+commanded.
+
+The desk sergeant tried it immediately. He reported that the apartment
+house did not answer. The chief made a few remarks about sleeping
+telephone operators, and ordered the desk sergeant to try again. Not
+getting a reply immediately, the chief called two detectives, ordered
+them to hurry to Verbeck's place and acquaint him with the news, and to
+have Verbeck get in communication with the chief at once.
+
+"The first thing the Black Star will do, will be to get hold of
+Verbeck!" the chief declared. "He'll probably put Verbeck out of the way
+if we don't prevent it. Verbeck caught him before, and he'll have to do
+it again. I've got a police force composed of idiots, imbeciles and
+blockheads! They couldn't catch a turtle walking across the street!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At about the same moment the chief of police was indulging in this
+tirade, Muggs groaned, tried to turn over and found that he could not,
+experienced nausea, wondered whether he was being taken down with some
+disease--and then made the discovery that he was bound and gagged and
+lashed to the bed.
+
+Having made that discovery, Muggs forced himself to breathe normally,
+composed himself, and tried to think. The last he remembered, he had
+retired, started to fall asleep, and had dropped into the middle of a
+not unpleasant dream. Now it appeared that there had been violence, and
+he had known nothing of it.
+
+"Burglars!" Muggs thought at first. "Doped while I slept, and tied up
+like this! I wonder if the boss----"
+
+The mere thought that something disastrous might have happened to Roger
+Verbeck moved Muggs to instant action. He struggled with his bonds, and
+at first believed that they could not be slipped; but finally he found a
+knot that gave a trifle, and he redoubled his efforts, working in a
+frenzy, his imagination picturing Roger Verbeck robbed and slain.
+
+After a time the knot gave, and Muggs managed to get his hands free. He
+removed the gag and started working at the cords about his ankles.
+
+"Boss! Boss!" he called.
+
+There came no answer from Verbeck's room. Muggs managed to get off the
+last rope, and sprang from the bed. Immediately he reeled and fell back
+again.
+
+"I'm--sick!" Muggs gasped weakly. "That was--some dope! I wonder what
+it----"
+
+And then it came to him.
+
+"I know that feelin' in my head and that taste in my mouth!" he told
+himself. "Vapor gun! I've had enough doses of it before to know!
+The--the Black Star----"
+
+But the Black Star was safe in a cell in the county jail, and due to be
+taken to the penitentiary in a few hours, Muggs tried to tell himself.
+However, Muggs did not have a lot of faith in jails, having escaped from
+them twice himself before Roger Verbeck saved his life and made a man of
+him.
+
+Once more he started to get up from the bed, this time slowly and
+cautiously. He did not experience the nausea now, and though he still
+felt weak, yet he managed to stagger across the room toward the door.
+
+He went into Verbeck's bedchamber and snapped on the lights. Verbeck was
+not there. The room was in confusion. Verbeck's clothes, that Muggs had
+put out for use in the morning, were gone, and his pajamas were on the
+floor in a corner.
+
+Muggs hurried to the bed. It was there, pasted on the headpiece--a tiny
+black star!
+
+"If he hurt my boss----" Muggs began, almost sobbing.
+
+And then he felt moved to sudden action again. He rushed into the living
+room and to the telephone. He rattled the hook frantically, and
+presently heard the operator's reply.
+
+"I want the police!" Muggs cried into the transmitter. "Mr. Verbeck is
+gone--been taken away!"
+
+"Say! There are a couple of detectives here now to see Mr. Verbeck," the
+operator replied. "They're coming right up!"
+
+Muggs darted back into his own room and began dressing with such speed
+that he was almost fully clothed when the officers knocked at the door.
+Muggs hurried to let them in.
+
+"What's this about Mr. Verbeck?" one of them asked.
+
+"The Black Star's got him!" Muggs cried. "They doped us while we slept,
+and----"
+
+"I guess I can tell you all about that," the detective interrupted.
+"They put out the night clerk and the telephone operator with those
+cursed vapor guns."
+
+"And Mr. Verbeck is gone! They must have taken him! We've got to find
+him! There's a black star--pasted on his bed----"
+
+"The chief just sent us up to see Verbeck about this business. The Black
+Star's gang rescued their leader to-night--turned him loose. He left a
+note saying that he was going to raid the town."
+
+"Well, why stand here and gas about it?" Muggs demanded. "Don't you
+understand that the Black Star's got my boss? He put the big crook in
+jail before, and you can probably guess what he'll get handed to him for
+it now, if the Black Star is loose!"
+
+"Well, what can we do?" one of the detectives asked. "All we found out
+was that there was a closed auto out in front, and three or four men
+with it. If they carried Verbeck away, it's a wild guess where they took
+him. This town has some size, remember, and the Black Star and his gang
+are smooth customers."
+
+"You're a fine lot of detectives!" Muggs sneered. "You don't know what
+to do, huh? Expect to find him by standin' around here smokin' cheap
+cigars? Why don't you talk to headquarters and tell what you know? Get
+busy!"
+
+One of the detectives called the station and made his report to the
+chief. The police reporters were electrified by the statement that Roger
+Verbeck had been abducted by members of the master crook's organization.
+At the time the Black Star was arrested, he had sworn to have vengeance
+on Verbeck, and though he claimed that he abhorred violence, and seldom
+resorted to it, there were fears and misgivings lest Verbeck's body be
+found in some lonely spot, a black star pasted on the forehead.
+
+The chief had not been idle. Every officer in the city was alert. The
+police knew that the master criminal must have a headquarters somewhere,
+and that it was their duty to locate it. Until he was under arrest
+again, and his band broken up, he was a constant menace. He was liable
+to strike at any part of the city, at any moment of day or night. The
+blow might fall upon one of the big banks, or upon some social gathering
+where a fortune in jewels could be obtained.
+
+News of Verbeck's abduction was flashed to all officers as soon as
+possible. Roads leading from the city were under guard, and all vehicles
+were being stopped and their occupants questioned. Arrangements had been
+made to quiz real estate and rental firms in the morning, ascertain
+every recent lease, and investigate it. The chief had given out word
+that the headquarters of the master criminal had to be found, and
+without delay.
+
+Muggs journeyed to headquarters with the two detectives, and told all
+that he knew. And then he paced the chief's private office, raging,
+begging them to do something, to give him only as much as a clew
+regarding where Roger Verbeck had been taken, and he, Muggs, would
+rescue him alone.
+
+In vain the chief attempted to quiet Muggs.
+
+"He's my boss--he ain't yours!" Muggs shrieked. "He saved my life and he
+showed me how to make a man of myself! Maybe you don't care what becomes
+of him, but I do. And if that big crook harms him, I'll get Mr. Black
+Star if it takes me the rest of my life, and I'll choke the life out of
+him with my bare hands!"
+
+"Muggs, we're doing all that we can!" the chief protested.
+
+"What are you doin'? Yellin' over the telephone to a bunch of cops and
+havin' them run around in circles?"
+
+"But we can't do anything else!" the chief cried. "All we can do is----"
+
+The bell of his telephone rang. The chief whirled around and took down
+the receiver.
+
+"Hello!" he cried.
+
+"Hello!" a man's voice answered. "Well, well, it is some time since I
+had the pleasure of speaking to you over a telephone wire, chief."
+
+"Who is this?" the chief cried. "We're pretty busy here to-night,
+and----"
+
+"I suppose that is all my fault. Don't you recognize my voice? I am the
+Black Star!"
+
+"Oh, are you?" the chief shouted. "Well, you put one over on Sheriff
+Kowen, but we'll pick you up before long!"
+
+"You think so?" the Black Star asked, laughing.
+
+"I know it, you crook! We'll get you, and we'll get the men and women of
+that gang of yours!"
+
+"Well, well! You are talking violently, chief--but you always were
+inclined to violence."
+
+"I'll be violent enough when I get my hands on you, all right!"
+
+"And I just called you up to give you some information. Are you
+concerned about Roger Verbeck? One of my men reported a few minutes ago
+that you were. You see, I am keeping in touch with you, chief. I know
+every order you issue, every plan you make."
+
+"What about Verbeck?"
+
+"Don't worry about him. I had him taken to my headquarters so I could
+have a little conversation with him. Half an hour ago he was dropped,
+drugged, and unconscious, at the edge of one of the city parks. No doubt
+he will be with you soon."
+
+"Your headquarters, huh?" the chief cried. "We'll locate that little
+place within twenty-four hours, if it is in the city!"
+
+"You think so? I assure you that it is in the city--and perhaps in a
+quarter where you'd least expect to find it. I scarcely think you can
+find it inside twenty-four hours, chief. Besides, you are going to be
+very busy before then."
+
+"I am, eh?"
+
+"You are," the Black Star said. "You will be wondering how we did it."
+
+"Did what?"
+
+"What it is that we are going to do--the first blow, chief!"
+
+"Lost your nerve, have you? You used to tell us what you were going to
+do, and dare us to catch you at it."
+
+"Chief, your work is too coarse. Trying to anger me into telling you my
+plans, are you? It cannot be done to-night, chief. But I'll tell you
+this much--we intend making quite a haul! Expenses have been heavy
+recently, you know, and I must have a sort of indemnity."
+
+"You'll get something worse than that when we get our hands on you!" the
+exasperated chief cried. "You'll go up for life when we catch you!"
+
+"Catch me first!" the Black Star suggested. "By the way, some of my men
+left Muggs bound and gagged when they carried Verbeck away. You should
+see that he is released."
+
+"He has been--he's here."
+
+Muggs thrust the chief aside and grasped the receiver.
+
+"Yes, he's here, you big crook!" Muggs cried. "He'll be on hand when
+you're caught, too, and then you want to look out for yourself! Kidnap
+my boss, will you?"
+
+"Why, Muggs, how violent you are!"
+
+"You--you----" Muggs sputtered. "When I get hold of you, I'll make you
+think you never saw or heard tell of that violence stuff before! I'll
+show you some real violence, you crook!"
+
+"Tut, tut, Muggs! You'll be working yourself into a passion, my dear
+boy. By the way, Muggs, tell the chief that he need not bother about
+tracing this telephone call. I have tapped a private wire and am talking
+over it--understand?"
+
+A click came over the wire, and it went dead. Muggs put up the receiver
+and turned away from the desk, growling.
+
+The door of the office was thrown open--and Roger Verbeck hurried in.
+
+"Boss! Boss!" Muggs cried.
+
+"One minute, Muggs! We haven't time for a demonstration of affection at
+present. Well, chief, he had me nabbed, and I've seen the inside of his
+new headquarters."
+
+"Know where they are?"
+
+"I haven't the slightest idea. I was in an inside room--unconscious when
+taken there, and unconscious when they brought me away. I came back to
+life up in the park, where they had dropped me, got a taxi and hurried
+here. I suppose we have it all to do over again. We've got to catch that
+fiend, of course!"
+
+"Will you help, Verbeck?" the chief cried. "Will you take the time and
+trouble?"
+
+"You know it! Why, the Black Star challenged me again--said I couldn't
+catch him."
+
+"You're in command, Verbeck, as you were the other time. Any orders now?
+Where shall we start in?"
+
+"You're having the roads watched?"
+
+"Of course."
+
+"Throw out the dragnet and pick up what you can. Can't tell--might get a
+clew of some sort, you know. Get the rental agencies----"
+
+"I've planned to do that."
+
+"It probably will do no good, but it won't hurt any to try. The Black
+Star is too smooth to be caught in that way. His headquarters probably
+is in some house one of his band has owned and occupied for years."
+
+"He just called up," Muggs put in. "He said we'd be busy within
+twenty-four hours."
+
+"And the Black Star, as we know well, always keeps his word!" Roger
+Verbeck declared. "So his message probably means that he will strike his
+first blow to-morrow night--or, rather, to-night. But where? And what?
+Those are the questions."
+
+"And all we can do----" the chief began.
+
+"Is to wait until he strikes, and then take up the trail," Roger Verbeck
+added. "I found out one thing--he has some new people in his
+organization. He is using the blackboards again."
+
+"What's that?" the chief asked.
+
+"Each member of the band has a number and a countersign. Each enters the
+headquarters room robed and masked, and carries on the conversation by
+means of the blackboards. The Black Star issues his orders the same way.
+He handles them by number, and in his other organization the numbers
+were issued by one of his lieutenants."
+
+"What's the use of all that?" the chief asked.
+
+"It is very simple, chief. The Black Star may know what Number Eight or
+Number Ten does, but he doesn't know the identities of the persons with
+those numbers. He never could go on the witness stand and swear that a
+certain member of his band did a certain share of the work. Understand?
+It is a protection all around. On the other hand, the men could not
+swear that the Black Star issued the orders--it might be somebody else
+wearing the master crook's robe and mask. See?"
+
+"He's a clever devil!" the chief grunted.
+
+"He is!" Verbeck agreed. "We discovered that much before, remember. But
+we know his methods now, and that is a help. We will not make the
+mistake of underestimating him. It's all right to let him think so, and
+to talk like it when he calls up by telephone, but in truth we know
+we're up against a tough proposition, and we've got to act accordingly."
+
+"You mean to say you think it's going to be a hard job landing him?" the
+chief asked.
+
+"I mean just that," said Roger Verbeck. "But we'll get him!"
+
+"You can bet we will!" added Mr. Muggs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+TRAILED
+
+
+The morning newspapers had some very uncomplimentary things to say, both
+in the news columns and on the editorial page, concerning Sheriff Kowen.
+
+The sheriff, who had had less than three hours' sleep, raged when he
+read, and tore the papers into shreds.
+
+"That's right--blame me!" he shrieked. "Blame a man who was trying to do
+his duty! If I don't raid gambling houses, I get blamed, and if I do
+raid 'em, I get blamed again. How did I know that place was a plant? It
+was a gambling house, wasn't it?"
+
+Since the sheriff was a bachelor, there was nobody in his apartment to
+enjoy this tirade. He went to his favorite restaurant for breakfast, and
+sat at a table far back in one corner, refusing to hold conversation
+with anybody who approached.
+
+The sheriff was gathering anger. He did not intend to let Roger Verbeck
+and the police get all the credit when the master crook was caught
+again. He would go after the Black Star himself, he decided--swear in
+more deputies and call upon his men to win. There were certain political
+reasons for this. Moreover, the sheriff was a conscientious man; since
+the Black Star had escaped through his work, it was his duty, he felt,
+to recapture him.
+
+Sheriff Kowen left the restaurant and walked toward the county jail,
+where he maintained his office. He passed countless persons he knew,
+both men and women, and saw many smiles that possessed a quality the
+sheriff did not relish. But he refused to take a taxicab--he would show
+the public that he was not in hiding!
+
+"If I ever meet that Blanchard woman again----" the sheriff told
+himself; and just then he saw her.
+
+She was on the walk a few feet ahead of him, going slowly toward a
+department store. Sheriff Kowen hurried up to her, touched her on the
+arm.
+
+"I want to talk to you!" he said gruffly.
+
+"Oh, good morning, sheriff!" she said, and smiled.
+
+The sheriff was disconcerted for an instant, but composure returned to
+him quickly.
+
+"We are only a block from the jail, and my office," he said. "I want to
+talk to you there. Shall we walk, or shall I call a cab and charge it to
+the county?"
+
+There was a certain meaning to the last sentence, but she did not seem
+to realize it.
+
+"I should be charmed to talk to you," she said, "but I have some
+shopping to do this morning."
+
+"Your shopping will have to wait, young woman. This is a serious
+business."
+
+"Why, what can you mean?" she asked.
+
+"Either you walk along with me to my office, or you go as a prisoner!"
+
+"Are you insane? Arrest me?"
+
+"In a minute!" said Sheriff Kowen.
+
+"I--I don't understand this--but I'll go along with you," said Mamie
+Blanchard.
+
+"I thought you would," the sheriff returned.
+
+He said nothing more as they walked down the street. He took her into
+his private office and offered her a chair at one end of his desk. He
+closed the door, telling the stenographer that he was not to be
+disturbed for the present.
+
+"Now kindly tell me the meaning of this," said Mamie Blanchard. "I--you
+almost frightened me!"
+
+"What do you know about the Black Star?" Kowen asked.
+
+"Why, I read this morning that he escaped from your jail last night. You
+should be more careful."
+
+Sheriff Kowen's face turned purple with wrath, but he controlled himself
+and bent toward her across the desk.
+
+"And the cell he formerly occupied is now empty," he said. "Are you
+anxious to inhabit it for a time?"
+
+"What do you mean, sir?" asked Mamie Blanchard.
+
+"You tipped me off about that gambling house. It was nothing more or
+less than a trap whereby the Black Star could get a gang of his men into
+the jail and free him. You know it, and I know it, and it won't do you
+any good to try to bluff me!"
+
+"Why, how dare you? How perfectly silly!"
+
+"Silly, is it?"
+
+"I never heard of such a thing! This affair must have turned your brain!
+I came in here yesterday merely to ask you if you required the services
+of a woman detective. I always have wanted to take up detective work,
+you know. You told me you did not, and so I left."
+
+"What sort of nonsense is this?" the sheriff cried.
+
+"Nonsense? Oh, I am sorry now that there was nobody else in the office
+to hear me!" And Miss Mamie Blanchard sat back and smiled at the
+official on the other side of the desk.
+
+"So that's the way of it!" Kowen said. "You'll stick to that story, will
+you, because nobody else heard what you said yesterday? Woman detective!
+You know what you came in here for yesterday--to carry out the orders of
+the Black Star, help frame up that gambling-house deal----"
+
+"Really, I do not care to listen to any more such talk!" Mamie Blanchard
+told him. "I am living with my mother at a respectable private
+hotel----"
+
+"And your brother, the one who was going to the dogs?"
+
+"Oh, I have no brother! You must be mistaken, sir!"
+
+"You told me yesterday----"
+
+"Really, you are mistaken. You are confusing my conversation with that
+of some other person, surely. Brother? Oh, no, sir!"
+
+Sheriff Kowen stared at her. "You are a wonder," he said, "but I am
+afraid that you can't get away with it. The best thing for you will be
+tell me all you know about the Black Star, where his headquarters are
+located, and what he has planned to do. Do that--and do it right--and I
+may forget all about what happened yesterday."
+
+"But I do not understand you! How should I know anything about that
+notorious criminal."
+
+"Want me to throw you into that empty cell?"
+
+"You dare!" she said, indignantly. "My people have money, sir, and I can
+promise you a damage suit that will give you food for thought! Are you
+not ridiculous enough in the eyes of the public already?"
+
+Sheriff Kowen's face purpled again as he glared at her. He did not
+doubt, knowing the past history of the Black Star's organization, that
+this Blanchard woman would cause him trouble.
+
+"Well, I'm going to let you get away with it for the time being," he
+said. "But don't think for a minute that you're fooling me! You are a
+member of the Black Star's gang, and I know it! When we land him and the
+others, we'll land you, too! And you'll get a nice, long sentence from
+the court!"
+
+Mamie Blanchard stood up. "I do not care to be insulted further!" she
+said. "I regret that there are no witnesses. If you annoy me any more, I
+shall bring the matter to my lawyer's attention."
+
+"I suppose he belongs to the gang also," said the sheriff.
+
+He got up, too, but before he did, he touched a button beneath his desk.
+It caused a buzzer to sound in another office. This told the deputy
+there that the person leaving the sheriff's private room was to be
+shadowed.
+
+Kowen opened the door and bowed his visitor out. She held her head high,
+and there was an expression of indignation in her face. The sheriff
+watched her disappear into the hall, and then reached for his hat.
+
+On second thought, Kowen had decided to shadow Mamie Blanchard himself,
+assisting his deputy. He gave Miss Blanchard time to reach the street,
+and then he started. She was already half a block away, making for the
+nearest department store, and Kowen saw his faithful deputy trailing
+her.
+
+Mamie Blanchard, under the eyes of the sheriff and deputy, entered the
+store and began making purchases in an ordinary manner. Kowen approached
+the deputy and engaged him in low conversation.
+
+"That's the girl that tipped me off about the gambling house," he said,
+"and I know blamed well that she belongs to the Black Star's gang. I
+tried to get some information out of her just now, but she's pretty
+wise. We'll keep out of her sight, work independently, and trail her.
+She may lead us to the big crook's headquarters."
+
+Mamie Blanchard made purchases at several departments, and then left the
+store. If she was aware that she was under surveillance, she did not
+betray it by her actions. She visited a soda fountain and ate ice cream,
+emerged again, and finally engaged a taxicab. Sheriff Kowen engaged
+another, and his deputy a third.
+
+They trailed her to a part of the city where were to be found houses
+that once had been the homes of wealthy persons of social prominence.
+But now those of wealth and society had moved to another section, and
+these relics of other days were rented for various purposes. Here were
+to be found small shops, cheap boarding houses, palmists, clairvoyants
+and others of their ilk. Here and there were smaller houses back from
+the street, some with billboards before them.
+
+Mamie Blanchard left her taxicab at a corner, glanced around, and walked
+down the street. Kowen and the deputy shadowed her. It was not difficult
+in this section.
+
+Mamie Blanchard was acting as if apprehensive now. She glanced around
+continually. Once she stood for several minutes in front of a store
+window.
+
+"On the right track!" Sheriff Kowen told himself. "She's going to that
+crook's headquarters, all right, and she wants to make sure she isn't
+being followed."
+
+He made a sign to his deputy, and they began to approach each other.
+Mamie Blanchard had walked on down the street. Suddenly she darted
+through a little gate, and walked swiftly toward one of the smaller
+houses that sat back from the street.
+
+Kowen and his deputy saw her go into the cottage.
+
+"Go telephone for half a dozen of the men," Kowen ordered the other.
+"When they come, scatter them around the block, and then come back here
+to me. Either that house is the Black Star's headquarters, or the people
+there have something to do with him. I'll watch."
+
+The deputy hurried away, and Kowen kept his eyes on the house. He
+supposed there was a rear door, but behind the house was a high, blank
+wall, and he knew that nobody could leave the place without walking
+directly toward him.
+
+Kowen's heart began pounding at his ribs. If he could capture the Black
+Star so soon after his escape, he would be the man of the hour. He would
+show charity by calling in the police and Roger Verbeck, but theirs
+would be reflected glory, and Kowen knew it well.
+
+The deputy returned at the end of half an hour. Men were posted behind
+the alley wall, he explained, and were watching the house from the
+buildings on either side. Nobody could get out without being seen and
+stopped.
+
+"Then we'll go in," the sheriff said.
+
+They walked boldly to the front door of the cottage, and the sheriff
+rang the bell. Nobody answered. Three times he rang, and yet nobody came
+to the door, nor could they hear the slightest sound inside the house.
+
+"They're in there, all right; and won't answer!" Sheriff Kowen whispered
+to the deputy. "They have spotted us, and know that we have them
+cornered. I'm going to signal for the other men, and we'll break into
+the place. It's stretching the law a little, maybe, but I'll run the
+risk. This isn't like an ordinary case; we're after the Black Star,
+remember!"
+
+The sheriff gave the signal, and then he and the deputy remained on
+guard and alert for five minutes, at the end of which time half a dozen
+more deputies had come from near-by buildings and joined their superior
+officer. Kowen explained the situation to them in a few words.
+
+"And you want to be ready to go into action!" he concluded. "If the
+Black Star or any of his gang are in this house, they'll be prepared to
+put up a fight, and don't forget it! Watch out for those vapor guns and
+bombs!"
+
+The sheriff rang the bell again, waited for several minutes, gave those
+inside a last chance to come to the door. But he waited in vain.
+
+"Can't afford to waste any more time," he told his men. "We saw that
+Blanchard woman go in there, and, from the way she acted before she did,
+I'm sure this is either the big crook's headquarters or where some of
+his people are living. Every minute we wait out here, we give them a
+chance to get ready for us. Two of you men remain outside and see that
+nobody gets away from the place; I'll call you if we need you inside."
+
+Kowen signaled to one of his biggest deputies. The man advanced, put his
+shoulder against the door, pressed against it.
+
+"Got it bolted, I guess!" he said.
+
+He backed away, rushed forward, struck the door again with his shoulder,
+and burst the door open.
+
+Sheriff Kowen and his deputies sprawled into the little front hall of
+the cottage!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+WHAT KOWEN FOUND
+
+
+No volley greeted them.
+
+There was no crash of vapor bombs, no cloud of pungent gas, no clash
+with desperate and determined criminals who fought on behalf of their
+leader and master!
+
+There was nothing but silence--a silence broken only by the deep
+breathing of the sheriff and his deputies, who had sprawled into that
+hall expecting to meet with instant battle, and to whom the unexplained
+silence was more trying than combat.
+
+Again Sheriff Kowen gave a signal, and one of the men opened the door at
+the end of the hall. They entered an ordinary living room that was
+adorned with cheap furniture; it might have been the living room of the
+home of a family in moderate circumstances.
+
+They passed on to a small dining room, investigating an ordinary
+bedchamber. Sheriff Kowen began thinking that he had made a serious
+mistake.
+
+"That woman came in here--and where is she now?" the sheriff said.
+"Search the rest of the house--go into the basement--don't leave a
+corner untouched. We're in here now, and we might as well do our work.
+That woman is here some place, remember that. We saw her come in, and
+she hasn't left."
+
+They searched the kitchen, another small bedroom, and found nothing,
+neither a trace of Mamie Blanchard nor anything that would indicate
+that the cottage was a den of thieves. They located a trap door, and
+opened it, and saw a flight of steps running down into a dark basement.
+
+"Careful!" Kowen warned his men. "They're probably down there waiting
+for us! We'll not all run into the trap!"
+
+He delegated one man to remain above. He flashed his electric torch, but
+could see nothing except the flight of steps and the landing at the
+bottom. With some of the others close behind him, with his electric
+torch in one hand and his revolver in the other, Sheriff Kowen started
+to descend the steps.
+
+Each instant they expected to hear the sound of a shot, or the explosion
+of a vapor bomb, or to encounter one of the traps rumor said the Black
+Star always had in his headquarters. Step by step they descended, but
+nothing happened.
+
+They reached the landing, peered around the corner of a concrete
+projection. Sheriff Kowen gasped.
+
+"Careful!" he warned again. "This is the headquarters, all right, and
+there doesn't seem to be anybody here--but you never can tell. Watch out
+for tricks and traps! Be careful what you touch and where you step. When
+he was after the Black Star before, Roger Verbeck found himself in a
+trap when he thought he was boss of the situation--don't forget that!"
+
+The sheriff stepped to the floor, walked a couple of paces away from the
+steps. He saw an electric switch on the wall, hesitated a moment, and
+then turned it. The basement was bathed in light.
+
+All the deputies with him were on the floor of the basement now. A
+chorus of gasps escaped them.
+
+The basement was not like the rest of the house. It was furnished
+lavishly. In the middle was a long table. At either end was a blackboard
+on the wall. There were half a score of heavy chairs scattered about.
+There were some papers on the table.
+
+"Watch the walls," Kowen instructed. "We've found the new headquarters,
+all right. We'll beat Roger Verbeck and the police this time, thank
+Heaven! Watch the walls--they're liable to open up and let a gang of
+thugs in on us any time. I'm going to look at these papers on the
+table."
+
+He posted his deputies where he wished them, and advanced slowly and
+carefully across the floor. He was afraid the floor would open and
+swallow him, afraid of some clever trap that would turn victory into
+defeat and make him a laughingstock.
+
+He reached the table without accident, and glanced at the papers there.
+There was no handwriting in sight. The papers had been printed with tiny
+rubber stamps. Kowen remembered that such was the Black Star's method.
+
+He picked up the nearest and began reading. His eyes bulged and an
+exclamation escaped him.
+
+"Great--great!" he muttered.
+
+For he was holding in his hands some of the master rogue's orders to his
+band. Moreover, they had to do with the campaign of crime the Black Star
+had promised. Kowen read it swiftly:
+
+     Number Eleven reports that all is in readiness in his department.
+     Number Four will be at his post a quarter of an hour before
+     midnight. Number Ten will have charge of the men opening the
+     vault. One of the watchmen is a man of ours and will attend to his
+     companion; he is to be bound and gagged afterward by Number Eight,
+     as we may need him again and do not want any suspicion attached to
+     him. Automobiles will be at either end of the alley. Exit through
+     basement door after work is done. The bags of gold are to be put in
+     the limousine, which will be driven by Number Twenty.
+
+"This is great!" Kowen told himself again. "If we only can nab the whole
+gang----"
+
+He picked up another sheet of paper, and started reading that. Once more
+an exclamation of satisfaction escaped him.
+
+     Midnight, Tuesday. National Trust Company. Preliminary work
+     completed. All who have received orders will act accordingly. Must
+     be no failure in this first case. Loot will be heavy.
+
+"Going to tap the National Trust, is he?" Sheriff Kowen said. "Well,
+we'll be ready for him at midnight! He's going to run into a bunch of
+trouble."
+
+The chief deputy stepped to his side. "Suppose they find out that we
+have located their headquarters," he said.
+
+"Let us hope they won't find it out," replied the sheriff. "Don't touch
+another thing here."
+
+"How about that woman?"
+
+"That's the one thing that puzzles me," the sheriff admitted. "She came
+in here, and we didn't see her leave, and I don't see where she can be.
+I suppose she came to get orders, or something like that."
+
+"You can bet that there's some other way to get out of here," the deputy
+told him. "You can bet that the Black Star doesn't let his gang hang
+around headquarters much. The way he did before was to have them show up
+one or two at a time, at certain intervals. He's probably issued all his
+orders and has quit for the day."
+
+One of the other deputies startled them.
+
+"Here's a little trap door--and a tunnel!" he said.
+
+Sheriff Kowen hurried to the corner. The deputy had spoken the truth.
+There was a small trap door in the floor, and when it was opened the
+mouth of a narrow tunnel was disclosed. Sheriff Kowen issued his orders
+rapidly. Into the tunnel they went, flashing their electric torches,
+revolvers held ready for instant use.
+
+They followed it a distance of a hundred feet--a dusty tunnel that
+twisted like a serpent. They came to another small door, finally managed
+to get it open--and stepped through the thick wall into the alley!
+
+"So that is it!" the sheriff exclaimed. "That is how the woman got away
+from the house without our seeing her! Careful, now! We'll go back and
+see that everything is as we found it. I've got a little plan that will
+be a winner!"
+
+Back they went through the tunnel. They closed the door, saw that the
+rugs were in place and that everything in the basement was as it should
+be, and went up the flight of steps.
+
+They made sure that nothing in the house had been disturbed, went
+outside, and found that the front door had not been much damaged. One of
+the deputies locked and bolted it on the inside, then got out through a
+window.
+
+"We'll hope that none of his gang has seen us around here," the sheriff
+explained. "I've got to let the police in on this, but we'll get the
+credit, all right. I haven't men enough! We'll have deputies and police
+scattered all around this place to-night, and we'll nab anybody that
+goes into this cottage, either by the front door or the alley tunnel.
+We'll be waiting for Mr. Black Star at the National Trust Company's
+place, too. The police can help, but we'll get the credit! And when we
+get that crook back in jail----"
+
+Sheriff Kowen did not finish the sentence, but some of his deputies
+grinned. They realized that the master crook would be in for a bad hour
+when he was once more behind the bars. Sheriff Kowen knew how to punish
+prisoners who tried to escape.
+
+"The big crook isn't as clever as he was before," the sheriff said. "I
+guess those few months in jail have dulled his wits. If we can catch
+some of those whelps that worked the game on us and got him away, I'll
+be highly gratified. I won't need much help when it comes to teaching
+them a lesson!"
+
+Once more his deputies grinned. They walked to the corner, received
+fresh orders there, and scattered. Sheriff Kowen engaged a taxicab and
+ordered the chauffeur to take him to police headquarters with the
+greatest possible speed, traffic regulations notwithstanding.
+
+He found the chief of police there, and Roger Verbeck in conference with
+him. Verbeck's big roadster was at the curb, and Muggs was at the wheel.
+Kowen grinned at him as he entered the building.
+
+"So here you are!" the chief greeted him. "You've got a nerve to show
+your face after letting the Black Star get away from you!"
+
+"Oh, I don't know!" Kowen said, smiling at them. "Have you gentlemen
+done anything?"
+
+"What can we do except wait until he pulls off a stunt, and then go
+after him?" the chief demanded.
+
+"Go after him first! That is what I did."
+
+"Oh, did you?" asked the chief mildly.
+
+"With some measure of success," said the sheriff modestly. "I have
+discovered the Black Star's headquarters. I have seen some orders to his
+gang that he left scattered around his table. I found nobody at home
+when I called, and have every reason to believe that the crook and his
+gang don't know they have been located."
+
+"Where is the place?" Verbeck asked.
+
+The sheriff told him.
+
+"Possibly you are right," Verbeck said. "But the Black Star is a tricky
+individual, remember. And the orders are----"
+
+"At midnight to-night," said Sheriff Kowen, trying to retain his
+modesty, "the Black Star's gang will try to loot the National Trust
+Company's vaults. Now, let's get down to business!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+VERBECK INVESTIGATES
+
+
+Roger Verbeck and the chief looked at the sheriff aghast. His
+announcement had startled them. In his previous career of crime, the
+master criminal had raided that establishment, and had almost wrecked it
+because he removed so many assets.
+
+"How do you know that, Kowen?" the chief demanded.
+
+The sheriff told the story, not sparing himself, for he wanted to
+convince the men before him, and now that the recapture of the Black
+Star seemed so near, he could afford to speak the truth.
+
+He related the story of Mamie Blanchard's first visit to his office, and
+of how he had trailed her after meeting her on the street.
+
+"That woman," said Verbeck, after Kowen had described her carefully, "is
+a member of the old organization, and is known as The Princess. She
+caused us a lot of trouble before."
+
+"She certainly did!" the chief admitted. "She is almost as clever as the
+Black Star, is trusted by him, and handles a lot of his work. We didn't
+get her when we caught the Black Star and smashed his old gang, and we
+had supposed that she had left the country--possibly had gone to South
+America. She came from Brazil, originally."
+
+Then Kowen continued his story, and told of finding the papers on the
+table in the basement.
+
+"That's the part of it I don't like," Verbeck said. "It isn't like the
+master crook to leave papers like those scattered around."
+
+"Didn't you get into his old headquarters once and find papers and
+orders there?" the sheriff demanded.
+
+"I did, I'll admit. But really I do not like the appearance of this.
+Describe that basement room to me again, Kowen."
+
+The sheriff did so.
+
+"Well, you seem to have described the room I saw last night," Roger
+Verbeck said. "Perhaps you are right; but I think we are assuming too
+much when we think the Black Star's people are not aware of the visit of
+you and your men there. It would be more like him to have the place
+watched continually."
+
+"It all looks good to me," the chief put in. "I happen to know that the
+National Trust Company has a lot of gold in its vault just now--and you
+can bet that the Black Star knows it, too. That organization of his is a
+wonder. Why, my own secretary might belong to it, for all I know. We
+found a police captain in the old one, remember."
+
+"Well, what are we going to do about it?" the sheriff asked.
+
+"What have you to suggest? It's your game," the chief reminded him.
+
+"I've got to have the help of the police, of course," Kowen replied. "I
+haven't men enough, and this job calls for trained men. I think we
+should combine forces."
+
+"Certainly," the chief agreed.
+
+"We ought to have a gang around the block that contains that cottage,
+ready to nab anybody that goes in or comes out; and we ought to be
+ready for the crook and his gang at the National Trust."
+
+"How do you want to work it?" the chief asked. "Do you want to watch the
+cottage with your men?"
+
+"I'll send some of my men there, and you do the same," Kowen replied.
+"And we'll both have men around the bank. I want to be there when the
+big row comes off. Let's figure it out!"
+
+"Mr. Verbeck is in command of this, as far as I am concerned," the chief
+informed him.
+
+"That suits me," the sheriff replied.
+
+They spent an hour perfecting their plans, and then the chief began
+issuing his orders. Those orders went to officers in all parts of the
+city. They were of such a nature that the Black Star, if some
+confederate reported them to him, would not be exactly sure what they
+meant, except that the chief of police expected him to attempt some
+gigantic crime and would have his men in readiness.
+
+"If you see that Blanchard woman again, put her in the jug!" the chief
+told the sheriff. "If you are afraid of a suit for damages, turn her
+over to me. I'm not! She's The Princess, and there is a little charge
+pending against her right now. Don't forget that."
+
+"If I had arrested her to-day, I wouldn't have found the crook's
+headquarters," Kowen retorted. "But I'll nab her if I see her again, all
+right!"
+
+The sheriff, well pleased with the arrangements that had been made, left
+police headquarters and hurried to his own office, to give orders to his
+own men. Kowen was exceedingly well pleased with himself. Even the chief
+of police, his ancient enemy, admitted that he had done the work. Kowen
+could see, in fancy, the newspapers of the following morning, with
+their glowing accounts of how, within twenty-four hours after the Black
+Star's escape, he had located the crook's headquarters, had learned his
+plans, and had captured him again and broken up his band. That should be
+political capital, Sheriff Kowen thought.
+
+He reached his office, called his chief deputy, and gave him
+instructions. He warned the man that orders should be issued carefully
+so that the Black Star might not learn what was planned.
+
+"We don't want to let that crook think we are wise to his game," Kowen
+said. "If he does, he'll simply move his headquarters and call off this
+little robbery. Then we'll have to start all over again--and I want to
+get that man back in a cell before to-morrow. Newspapers and public jump
+on me, will they? To-morrow they'll be saying how great I am!"
+
+The chief of police had remained in his office to make further plans.
+Roger Verbeck left, and went out to the roadster. He ordered Muggs to
+drive to a certain corner across the city. That meant that Roger Verbeck
+had some deep thinking to do, for, when he had not, he drove the big
+roadster himself. So Muggs, with a thousand questions trembling on his
+lips, kept silent, though he looked at Verbeck reproachfully now and
+then.
+
+Muggs reached the corner Verbeck had designated, and glanced around
+scornfully. Muggs did not favor this section of the city. It reminded
+him too much of certain quarters of Paris where he had existed in years
+gone by, when he had been a criminal.
+
+"Wait here," Verbeck said.
+
+"Aw, boss, ain't I in on this?" Muggs protested.
+
+"Want to have the car tagged for being left longer than the law allows
+on this street?" Verbeck demanded. "If I am not back in twenty minutes,
+drive around the block and wait on the opposite corner--and keep that up
+until I do put in an appearance."
+
+"This ain't a sweet end of town," Muggs said.
+
+"Are you feeling a certain amount of alarm for me, Muggs? Have you an
+idea that I cannot take care of myself, in broad daylight?"
+
+"Aw!" Muggs exclaimed, in huge disgust.
+
+"You'll get plenty of action, Muggs, before this thing is over, if that
+is what is bothering you," Verbeck said. "What I am going to do just now
+calls for one man, and only one."
+
+Verbeck walked down the street, and Muggs hunched down behind the wheel
+and glared at those who passed.
+
+Verbeck turned the first corner and disappeared, as far as Muggs was
+concerned. He journeyed another block, turned another corner, and so
+approached the little cottage that Sheriff Kowen had investigated. He
+walked past it slowly, and glanced at the building. There was no sign of
+life about it.
+
+Verbeck went on around the block and turned into the alley. He found the
+little door in the wall, but there appeared to be no way of opening it
+from the outside. He hurried on through the alley and made his way to
+the front again. If this was, in reality, the Black Star's headquarters,
+Verbeck did not want to spoil things by having some of the band see him
+loitering in the neighborhood.
+
+He returned to the roadster, told Muggs to drive him home, and grinned
+at the look of disgust in Muggs' face.
+
+"Ain't I in on this at all, boss?" Muggs wanted to know. "Gee! When we
+was after that big crook before, you let me know everything. Don't you
+trust me no more?"
+
+"Certainly I trust you!" Verbeck told him. "You know that I do! But why
+bother you with minor details? In other words, Muggs, I am not sure of
+anything yet."
+
+Reaching his rooms, Roger Verbeck spent the remainder of the day reading
+books, as if the Black Star and his band did not exist and call for
+thought. He ordered dinner earlier than usual, and then dressed in a
+plain dark suit, and put on a soft cap.
+
+"Into the roadster again, old boy," he told Muggs. "Drive me to the same
+corner."
+
+Muggs did so gladly; but when the corner was reached, he was disgusted
+once more to find that Verbeck wanted him to remain with the car.
+
+"I don't seem to be nothin' but a chauffeur," he complained to the world
+at large. "I used to amount to somethin', but I guess I don't any more."
+
+"Muggs, I told you that this is a one-man job," Verbeck said. "And I am
+the one man!"
+
+He walked on down the street, chuckling at Muggs' grumbling. He passed
+the little cottage once more. There seemed to be no lights inside it.
+The yard about it was in pitch darkness, for the glare of the street
+lights was cut off by the high buildings on either side, by the
+billboards in front and the alley wall behind.
+
+Verbeck slipped inside the yard. For a time he stood against the
+billboard and listened, and then he went forward like a shadow, and
+finally reached a corner of the cottage.
+
+He made his way around the building, listening at doors and windows. He
+found a window unlatched, and raised it inch by inch, without making the
+slightest noise. A moment later, Roger Verbeck was inside the house.
+
+He held his electric torch ready, and his automatic. Not a sound reached
+his ears to indicate the presence of any other human being in the house.
+Verbeck flashed the torch, located a door, passed through it, and was in
+the kitchen.
+
+There he found the door leading to the basement, and listened beside it
+for some time. Then he opened it, slowly, cautiously, a bit at a time.
+There was no light in the basement.
+
+Verbeck propped the door open with a chair, and descended the steps
+carefully, not flashing his torch. He reached the bottom, listened for
+some time, and then pressed the button. The shaft of light flashed
+across the room.
+
+"Kowen was right--this is the place!" Verbeck told himself. "The
+furniture--everything seems to be the same. But I don't like it. It
+doesn't seem right, at all. I never knew the Black Star to be careless
+like this before."
+
+Verbeck flashed his electric torch again and looked carefully around the
+room. He even walked across to the table and read the orders Sheriff
+Kowen had found there. The house was being watched by the police and
+deputies by this time, Verbeck knew, for the men had received orders to
+take up their positions soon after nightfall. The officers could be
+depended upon to capture anybody who visited the cottage.
+
+Verbeck went back up the steps, crept through the house, and got out
+through the window by which he had entered, and which he now closed
+again. As he moved away from the house, an officer spoke to him.
+
+"I thought that was you, Mr. Verbeck," he said. "Have you been inside?"
+
+"Yes. There is nobody there now," Verbeck replied. "Is the door in the
+alley wall being watched?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said the officer. "We've got good men scattered all around
+the place. If that big crook or any of his people come near here,
+they'll be nabbed!"
+
+Verbeck hurried up the street and sprang into the roadster, smiling at
+Muggs' sour look.
+
+"Drive to police headquarters, Muggs," he directed. "We'll stay there
+until a little before midnight, and then we'll go to the National Trust
+Company with the chief and his men, and watch for the Black Star. If he
+really attempts to rob that place to-night, he is going to be caught in
+the act."
+
+"I'd like to get my two hands on him!" Muggs growled.
+
+"Perhaps you'll have the chance," Verbeck said.
+
+"If I do," Muggs said, "you can bet that the big crook will have a sore
+throat for a month!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+MYSTERY AND AN ALARM
+
+
+Muggs drove the powerful roadster slowly through the streets. The
+newsboys were crying extra editions of the evening papers, editions that
+had a great deal in them concerning the master crook and his intentions.
+Verbeck had Muggs stop, and bought the papers, and was glad to see that
+there was no inkling of Kowen's discovery in them.
+
+Verbeck did not feel satisfied. Remembering the Black Star's methods, he
+could not convince himself that the master rogue would let himself be
+captured again just as he inaugurated his campaign of crime. If the
+National Trust Company was to be robbed, the Black Star would be there
+in person, unless he had changed his tactics, for previously he always
+had commanded his men during a big crime.
+
+But even the greatest criminals are wrecked by trivial accidents,
+Verbeck knew well, and so he tried to tell himself that it was a
+careless woman member of the band who had betrayed the crook's
+headquarters and plans. Yet it was foreign to the character of The
+Princess, as Mamie Blanchard was called by the members of the
+organization, to be careless.
+
+"Well, we'll know the truth soon!" Roger Verbeck told himself.
+
+They reached police headquarters and went inside. The chief was waiting
+for them.
+
+"Everything ready!" he announced. "We're going to land that crook quick
+this time! I'm taking no chances, you can bet! I'll have every available
+man around the National Trust Company's building. I've got some of them
+inside right now, and in the adjoining building, and there will be a
+crowd in the alley and in the streets."
+
+"I went up and took a look at that cottage," Verbeck said.
+
+"So that's what you were up to!" Muggs put in.
+
+"How did it look?" the chief asked.
+
+"Well, I can't swear to it, of course, but that basement room looked
+like the one where the Black Star had me last night; and the orders
+Kowen told us about were on the table. I didn't touch them, but I read
+them."
+
+"Let us hope the crook doesn't get wise to the fact that we are on to
+him," said the chief.
+
+"The chances are," said Verbeck, "that he had completed his work when
+Kowen and his men got inside the house, and that the Blanchard woman was
+the last of the band to visit there to-day. If the Black Star follows
+out his usual method, he'll hurry back there after he pulls off the
+robbery, providing we don't get him at the bank."
+
+"And if he dodges us at the bank, the men will pick him up when he goes
+back to the cottage--very pretty!" the chief said. "Verbeck, I have an
+idea that we are going to win to-night. The rogue's good luck has
+deserted him, that's all."
+
+The chief opened a box of cigars and passed it around. From time to time
+a sergeant came in to report about men being posted. Now and then some
+detective telephoned rumors and information he had gathered.
+
+"The streets are jammed," the chief said, after one of these telephone
+calls. "The blamed newspapers are out with big stories of how the Black
+Star telephoned them that he would start his campaign of crime at
+midnight. Well, somebody in the mob might get hurt, but it helps us, in
+a way. It has been easier for us to get our men placed without some of
+the crook's gang reporting the fact to him."
+
+"Oh, the chances are that he knows all about it," Verbeck said. "And he
+probably doesn't care. The Black Star is original, don't forget that.
+He'll not try to rob that trust company in any usual manner. He'll get
+into the building with his men in some way we do not expect, and if
+we're not on guard he'll get out again--with bags of gold. Did you
+inform the bank officials?"
+
+"Great Scott, no!" gasped the chief. "They'd light up the place, remove
+the gold, give the whole thing away. We want to catch the Black Star.
+I'll guarantee that he'll never get away with anything there to-night.
+You don't seem to have much confidence, Verbeck."
+
+"I haven't," Verbeck admitted. "I fought the Black Star before, you
+know. I can't make myself think that he will walk into a trap--yet
+everything seems to point toward it. Well, I'll be going, I guess. It is
+eleven o'clock now."
+
+Muggs followed him to the curb, and this time Verbeck took the wheel
+when they got into the roadster. He drove through the city and toward
+the place where he lived, and, when he was sure that he was not being
+followed, he circled through the streets and approached the retail
+section of the city again.
+
+Verbeck parked the roadster several blocks away from the National Trust
+Company. Then he and Muggs made their way through the crowd in the
+street, their caps pulled down over their eyes, Verbeck hoping that he
+would escape recognition.
+
+They went through an alley, and stopped in the darkness just before they
+reached the other street. The rear of the trust company building was
+just opposite them.
+
+"A quarter to twelve," Verbeck whispered. "The chief is to meet us here.
+The sergeants know where he is to be in case he is needed quickly."
+
+"Why not get into the bank building?" Muggs asked. "Are we going to stay
+here in the alley and let a bunch of policemen do this thing? Gee, boss,
+ain't we goin' to handle it ourselves?"
+
+"We'll be right on hand, Muggs, if anything starts," Verbeck promised
+him. "Don't worry about that!"
+
+Five minutes later, the chief found them there.
+
+"Now for the big drama!" the chief whispered. "Everybody is set and
+ready. That master criminal, as he calls himself, is due to receive the
+surprise of his life in a few minutes. I only hope he is on the job
+himself--glad to nab any of his crowd, of course, but he is the man we
+want in particular."
+
+"Those orders read 'midnight,'" Verbeck said. "If he carries them out,
+we haven't long to wait."
+
+"Got an idea he won't carry 'em out?" the chief asked.
+
+"He may know that we are aware of his intention," Verbeck replied. "He
+isn't fool enough to walk into a trap when he knows where the trap is,
+you know."
+
+The chief flashed his torch and glanced at his watch.
+
+"Well, it's three minutes of midnight now," he said. "I wonder how he'll
+try it."
+
+"He certainly will not walk up to the front door and break it down,"
+said Verbeck, chuckling.
+
+"I've got men in the basements of the buildings on both sides of the
+trust company," the chief said. "If he tries to use a tunnel, he'll find
+himself caught."
+
+"He came down from the sky on one occasion," Verbeck reminded the chief.
+
+"Look!" Muggs cried.
+
+He had glanced up at the sky as Verbeck spoke, and now was clutching at
+their sleeves and asking them to look up, too. Far above the city a
+bright light appeared, a light that traveled in circles. It grew larger
+and brighter rapidly. It blazed forth like a monster searchlight, and
+bathed in splendor the building of the National Trust Company.
+
+"Airplane!" Muggs gasped.
+
+"Then he's a long way up in the air," said the chief. "An airplane makes
+considerable noise! It isn't an airplane!"
+
+"Then what is it?" Verbeck asked.
+
+"You've got me--but it isn't an airplane, or, if it is, it must be a
+couple of miles high. That light doesn't seem to be that high up."
+
+The crowds in the street were yelling and shrieking now. The searchlight
+continued to bathe the trust company's building in brilliance. The
+police and deputies posted around the corner were amazed. Sheriff Kowen,
+on the other side of the building, ran around like an insane man,
+calling upon his men to do something.
+
+The light was extinguished; and again it blazed forth, and this time it
+swept up and down the alley, revealing the chief and Verbeck and Muggs,
+and officers who had been posted there.
+
+"The Black Star has something to do with that!" the chief said.
+
+"And he's spotted us!" said Verbeck.
+
+"Then we lose, for he'll not try to rob the trust company."
+
+"Don't be too sure of that! Some of his band may be in there now, and
+this light, wherever it is, may be to attract our attention while other
+men carry away the loot."
+
+"I've got plenty of men in the building," the chief replied, "and
+they'll flash a signal the moment they see anybody that doesn't belong
+in there. That light gets me. How high do you suppose it is?"
+
+"It's comin' closer to the ground," said Muggs.
+
+Once more the light was extinguished, and the crowds in the street grew
+silent. Again it blazed forth, and this time it was so bright and near
+that a man could not look into it.
+
+Then they heard a laugh, and the well-known voice of the Black Star.
+
+"Hello, chief! Hello, Verbeck and Muggs! Watching the trust company, are
+you? I'm afraid that'll not do any good!"
+
+The chief drew his revolver and fired rapidly into the air. The Black
+Star's sarcastic laugh reached them, and the light was extinguished
+again. The sky was black; they saw nothing, heard nothing.
+
+"What kind of a thing is this?" the chief gasped. "He wasn't more than
+a hundred feet above us when he spoke. What can it be? He can't be in an
+airplane, or we'd hear the roar of the engine!"
+
+"And his band is probably looting the vault of the trust company right
+now, or has looted it!" Verbeck said.
+
+He ran quickly across the street, and Muggs and the chief followed at
+his heels. They knocked on a rear door of the building, and it was
+opened at once.
+
+"Everything all right?" the chief asked.
+
+"Nothing doing yet, chief," replied the detective who had opened the
+door.
+
+"We'll take a look and make sure," the chief said. "I don't like this
+business at all!"
+
+They went through a corridor and found the two watchmen. They had the
+lights in the vault room switched on.
+
+"That vault hasn't been touched," Verbeck said, "unless they have
+tunneled from beneath. The door hasn't been opened."
+
+"That crook was wise," the chief declared. "He knew that we were here
+waiting for him. How he found it out is more than I can tell--some of
+Sheriff Kowen's carelessness, I suppose."
+
+A detective came running toward them through the corridor.
+
+"Chief!" he shrieked. "Sergeant just came from headquarters! He says
+that the Black Star's gang is looting the First National--just got the
+alarm!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+ORDERS AND LETTERS
+
+
+The forces of law and order would have been interested, that day, had
+they watched Mamie Blanchard continually.
+
+When she entered the little cottage, she locked the door on the inside,
+hurried through the kitchen and into the basement, and entered the
+tunnel. She went through it quickly, reached the door in the alley wall,
+listened, opened it, slipped into the alley, and slammed the door shut
+again. That door could not be opened from the outside unless a person
+knew exactly how to do it.
+
+Mamie Blanchard hurried through the alley to the street, engaged a
+taxicab, and drove to a certain hotel, where she ascended in the
+elevator and went directly to a suite. It was not the same hotel she had
+visited after telling Sheriff Kowen about the gambling house, but she
+found the same people there--a middle-aged woman and a middle-aged man.
+
+"Well?" the man asked gruffly.
+
+"Couldn't be better," said Mamie Blanchard.
+
+"What happened?"
+
+"I let him see me, and he took me to his office in the jail. Said he
+knew that I was a member of the Black Star's band, and threatened to put
+me in a cell if I didn't tell all I knew. I bluffed him, of course, and
+then he got the wise idea of letting me go and trailing me. You could
+almost see it sticking out on his forehead." Miss Blanchard stopped to
+laugh.
+
+"Go on!" the man commanded.
+
+"The sheriff and a deputy trailed me. When I got near the cottage, I
+began acting in a peculiar manner. I hurried inside, locked the door,
+and went out through the tunnel and the alley. At the corner, I saw the
+sheriff and his deputy still looking at the cottage."
+
+"Well, you did your part!" the man said. "Now we'll wait to learn
+whether the rest of the plan worked out."
+
+They waited for half an hour. Then the telephone rang, and the man
+answered. When he hung up the receiver and turned away, he was grinning.
+
+"It worked!" he said. "Number Ten has just reported. The sheriff sent
+for more men, and broke into the house. They found the basement room and
+read the orders, and they found the tunnel, too. Number Ten reports that
+the sheriff has gone to police headquarters."
+
+"And that means," said Mamie Blanchard, "that there'll be half a hundred
+cops around that cottage to-night, and all the rest will be at the
+National Trust Company."
+
+"Exactly! And while they are at the National Trust, we'll be looting the
+First National. That fake headquarters did the trick--just as the big
+boss said it would!"
+
+"What now, Landers?" Miss Blanchard asked.
+
+It was the first time she had spoken his name. Like herself, Landers had
+been in the Black Star's old organization, and now was one of the master
+criminal's shrewd lieutenants. He had helped organize the new band, and
+had engineered the Black Star's rescue.
+
+"I must go and report," he said. "I'll report for you, too. You'd
+better stay pretty close to this suite for a few days. They'll be
+looking for you now, you know."
+
+"I might as well be in jail as be a prisoner here," Mamie Blanchard
+pouted.
+
+"It's orders!" Landers told her. "You'll be needed again soon, and
+needed badly."
+
+Landers left the hotel, engaged a taxicab, and drove out along the river
+road until he came to a resort. He paid the chauffeur there, and walked
+along the shore, watching the bathers, acting like a prosperous man on a
+little holiday.
+
+But after a time he left the resort and walked on along the road. He
+turned into a lane, when he was sure that he was not being observed, and
+approached a ramshackle farmhouse that was hidden in a grove.
+
+Landers entered the house, went down a flight of steps to the basement,
+and stopped in a little room. There he put on a long black robe and his
+black mask, and touched a button. In the distance a bell tinkled. Then a
+buzzer sounded, and Landers opened the door and stepped into the Black
+Star's headquarters.
+
+The master rogue was sitting at one end of the table. He got up and
+stepped to the nearest blackboard. Landers went to the one at the other
+end of the room, and picked up the chalk.
+
+"Number One," he wrote.
+
+"Countersign?" wrote the Black Star.
+
+"Amboy."
+
+"Report!" the Black Star wrote.
+
+Landers turned to the blackboard and wrote rapidly.
+
+"Sheriff decoyed to fake headquarters. Decoy escaped in manner planned.
+Sheriff broke in and found room in basement. Number Ten reported to me
+that everything was left as it was, and that sheriff went immediately to
+police headquarters."
+
+"Good," wrote the Black Star.
+
+"Any further orders?"
+
+"Act to-night in accordance with the orders given you yesterday," the
+Black Star wrote. "That is all."
+
+Landers bowed, and backed from the room. He took off mask and gown and
+hung them up, put on his hat and gloves, and made his way from the house
+and into the lane again. Once more he was the prosperous gentleman
+enjoying a day in the woods and along the river.
+
+Back in the old farmhouse, the Black Star was receiving another report,
+this time by telephone.
+
+"Number Eight," said the voice.
+
+"Countersign?" asked the Black Star.
+
+"Harvard!"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I have been in communication with Number Twelve, who is in police
+headquarters. Sheriff Kowen went there and held a conference with the
+chief and Roger Verbeck. They fell hard for that fake headquarters
+stunt. They are planning to watch the place to-night, and all officers
+not there will be in the neighborhood of the National Trust Company,
+where they expect us to strike."
+
+"Very good!" the Black Star said. "You have your orders for to-night?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Carry them out. There is nothing new!"
+
+The master rogue hung up the receiver, put the telephone away in a
+secret niche in the wall, and sat down at the end of the long table
+again. A man entered with a tray containing luncheon, and the Black Star
+removed his mask and ate. The servant was a member of the old
+organization, and took part in no crimes--it was not necessary for the
+Black Star to wear a mask in his presence.
+
+Having eaten, the master criminal stretched himself on a couch in one
+corner of the room, and slept. It was dusk when he awakened. He ate
+again, and as he finished the little bell on the wall jangled. The Black
+Star put on his mask, and touched a button.
+
+The robed and masked man who entered was small. He went directly to the
+blackboard.
+
+"Number Sixteen," he wrote.
+
+"Countersign?"
+
+"Providence."
+
+"Report!"
+
+"First National received shipment of currency to-day as expected," the
+other wrote.
+
+"What amount?"
+
+"Three hundred thousand."
+
+"What else have you to report?"
+
+"One of the watchmen is our man, and he will attend to the other. Number
+Twenty has investigated the vault, and reports that he can open it in
+twelve or fifteen minutes."
+
+"How about transportation?" the Black Star wrote.
+
+"One limousine and three closed autos; all has been arranged."
+
+"Good!" the Black Star wrote. "That is all--except I want no mistakes
+made to-night."
+
+The other man left the room. The master criminal touched a bell button,
+and the servant entered.
+
+"Has the mechanic reported?" the Black Star asked.
+
+"Yes, sir. The machine is in perfect working order, sir. He will test it
+further after dark."
+
+"Very well. I want him to be ready to start about eleven thirty, perhaps
+a quarter of an hour sooner than that."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+The servant bowed and left the room. The Black Star took paper out of a
+drawer, and a box of rubber stamps, and began composing a letter that
+was to cause the chief of police, the sheriff and Roger Verbeck much
+chagrin before morning.
+
+     To those poor fools whom it most concerns:
+
+     I was amused at the manner in which you guarded the little cottage
+     so well. That fake headquarters was placed there in order to have
+     you send all officers to the National Trust Building. I understand
+     it fooled even Roger Verbeck. You may place all the blame on the
+     sheriff, since he responded so well to my decoy. While you guard
+     the National Trust, I shall be looting the First National of the
+     shipment of currency it received to-day. It is the first blow in my
+     campaign. And when you learn that I am looting it, and rush there,
+     I shall----But you will know what by the time you read this note.
+
+The Black Star put the folded note into an envelope, and addressed it to
+the chief of police. Then he composed another to be mailed to a
+prominent newspaper.
+
+     I, the Black Star, begin my campaign to-night. Three nights from
+     now, I and my men shall steal certain jewels and art objects that
+     are famous. You may guess what they are, and where. Guard all
+     jewels and objects of art in the city, if you wish, but that will
+     not prevent us from getting them. *****
+
+The Black Star put the letter into an envelope, addressed it, and then
+put both letters into one of his pockets. He glanced at his watch, and
+took off his robe, but retained the mask. He donned a heavy ulster, and
+rang for the servant again.
+
+"Tell the mechanic to be ready in ten minutes," he said.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"After I have left the house, throw on the protecting current, and do
+not turn it off unless you get the proper signal."
+
+"I understand, sir."
+
+"The wires were tested this afternoon?"
+
+"Yes, sir; everything is in excellent condition."
+
+"Good!" said the Black Star.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+A DOUBLE CRIME
+
+
+At a quarter of twelve that night, a man walked rapidly through the
+alley behind the First National Bank. He knocked on the basement door of
+the building adjoining. The door was opened by a watchman.
+
+"Everything's all right," the watchman reported.
+
+"Did you attend to that other fellow?"
+
+"He'll sleep for a couple of hours yet."
+
+"Fine work. You are to disappear after this, of course. Go to the hiding
+place arranged for you, and you will be sent ample funds. You are not to
+attempt to leave the city until you get orders to do so. Understand?"
+
+"Sure. I know my business, all right."
+
+"You'd better! The boss is going to be mighty strict during this
+campaign of his. The man who makes a mistake or disobeys orders won't
+last very long. Where are the robes?"
+
+The watchman opened a box, took out a robe, and handed it over. The
+other man put it on quickly, affixed the mask, and started toward a door
+that opened into the basement of the bank building adjoining. At the
+door, he turned again.
+
+"Let the others in, and tell them that they are to hurry," he told the
+watchman. "They'll give the usual signal, of course. Hand them their
+masks and gowns."
+
+He opened the door and hurried into the other basement, went up a flight
+of steps, unlocked another door, and was on the first floor of the bank.
+
+Down in the basement, the watchman admitted other men who arrived two
+minutes apart, until twelve in all were in the building, and gave them
+robes and masks. They hurried into the other basement and up the stairs,
+and took up their positions.
+
+Some guarded the stairways that led to the second floor. Others were
+scattered around the first floor, watching the doors and windows. Two
+hurried into the vault room.
+
+The shades had been drawn at all the windows, and were fastened securely
+at the sides and bottoms so that no light could be seen from the
+outside. An electric torch was flashed on the door of the vault, and
+held there, and one of the men began working on the lock with tools
+taken from beneath his robe.
+
+"It's a cinch!" he whispered. "The more intricate they are, the easier
+it is to open them. I didn't work once in a safe factory for nothing!"
+
+Save for the rasping of tools against steel and the heavy breathing of
+the man who worked, there was silence in the vault room and in the rest
+of the building. Presently there came a sharp click, the workman gasped
+his satisfaction and stood up. The big door was pulled open.
+
+Both men hurried inside the vault. They began stuffing packages of bills
+into canvas bags which had been in the box with the robes.
+
+"That's all!" one of them whispered to the other. "The boss said for us
+not to bother with securities or any of the small stuff. We'll go!"
+
+"We'd better, or they'll be on us in another minute," the other man
+replied nervously. "When you opened that door you sent in an alarm."
+
+"And it went to a protective agency where the man on night duty is one
+of us," the other replied, chuckling. "He'll have to give out the alarm,
+of course, but by the time he gives it out, we'll be far away. What time
+is it now?"
+
+"Twelve thirty."
+
+"Just right! Send the signal to the others. The lieutenant is standing
+by the window at the end of the hall."
+
+A hiss escaped the man's lips, and was carried and echoed through the
+building. The men gathered in the corridor, the lieutenant made sure all
+of them were there, and then they descended into the basement, and
+passed from it to the one adjoining.
+
+"Signal for the autos," the watchman was ordered. "Then make your own
+get-away. And be sure you remember all that you've been told. Obey
+orders!"
+
+The watchman stepped into the dark alley, and flashed an electric torch
+five times. A chauffeur at the mouth of the alley counted the flashes,
+and honked his horn. A procession of four automobiles started through
+the alley.
+
+They did not stop, but merely slowed down, and into each machine sprang
+the men who had been assigned seats there. The automobiles continued
+through the alley and turned into the next street, where the chauffeurs
+put on speed.
+
+There were few persons in that particular section of the city at the
+time, but those who were on the street saw the automobiles filled with
+robed and masked men. They knew what that meant--that the Black Star's
+band was working in the vicinity. Their terror kept them dumb until the
+automobiles had disappeared, and then they gave the alarm. They knew
+that there was but one thing in that section that would attract the
+master crook--and that was the vault of the old First National. The
+alarm went to police headquarters.
+
+A few blocks down the street, the automobiles scattered, and one by one
+made their way to dark parts of the town, where the men in them took off
+their robes and masks, and, one by one, left the machines and darted
+away.
+
+The band was scattered fifteen minutes after the vault had been looted,
+and one machine, a closed one, was running out along the river road
+toward the resort. The chauffeur drove in a leisurely manner, and the
+car attracted no undue attention.
+
+At the end of the lane running to the old farmhouse, where it was pitch
+dark, the door of the closed car was opened, and a man sprang out. The
+automobile went on along the river road. The man who had jumped from it
+carried two canvas bags stuffed with currency. He was Landers, the Black
+Star's trusted lieutenant.
+
+Landers hurried along the lane, entered the grove about the house, and
+took a telephone from its hiding place behind a clump of brush. He
+called the house, and the servant who remained on guard at the
+headquarters answered.
+
+Landers gave a password, then put the telephone away and sprang to his
+feet. He came to the wire fence that ran around the house, but he did
+not touch it. He knew that it was charged with a deadly current. A light
+flashed in a window, and Landers opened the gate and went on to the
+house. He disappeared inside. His work for the night was done, except
+that he had to turn in the swag.
+
+But the Black Star and his band were not done for the night. The men who
+had left the automobiles and scattered, immediately made their way to
+the National Trust Company's building, and lost themselves in the throng
+of people there. They bumped elbows with policemen and deputies and
+detectives, and grinned when they recognized one another in the crowd.
+
+They were in time to hear the alarm given, and to see policemen spring
+into automobiles and hurry away. They saw Muggs drive through the crowd,
+and Roger Verbeck spring into the roadster and start for the First
+National Bank. Word flashed through the crowd that the master rogue's
+band was looting the First National, and the crowd melted away like snow
+beneath a blazing sun, hurrying toward the scene of the robbery.
+
+One by one, and cautiously, the Black Star's men entered the alley
+behind the National Trust Company's building. Here, too, a basement door
+was opened for them by a watchman. Once more they put on masks and gowns
+from a supply that was in readiness, and posted their guards in the
+building. Once more two selected men hurried into the vault room.
+
+They began their work on the door of the vault; and suddenly the Black
+Star himself appeared before them, his face masked, the flaming star of
+jet on the hood of his robe.
+
+"Make it as quick as possible!" he ordered. "We don't want to be here
+too long. Did things go all right at the other place? Was the get-away
+good?"
+
+"Everything went off as planned, sir," one of the men reported. "The
+work was done to the minute, and the get-away was as you had ordered,
+sir."
+
+"Disguise your voice when you speak to me, you fool!" the Black Star
+said. "And hurry with that vault! We can't spend all night getting
+inside that box!"
+
+The rasping of tools against steel, the heavy breathing of the workman
+told that the man was doing his best to hurry. But the vault of the
+National Trust Company was a complicated affair, and it was a quarter of
+an hour before the door finally was swung open.
+
+"Lively, now!" the Black Star commanded. "Those bags of gold are what we
+want--and all we want here at this time. Get them to the rear door as
+soon as possible, and signal for the autos. All you men get busy!"
+
+The masked and robed members of the band carried the heavy bags from the
+vault, hurried through the corridor with them, went down the stairs, and
+to the basement door.
+
+The Black Star watched the work. When it was completed, he walked across
+the room to the nearest telephone, took down the receiver, and gave the
+number of police headquarters.
+
+"Is the chief there?" he asked.
+
+"He's here, but he's busy. What do you want with him? Who is this?" the
+desk sergeant demanded.
+
+"I think he'll talk to me, all right. This is the Black Star talking."
+
+There was an exclamation at the other end of the wire, and presently the
+chief spoke.
+
+"Hello! This is the chief!"
+
+"This is the Black Star! Did my new searchlight puzzle you a bit
+to-night, chief? When you know the secret you'll be more startled than
+puzzled. Did you wonder where my voice came from, and how I happened to
+be in the air just over you? Maybe you got the idea that I was putting
+on a ventriloquist's act."
+
+"We'll get you, you fiend!" the chief cried angrily into the
+transmitter.
+
+"Why, chief, how violent you sound! I am afraid you are working yourself
+into a passion."
+
+"You got away with it this time, but you'll not do it again. And you had
+to lie to do it this time!"
+
+"Indeed? How is that?"
+
+"You used to boast of what you were going to do, and dare us to catch
+you at it, and you always told the truth in those days. You must be
+losing your nerve. You said, you crook, that you were going to rob the
+National Trust--and then you went after the First National."
+
+"Oh, that was just a little job on the side!" the Black Star said. "I
+told you no falsehood, chief. I said that I would rob the National
+Trust, and that is exactly what I have done. I am speaking from the
+vault room of the National Trust this very minute. I have just removed
+several bags of gold coins!"
+
+"What's that?" the chief cried.
+
+"I am leaving a letter here in the vault room for you, chief, and have
+just mailed another to a certain newspaper. You'd better come right over
+here and get your letter, chief. And thanks so much for rushing all
+your silly policemen over to the First National when you got the alarm,
+so they would not bother my men here. It was very thoughtful of you!"
+
+The Black Star laughed, and put up the receiver. He laid the letter
+addressed to the chief in the middle of the table, and pasted little
+black stars around the room on the marble. He ran to a rear window and
+saw three automobiles passing through the alley. In them were his men,
+he knew, and also the gold coin taken from the supposedly impregnable
+vault of the National Trust.
+
+The Black Star laughed again, went to the stairs, and began mounting
+them, flight by flight, stopping now and then to laugh at a bound and
+gagged watchman. Presently he reached the roof by means of a trap door.
+He closed the door again, and fastened it securely. Then he took an
+electric torch from his pocket, and flashed a signal toward the sky.
+
+He removed his robe, rolled it up, put it beneath his arm. He picked up
+his heavy ulster from the roof, where he had left it before descending
+into the bank, and put it on.
+
+Once more he pointed the electric torch upward and flashed a signal.
+Then he touched match to cigarette, walked to the edge of the building,
+and glanced over.
+
+He heard the sirens of police automobiles in the distance. He saw the
+machines stop and policemen spring from them. He watched as they gained
+entrance to the building, saw a crowd gathering in the street below. The
+Black Star chuckled again, took a vapor bomb from the pocket of his
+ulster, and hurled it at the street. It struck, exploded, and a cloud of
+white, pungent vapor drifted across the pavement. Shrieks and cries of
+alarm reached his ears. He saw one policeman stagger and fall, overcome
+by the gas.
+
+The Black Star, still chuckling, walked back to the middle of the roof.
+He flashed another signal, and then returned the torch to his pocket.
+
+He laughed again--and waited!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+MORE MYSTERY
+
+
+Police headquarters was thrown into a turmoil for the second time that
+night when the chief received the master criminal's telephone message.
+
+Roger Verbeck and Muggs rushed for the roadster, sprang in, and drove
+like mad through the streets toward the National Trust Company's
+building.
+
+The chief shrieked his orders, officers tumbled into department
+automobiles, and followed Verbeck. They reached their destination, and
+sprang out. Verbeck already had ascertained that the front doors of the
+bank were locked and bolted. He rushed around to the alley, followed by
+Muggs, the chief, and a dozen officers. A detective hurried to telephone
+Sheriff Kowen.
+
+The basement door was open, and they rushed inside. They found the
+watchman bound and gagged--he was a member of the Black Star's band, but
+they needed him again, and so made the attempt to remove all suspicion.
+
+"The Black Star!" he gasped when they had removed the gag and bonds. "He
+was here with his gang! They carried out gold--went away in autos
+and----"
+
+Verbeck had rushed on to the vault room. The chief and some of the
+others followed. They found the door of the vault standing open, money
+scattered on the floor, papers in confusion.
+
+"He cleaned out all the big stuff!" the chief said. "One of you men
+telephone the president of the trust company and tell him to hurry down
+here."
+
+"Here's the letter he mentioned, chief," Verbeck said.
+
+The chief ripped it open and read it, then thrust it into one of his
+pockets. As he turned away, there was a sharp explosion in the street,
+then a bedlam of shrieks and cries. They rushed to a window and threw it
+open.
+
+"Bomb!" somebody in the street was shouting. "It came from the roof!"
+
+"One of that crook's gas bombs!" the chief exclaimed. "On the roof, is
+he?"
+
+Verbeck already was running toward the stairs, with Muggs just behind
+him, determined to be in the midst of the affair. Muggs had been
+complaining again that he was not playing a principal part in this
+drama, and that he felt he was entitled to one.
+
+Half a dozen officers took after them, the chief bellowed orders and
+posted guards throughout the bank. He sent other men to the floors above
+to release the watchmen. And then he followed Roger Verbeck, running up
+the stairs, puffing and panting, wishing that the elevator was running.
+
+They came to the little steel stairs that led to the trapdoor and the
+roof. Verbeck tried to open the door, and found that it was fastened on
+the outside.
+
+"Either the Black Star or some of his men are up there!" Verbeck said.
+"The door wouldn't be locked on the outside, otherwise."
+
+One of the detectives had procured a fire ax from the hall on the floor
+below. He ran up the steel stairs and attacked the heavy door
+vigorously. The chief sent a man for another ax.
+
+More officers had come up the stairs now, and stood at the bottom of the
+steel steps, waiting for the trapdoor to be opened.
+
+"As soon as we get through, rush up there and go at them," the chief
+directed. "We don't know how many are up there, so be ready to mix it!
+Shoot, if you have to, but get him alive if you can. And look out for
+vapor guns and gas bombs!"
+
+"Somebody on the roof is asking for you, chief!" the man with the ax
+called down.
+
+The chief hurried up the steps. "Well, who is it?" he demanded.
+
+"This is the Black Star. Can't you recognize my voice? Still practicing
+violence, I see, and this time on a door!"
+
+"Well, what do you want?" the chief cried. "Do you want to give yourself
+up?"
+
+"Certainly not, my dear chief. I just wanted to let you know that I was
+here."
+
+"And we're going to get you!" the chief cried. "If it is necessary we'll
+get you with a gun! If you start using that vapor stuff when we get the
+door open, my men will shoot. Understand that? I'll give you one minute
+to surrender and open the door!"
+
+"Why on earth should I do such a thing as that?" the Black Star wanted
+to know.
+
+"Because you are at the end of your rope, that's why!" the chief
+replied. "If you try to go down a fire escape, you'll be plugged. And
+that's the only way you can get off the roof."
+
+"I have no intention of going down a fire escape," the Black Star
+replied. "I give you my word of honor--or dishonor, if you prefer it
+that way--that I shall descend no fire escape to-night. Does that
+satisfy you?"
+
+"Are you going to give yourself up?"
+
+"Dear me, no! I couldn't think of it. I have had a very pleasant
+evening, chief--very pleasant indeed--and profitable, also. By the way,
+did you get your letter?"
+
+An exasperated chief descended the steps and motioned for the detective
+to go to work with the ax again. The heavy blows began raining against
+the door. Between them, they could hear the Black Star laughing.
+
+"Get through that door!" the chief shrieked. "We've got him in a trap!"
+
+"I wouldn't be too sure of that," said Roger Verbeck. "He seemed to
+speak with confidence."
+
+"But how can he get away?"
+
+"The Black Star used to be noted for doing some peculiar and seemingly
+impossible things," Verbeck reminded the chief.
+
+"I want to be the second man through that door!" Muggs said. "I got it
+comin' to me, boss. You ain't let me do a thing to-day, and I want to
+get my hands on that big crook!"
+
+"That's what we all want to do," the chief remarked. "Get ready, men;
+that door will be open in a minute!"
+
+The detective had succeeded in cutting a hole in it. Now he put his face
+close to the aperture and looked out. He could see nothing but darkness.
+Cautiously, he extended a hand and felt for the bolt, located it, shot
+it back. He whispered the news to those behind him. The officers crowded
+the steel stairs, and Muggs got well in the van. Muggs declined to be
+sidetracked longer.
+
+The detective threw the door open, and they stumbled up the steps and to
+the roof, their weapons held ready, to dart to either side, expecting a
+shot, or a vapor bomb at least.
+
+Their electric torches flashed, and the roof was bathed in light. There
+was nothing behind which a person could hide, except two chimneys. The
+officers approached the chimneys, carefully, ready for instant combat.
+They circled them--and found nobody.
+
+"He's here--got to be here!" the chief cried.
+
+They rushed to all the fire escapes and found that nobody was on them.
+They shouted to officers in the street below, and were told that the
+fire escapes had not been used. They searched every square foot of the
+roof, looked along the parapet, found nobody.
+
+"I tell you that crook's got to be here!" the chief shouted. "How could
+he get away?"
+
+"Airplane," one of the detectives suggested.
+
+"Don't be an ass!" the chief shrieked. "An airplane makes a lot of
+noise. And it wouldn't be easy to pick up a man from a roof in the dark,
+you fool! The only way it could be done would be to trail a rope and let
+him grab it, and that would mean a dead man on the pavement below. You
+ass, an airplane travels with speed!"
+
+"Well, he doesn't seem to be here," Verbeck offered.
+
+"But where could he have gone?" the chief cried. "Even the Black Star
+can't make himself invisible at will!"
+
+Then they heard the Black Star laugh derisively.
+
+They flashed their torches and again searched the roof. Once more they
+heard the laugh. Now it seemed to be to one side of them, and now to
+another. Above them, behind them, in front of them they heard it.
+
+"This thing will drive me crazy!" the chief cried. "Flash those torches
+again! That crook is somewhere right here on the roof! Look for another
+trapdoor!"
+
+They searched the roof, and found nothing; but again they heard the
+laugh, only it sounded far away now. Suddenly the roof was bathed in
+bright light that seemed to come out of the sky.
+
+"He's up there--on something!" the chief shrieked.
+
+They emptied their revolvers and automatics toward the sky. The light
+died out, flashed forth again and almost blinded them. Once more they
+heard the sarcastic laugh of the Black Star, as if far in the
+distance--and then the light was gone.
+
+They stood silent, looking upward. Not the slightest sound came to their
+ears, except echoes of the shouts in the street below, where people were
+wondering about the peculiar, blinding light.
+
+"What does it mean?" the chief cried. "Verbeck, what has that devil
+done?"
+
+"I haven't the faintest idea," Roger Verbeck replied. "I don't
+understand that laugh, and I can't imagine where that light comes from.
+I'd think naturally, that it was an airplane, but, as you said, it would
+be almost impossible to pick a man off the roof at night--and an
+airplane makes a lot of noise. And we didn't hear a sound--remember
+that!"
+
+Once more the voice of the Black Star reached their ears. He seemed to
+be shouting to them, and to be not so very far away.
+
+"Good night, gentlemen!" he called to them. "It has been a splendid
+evening of amusement and profit. Good night--and let me express the hope
+that you'll have pleasant dreams!"
+
+That was all. Though they waited on the roof for half an hour longer,
+they heard nothing more from him, saw nothing of him, and finally they
+turned and went back down the stairs, puzzled, angry, but determined to
+make the master rogue pay.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+ANOTHER TELEPHONE CALL
+
+
+The newspapers the following day were full of the exploits of the Black
+Star. They explained that the master crook had inaugurated his campaign
+of crime and revenge by looting two of the richest financial
+institutions in the city. From the First National his men had obtained
+more than three hundred thousand dollars in currency. From the vault of
+the National Trust Company had been taken a quarter of a million in gold
+coin.
+
+Banking officials were frantic. They made arrangements to safeguard
+their property, fearing to lose the confidence of their depositors. They
+engaged extra watchmen, men they knew personally, since to engage a
+stranger, no matter how good his references, might be to put one of the
+Black Star's men in the place.
+
+Sheriff Kowen and his deputies were blamed, the chief and his policemen
+were declared incompetent and inefficient, and Roger Verbeck and Muggs
+were held up to ridicule.
+
+The mysterious light that had come out of the sky was described at
+length, and many speculations made as to its nature. The scene on the
+roof of the building, told by one of the detectives, was played up, and
+there were many conjectures as to what it meant.
+
+Had the master criminal come into possession of some wonderful new
+invention? Was he able to escape when and as he liked? Some inclined
+toward this belief, and others declared that the Black Star had gone
+down a fire escape under the noses of the officers, entered the building
+through a window at some floor, walked down the stairs and emerged into
+the alley and gone his way. The Black Star, one paper stated, was a mere
+man and did not call upon the supernatural to aid him. He merely had
+better brains than the police.
+
+Where would he strike next?
+
+Within three days, he had said in his letter to one of the papers, he
+would steal, with the aid of his band, jewels and famous objects of art.
+Thousands of persons had valuable jewels, and it was well known that the
+master criminal was a gem fiend, that he had a great collection and
+gloated over them. Perhaps he meant a jewelry establishment, a wholesale
+diamond house.
+
+When it came to famous objects of art, there was a wealth of them in the
+city. Two millionaires had great collections. There was a famous museum
+that housed several hundred priceless paintings. Here and there
+throughout the city were others.
+
+Jewels were carried to safe-deposit vaults. The guards at the museum
+were doubled. The two millionaires obtained police protection for their
+residences. And the city waited.
+
+Two days passed, during which nothing was heard of the Black Star and
+his band. Sheriff Kowen and his deputies searched in vain for Mamie
+Blanchard. Roger Verbeck and Muggs drove about in the big roadster
+continually, watching people, trying to catch a glimpse of some known
+member of the Black Star's old organization.
+
+The city was gone over, block by block, in an effort to locate the
+master crook's headquarters, but to no avail. The search extended to the
+suburbs, but nobody thought of the old farmhouse far up the river near
+the pleasure resort.
+
+"Well, it's about time we heard from him again!" the chief said to
+Verbeck on the morning of the third day.
+
+"I look for him to strike to-night," Verbeck said.
+
+"And where do you think he'll strike?"
+
+"That is the puzzle," Verbeck admitted. "I scarcely think he will
+attempt the museum. It would be a blow to civic pride if he did and
+succeeded, of course, but the odds would be against him."
+
+"He seems to thrive on odds that are against him," the chief replied.
+
+"Sooner or later, we'll get him!" Verbeck declared. "Sooner or later one
+of his people will make a slip that will give us the clew we need. They
+can't keep it up forever."
+
+"But I want to land him right away!" the chief fumed. "Did you happen to
+read the morning paper? If this sort of thing keeps up, the mayor will
+be asking for my resignation, and I'll go out of office without having
+vindicated myself. Confound Kowen, anyway! Why couldn't he keep the
+crook when he had him? But for Kowen, the Black Star would be doing time
+in the big prison right now!"
+
+"But he isn't--and it doesn't do any particular good to wail about it,"
+said Verbeck. "The thing to do is to get him again. Made any plans?"
+
+"I'm up in the air!" the chief complained. "What plans can I make? I've
+got men guarding the museum, and those millionaires' residences, and a
+few scattered near the jewelry establishments. And I'll hold men ready
+to go to any section of the city when we get an alarm. That is all I can
+do. If we knew where he was going to strike----"
+
+A buzzer sounded, and the chief took up the telephone.
+
+"Hello!" he called.
+
+"That you, chief?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Ah, good morning. This is the Black Star! I have tapped a private line
+again, chief, to have a little chat with you! I've been resting for a
+couple of days, giving my men and women a holiday. But I'm eager to be
+busy again!"
+
+"When I get my hands on you----" the chief began.
+
+"Tut, tut! Why do you always grow violent when I do you the honor of
+calling you up?"
+
+"Honor? Insult, you mean! We'll get you, and get you good, one of these
+days!"
+
+"I'll have all the wealth in town if you delay it very long," said the
+Black Star laughing. "By the way, chief, I'd suggest that you keep a lot
+of your men at headquarters to-night. You are going to need them."
+
+"Think so?"
+
+"I know it! And I have a faint idea that the newspapers are going to say
+more naughty things about you to-morrow. That was a pretty grilling the
+_Herald_ gave you, wasn't it?"
+
+"I'll give you a grilling when I get my hands on you!" the chief said.
+"So you're going to pull off some sort of a stunt to-night, are you?"
+
+"I am. Inaction bores me, chief. My men are eager to get to work again.
+They take great pleasure in helping outwit the stupid men on your
+force."
+
+"We'll see who'll do the final outwitting!" the chief cried. "I'm going
+to----"
+
+"Going to get me, I think you said before. Sorry to dispute you, chief,
+but I can't agree. How do you expect to accomplish it?"
+
+"Tell me one thing," said the chief. "How did you get off that roof, and
+where did you go?"
+
+"Sorry, but that is a sort of state secret for the present," the Black
+Star replied.
+
+"Well, if you didn't go down one of the fire escapes, write a letter to
+the newspapers and say so. They're swearing that you walked right out of
+that building before our noses."
+
+"All right, chief, I'll inform the papers that I did nothing of the
+kind. But I'll not explain at this time just what I did do. You see, I
+might want to do it again soon."
+
+"If you are so blamed sure of your ability, why not tell me what you are
+going to do to-night?"
+
+"Gladly chief. I am going to collect some jewels and some objects of
+art."
+
+"Oh, are you?" asked the chief. "Going to collect them in any particular
+spot?"
+
+"Naturally; but I do not intend to tell you the spot just now. That
+would be running too much of a risk, I am afraid. By the way, is Mr.
+Verbeck there?"
+
+"He is!"
+
+"I haven't time to speak to him, but will you kindly tell him for me
+that I hope he shows more speed in this little duel with me. I was
+disgusted with him the other evening--he showed no cleverness at all.
+Tell him that I hope he improves. And now, chief, I must end the
+conversation for the time being."
+
+There was a click at the other end of the wire. The chief slammed the
+receiver into its hook and whirled around in his chair.
+
+"Wanted me to tell you to show more cleverness and make the game more
+interesting, Verbeck," the chief said. "Make it interesting for him if
+we get the chance, all right! Says he's going to collect jewels and
+objects of art this evening."
+
+"Then I suppose he'll do it," Verbeck said. "Have your men ready to jump
+out as soon as the alarm comes in. What is the sheriff doing, chief?"
+
+"Kowen? Sleeping on the job, I suppose. He swears that he and his
+deputies will catch the Black Star--beat us to it. I had a row with him
+yesterday at luncheon. Kowen makes me tired! He's looking for that
+Blanchard woman."
+
+"The Princess? He's not likely to find her," Verbeck said. "Either the
+Black Star has sent her out of the city, or she is in hiding some place
+where she'll not be located easily. You can wager that the Black Star
+takes good care of The Princess--she is one of the most valuable members
+of his band!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+INSIDE THE MUSEUM
+
+
+That afternoon, about the hour of three, an elderly gentleman who looked
+like a person of culture and refinement, entered the Municipal Museum.
+
+At the information desk, he asked concerning a certain painting, and was
+directed to the second floor. He thanked the woman at the desk and
+ascended the stairs, passing the close scrutiny of the guards and the
+police stationed there. There was nothing to cause suspicion in the
+appearance of an elderly man who evidently was a lover of art.
+
+He found the painting for which he had asked, and stood before it for
+some time, looking at it, now stepping forward and now retreating, now
+and then walking to one side to get a better reflection of light on the
+canvas.
+
+"Marvelous!" he said, in a thin voice, to one of the attendants. "Such
+coloring! And such technic!"
+
+"Yes, them old boys knew how to sling the paint," the attendant informed
+him.
+
+"Sling the paint? What a quaint idiom!" the elderly gentleman remarked
+and the attendant walked on, calling upon the world to witness that the
+crop of maniacs was getting larger every year, and that they all visited
+the museum.
+
+Having inspected that particular picture to his evident satisfaction,
+the elderly gentleman went through the galleries, viewing other famous
+paintings. All the attendants and guides noticed him and put him down as
+a harmless art lover. There was a benevolent appearance about him; he
+appeared to be the sort of man who makes donations to museums and
+hospitals.
+
+He finally made his way to the statuary hall. Here, at the time, there
+was but one guide, and he was handling a group of four tourists. The
+elderly gentleman gave them scant attention. He adjusted his spectacles
+and began viewing the statue nearest the door, finished with that and
+went on to the next, and to the next. The guide and his tourists left
+the hall--and the elderly gentleman was alone there.
+
+He walked quickly to the other end of the hall, turned and looked back
+at the door, and made sure that he was not observed by any of the
+attendants or visitors.
+
+Above his head there was a small trapdoor that opened into the attic of
+the building. The elderly gentleman betrayed agility remarkable for his
+years.
+
+He sprang to the nearest window ledge, sprang again and grasped the
+heavy molding, hung with one hand, and with the other pushed up the
+trapdoor. Then he pulled himself up and disappeared--and the door was
+put back in place.
+
+The attic was seldom entered, it appeared. There was nothing at all
+stored there, and the dust was inches deep everywhere. The elderly
+gentleman made his way carefully through this dust, obliterating his
+tracks behind him, and reached a corner of the attic, near a window.
+Here was a dark space in a gable, large enough to accommodate a hiding
+man. The elderly gentleman sat down there.
+
+"This will be the death of me!" he growled. "Dust and heat and foul air!
+I wish the Black Star had picked some one else for this part of the
+job!"
+
+He took out a handkerchief and tucked it around the edge of his collar,
+then stretched himself between the rafters.
+
+"Can't smoke--dare not sleep," he grunted. "And it'll be hours before I
+can get out of here. This is one sweet game I'm playing! But there'll be
+a handsome profit in it, all right!"
+
+The hours passed. In the big museum below visitors came and went,
+passing beneath the scrutiny of the guards and the police. Five o'clock
+came, and the rooms were cleared. Guards searched them well, made sure
+nobody was inside the building except those who had a right to be there.
+The custodian and his assistants left. The big doors were locked. Night
+guards and policemen remained, walking through the rooms. Down in the
+basement an engineer threw a big electric switch that sent a powerful
+current through the frames that guarded the priceless objects of art.
+
+Much had been made of that scheme of protection in the newspapers. When
+that current was turned on, any person touching one of the paintings
+would be rendered unconscious immediately. Moreover, an alarm would be
+sounded in the building, another flashed to police headquarters, another
+to the sheriff's office.
+
+"The Black Star will never tackle this place," said one of the policemen
+to a guard. "He's going after something else. His gang couldn't get
+near the building without the men outside spotting them, and we could
+put up a scrap and keep them out until help came from headquarters."
+
+"I think he'll tackle the private collection of some millionaire,"
+replied the guard. "I don't see how he could hope to get in here and get
+away with anything."
+
+Outside the building, police paced beats beneath bright lights that
+illuminated every door and window. Inside, more police and the regular
+museum guards talked and smoked and wished the long night was over.
+
+Up in the attic, a perspiring elderly gentleman, who was elderly no
+longer because he had removed a very clever wig, and perspiration had
+ruined his make-up, looked at the radium dial of his watch and grunted
+that, at last, the time had come. It was nine o'clock.
+
+He got up and made his way slowly and carefully across the attic through
+the dust to the trapdoor. He lifted it a fraction of an inch and looked
+down.
+
+The statuary hall was dark save for a small incandescent light that
+glowed in the wall near the door. No guard or policeman was in sight,
+and the door leading to the corridor was closed.
+
+The trapdoor was opened wide, and the man dropped to the floor, making
+not the slightest sound as he struck. He had removed his shoes in the
+attic, and had put on a pair of rubbers. He darted behind a statue, and
+listened, and wiped the perspiration from his face.
+
+Then, running lightly from statue to statue, he made his way toward the
+corridor door, watching it continually, ready to dart into hiding if it
+should be opened by guard or policeman.
+
+At the door, he stopped again to listen, and then he turned the knob and
+opened it cautiously. There was nobody in the corridor as far as he
+could see in either direction. The guards and policemen, it was evident,
+were on the floor below.
+
+He took one of the Black Star's vapor guns from his pocket and held it
+ready. He slipped into the corridor, darted into a niche in the wall,
+listened again. He could hear two policemen talking on the floor below.
+
+A guard entered the corridor and disappeared into one of the rooms. The
+man in the niche waited until he came out and started down the hall. The
+guard passed within three feet of him. The silent vapor gun was
+discharged, the guard gasped and started to cry out, but unconsciousness
+claimed him.
+
+The man who had used the vapor gun drew the unconscious guard back into
+the niche. He used a hypodermic needle on the guard's arm, drugging him
+so that he would remain senseless for some time to come.
+
+"No need to worry about you for a few hours," he growled.
+
+Still he waited, going to another niche on the other side of the wide
+corridor. Another guard came from the floor below and started along the
+hall. He received the same treatment the first guard had received.
+
+Then the man who held the vapor gun hurried through the corridor and
+came to the head of the wide staircase.
+
+"Ten men inside, and I've taken care of only two of them," he growled.
+"The boss certainly gave me my share of work to do in this little
+affair!"
+
+He saw two policemen sitting at the bottom of the stairs. He saw a guard
+in the distance, another just emerging from one of the rooms on the
+floor below.
+
+"Where are George and Fred?" he heard the guard ask.
+
+"Went to the second floor," one of the policemen replied.
+
+"Guess I'll go up and help them, and then we won't have to bother about
+the second floor until early in the morning. Get the card table ready,
+and we'll have a little game. Nothing to worry about. Looks to me as if
+the Black Star didn't intend to come here. I guess the boys on the
+outside would let us know if there was any danger."
+
+The guard started up the stairs, and the man lurking at the top darted
+into the first niche and crouched there in the semidarkness. The guard
+passed, the vapor gun was exploded, and the guard toppled forward as had
+the others, and was drugged as the others had been.
+
+"Seven more, and the engineer," growled the Black Star's man.
+
+Once more he went to the head of the stairs. Four policemen were putting
+out a collapsible card table. Two guards were approaching along the
+corridor. The seventh member of the protective squad, the Black Star's
+man knew, was at the front door, where the officers outside could see
+him. He was supposed to show himself there at the end of each hour, to
+let them know that everything was all right inside.
+
+The Black Star's man darted through the corridor and went softly down
+the rear stairs. He made his way through the hall toward the front. He
+knew where the light switch was located; he had found this out several
+days before, when preparing for this night's events.
+
+He reached the switch, jerked it down, and plunged the lower floor in
+darkness. He darted forward as he heard the exclamations of the six men
+in front. He dropped behind a statue just as one of the policemen
+flashed his electric torch.
+
+"Fuse out, I suppose," he heard one of the guards say. "I'll get the
+engineer--he attends to all that stuff."
+
+He hurried toward the basement entrance. The man at the front door
+merely shouted to know what was the matter, and remained at his post.
+
+The five others were clustered about the card table. The Black Star's
+man crept forward and took a vapor bomb from beneath his coat. This was
+the perilous moment, he knew. This particular bomb was a delicate one
+that would make no noise as it exploded. But unless the vapor struck
+into the nostrils of the five men, disaster might come. If one of them
+escaped unconsciousness for a moment, he would be able to give the
+alarm.
+
+Another bomb came from beneath the coat. The first one was hurled to the
+marble floor at the back of the five men. The second followed it.
+
+Clouds of vapor arose. The Black Star's man held a sponge to his
+nostrils, flashed his torch and watched. It had worked--the five men
+were staggering--had fallen!
+
+He had swift work to do now. At any moment the guard might return with
+the engineer, or the other guard come from the front door. He knelt
+beside the first man, and drove home the point of the needle. He worked
+in the dark, for it was safer that way. One by one he drugged them, and
+then he darted noiselessly toward the door that led to the basement.
+
+He was just in time--the guard and engineer were coming up.
+
+"Guess it's a fuse," the guard was saying. "Lights on the upper floor
+are still burning."
+
+They stepped into the dark corridor, and the guard called for one of the
+policemen to flash his torch. The Black Star's man stepped up close, and
+again the vapor gun was discharged. They staggered and fell.
+
+The needle was used again, and then he darted toward the entrance. The
+guard there had reported to the one outside, and was returning.
+
+"Hurry up with those lights!" he shouted.
+
+He gasped; collapsed. The Black Star's man caught him and let him down
+to the floor. He was holding the sponge to his nostrils again.
+
+"I'll be going asleep from that vapor myself in a minute, if I'm not
+careful," he told himself. "I've hardly any more of the stuff. It's a
+good thing they're all down and out!"
+
+He lifted the unconscious guard and carried him to one side, where he
+could not be seen from the entrance. Then he ran through the corridor
+and threw the light switch again, so that those outside would think
+everything was all right in the interior.
+
+Then he ran to the basement door, hurried down the steps, went to a big
+electric switch on the wall, and threw that. The deadly protective
+current was shut off all over the building.
+
+Up the stairs he dashed to the second floor. He hurried to a window on
+one side of the building, took an electric torch from his pocket and
+flashed it seven times.
+
+The flashes were observed by a man in a window across the street.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+MISSING MASTERPIECES
+
+
+A half a dozen policemen were on guard outside the museum. They walked
+around the building continually, and communicated at the end of each
+hour with one of the guards inside. Now and then they gathered near the
+entrance to talk and wish their vigil was over.
+
+Ten minutes after the Black Star's man had flashed his torch from the
+window, these six officers were startled by sounds of an altercation in
+the street. Two men, their voices raised, were quarreling. Others
+passing in the street stopped to listen. Threats were hurled back and
+forth. The men grappled, started to fight.
+
+Two of the policemen left the museum and started running toward the
+combatants. When they were halfway one of the fighting men darted
+backward, drew a revolver and began firing.
+
+There was a crowd on the corner now. The quarrelsome one continued to
+shoot; the other man fell in the street.
+
+The four other policemen forgot the museum. They ran toward the corner,
+clubs in their hands, to beat back the crowd, to help take charge of the
+murderer, to send for an ambulance, if it proved to be necessary.
+
+The Black Star's man observed this from a window. He flashed his torch
+again, and then ran down the stairs and to a little side door of the
+museum, which he unlocked.
+
+Four men darted across the street and through this door. It was locked
+again immediately.
+
+"All of them down and out!" the man who had been inside reported. "We'll
+have to work swiftly. They'll be expecting a guard to show his face at
+the door at the end of the hour. Come with me--I know the paintings the
+boss wants."
+
+"How about that electric current?" one asked.
+
+"I turned it off, of course. Hurry!"
+
+They ran up the stairs and into one of the galleries. The man who had
+been inside indicated six paintings. Men crawled beneath the protecting
+railings, drew knives and started cutting the paintings from their
+frames.
+
+"No time to waste!" the leader informed them. "We've got about fifteen
+minutes more."
+
+He ran to one of the windows and glanced out at the street. The crowd
+was growing larger. The police had ascertained that the man who had
+fallen was not shot, but had stumbled in his mad haste to get away. The
+two men had been arrested, and the patrol auto called. None of the
+police had started back toward the museum, though some of them glanced
+in that direction now and then.
+
+Inside, the paintings had been cut from their frames and made into
+rolls. The rolls were tied up with rope and then lashed together.
+
+"Out you go!" said the man who had hidden inside.
+
+They hurried down the stairs and to the little side door. The one ahead
+opened it and glanced out.
+
+"Coast all clear!" he announced.
+
+Two went first, carrying the roll of paintings with them. The others
+left one by one, darted across the street, and each went in a different
+direction. Those with the paintings had an automobile waiting; they
+jumped in and were driven rapidly away.
+
+The men who had fought were carried away to jail; their part had been
+done well. The policemen went back to the museum, joking about the fight
+they had witnessed.
+
+"They'll make it up in the morning and get fined for fighting and
+discharging firearms," one of them declared. "Business quarrel, eh?
+Pretty vigorous business men, I think!"
+
+"Suppose everything's all right inside?" another asked.
+
+"That gang inside is so busy playing cards that they wouldn't know it if
+a battle was staged in the street."
+
+The end of the hour came, but no guard showed himself at the front door
+to say that everything was all right. One of the policemen pounded upon
+it, but got no response.
+
+"That's funny!" he said. "They ought to answer--that's their orders!"
+
+He pounded upon the door again, and still he got no reply from those
+inside.
+
+"Think we'd better go in?" one of the others asked.
+
+"We've got orders not to do it unless we know there's trouble inside."
+
+"Well, there may be trouble."
+
+"Card game--that's all. You listen to me--hand that guard a call down
+when he shows up. He's a sort of fresh guy, anyway--thinks he owns the
+museum, I guess!"
+
+Once more he pounded on the door and got no response. The police began
+to look serious.
+
+"Aw, how could anything happen?" one of them asked. "Nobody could get
+into the museum, could they? And there was nobody in there when it was
+locked up except them that belonged. Ain't we been on watch?"
+
+"Well, that scrap called all of us across the street for a time,
+remember."
+
+"Yes, and we'd better forget that if there happens to be any trouble
+inside. I think we'd better go in and investigate. This doesn't look
+exactly good to me."
+
+He took a key from his pocket--a key to the front door of the museum,
+that had been given him for just such an emergency. He unlocked the door
+and went in with two of the others, locking the door behind him.
+
+They hurried through the entrance and started down the corridor toward
+the wide stairs that led to the floor above. The one in advance gave a
+cry of horror and started forward. Stretched on the marble floor were
+policemen and museum guards, unconscious, and plainly drugged in some
+manner.
+
+"Call headquarters!" one of the policemen shrieked. "Get the chief!"
+
+Another ran to the nearest telephone, which happened to be in the office
+of the custodian. Within a short time he had the chief on the wire.
+
+"This is Officer Riley, at the museum," he said. "There's something
+wrong here. No guard showed up at the front door at the end of the hour,
+and so we came inside. We found all the guards and officers
+unconscious, laid out!"
+
+"What's that?" the chief cried. "What laid 'em out? What's happened out
+there?"
+
+"We just got inside the building--haven't had time to investigate--don't
+know what's been going on!" Officer Riley gasped. "Thought I'd better
+call you at once."
+
+"Keep your eyes open--we'll be right up there!" the chief cried. "Keep
+right on the job!"
+
+"Better bring the police surgeon with you, chief. There seems to be
+something wrong with these men."
+
+That telephone conversation caused another tumult at police
+headquarters. The chief bellowed his orders, then ran with Verbeck and
+Muggs to the former's roadster, which was in readiness at the curb. With
+Verbeck at the wheel, the powerful car dashed through the streets toward
+the museum, and behind it came half a dozen police department autos
+filled with detectives.
+
+They reached the museum, left the cars and hurried to the entrance. One
+of the men inside unlocked and opened the door.
+
+"They are still unconscious, chief!" he reported. "Looks to me as if
+they had been doped."
+
+The police surgeon made a swift examination.
+
+"They have been drugged," he announced, "and pretty badly, at that. I'll
+have to get busy on them at once, or we'll have dead men on our hands."
+
+"Bring them around as soon as you can," the chief said. "I want to hear
+what they've got to say. And you men search the entire building! We'll
+look into this! One of you call up the superintendent of the museum and
+get him down here. Lively!"
+
+The officers scattered throughout the big building, turned on all the
+lights, and began their search. They found the unconscious guards on the
+upper floor and carried them below for the police surgeon to work on.
+The surgeon sent in a call for his assistants.
+
+Policemen who searched the statuary hall discovered the open trapdoor.
+They got up into the attic, and investigated there, and found nothing
+except dust and footprints in it. Down to the first floor they went to
+report this.
+
+Verbeck and Muggs hurried to the attic and investigated for themselves.
+
+"Very simple," Verbeck said. "Some member or members of the gang got up
+here during the day, remained in hiding until night, and then got down
+and handled the guards and officers."
+
+"Yeah, but where are they now?" Muggs wanted to know.
+
+"Not in the building, you may be sure. They managed to get out in some
+manner."
+
+"And what did they swipe?"
+
+"The superintendent will have to tell that, I suppose. There are several
+thousand things in this place, Muggs, that are almost priceless. The
+Black Star has done it again. Let's go downstairs and see if there is
+anything in the nature of a clew."
+
+They hurried down the stairs. The superintendent of the museum had just
+arrived--a worried, frantic superintendent who immediately telephoned
+for more guards and one of his assistants.
+
+"I am almost afraid to look," he announced. "Do you suppose anything has
+been taken?"
+
+"That little side door is unlocked," one of the detectives reported to
+the chief.
+
+"It shouldn't be," said the superintendent. "It always is locked except
+when we are receiving new exhibits, which are delivered at that
+entrance."
+
+Verbeck grasped one of the officers by the arm.
+
+"Have you watched closely all night?" he demanded.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Didn't leave the museum at all?"
+
+"For a few minutes. There was a shooting scrape at the corner----"
+
+"Did all of you go there? How long were you gone? Speak quickly, man!"
+
+"Weren't gone more than half an hour. But we watched the museum, just
+the same. It's light----"
+
+"From the corner you couldn't see that little side door!" Verbeck
+thundered. "Any of the Black Star's men who had hidden in the museum
+could have rendered these guards and officers unconscious, taken what
+they wished, and walked right out of that side door with it, while you
+were over at the corner. That fight was staged for a certain purpose!"
+
+"Oh, you fools!" the chief cried. "The newspapers are right--the police
+force is a gang of imbeciles! Idiots! You've let him get away with it
+again!"
+
+The superintendent of the museum had been going through the building
+with a couple of detectives, and now they heard his cry of surprise and
+rage from the upper floor.
+
+"What is it? Find something missing?" the chief cried.
+
+"Six famous paintings!" the superintendent shrieked. "Six of them gone!
+Six priceless masterpieces--cut from their frames--carried away! The
+protective current--it must have been turned off! Six of the most
+priceless pictures!"
+
+"Great Scott!" the chief ejaculated.
+
+"Now there will be a fine row!" Verbeck said. "We've got to catch the
+Black Star and get those paintings back! Every art lover will howl until
+we do! And, worst of all, they didn't belong to the museum--they were
+merely loaned. And the six are worth more than a million dollars!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+SOME FISHERMEN
+
+
+At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his
+hands clasped behind his back. A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the
+telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.
+
+"Hello!" he said.
+
+"Number Eleven."
+
+"Countersign?"
+
+"Kokomo."
+
+"Report," ordered the master crook.
+
+"Everything went off as planned, sir. I got into the attic without much
+trouble, and subdued the guards and policemen when the proper time came.
+The fight was started as soon as the men received my signal."
+
+"How about the loot?"
+
+"We got all six of the paintings, sir, and they are on their way to you
+now."
+
+"Good! That is all for to-night. Report at the usual time in person
+to-morrow."
+
+The Black Star hung up the receiver, rang the bell three times, took the
+receiver down again. The ring was heard by men at a telephone instrument
+in the woods a quarter of a mile away.
+
+"Hello!" one of them answered.
+
+"Start!" the Black Star said; and then he hung up the receiver again and
+touched the bell button. The servant came into the headquarters room.
+
+"Tell the mechanic to be ready to start within five minutes," the master
+rogue ordered.
+
+The servant hurried away, and the Black Star took off his robe and put
+on the heavy ulster once more. Presently he hurried from the room,
+closing and locking the door behind him.
+
+In the woods, six men left the hidden telephone and hurried along a
+narrow, winding path through the darkness, going toward the bank of the
+river.
+
+They did not speak as they hurried forward, single file, like Indians
+following a trail. They reached the shore, and in a little cove came
+upon a motor boat hidden beneath overhanging willows. The six got into
+the boat.
+
+They moved the craft out into the stream and pointed its bow toward the
+city. The six were dressed as fishermen, in uncouth clothing, stubbles
+of beard upon their faces, their sleeves rolled up. In the launch was
+fishing gear. There was nothing in the appearance of the craft to create
+suspicion, but a mechanic, had he looked at the engine, would have
+marveled that common fishermen could possess such a perfect piece of
+machinery.
+
+The regulation lights were burning. The launch made ordinary speed down
+the stream. Two of the men were singing raucously. To all appearances
+here were six fishermen going to the city to carouse at some cheap
+resort on the waterfront.
+
+At the lower end of town, the launch turned toward the shore. At a small
+dock she was moored. But only five of the men left the boat--one
+remained curled up in the stern, hidden by a mass of canvas and fishing
+gear.
+
+The five entered a cheap resort and drank, and then went upon the
+street again, as if starting to another place. They slipped through a
+dark alley, emerged on a side street and hurried along it, maintaining a
+conversation that had to do with fish and market prices.
+
+After a time they came to a public square in an old section of the city.
+Here were business houses that had been there for scores of years,
+famous establishments that scorned to move to a more modern district of
+the town.
+
+They stopped on a corner and talked loudly, half quarreling, as
+intoxicated fishermen might be expected to do. A policeman warned them
+to lower their voices and behave, and they went on up the street,
+slowly, staggering a bit, laughing now and then.
+
+On the next corner was a bakery. The basement door was open, and a baker
+stood in it. Odors of fresh bread and cakes poured out.
+
+"Um!" one of the fishermen gasped. "Any chance to get some hot bread?"
+
+"Do you happen to have the price?" the baker asked.
+
+"We sure have!"
+
+A passing pedestrian heard the conversation, smiled, and walked on.
+
+"Come downstairs, then," the baker said.
+
+They descended the stairs and entered the oven department. They threw
+coins on a table, and each was given a loaf of warm bread, and they
+began eating, still laughing and talking. The baker's assistant had
+finished his work and washed up, and now was telling his employer good
+night. He hurried up the steps and went away.
+
+The baker led the five fishermen into a rear room to show them more
+ovens, where cakes were baking. He closed the door between the two
+rooms. Instantly the demeanor of the five men changed.
+
+"Everything all right?" one of them asked.
+
+"There is one guard in the diamond room. The others are on the two
+floors," the baker replied.
+
+"How many in all?"
+
+"Only four."
+
+"Cinch!" said one of the five. "Let's go!"
+
+"I'll have the other stuff ready," the baker informed them.
+
+He opened the door and glanced into the other room, closed the door
+again and motioned that everything was all right. The five men hurried
+to the other end of the room, and one of them pressed against the wall.
+A small door swung open.
+
+They passed through the wall and into the basement of the building
+adjoining. An engineer was asleep in a chair before his table, and he
+was rendered unconscious immediately by means of a vapor gun. The five
+hurried up a flight of stairs, opened a door, and entered a rear hall.
+
+They were at the back of a famous jewelry establishment now, one that
+had a famous name in the business world, one which scorned to move to
+better quarters, but which was protected by every known device. Another
+door was opened, and they were in a storeroom.
+
+They moved with more caution now, for this was dangerous ground. The
+Black Star had planned this attack on the assumption that he would be
+expected to rob a more pretentious establishment. Few men knew that a
+large shipment of gorgeous diamonds had recently been received by this
+firm--but the Black Star knew it. One of his band was a trusted clerk in
+the house.
+
+Moreover, at that moment, the Black Star was creating a diversion. In
+the principal retail district of the city there was a fashionable
+jewelry store housed in a modern building. It was being heavily guarded
+this night, for the proprietors had taken cognizance of the master
+crook's announcement that he intended to purloin rare jewels, and they
+flattered themselves that their establishment would be the one visited.
+
+More than a score of special watchmen and police officers were in this
+building. One of the proprietors himself was on hand, aiding in
+safe-guarding the jewels. The entire establishment was brilliantly
+lighted. The shades and fire curtains at the windows were raised, and
+the door of the vault room stood open so that it could be seen from the
+front street. The Pioneer Diamond Company was taking no chances of being
+looted.
+
+And suddenly the building that housed the diamond company was bathed in
+brilliant light that seemed to come out of the sky! People in the
+streets, remembering what had happened three nights before, began
+shrieking that the Black Star and his men were at work. An alarm was
+sent to police headquarters, and relayed to the chief at the museum. The
+Black Star was robbing the Pioneer Diamond Company!
+
+Leaving a small police guard at the museum, the chief hurried to the
+scene with the remainder of his men. Verbeck and Muggs went ahead in
+the roadster, charging through the streets, the horn shrieking a
+warning. As they arrived, the bright light had disappeared, but soon
+they saw it again.
+
+"That's the Black Star," Verbeck said. "I can't figure out how he does
+it, but I suppose the solution will be simple enough when we learn it."
+
+"I'd like to beat it out of him!" Muggs said.
+
+The police had entered the building, and the chief had ascertained that
+nothing had happened. As far as they knew, there was nobody in the
+establishment who did not have a right to be there. But that did not
+mean that the danger was over.
+
+"I don't like the looks of this!" Verbeck said. "I am inclined to
+believe that the gang is doing the real work in some other place."
+
+"I've got men every place where there is any quantity of precious
+stones," the chief said, "and they have orders to send an alarm to
+headquarters the instant they see or hear anything that seems to be
+suspicious."
+
+The bright light from the sky had disappeared again. Out in the street
+there was a series of explosions, and Verbeck and Muggs and the chief
+rushed to a window, and saw clouds of vapor rising from the pavement.
+
+"He's got some scheme!" the chief declared. "Watch yourselves, you men,
+and be ready to go into action! More of you go into the vault room and
+watch there!"
+
+The proprietor was like a maniac, and the chief whirled upon him
+angrily.
+
+"What's the matter with you?" he demanded. "You don't see any of the
+crook's gang around here, do you? How can we do anything until they
+show up? You give me a pain."
+
+"There is a fortune in the vault----"
+
+"And it'll probably remain there!" the chief said. "We are playing a
+game that is tough enough without having an insane man raving around
+us!"
+
+Another shower of vapor bombs came from the sky. The people in the
+streets were scattering, seeking cover. Once more the bright light
+blazed forth. Out into the street rushed Verbeck and Muggs. The light
+disappeared, and presently they heard the voice of the Black Star.
+
+"Better watch those diamonds, gentlemen!" he shouted. "You'll be missing
+a lot of them the first thing you know. I love gems, and I happen to
+know that there are some glorious ones in the vault of the Pioneer
+Diamond Company."
+
+The voice died away, and they heard no more. Verbeck and Muggs rushed
+back into the store. The chief was in the vault room.
+
+"Are all your diamonds and expensive jewels in that vault?" the chief
+asked the member of the firm who was spending the night in the store.
+
+"All except a few small stones such as the Black Star would not bother
+about."
+
+"Then Mr. Black Star is going to fall down on the job!" the chief
+declared. "We'll just pack this vault room full of officers. The only
+way those crooks can get in then will be to tunnel through the bottom of
+the vault!"
+
+"They can't do that--the vault is impregnable!" the member of the firm
+declared.
+
+The chief laughed scornfully. "It may be impregnable as far as ordinary
+criminals are concerned," he retorted, "but we are dealing with the
+Black Star, please remember, and he dotes on supposedly impregnable
+things. Vaults do not seem to bother his men much. Open the door of the
+vault, and sit in it yourself. We'll watch the inside as well as the
+outside."
+
+The door of the vault was opened. An investigation showed that
+everything was all right. And so they waited for the blow that they
+expected.
+
+A telephone bell rang, and the member of the firm hurried to the
+instrument to answer.
+
+"It's a call for you, chief, from your headquarters," he reported.
+
+The chief rushed to the telephone. He was experiencing a feeling of
+apprehension.
+
+"Hello!" he cried.
+
+A desk sergeant at headquarters answered him.
+
+"That you, chief? The Black Star's men are raiding a diamond store
+downtown. I just got the tip from a watchmen who dodged them. Wait--I'll
+give you the address!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+HOT BREAD
+
+
+Far downtown, the five fishermen passed through the storeroom and
+entered another hall. They walked through this to the end, making not
+the slightest noise. Each man held a vapor gun in his hand and was
+prepared to use it if occasion demanded.
+
+At the end of the hall, another door was opened with a duplicate key one
+of the men took from his pocket. The five crept through, and closed the
+door again.
+
+"Two men on each floor, and one in the diamond room," the leader
+whispered. "Make sure that we get them all."
+
+The band scattered. Two remained on the lower floor, two started to the
+floor above, and one made his way toward the diamond room in the rear.
+Dim lights were burning here and there, and the men moved from shadow to
+shadow, noiselessly alert.
+
+On the lower floor, the two watchmen were eating their night luncheon.
+They sat close together, talking in low tones. A light was burning above
+the table upon which they had put their lunch boxes, but the spot could
+not be seen from the street through the windows.
+
+The Black Star's two men advanced carefully. One of them made a sign,
+transferred the vapor gun to his left hand, and took a bomb out of his
+pocket. He hurled it behind the two watchmen.
+
+They sprang to their feet, gasped, dropped. The two members of the Black
+Star's band turned away and darted to the foot of the stairs, ready to
+help their companions if help should be needed.
+
+On the second floor, the two watchmen were found separated and rendered
+unconscious immediately. The man who had gone toward the diamond room
+stopped just outside the door and peered in. The watchman inside
+evidently feared no interruption. He was sitting with his back to the
+open door, reading a newspaper.
+
+A shot from the vapor pistol, and he was unconscious. Three of the other
+four men hurried into the room. The other remained below, on guard at
+the end of the hall through which they had entered.
+
+Tools were taken from pockets, and work began on the door of the vault.
+Two of the band were experienced workmen in whom the Black Star took
+pride. They worked swiftly, yet thoroughly. They knew that opening the
+vault would take some time.
+
+On the lower floor the two watchmen remained stretched on the carpet.
+Presently, one of them opened his eyes, then raised his head and looked
+around carefully.
+
+It happened that he had inhaled very little of the vapor from the bomb.
+As he fell he had tottered to one side, and the draft from the nearest
+ventilator had carried the fumes away from him. He was a man who had
+read all the newspapers ever had printed concerning the Black Star's
+methods, and he guessed immediately what had occurred.
+
+He did not know with how many men he had to contend. He supposed they
+were raiding the diamond room, and that there were guards posted, but
+could not be sure. He listened intently, glanced around again. He saw
+nobody, heard nothing except a slight sound that came from the diamond
+room, the rasping of tools against steel.
+
+The watchman had been long in the service of the firm, and was a trusted
+man. But he also was an old man, and not very strong. He was not the
+sort to combat the Black Star's band single-handed, though he had a
+revolver in his pocket.
+
+But he was the sort who would take a chance to give an alarm. He glanced
+at his unconscious companion, looked around the room again, and started
+crawling slowly over the floor, a foot at a time.
+
+He came to the first aisle, and looked down it. There was nobody in
+sight. He crept along the counters, behind them, stopping now and then
+to listen. He was not making fast progress, but he was afraid to risk
+everything in the interests of speed.
+
+Finally he reached the end of the counter, and once more he looked
+around and listened. He could still hear the slight noise in the diamond
+room, but that was all. He had an open space of twenty feet to cross
+now, and he proceeded faster, and finally reached the door of a private
+office.
+
+He raised himself, opened the door noiselessly and entered. Then he
+sprang to his feet, locked the door, and darted to the telephone on the
+desk.
+
+He had expected to find the telephone useless, and was gratified that
+such was not the case. Once more he paused to listen, and then lifted
+the receiver from the hook, and put his lips close to the transmitter.
+
+"Number?" asked the girl at central.
+
+"Police headquarters--quick!"
+
+It seemed to him that he waited an eternity before the voice of the desk
+sergeant came to him over the wire.
+
+"Robbery!" he gasped. "Black Star's men!"
+
+"Where, man--where?" demanded the sergeant.
+
+The watchman gave the address.
+
+"This is one of the watchmen," he added. "The gas bomb didn't put me
+out, and I managed to crawl to the office. Hurry--hurry! They are in the
+diamond room now--I don't know how many of them! But hurry!"
+
+Then the old watchman sank into the chair before the desk, weak and
+trembling. He had done his part, and he could not do more. He took out
+his revolver, and tried to decide whether he should attack them. It
+would be better, he thought, to wait until the police came--they would
+not be long.
+
+Up in the diamond room the Black Star's men had opened the vault door,
+finally. They reached for three certain trays, and swept the diamonds
+from them. They had orders what to get and what to leave--the master
+rogue wanted only some stones recently received, one hundred superior
+stones upon which a high valuation had been placed by experts.
+
+With the gems in their pockets, they left the diamond room and closed
+the door behind them. They started down the hall to meet the men who had
+remained on guard.
+
+And suddenly they heard police sirens shrieking, and the front of the
+establishment was bathed in light.
+
+"The cops are on us!" one of them gasped.
+
+"We needn't worry if we can get through the basement wall and into the
+bakeshop. But we'll have to hurry," another replied, rushing along the
+hall.
+
+They darted down the stairs, closing and locking all the doors as they
+went, for they did not want the police to guess the manner of their
+entrance. The Black Star might have need of the baker in some other
+enterprise.
+
+They came to the wall and tapped upon it. The baker swung the little
+door open, and they stepped into the shop.
+
+"Cops all around the place!" he reported. "Must have been tipped off in
+some way. Where are the stones?"
+
+"Here!" one replied, and tumbled them on the table.
+
+Before the baker was a pan of dough. He worked swiftly, forming it into
+light biscuits--and into each biscuit he put diamonds. He put the
+biscuits into a pan, greased the tops of them, put the pan into one of
+the ovens.
+
+"Two bottles of beer there--open them!" he ordered in a whisper.
+
+One of the five fishermen obeyed. They poured the liquor out, drank a
+part of it, put their glasses down upon the table.
+
+There was bedlam in the streets now. The police had surrounded the
+block. They were battering at doors, and the old watchman was letting
+them in at the front entrance. A crowd already had started to gather.
+
+"Tight hole!" one of the fishermen said.
+
+"Not unless you lose your nerve!" the baker answered. "Beginning to get
+scared?"
+
+"I guess I've got as much nerve as the next man!"
+
+"Then show it!" the baker said. "Make a wrong plan, and all of us will
+be in trouble. They are sure to come in here in a minute or two."
+
+Verbeck and Muggs had entered the establishment with the chief. The old
+watchman told his story in a few words. Lights were turned on, and the
+place searched, and the unconscious men found. Then Verbeck hurried to
+the diamond room, with the others at his heels.
+
+The door of the vault was open. Empty trays were on the floor; and at
+the bottom of the vault was a sheet of white paper, upon which had been
+pasted a row of little black stars.
+
+"Looted!" the chief gasped. "But where can they be?"
+
+"Gone before we got here!" Muggs said.
+
+"The watchman says he heard them just as we came up. There are only two
+exits to the ground floor--the front door and the rear one--and no
+windows in the back large enough to permit a man to pass through."
+
+"And the back door is bolted on the inside--I investigated it," Verbeck
+said.
+
+"Then, where have they gone?" the chief cried. "This thing is getting on
+my nerves! But we've got the block surrounded, and every man inside the
+lines will give an account of himself."
+
+The search of the block began, and it was a methodical and thorough
+one. Building by building, room by room it went on, while the crowds
+gathered outside. The chief took up his station on a corner and received
+reports that were highly discouraging. It appeared that the master
+criminal's men had disappeared into thin air, or else had left the place
+before the police arrived.
+
+Verbeck and Muggs conducted an investigation of their own, but found
+nothing to help them.
+
+"This gets my goat, boss!" Muggs said. "I think it's a hoodoo to work
+with the cops."
+
+"I'm beginning to think that myself, Muggs," Verbeck replied. "The Black
+Star tricks the police, and when we are with them we get tricked, too.
+Beginning with to-morrow, Muggs, you and I tackle the job on an
+independent basis."
+
+"That's great, boss! And we'll get that big crook, too!"
+
+"We'll get him!" Verbeck promised.
+
+"And when we do, you turn your back for about five minutes, and let me
+handle him," Muggs begged. "I want to give him the sore throat, and give
+it to him bad!"
+
+"Maybe you'll get the chance," Verbeck said.
+
+Down in the bakeshop the five fishermen were making merry around the
+table. Upon them entered half a dozen policemen, a captain at their
+head.
+
+"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" the officer demanded,
+looking at them suspiciously.
+
+The five fishermen showed alarm in their faces. The baker rushed
+forward.
+
+"Why, they're friends of mine, captain," he said. "They're fishermen,
+and come up from the wharf now and then at night to have a little drink
+of beer with me. I've known them for years."
+
+"What are your names, and where do you live and work?" the captain
+asked.
+
+They were ready with that information. They had prepared it in advance;
+and, if their answers were investigated, they would stand the test.
+
+"Well, maybe you're all right, but we can't afford to take any chances,"
+the captain said. "The Black Star's gang has made a haul in the jewelry
+house on the other side of the block, and we're taking a good look at
+every man around here. You'll have to stand a search, or be taken in!"
+
+The five fishermen announced that they were willing to be searched. The
+search was carried out immediately. From their pockets were taken
+knives, bits of twine, chewing tobacco, soiled handkerchiefs--things one
+would expect to find in the pockets of such men. They had, of course,
+hidden their vapor guns and their drilling tools in a safe place under
+the cellar flagstones before the police came upon them.
+
+"Well, what are you hanging around here to-night for?" the captain
+demanded.
+
+"They just came up to have a little drink with me, and to get some fresh
+bread," the baker explained. "They are waiting for it now--fresh-bread
+and light biscuits. Jim, there, is a fiend for my light biscuits."
+
+As he finished speaking, the baker turned to his oven and opened the
+door. A delicious aroma streamed forth, and the men sniffed. Bread and
+biscuits were tumbled out, and the baker started wrapping them up.
+
+"What did that gang get in the jewelry store?" he asked the captain.
+
+"Don't know exactly--diamonds, I suppose. You men get your stuff and get
+out of here. I guess you're all right. How are you going to get home?"
+
+"We've got a launch down at the wharf," one of them replied. "She ain't
+much to look at, and ain't any race horse, but she does manage to get
+through the water a bit. Good enough for our business, I reckon."
+
+"Get your stuff and come along. I'll see you through the lines," the
+captain told them. "We'll have to search your shop, baker. I'll leave a
+couple of men to do that."
+
+"All right. But I ain't in the diamond business," the baker said,
+grinning.
+
+The captain opened the door and motioned for the five fishermen to pass
+him. He conducted them to the street and across it, and passed them
+through the lines. They went on toward the waterfront, talking loudly,
+swaggering and staggering a bit, jesting, and now and then singing a
+snatch of song.
+
+Four of them carried a loaf of bread each. The fifth man carried a dozen
+light biscuits beneath his arm.
+
+And in those biscuits was a fortune in diamonds!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+MUGGS SEES HIS MAN
+
+
+Again the morning newspapers carried full-page stories of the
+depredations of the Black Star and his band. Once more the police were
+called idiots, and demands were made that the chief resign. Sheriff
+Kowen was held up to scorn.
+
+The newspapers carried another story, too--that Roger Verbeck had had a
+quarrel with the chief of police over the way the fight against the
+Black Star was being conducted, had left police headquarters with Muggs,
+too angry to speak to the reporters, and had declared afterward, when
+seen at his apartment, that he was done. Why should he perform the
+duties of the police and at the same time submit to the abuse of the
+imbecile chief, he was said to have asked? As far as he was concerned,
+the Black Star could loot banks and private residences and conduct
+himself as he pleased. Roger Verbeck might, within a few days, take
+himself out of the city and remain until there was some resemblance of
+law and order again.
+
+The chief of police merely admitted that there had been trouble between
+himself and Verbeck, and said that he felt the police force capable of
+attending to its own affairs without any help from plain citizens, a
+remark that caused more than one caustic editorial.
+
+The Black Star had sent another letter to the newspapers, and it made
+interesting reading. It was as follows:
+
+     TO THE PUBLIC: I said I would purloin famous objects of art and
+     valuable jewels, and I have kept my word, as I always do. Some day
+     when I have time, and it will not imperil any of my people to do
+     so, I shall send a letter telling just how it was done.
+
+     My campaign against the city has been highly successful so far, and
+     I have no reason to believe it ever will be otherwise. The antics
+     of the police and the sheriff and his deputies are particularly
+     amusing to me; it would be more amusing if they were foemen worthy
+     of my steel.
+
+     I shall rest for a day, and two nights from now shall resume my
+     campaign. For the trouble I experienced during my incarceration,
+     the city must pay in full. I do not even care to state the nature
+     of my next exploit, but I guarantee that it will be sensational.
+     *****
+
+Roger Verbeck and Muggs slept until noon that day, then had breakfast
+and read the newspapers. Verbeck's face glowed when he read of the
+quarrel between the police and himself.
+
+"It may work, Muggs, and it may not," he said. "I fixed it up with the
+chief, and he certainly has done his part. The Black Star will have us
+watched for a few days, anyway, so we must be on our guard. But if he
+gets the idea that we are after him no longer, we may be able to pick up
+the trail."
+
+"It's a hoodoo to work with cops!" Muggs declared. He had small respect
+for the police, a state of mind that was a relic of the old days when
+he had fought against them himself.
+
+"Well, we'll see what we can do by working alone, Muggs. Have you
+anything to suggest?"
+
+"Only that we find his headquarters, catch the crook in 'em, and give
+him all that's comin' to him!" Muggs said.
+
+"That happens to be a large order, Muggs. If we can do those things,
+victory will perch on our banner."
+
+"I didn't know Victory was a bird," said Muggs. "In pictures they always
+make her a woman."
+
+"Muggs, that was a figure of speech--merely a manner of talking. Victory
+always perches on a banner, Muggs--don't forget it. I've read it a
+thousand times. Anything more to suggest?"
+
+"You'd better go and see your girl," Muggs told him. "You ain't been to
+see her for almost a week, and she'll be gettin' peeved at you."
+
+"I thought you hated the idea of me getting married."
+
+"I do, but it can't be helped," Muggs retorted. "And she's some girl, at
+that. Besides, boss, if I drive you over there, and around town a bit,
+it is just possible that we might spot somebody who belonged to that
+crook's old gang."
+
+"That's what I've been trying to do since he escaped, Muggs, and haven't
+had any luck," Verbeck said. "Get out the roadster."
+
+"Roadster?"
+
+"Yes; we shall not take Miss Wendell out with us. I'll visit her for a
+short time, and then we'll drive around town."
+
+Muggs got out the car, and ten minutes later was driving Roger Verbeck
+across the city to the apartment house that was the home of Faustina
+Wendell, Verbeck's fiancée. Verbeck watched the people on the streets as
+they rode along, and Muggs did when it was possible, but they failed to
+see anybody for whom they were looking.
+
+Verbeck hurried inside when the apartment house was reached, and Muggs
+crouched down behind the wheel, pulled his cap low over his eyes, and
+pretended to be half asleep. But he was scrutinizing every man and woman
+who passed the roadster.
+
+Muggs was rejoicing secretly because Verbeck had elected to work
+independently of the police. That meant that Muggs would play a more
+active part in the affair, and he was as eager for a large part as an
+actor in a stock company. Muggs craved adventure and excitement, and the
+lust of combat was strong within him.
+
+"I'd like to find the big crook!" he growled, as he watched the
+passers-by. "I'd like to find him with just the boss, and hand him a few
+and lug him off to jail and throw him in! Make fun of my boss in the
+newspapers, will he? The big stiff!"
+
+Muggs glanced toward the apartment house. He supposed that Verbeck would
+remain there about two hours instead of a few minutes, as he did
+generally.
+
+"I can't understand this love stuff!" Muggs said. "There's plenty of
+chances to fight without gettin' married. I suppose I'll have to keep
+dressed up all the time and stand in a corner after the boss gets back
+from his honeymoon. It's enough to make a man turn bad again! It's
+enough to----"
+
+Muggs suddenly ceased speculating on marriage and the status of a valet
+in a family. He had spotted a man walking along the street, on the
+opposite side. He turned his eyes and watched him, and his heart almost
+stood still.
+
+"Landers!" he gasped. "The Black Star's lieutenant--or anyway he was
+before. He's done somethin' to his face and hair, and he's fatter--but
+he's Landers. He's got a nerve paradin' the streets this way!"
+
+This was something that Verbeck should know! But Roger Verbeck was
+visiting Miss Wendell, and she lived on the tenth floor, and in a rear
+apartment, with her mother. It would take Muggs several minutes to get
+inside the house and telephone up, and Verbeck several minutes to get
+down to the roadster. And Landers was signaling a taxicab!
+
+Muggs darted inside the house and up to the desk.
+
+"I'm Mr. Verbeck's chauffeur!" he said. "He's visitin' Miss Wendell. You
+phone up that Muggs had to hurry away--that he saw a man. He'll
+understand!"
+
+Then Muggs dashed out to the street again, sprang into the roadster,
+started the engine, whirled the big machine around, and pursued the
+taxicab.
+
+"This is tough luck!" Muggs told himself. "It's a cinch that Landers
+knows this car. He'll spot it in a minute, if we get out of the heavy
+traffic! I wish I had the boss along!"
+
+The taxicab did not make good speed through the traffic, and Muggs
+remained about a third of a block behind it. After a time it turned into
+a cross street, and presently stopped before an exclusive hotel. Muggs
+swung the roadster to the curb. He saw Landers get out, pay the
+chauffeur, and disappear into the hotel.
+
+Muggs was out of the car instantly, and hurrying forward. He approached
+the entrance, and glanced in. Landers had not stopped at the desk, but
+had gone directly to an elevator. That meant that he was a guest, or a
+frequent visitor.
+
+When the elevator came down again, Muggs hurried over and spoke to the
+boy.
+
+"The gent that just rode up with you----" he began.
+
+"Mr. Smith?"
+
+"Maybe his name's Smith--I don't know. I just wanted to find out where
+he went--got a message for him--phoned it from the office over there."
+
+"He comes here to visit Miss Whaley and her elder sister," the boy
+explained. "You just ring up No. 256, and I guess you can get him."
+
+Muggs went across the lobby and into a telephone booth. But he did not
+call room 256. He called Verbeck at Miss Wendell's apartment, and got
+him on the wire.
+
+"I spotted Landers, boss!" he said. "I trailed him to the New Nortonia
+Hotel. He calls himself Smith here, and he visits a couple of women who
+call themselves Whaley; they're in room 256."
+
+"Great!" Verbeck cried. "Stay there until I come over, Muggs; I'll start
+right away."
+
+"Suppose he leaves before you get here, boss?"
+
+"Then trail him, Muggs, and telephone to me as soon as you can. I'll go
+back home if I miss you!"
+
+Muggs went out on the street again and got into the roadster. He moved
+the car a bit nearer the hotel, and then thought better of it and
+circled to the other side of the street. And there he remained, watching
+the entrance of the hotel.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+MUGGS MEETS DISASTER
+
+
+Muggs knew that it would take his master some time to get there from the
+apartment house, and he hoped that Landers would remain in the hotel
+until Verbeck arrived. Muggs began speculating, too, as to the identity
+of the two Misses Whaley. Probably they were members of the Black Star's
+organization.
+
+Muggs was doomed to disappointment. Before ten minutes had passed, he
+saw Landers come from the hotel and start walking up the street. Muggs
+wheeled the roadster, and followed slowly. Landers was on the opposite
+side.
+
+"I hope he don't look this way and spot me!" Muggs growled. "He sure
+would remember this car. There ain't another like it in town, and he saw
+plenty of it when we were after the big crook before. I sure hope he
+don't look this way!"
+
+It appeared that Muggs was to have his wish. Landers walked briskly down
+the street for three blocks, and then stepped to the curb. A big touring
+car was standing there, and Landers spoke to the chauffeur and sprang
+in. The car started down the avenue, and Muggs followed in the roadster.
+
+The touring car cut across the city, following the boulevards and
+keeping away from the busy streets, and it appeared to Muggs that the
+chauffeur was trying to make speed. After a time it turned into the
+street that led to the river drive, and the speed became higher.
+
+"Drivin' for his health, is he?" Muggs asked himself, and then answered:
+"Not any, he ain't. That bird's got all the health he needs. It's coin
+he's after--other folks' coin!"
+
+Mile after mile Muggs followed the car ahead, now creeping up closer
+when there was traffic, now dropping behind so there would be no
+suspicion that he was deliberately following. Muggs knew that the
+roadster he was driving could overhaul the other car at any time. He had
+made a note of the other car's number, too.
+
+Then they reached the pleasure resort, and the car ahead turned in.
+Muggs promptly followed.
+
+"Must be out for his health, after all," he mused. "Maybe he's goin' to
+meet some more of the gang out here. It'd be a good place at that, in
+all this crowd."
+
+On seeing Landers get out, he parked the roadster and followed his man.
+Landers walked down to the water front and watched the bathers. Muggs
+watched him from a corner where he could not be seen. He saw that
+Landers glanced around now and then, as if to search for some one, or to
+see whether there was an enemy near.
+
+Then Landers began walking along the shore of the river, and presently
+turned into a little grove and made his way toward a road that ran
+through the woods.
+
+"Now we get it!" Muggs said. "Here's where he meets some of the gang. I
+wish the boss was here!"
+
+Muggs followed him cautiously through the woods, careful not to attract
+attention. They came to a lane, and Landers turned down it, glanced
+around, and then began walking faster.
+
+Muggs remained in the woods, but followed as swiftly as he could. He
+managed to keep Landers in sight. After a time he saw his quarry leave
+the lane and plunge into the woods again, cut through them, and come out
+where there was a clearing and an old farmhouse in the midst of a grove
+of trees.
+
+Crouching behind a clump of brush, Muggs watched Landers stoop and pick
+up something. The man's back was turned and Muggs could not see what he
+was doing. Presently he got up, walked to the gate, stood there a
+moment, and then opened it and passed inside. He took great care, Muggs
+thought, to see that the gate was closed and latched again.
+
+The valet remained where he was for several minutes, and then crept
+forward under the brush until he reached the spot where he had seen
+Landers stoop. He felt around there--and found a telephone.
+
+"Ha!" Muggs said to himself. "This is a funny thing to find around here.
+He phoned before he opened that gate, too! I've got an idea that fence
+ain't a pleasant thing to touch, and I ain't goin' to try it until I
+know. I wish the boss was here!"
+
+He put the telephone back, crept on through the brush, and watched the
+house. There was nobody in sight.
+
+"I'll bet that's the big crook's headquarters, or one of his branches
+where he plans things," Muggs told himself. "And I ain't man enough to
+tackle it alone. The thing for me to do is get back and phone the boss,
+and get him out here with a gang!"
+
+Muggs started to back through the brush. He heard a step behind him,
+then whirled and tried to get to his feet. He found himself in the
+clutches of two men dressed as fishermen.
+
+In his younger days, Muggs had enjoyed a reputation for being an
+excellent rough-and-tumble fighter. He still retained some of his
+strength and all his knowledge of how to conduct such a combat. He
+uttered no word, but went into action.
+
+He kicked, struck, tried to bite and to get his thumbs into the eyes of
+one of his antagonists, ignoring all rules of fistic combat, striving
+only to be victor. But he found that he was fighting men who were used
+to such tactics.
+
+Back and forth across the ground they fought and wrestled, until Muggs'
+breath was coming in gasps, he was seeing red, and he felt his strength
+going. Another fisherman crashed through the brush and threw himself
+into the fray--and Muggs went down from a blow to his chin.
+
+He came back to consciousness to find two of the fishermen bending over
+him, one of them throwing water in his face. He struggled to get up, but
+they held him securely. Then he saw that he was not out of doors, but in
+the house.
+
+"No more fightin' for you just now!" one of the fishermen growled at
+him.
+
+"Let me up, and I'll show you!" Muggs said. "What you mean jumpin' me
+like you did?"
+
+"What do you mean by snoopin' around and investigatin' things you ain't
+got any business investigatin'?"
+
+"I don't remember investigatin' anything. Can't a man bum through the
+woods any more? Is there a law agin' it?"
+
+"There is in this particular section of the woods," the fisherman
+replied. "And you needn't try to run any bluff, either. We watched you
+lookin' at that telephone--and we was watchin' you before that,
+trailin' a man."
+
+"Yeh?" Muggs asked.
+
+"Yeh! And now you're goin' to do a little explainin'."
+
+"Let's see you make me!" Muggs exclaimed.
+
+"We ain't goin' to try to make yeh. There's another man to do that. You
+get up and we'll tie your hands behind your back, in case you want to
+get violent and beat somebody up. And if you start a fight again, we'll
+just wallop the everlastin' face off you. Get me?"
+
+They lifted Muggs up. He started to struggle, but was no match for them.
+They held him, and lashed his wrists together behind his back with fish
+cord. Then they thrust him along a narrow hall and to a door.
+
+One of them pressed a button, and Muggs heard a bell tinkle. Then a
+buzzer sounded.
+
+"In you go!" one of the fishermen said.
+
+They opened the door and thrust him forward, and he heard the door
+slammed behind him. Muggs blinked his eyes rapidly, for the hall had
+been half dark, and the apartment in which he now stood was lighted
+brilliantly.
+
+He saw a room with expensive furnishings. A long table was in the middle
+of it, heavy chairs were scattered around, and before him was a man
+dressed in a black robe, with a black mask on his face, and a flaming
+star of jet on his hood.
+
+"Greetings, my dear Muggs!" the Black Star said. "I regret it if some of
+my men handled you roughly, but then you are inclined to violence
+yourself."
+
+"You--you----" Muggs gasped.
+
+"Be seated, Muggs. You must be fatigued after your recent exertions. I
+understand that you put up a good fight."
+
+"I'll put up a better one if I ever get a chance at you!" Muggs growled.
+"I'll show you how to make fun of my boss in the newspapers! You _big_
+crook!"
+
+"That is not an insult, my dear Muggs, but a compliment. I flatter
+myself that I am a big crook. Please sit down."
+
+Muggs complied. He was still weak from the fight, and he felt that he
+wanted to gather what strength he could, for use in case an opportunity
+presented itself.
+
+"I understand that you followed a certain member of my organization,"
+the Black Star went on. "I have rebuked him for his carelessness. Since
+you have discovered my location, I cannot allow you your freedom, of
+course, and have you bring the police down upon me. I make it a point,
+as perhaps you learned before, to change my headquarters now and then.
+But I am very comfortable and safe here, and have no intention of moving
+for some time. So you are to be my guest, Muggs, until I do decide to
+move."
+
+"That's what _you_ say!" Muggs exclaimed.
+
+"I scarcely think you'll escape, Muggs, if that is what is in your mind.
+And, if you behave yourself, I may show you some very interesting
+things. I shall feed you well, Muggs, and give you plenty of cigarettes.
+What more can man desire? I do this because I admire your loyalty to
+your employer. Perhaps, if I keep you prisoner, and so inform him, he
+will exert himself and add spice to our little game. Mr. Verbeck hasn't
+betrayed any great amount of cleverness recently, you know."
+
+"Is that so?" Muggs retorted. "He could, if he wanted to, I guess! It
+looks as if you don't read the newspapers. My boss ain't in the game any
+more. He and the chief had a scrap!"
+
+"Oh, my dear Muggs! Give me credit for having some intelligence, and
+some clever people in my organization. I happen to know that it is all a
+trick--and not a very clever trick at that. I know the arrangement he
+made with the chief. Thought I'd take my eyes off him, didn't he? Utter
+rot!"
+
+"I tell you he had a scrap----"
+
+"If that is so--if Verbeck is no longer trying to capture me--why do you
+betray so much interest in my affairs?" the Black Star demanded. "Why
+did you follow my man to-day? Why did you trail him through the woods?
+Muggs, your story is weak."
+
+Muggs saw that it was, but he wasn't willing to admit it.
+
+"I didn't say I had quit, did I?" he asked. "Maybe I'm after you on my
+own hook. There's a fat reward up, ain't there?"
+
+"That's not at all clever, Muggs. But we need talk along this line no
+more. We understand each other, Muggs. You are my enforced guest for a
+time, and I trust that you'll appreciate my hospitality. If you start
+causing trouble, I shall be forced to descend to means I abhor--and use
+violence!"
+
+"You untie my hands and take off that fool robe, and I'll give you all
+the violence you want!" Muggs cried. "Maybe I can't fight half a dozen
+thugs of your gang, but I can handle you, all right, without any help!"
+
+"I fear that I must refuse to accept the challenge, Muggs. I have work
+to do, and it would be delayed if you happened to lay me up for a few
+days. Perhaps, some other time----"
+
+"Yellow streak!" Muggs taunted.
+
+"Take care!" the Black Star thundered angrily. "You may go too far, my
+man!"
+
+"Don't you 'my man' me! Even my boss don't do that, and no crook's goin'
+to! Not on your life!"
+
+"Then do not make me lose my temper," the Black Star said. "Go over to
+that couch and make yourself comfortable, Muggs. You may see and hear
+some interesting things. Since you are to be my guest for some time,
+until a certain thing is accomplished, I do not care how much you learn.
+I have an idea that some of my people are about to report."
+
+Muggs, a sudden gleam in his eye, got up and went over to the couch. It
+was like the Black Star to let him overhear orders and commands; and
+there always was a chance that he could escape and give the alarm. He
+needed rest now to gather his strength. He would wait, learn all that he
+could, catch the Black Star off guard as soon as possible, and effect an
+escape.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+IMPORTANT INFORMATION
+
+
+The Black Star watched him closely as he sat down on the couch and tried
+to make himself comfortable, which was a difficult thing for him to do
+with his wrists lashed behind his back.
+
+"Muggs," he said, "where did you pick up Landers?"
+
+"What you talkin' about?"
+
+"You know very well. You followed Landers out here, and some of my men
+saw you trailing him, saw you find the telephone. You know Landers well,
+for he was one of my old organization and escaped when Verbeck caught me
+and scattered my men."
+
+"What difference does it make?" Muggs asked. "I picked him up, didn't
+I?"
+
+"I give you credit for it, Muggs. But just where did you pick him up? If
+any of my men are careless, I want to know it. Was it Landers'
+carelessness or your cleverness?"
+
+"I saw the big stiff walkin' along the street and gettin' into an auto,
+and trailed him," Muggs said.
+
+"Very good!" replied the Black Star.
+
+Muggs felt sure that there was a note of keen satisfaction in the Black
+Star's speech, and he guessed the reason for it. The master crook
+thought Muggs meant that he had seen Landers getting into the touring
+car. He was worrying for fear Muggs knew of his visit to the hotel.
+
+"Some more of the gang there--them Whaley women!" Muggs told himself.
+
+A bell on the wall tinkled, and the Black Star hurried to one end of the
+room and pressed a button.
+
+"I must ask you to remain perfectly quiet, Muggs," he warned. "You may
+see all you like, since you'll never be able to give out the information
+soon enough to hurt my plans, but you must not speak when any of my
+people are in the room. Be good, Muggs, and I'll have your hands untied
+after a while."
+
+The door at the other end of the room was opened, and a robed and masked
+man came in and went to the blackboard. He regarded Muggs carefully, but
+the Black Star motioned for him to proceed.
+
+"Number Two," he wrote.
+
+"Countersign?"
+
+"Bennington."
+
+"Report," wrote the Black Star, and as Muggs watched they held their
+conversation on the blackboards, writing and erasing, neither speaking a
+word.
+
+"Invitation list includes all prominent and wealthy persons in the city
+and some from out of town," wrote Number Two.
+
+"Date remains the same?"
+
+"Yes; to-morrow night."
+
+"How about detectives?"
+
+"Four--two men and two women--from the usual agency. We cannot handle
+any of them by the customary means, but they will not be hard to get out
+of the way."
+
+"Make arrangements for doing so," wrote the Black Star. "If you need
+help, ask for it to-morrow morning. What arrangements have been made
+about refreshments?"
+
+"A caterer is to serve them. Two of the waiters are our men."
+
+"Good! Anything special regarding possible loot?"
+
+"Since it is such an affair, all the women are likely to wear their most
+expensive jewels," wrote Number Two. "Social rivalry that exists at
+present will tend toward this."
+
+"That is all for the present. Retire!"
+
+Number Two erased what was written, bowed, and backed through the door.
+The Black Star glanced at a little clock that stood on the table before
+him.
+
+"I have a few minutes before the next man reports, Muggs," he said, "and
+so I'll be glad to explain in part. I presume you have heard of our fair
+city's society leader, Mrs. Richard Branniton?"
+
+"Sure!" said Muggs.
+
+"She is giving quite an affair to-morrow evening at her palatial
+residence, Muggs. Her husband, if you happen to remember, was the
+district attorney who prosecuted me when I was on trial recently. At
+this reception and ball, she is to entertain two prominent diplomats who
+are visiting in the city. The cream of the city's wealth and society
+will be present, Muggs. It will be some party!"
+
+"Well, what about it? I ain't invited," Muggs growled.
+
+"You may be a guest at that, Muggs; I may take you with me."
+
+"Oh! You're invited, are you?" Muggs asked sarcastically.
+
+"No; but I am going. It isn't quite the thing to go to an affair to
+which you have received no invitation, yet I intend doing it, Muggs.
+There are times when I am not strictly conventional, as you may have
+guessed. I am going, Muggs--and I am going to take about twenty or
+thirty of my best men with me."
+
+"It'll sure be some party, then!"
+
+"There will be a few exciting moments, I doubt not. You see, Muggs, the
+ladies will wear fortunes in jewels--and I love jewels. Besides, they
+are worth money when properly marketed. I shall strip Mrs. Richard
+Branniton's guests of their precious jewels. This will injure that lady
+socially to a certain extent, and thereby hurt Mr. Branniton, who was
+quite nasty at the time of my trial."
+
+"He wasn't nasty enough!"
+
+"Oh, well, you are prejudiced, Muggs. And the jewels are not all, Muggs.
+We are going to abduct those two famous diplomats and hold them for
+ransom. Is not that a master stroke? I certainly am a big crook, am I
+not?"
+
+"You can't get away with it!" Muggs said.
+
+"Nonsense! We have a place prepared to which we shall take them. We have
+a method of collecting the ransom when it is paid--a safe method. And it
+will be paid, Muggs--two hundred thousand dollars for each man. You see,
+they are here on international business, and very important business at
+that. It will be necessary to secure their release at once. If it is not
+accomplished, there might be trouble with a certain other country. Oh,
+we have it all planned, Muggs, and the job will not be so difficult as
+others I have handled."
+
+"You go to monkeyin' with the government, and you'll get yours good and
+plenty!" Muggs warned him.
+
+"I fear no government, Muggs! I tell you, our plans are perfect. The
+ransom will be paid within three days."
+
+The Black Star went to the table, opened a drawer, and consulted a
+memorandum book. Again the little bell on the wall tinkled. Once more
+the Black Star pressed a button and a robed and masked man entered and
+stepped up to the blackboard.
+
+"Number Four," he wrote.
+
+"Countersign?"
+
+"Delaware."
+
+"Report," wrote the Black Star.
+
+"Lord Sambery and Sir Burton Banks will arrive to-morrow morning at ten
+o'clock and be taken at once to the Branniton residence. They will have
+luncheon there, and then be taken for a drive through the city."
+
+"How many will be in the party?"
+
+"Just the luncheon party--perhaps fifteen."
+
+"What else?" the Black Star wrote.
+
+"Diplomats will return to the Branniton residence and remain for the
+reception. Arrangements you ordered have been made."
+
+"Good!" the Black Star wrote. "Report at usual time to-morrow for
+additional orders. Retire!"
+
+The man bowed and backed through the door. The Black Star turned toward
+Muggs again.
+
+"Oh, it is a wonderful organization, my dear Muggs!" he said. "It is far
+more wonderful than the one I had before."
+
+"I ain't carin' much about it!" Muggs said. "These blamed cords are
+cuttin' my wrists, and my nose itches and I can't scratch it!"
+
+"Suppose I untie you?"
+
+"You'd better watch me, if you do."
+
+"Ah! That is what I thought," the master crook said. "You retain your
+violent nature, I see. One of these days you will realize the futility
+of it, Muggs."
+
+"I'll realize my life ambition by beatin' you up!" Muggs replied. "You
+goin' to take off these cords?"
+
+"Not that. But I'll have your wrists tied in front, so you will be able
+to scratch your nose," said the Black Star, chuckling.
+
+He opened the hall door and called two of the fishermen into the room.
+For some reason, it appeared, the fishermen did not wear robes and masks
+before the Black Star, and evidently did not care that Muggs saw their
+faces.
+
+The master rogue issued his orders, and the two men untied Muggs'
+wrists, lashed them again in front of him, and then hurried away.
+
+"Now you may scratch your nose," the Black Star said. "I suppose you'll
+be trying to free yourself, too. Allow me to tell you, Muggs, that you'd
+not get very far if you did."
+
+"I noticed Landers wait until the current was turned off that fence,"
+Muggs said.
+
+"Ah! You know about that, do you? But that is only one thing among many,
+my dear Muggs. I'd advise you to be a contented prisoner for the time
+being. You'll gain nothing by trying to escape."
+
+"Well, how long are you goin' to keep me here?"
+
+"Until I move to my next headquarters, I said."
+
+"And when'll that be?"
+
+"In two weeks possibly. Until then, Muggs, you must be one of us. When I
+move, I'll have you dropped somewhere in town, and you can tell Verbeck
+and the newspapers all you saw and heard. You'll be getting your picture
+on the front page, Muggs."
+
+Again the bell tinkled, and once more a robed and masked man entered and
+stepped to the blackboard. He gave his number and countersign.
+
+"Report," wrote the Black Star.
+
+"It is as you thought--Verbeck is still after us."
+
+"Anything more about Verbeck?"
+
+"He visited his fiancée this afternoon, and afterward took a taxi and
+got out at a busy corner. He remained there for some time, and then went
+home. He acted as if he was waiting for somebody."
+
+"Anything else?"
+
+"Verbeck's roadster is at the resort down the river, and has been there
+for several hours. We didn't see Verbeck."
+
+"His chauffeur left it there; that is his chauffeur on the couch," the
+Black Star wrote.
+
+The man at the other blackboard turned and regarded Muggs through the
+slits in his mask. Muggs knew what that meant. Here was a man who was
+not acquainted with him, but hereafter he would know Roger Verbeck's
+chauffeur when he saw him.
+
+"Anything else?" the Black Star wrote again.
+
+"Sheriff Kowen is swearing in more deputies, and some of them are
+experienced officers who have retired."
+
+"Anything from police headquarters?"
+
+"Nothing, sir, except that the chief is keeping in communication with
+Verbeck through some third person. We have not located this person yet."
+
+"Do so as soon as possible, and let me know the result over the
+telephone," the Black Star wrote. "That is all!"
+
+The masked man bowed and backed through the door. Once more the master
+crook faced Muggs.
+
+"You see, my dear Muggs, I find out everything," he said. "I could tell
+you what Roger Verbeck had to eat at breakfast this morning. How can a
+man like Verbeck expect to win against an organization such as mine?"
+
+"He'll win, all right!" Muggs growled. "He'll get you before he quits!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+ON THE TRAIL
+
+
+Having received Muggs' startling telephone message that he was trailing
+Landers, the master crook's trusted lieutenant, Roger Verbeck left his
+fiancée, hurried from the apartment house, engaged a taxicab, and had
+the chauffeur drive him to the New Nortonia Hotel as quickly as
+possible.
+
+He got out of the cab half a block away from the hotel entrance, and
+looked around for the roadster and Muggs, but failed to find them.
+Verbeck's enthusiasm began to die instantly. He had hoped to find Muggs
+still there, to join him, possibly to follow Landers until he met more
+of the gang.
+
+For half an hour Verbeck loitered around the corner, and then he decided
+that Muggs had been forced to go on alone, that Landers had left the
+hotel and Muggs had been afraid to remain behind, lest he lose his man.
+So Verbeck went home to await another telephone message, as he had told
+Muggs he would do.
+
+At the end of an hour, he had received no message. He paced the floor,
+consumed several cigarettes, and began worrying a bit about it. That
+Muggs was the sort of man to rush into trouble, Verbeck knew well. Muggs
+was inclined to fight first and think about things afterward. If Muggs
+had located Landers, and Landers did not know it, there were several
+possibilities.
+
+Muggs might have followed the Black Star's lieutenant to the master
+crook's headquarters, or been decoyed to some other place and made
+prisoner. It was the silence of Muggs that bothered Roger Verbeck.
+Surely he could have managed to get to a telephone within an hour,
+Verbeck thought.
+
+Verbeck waited for another hour, and still had received no message from
+Muggs. He called a certain number himself, and spoke at length to the
+man who answered him, and who would relay the message to the chief of
+police by word of mouth.
+
+"Muggs spotted one of the Black Star's men and started to follow him,"
+Verbeck said. "He hasn't reported to me since. Tell the chief to have
+all the men on the force look for my roadster, as Muggs was driving it.
+Muggs may need help. And wherever that roadster is found, some of the
+Black Star's men may be in the neighborhood. Understand? Possibly Muggs
+has not had a chance to communicate with me. He may be a prisoner."
+
+Roger Verbeck continued to pace the floor of his living room and wait.
+Half an hour afterward his telephone bell rang, and he hastened to
+answer, hoping that the call was from Muggs, and that it would lead to
+the apprehension of the Black Star or some of his people.
+
+"Mr. Verbeck?" asked a voice.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Good afternoon. I trust that you are in excellent health. This is the
+Black Star speaking!"
+
+"Well, what do you want?" Verbeck growled.
+
+"Aren't you rather discourteous this afternoon? I have important news
+for you, too. Your man, Muggs is making me an extended visit at my
+headquarters. That is what I wished to let you know. He followed a
+member of my band, and stumbled upon the place. Some more of my men
+subdued him. I must keep him here now, of course, but I shall take good
+care of him, I assure you."
+
+"You'd better!" Verbeck said.
+
+"And your splendid roadster, Mr. Verbeck--Muggs was driving it, as you
+know. I have had one of my men take it downtown and leave it in front of
+the public library. You'd better hurry there and get it, or you'll be
+fined for leaving it standing in the street so long. I couldn't leave it
+where Muggs deserted it, you know; that might have given a clew to my
+whereabouts."
+
+Then the Black Star terminated the conversation abruptly, and Roger
+Verbeck slammed the receiver into its hook. Verbeck had hoped that the
+discovery of his roadster would put the police and himself on the right
+trail.
+
+Once more Verbeck called the go-between, and had the chief of police
+informed of his conversation with the Black Star. Then he called the
+office of the sheriff.
+
+"That you, Kowen?" he asked. "This is Roger Verbeck. It has been given
+out, as you know, that I am no longer working with the police, and I am
+not certain whether the Black Star believes it, or not, though I
+scarcely think that he does. So I don't want to call on the police for
+help just now. I wish you'd hurry right up here to my place, Kowen. I've
+got an important clew. And have one of your men go to the corner by the
+New Nortonia Hotel and wait there for us, will you? We may need him."
+
+"I'll send a good man there, and I'll be with you in fifteen minutes!"
+Kowen declared.
+
+The sheriff was as good as his word. A quarter of an hour later he was
+sitting before the table in Verbeck's living room, puffing at a cigar
+Verbeck had given him.
+
+"Well, Verbeck, what's the idea?" he wanted to know. "If you've got a
+clew to that crook's whereabouts, for Heaven's sake let's get busy on
+it. If we don't land him pretty quick, the dear public will be running
+us out of town."
+
+"I visited my fiancée this afternoon," Verbeck said, "and left Muggs
+sitting in the roadster. A few minutes later, the clerk in the apartment
+house telephoned up to me that Muggs had said to tell me he had seen a
+man, and would call me later.
+
+"I knew what that meant, of course. We had been watching continually for
+some of the Black Star's old people. So I waited eagerly for his
+message, and finally it came. The man he had been trailing was Landers,
+one of the Black Star's trusted lieutenants. Muggs said he had gone to
+the New Nortonia Hotel, and was visiting a couple of women named Whaley,
+who had room 256 there."
+
+"Some clew!" said the sheriff.
+
+"Wait! I told Muggs I'd be right over, but that if Landers left the
+hotel to follow him and call me at home later. When I got over there,
+Muggs was gone. I came home, and waited a couple of hours, but got no
+message from him. Finally the Black Star called me up. He said he had
+Muggs at his headquarters and would keep him a prisoner for a time.
+Muggs stumbled into some sort of a trap, it seems. We don't know where
+the crook's headquarters are, of course. But I'm inclined to
+investigate room 256, at the New Nortonia Hotel, sheriff. What do you
+think about it?"
+
+"I should say we will investigate it!" Kowen declared. "If the Black
+Star's lieutenant visits the people in that room, I want to know who
+those people are."
+
+"Muggs said they were two sisters named Whaley. That means nothing, of
+course. They probably belong to the Black Star's gang. They may be
+important, or they may be merely mediums through whom members of the
+band receive messages and orders from one another. Now, we want to go
+about this thing carefully, sheriff. We ought to investigate, but we
+don't care to have them know of it until we learn all there is to be
+learned."
+
+"I get the idea," the sheriff agreed. "Let's go!"
+
+"We'll wait until after dark--which will not be more than a couple of
+hours," Verbeck said. "I'll have some dinner sent up here, and that will
+help kill the time. I visit that hotel now and then myself--have a
+bachelor friend who lives there. So the clerk and elevator boy will
+think nothing of it if we go right up without being announced. You leave
+the little details for me, Kowen. All I want is your official
+support--and your good right arm, of course, in case we get into a bit
+of trouble."
+
+"You can have 'em both!" the sheriff said.
+
+Verbeck ordered the dinner, and the sheriff indulged in a moment of
+luxury. Never before had he smoked such cigars or eaten such food. Being
+a young man of fortune was a good thing, Kowen decided. He didn't see
+why Roger Verbeck should go around trying to round up a master crook
+when he was so comfortable at home.
+
+Night descended, and they left the apartment and the building by means
+of a rear stairs. Verbeck explained that it was probable that the Black
+Star had somebody watching the place.
+
+"We don't want them to think we know anything about that hotel," he
+said. "We may lose our chance to nab some of them if they get an idea we
+are on the right trail."
+
+They walked through back streets, keeping in the shadows as much as
+possible, and finally reached the hostelry. There, of course, they had
+to enter boldly. Verbeck nodded to the clerk and hurried to the elevator
+with the sheriff at his heels. They ascended to the fourth floor, where
+Verbeck's friend, Lawrence, lived.
+
+"We're here on business connected with a gentleman known to fame as the
+Black Star, Lawrence," Verbeck said, finding his friend in his suite.
+
+"Good Lord! Think I'm a member of his gang?" Lawrence asked.
+
+"Scarcely, or we'd not be taking you into our confidence," Verbeck
+replied. "Be a good boy, now, and help us, will you?"
+
+"Surely! That big crook nipped my aunt's diamonds the last time he was
+on a rampage, and she never got them back. Just give me a chance at him.
+Those stones were to have been mine some day."
+
+"In that case, you probably want revenge," said Verbeck, laughing. "Now,
+answer a few questions. You've lived here for three or four years and
+should know something about the place."
+
+"I know all about it," Lawrence said.
+
+"Where is room 256?"
+
+"Ah! I had that room when I first came here, before I could get a suite.
+It's on the second floor, directly beneath us a couple of stories, with
+a fire escape running past its principal window."
+
+"Of course there would be a fire escape," said Verbeck. "There are times
+when fire escapes are handy things. Lawrence, do you know the people who
+have that room now? I understand a couple of sisters live there--Whaley
+by name."
+
+"I've seen one of them many times--sour-looking old girl about forty.
+Freeze you with a glance, and all that sort of thing--one of those women
+a man always dodges."
+
+"Sure she is about forty?"
+
+"Great Scott, don't I know the sex? Can't I guess a woman's age nine
+times out of ten? Aren't half the girls in town mad at me now because I
+always insist on doing it, and telling the truth about my guesses? She's
+forty, and she's fat--not plump, but fat--and she always looks as if she
+was ready to bite."
+
+"Well, that description doesn't mean anything in my young life," Verbeck
+said. "I had hoped for something different. How about the other sister?"
+
+"I've glanced at her a couple of times, but I haven't seen her at all
+recently. Maybe she's ill."
+
+"What does she look like--that's what I want to know."
+
+"Um!" said Lawrence. "Grace of a gazelle, my boy. Would have made
+advances, my boy, if the other hadn't frozen me with a glance."
+
+"Hair?"
+
+"Auburn--distinct auburn, the shade I most prefer--and plenty of it.
+Eyes, a sort of gray--don't know exactly what you'd call 'em. And the
+girl can wear clothes. There's a subtle perfume about her, my boy----"
+
+"And you only glanced at her a couple of times, eh? How old do you say
+she is?" Verbeck asked.
+
+"Thirty," Lawrence replied. "Five feet six; weighs about a hundred and
+twenty-five, has magnificent shoulders----"
+
+"I knew it!" Verbeck cried.
+
+"Can you place her?" Kowen asked.
+
+"It is only a guess, of course," said Verbeck. "But I think I know who
+she is. And I'm sure you'd be interested in meeting her, Kowen. You'll
+take such a fancy to her that you'll probably want to take her to jail
+and put her into a cage. Kowen, is that man of yours at the corner, do
+you suppose?"
+
+"If he isn't, he'll be fired pretty quick!"
+
+"Go out and find him, and plant him beneath that fire escape. Tell him
+to nab anybody, man or woman, who tries to go down it. A person can go
+down that escape to the parlor on the first floor, you know, step
+through a window there, and walk out the front door of the hotel. Then
+you hurry right back here, Kowen."
+
+The sheriff grasped his hat and hurried from the suite. Verbeck lighted
+a cigarette, looking toward the ceiling and smiled.
+
+"I say, what is this all about?" Lawrence demanded. "Let me in on it,
+will you? I haven't had a bit of excitement for ages. I'm getting stale,
+man."
+
+"Callow youths such as yourself should not run into danger," Verbeck
+explained.
+
+"Confound it, I'm no callow youth. I'm only three years younger than
+you."
+
+"But I have had experience, Lawrence. Restrain yourself for a few
+minutes, and you may see some excitement. But don't ask questions at the
+present time. I hate answering questions. We must wait until the sheriff
+comes back."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+A TENSE MOMENT
+
+
+Sheriff Kowen located his deputy instantly, and gave the man his orders.
+Then the sheriff showed that there was real stuff in him. He did not
+turn around and reënter the hotel by the main door. It had occurred to
+him that, if any of the Black Star's men were on watch, they might get
+suspicious if they saw him around the place too much.
+
+Kowen walked down the street, entered a cigar store, made a purchase,
+and sauntered on around the block. He darted into the alley and reached
+the rear of the hotel building, and went in at the servants' entrance
+when he was sure that he was not being observed.
+
+He exhibited his badge to the first man he met, and was shown how to
+reach the rear stairs. By this means he mounted to the fourth floor and
+so reached Lawrence's suite again.
+
+"My man's ready," he reported to Verbeck. "If anybody gets down that
+fire escape and away, it'll be peculiar. That man can handle bad ones as
+easily as others handle infants."
+
+"What are you going to do?" Lawrence inquired.
+
+"The sheriff and I are going to investigate room 256 and the inhabitants
+thereof," Verbeck replied. "We are going to walk up to the door and
+knock. If we find, when the door is opened, that we have made a
+mistake, we shall apologize and say something about knocking at the
+wrong door. If we find that we have not made a mistake, there probably
+will be fireworks."
+
+"I always did like fireworks," Lawrence said. "Do I get to see these?"
+
+"You may look from your window all you please," Verbeck said. "But we
+can't have you with us just now. There may be nothing in this, and there
+may be a lot. Ready, sheriff?"
+
+"You know it!" the sheriff answered.
+
+"Allow me to suggest that you put your revolver in your coat pocket, and
+put your hand in the same pocket and grasp the revolver. Don't show the
+weapon, of course, until we are sure that we are right. We don't want to
+frighten innocent persons, if it can be avoided."
+
+"Who do you think is in that room, Verbeck?" Kowen asked.
+
+"Let us see!" Verbeck replied.
+
+Ignoring Lawrence's demand that he be allowed to accompany them, they
+left the suite and walked slowly down the stairs. They reached the
+second floor, and went along the hall until they reached No. 256. There
+they stopped, listened. They could hear somebody talking inside.
+
+Verbeck knocked smartly and then stepped close to the door, the sheriff
+at his side. The voices within were stilled, but nobody answered.
+Verbeck knocked again, and suddenly the door was thrown open.
+
+Sheriff Kowen gasped, and his revolver was whipped from his pocket.
+Roger Verbeck merely chuckled. The woman who had opened the door gave a
+little screech and tried to close it again, but Verbeck's foot
+prevented. They thrust her back, stepped inside, and closed the door
+behind them.
+
+"Good evening, Miss Blanchard!" said Sheriff Kowen. "I tell the truth
+when I say that I am delighted to see you!"
+
+"And it is some time since I have had the pleasure of greeting The
+Princess," Verbeck added. "Pardon the peculiar manner of this call, but
+we felt that it was necessary."
+
+The face of the woman before them had gone white, and now it flushed.
+She stepped backward into the room as they advanced. Sitting near the
+window was another woman--fat and forty--and she sprang to her feet.
+
+"What is the meaning of this intrusion?" she cried. "I shall call the
+office----"
+
+"Calm yourself, madam!" Verbeck told her. "I have not the pleasure of
+your acquaintance, but I find you in bad company, and that is
+sufficient."
+
+"Yes, and I've got a couple of dandy cells down at the county jail!" the
+sheriff said. "They're all cleaned and waiting for you. Hot and cold
+water, and eats three times a day. I've stopped raiding gambling dens
+for the moment and am taking up another line of work."
+
+He glared at Mamie Blanchard, who was standing close to the table and
+glaring back at him.
+
+"Sit down, Miss Blanchard!" Verbeck said. "We are going to have a short
+conversation. And kindly do not attempt any foolish move. I dislike to
+fight a woman, but at times it seems to be necessary."
+
+Mamie Blanchard sat down. Verbeck could tell, by glancing at her face,
+that she had regained her composure--that she was clever, dangerous, a
+woman to be watched closely.
+
+"Well, what is it?" she demanded.
+
+"I don't suppose you'll do as I ask, but I am going to give you a
+chance," Verbeck said. "I want some information about the Black Star."
+
+"I don't know anything about him. I was in his old gang, as you are
+aware. I supposed you had come to arrest me for that. He didn't see fit
+to include me in his new organization, because you knew me, I suppose."
+
+"That statement is not at all clever of you," said Verbeck. "You are
+talking to men who know better. You helped engineer his escape, didn't
+you?"
+
+"Since you know, I did. That is, I got the sheriff to raid the gambling
+house, and decoyed him to the little cottage. The Black Star gave me
+that much to do because I needed money. But that is all."
+
+"You mean your work for him is done?" Verbeck asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You're not in touch with him any more?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Um! And yet Landers, his trusted lieutenant, is a frequent visitor
+here."
+
+"Perhaps that is for personal reasons," said Mamie Blanchard. "We saw
+each other a great deal when we were in the old gang, and we are--well,
+interested in each other to a certain extent."
+
+"I wish that I could believe your story of a fond romance, but I am
+afraid that I cannot," Verbeck said. "Let us put the cards on the table.
+You know, Miss Blanchard, that it is only a question of time when the
+Black Star will be recaptured and his band scattered or sent to jail.
+It will go easier with you personally if you give me the information I
+desire; and please do not waste time and breath by saying that you do
+not know. Where is the Black Star's headquarters?"
+
+"I don't know--and that is the truth."
+
+"Possibly it is the truth, but you report to him through somebody. I
+suppose it is Landers, since he calls here so much. When will Landers be
+here again?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"What do you know about the Black Star's plans for the future?"
+
+"I don't know anything about them," said Mamie Blanchard.
+
+"She knows, all right, but she'll not talk," the sheriff declared.
+"Might as well haul them both to jail, I guess. There's an old charge
+against this Blanchard woman, and we can hold the other on suspicion
+while we make an investigation."
+
+"You dare take me to jail!" shouted the fat-and-forty lady.
+
+"Tut, tut!" said Sheriff Kowen.
+
+The sheriff did not take his eyes off Mamie Blanchard. He was aware that
+she was clever, and he was watching for her to make some move. He
+watched her hands particularly.
+
+Verbeck bent forward in his chair again. "It will be a great deal better
+for you to talk," he cautioned.
+
+"I've said all that I am going to say!" Mamie Blanchard declared. "If
+you want to take me to jail, take me! The Black Star will get me out,
+and he'll take pay from the city because I was arrested!"
+
+"You think you can bluff me with a speech like that?" Kowen demanded.
+"Not in the least, young woman! You do not seem to appreciate what you
+are facing."
+
+"And you," she said, "do not seem to appreciate what is behind you at
+this moment!"
+
+"Trying to get me to turn around, so you can make some sort of a move,
+are you?" the sheriff asked. "That's old stuff--telling a man to look
+behind him."
+
+"There is something behind you, all right," she said.
+
+A man's voice greeted them from the rear.
+
+"I've got both of you covered! Drop that gun, sheriff!"
+
+Both the sheriff and Verbeck suddenly felt something pressing against
+the backs of their necks. Each knew what it was--the muzzle of a weapon.
+
+"Drop it!" said the voice again.
+
+The sheriff dropped his gun. He knew it was the only thing to do when
+another man had the drop on him.
+
+"Sit still! Don't turn around!" said the voice again.
+
+Suddenly the air about the two men was filled with pungent fumes. Their
+heads dropped forward. Once more a vapor gun had done its work, and done
+it instantly and well.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Roger Verbeck and Sheriff Kowen returned to consciousness to find that
+they were bound and gagged and lashed to chairs placed against the wall.
+The two women were still in the room. Landers was there, too.
+
+"You fail again, Verbeck," he said. "You must be losing your
+cleverness, as the Black Star says. You enter a room as you entered
+this, and sit down and turn your back upon a closet without examining it
+first. It was very easy to overcome you after that. I didn't look for
+any brains in the sheriff, of course, but I did in you.
+
+"The question now is what to do with you. We have been discussing it
+while you were unconscious. Had I my way, you'd be put where you'd
+bother us no longer, but the Black Star will not countenance that sort
+of violence. He is tender-hearted in some things, as you know.
+
+"It appears that you have discovered our little retreat here, and so we
+cannot remain. These ladies will have to go out with me, without even
+taking their clothes and toilet articles, and not return. It is a
+nuisance to find another hiding place, but there are plenty of them in
+the city. We shall have to leave you here, of course. I promise to
+telephone the hotel later, and have you released.
+
+"Thought you'd get some information, did you? Let me tell you, Roger
+Verbeck, that you'll never catch the Black Star this time. And he'll
+strip the city before he is through. He has planned something for
+to-morrow night that will not only startle the city, but the entire
+country as well. There is not a chance in the world of you or the police
+or the sheriff's force preventing it--or doing anything after it has
+been accomplished."
+
+Landers motioned to the women, and they went to the closet for hats and
+cloaks.
+
+"I don't see the sense of leaving everything," Mamie Blanchard said. "We
+can say at the office that I am going away for a few days, but that my
+sister will remain. They'll think that you are merely taking me to the
+train. At least, I can take a bag. I can put a lot of things in that."
+
+"Very well; perhaps that would be best," Landers agreed. "Take your
+time, my dear. There is no need to rush things. We are not likely to be
+disturbed here. You'd better put on a heavy veil, too. There may be a
+deputy or two around the hotel, and some of them might recognize you.
+I'll telephone for a taxi just before we go down."
+
+The two women began packing the bag, while Landers turned his back on
+his prisoners, went to the window and looked down at the street.
+
+Verbeck and the sheriff glanced at each other helplessly. There was
+small chance that they would be able to trail Landers and the women if
+they got away now; and after this they would keep in hiding better. It
+appeared that the Black Star's good luck was with him yet.
+
+Verbeck tugged at his bonds, but knew instantly that there was small
+hope of freeing himself. If he did, Landers held the advantage. But it
+was Verbeck's idea that he could get free at least soon after the others
+left the room, and make an effort to trace them.
+
+Landers turned away from the window.
+
+"Verbeck, your man trailed me this afternoon," he said. "He saw me come
+into this hotel, I suppose, and found out what room I visited. He's out
+at the Black Star's headquarters now, a pampered guest; but when I get a
+chance, I'm going to give him what's coming to him. He was the cause of
+my getting a rebuke from the Black Star."
+
+"I wish you'd rap that sheriff on the head," Mamie Blanchard remarked.
+"He's a nuisance!"
+
+"The Black Star will not stand for work like that, and you know it,"
+Landers replied. "Besides, the sheriff is harmless; we have little to
+fear from him."
+
+Sheriff Kowen's face grew purple with wrath, and he gurgled behind his
+gag.
+
+Mamie Blanchard was packing the bag, and her stout companion was
+gathering the things to put into it. Verbeck continued working at the
+bonds about his wrists. The cords were cutting through the flesh, but he
+did not desist. He knew that every second would be precious as soon as
+Landers and the two women left the room.
+
+He stopped for an instant, because the exertion was tiring him, and his
+wrists pained so much. He saw that Kowen was trying to get free, too,
+and knew that he was making a failure of it. Landers had done his work
+well; it was evident that the man was an expert at binding and gagging.
+
+Presently Landers came over, inspected their bonds, and laughed.
+
+"You are only mutilating your wrists, Mr. Verbeck," he said. "I assure
+you that you will be unable to get free. I promise to call up the hotel
+within an hour or so, and tell them to come up and release you. It will
+get into the newspapers, of course--and the public will have another
+laugh at your expense--but you should be used to that by this time, you
+and the sheriff both. The town should give us credit for handing them a
+laugh now and then, as well as thrills."
+
+The sheriff gurgled behind his gag again.
+
+Verbeck looked past him to the window at which was the landing of the
+fire escape. He saw a shadow there, and looked away. Then he glanced
+back again, a new hope born in his breast. Once more he observed a
+shadow, and then a man's face showed for an instant as he peered inside.
+The man was his friend, Lawrence.
+
+Lawrence had fussed and fumed for ten minutes after Verbeck and the
+sheriff had left. He had opened the window by the fire escape, and had
+looked down. The shade at the window in the room on the second floor was
+only partially drawn, and Lawrence could see the light streaming out.
+
+"Wonder what those chaps are up to?" he asked himself. "Mean of Verbeck
+not to let me in on it. Ought to hear some sort of an explosion soon, I
+fancy. Maybe there'll be a row--give the hotel a bad name--beastly
+mess!"
+
+He waited for half an hour longer, hanging out of the window and
+watching below. He saw nothing, heard nothing. At the foot of the fire
+escape a man was standing--the sheriff's deputy.
+
+Then the lust for adventure was born in Lawrence's bosom. He chuckled at
+the very idea. He opened the window wider, and got out on the landing of
+the fire escape.
+
+He began slowly descending the ladder, round by round, passed the
+landing on the third floor, and continued to the second. He went close
+to the window, and looked in.
+
+He saw the sheriff and Roger Verbeck bound and gagged and lashed in
+their chairs. He saw Landers walking around the room, a revolver in his
+hand, and the two women packing the bag.
+
+"Great Scott!" he breathed. "Verbeck and Kowen seem to have come a
+cropper! Prisoners, eh? Ought to give them a bit of help, I suppose.
+Can't let that other chap get away with this, of course."
+
+Landers walked toward the window, and Lawrence drew back from it. He
+waited a moment, then glanced in again--and met Verbeck's eyes. Lawrence
+nodded his head. He went to the end of the fire-escape landing and
+looked down at the deputy, who had been watching him carefully,
+remembering his orders. He took a notebook from his pocket, and a pencil
+from another, and scribbled a message:
+
+     Come up quick! Man and two women in room have Verbeck and sheriff
+     bound and gagged. They are packing bag and preparing to leave. I
+     can't tackle this alone. I'm Verbeck's friend, Lawrence. Either
+     come up the fire escape or go inside and to room 256 and nab them
+     at the door, and I'll watch here.
+
+He tossed the note down, and the deputy picked it up and read it. The
+deputy was not certain just what to do. If he went inside the hotel he
+would disregard the sheriff's orders, which had been to watch the fire
+escape. So the deputy decided to climb.
+
+He sprang up and caught the bottom of the iron ladder, reached the first
+landing, and worked his way up, watching Lawrence closely, a weapon held
+ready if Lawrence proved to be foe instead of friend. Lawrence glanced
+inside the room again, and gestured to Verbeck that he had reason to
+hope.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+ON THE ROOF
+
+
+Lawrence peered through the window again, as the deputy made his way up
+the fire escape. The two women were putting on their hats and veils.
+Landers had stepped before Verbeck and Sheriff Kowen again, and was
+speaking to them.
+
+"I shall report all this to the Black Star," he was saying, "and he will
+take great pleasure in relating it to the newspapers. We must give the
+dear public another chance to laugh, as I said before. I regret that the
+chief of police is not with you."
+
+Just then the deputy reached the landing of the fire escape, and looked
+at Lawrence closely.
+
+"We haven't any time to lose," Lawrence whispered. "Look inside the
+room."
+
+Lawrence, realizing that the deputy was suspicious of him, stepped back,
+and the other man took a step forward and glanced through the window.
+
+"I want to get in on this; Roger Verbeck is a friend of mine!" Lawrence
+declared. "What are we going to do?"
+
+He looked through the window again as he spoke. Mamie Blanchard had
+picked up the bag and stepped to the door. The older woman was following
+her. Landers was preparing to leave.
+
+"Don't worry, gentlemen," he was saying. "I'll notify the hotel to
+release you within an hour or so, I'll turn out the lights, of course."
+
+The deputy waited no longer. He appeared to be convinced now that
+Lawrence was acting in good faith. He sprang forward, thrust his foot
+through the window, kicked at the glass repeatedly, rolled up the shade
+and sprang into the room. Lawrence was only a pace behind him, and eager
+for the fray.
+
+Landers and his companions had whirled around at the first crash of the
+glass. One of the women screamed. Landers cursed, sprang to the light
+switch, and snapped off the lights. The door was hurled open, and the
+two women fled into the hall. Landers fired one shot from the vapor gun,
+sprang after them, stopped long enough to turn the key in the lock on
+the outside, and hurried after his female confederates to the elevator.
+
+Lawrence and the deputy charged across the room, trying to keep from
+breathing, from inhaling those poisonous fumes. The deputy hurled
+himself at the door in an effort to break it down. But it was well
+braced against the woodwork outside, and resisted his efforts.
+
+Lawrence staggered back to the window and took great gulps of the fresh
+air. Then he whirled around again, turned on the lights and began
+fumbling at Verbeck's bonds. Verbeck and the sheriff were weak, but the
+fumes of the vapor gun had not rendered them unconscious. The draft from
+the broken window had prevented that.
+
+Lawrence tore the gags from the mouths of the bound men, and worked at
+the fastenings again.
+
+"Down the fire escape!" Kowen shrieked to his deputy. "They called for a
+taxi. If you see a cop, get him to help. We'll be after you in a
+minute!"
+
+The deputy darted to the window, and went down the fire escape with the
+agility of a monkey. Verbeck and Kowen, freed of their bonds at last,
+got upon their feet. Since it seemed impossible to break down the door
+leading to the corridor, Verbeck hurled himself against the one opening
+into an adjoining room. It crashed in, and they staggered into the
+apartment, startling a man who was dressing there.
+
+"Officers--after crooks!" Kowen gasped.
+
+They flung the hall door open, and rushed out. Lawrence was not far
+behind them. Verbeck ran at once to the elevators and glanced at the
+indicators above the doors.
+
+"All at the bottom except one--and that is almost at the top," he
+gasped. "They surely haven't had time to get to the ground floor, unless
+they just happened to catch an elevator on the fly, or else went down
+the stairs."
+
+The sheriff made no reply; already he was dashing down the wide, marble
+stairs. He reached the floor below, gave the lobby a single glance, and
+then hurried to the elevators.
+
+"Two women and a man just come down?" he asked.
+
+"Nobody's come down for the last ten minutes or so," the starter
+replied. "What's the row?"
+
+The deputy had charged in from the street.
+
+"They haven't come this way!" he said. "The taxicab is still waiting for
+them in front."
+
+"Around to the alley!" the sheriff commanded. "Watch every exit there!"
+
+The hotel manager was on the scene by this time.
+
+"What is the disturbance about?" he demanded.
+
+"We're after some of the Black Star's gang," the sheriff replied.
+
+"In my house?"
+
+"Yes; and they've been living here for some time, if you want to know. I
+thought this was an exclusive place, where a tenant had to have all
+sorts of references. Those two women who call themselves Whaley----"
+
+"Why, they are all right!"
+
+"Are they?" asked the sheriff. "One side!"
+
+He took up a position whence he could watch both the stairs and the
+elevators. The deputy had hurried to the alley. Two policemen came in
+from the street, and the hotel detective put in an appearance. Kowen
+took instant command of the situation.
+
+"Let nobody leave the building for the present--nobody!" he commanded.
+"Let nobody pass out unless either Verbeck or I give them permission!"
+
+Kowen sprang up the wide stairs again. He reached the second floor, and
+stopped to listen. He heard no sound of pursuit or combat. The elevator
+came down from above, and the sheriff stopped it.
+
+"Take two women and a man up?" he asked.
+
+"Yes, sir," said the operator.
+
+"Know them?"
+
+"Miss Whaley and----"
+
+"That's enough! Where did they go?"
+
+"To the roof. They said they wanted to take a look at the city, as one
+of the ladies was going away."
+
+"I'll go up and take a look myself!" the sheriff said. "And give us a
+little speed!"
+
+The boy whizzed the elevator to the top floor; he didn't know what it
+was all about, but he sensed excitement.
+
+"You take that flight of stairs to the roof," he explained. "There is a
+door at the top."
+
+Kowen did not wait to thank him. He rushed for the stairs--and ran into
+Verbeck and Lawrence.
+
+"They're on the roof!" Verbeck said. "And the door is locked, of
+course!"
+
+"Then we've got them!" Kowen declared. "It's a cinch they can't get
+down!"
+
+"Don't forget that we had the Black Star on a roof once, and he got
+down," Verbeck reminded him. "I just examined that door; it's a strong
+one."
+
+"Why use the door?" Lawrence asked quietly. "I know this building pretty
+well, and I can get to the roof without going through the door at all."
+
+"How?" Verbeck asked.
+
+"I can get through that window, hang to the cornice, and draw myself
+up."
+
+"You'd fall, man!" Kowen declared. "You'd kill yourself!"
+
+"I can do it!" Verbeck exclaimed. "It isn't a bit harder than things I'm
+doing in the gymnasium all the time."
+
+He hurried to the window, opened it, and looked at the cornice above.
+
+"Don't try it!" Kowen said. "It's twelve stories to the pavement below,
+Mr. Verbeck."
+
+"But I'm not going to fall!"
+
+"They're not worth it----"
+
+"What? The Black Star's first lieutenant, and the cleverest woman in his
+band? I'm going up! You go to the door at the head of the stairs and
+pound against it--make them think you are trying to break
+through--attract their attention! Do it now!"
+
+He removed his shoes as he spoke. Kowen made a last protest, which drew
+no reply from Verbeck except a grin. Then the sheriff and Lawrence went
+back up the steps, and began pounding against the door.
+
+Verbeck was cool and collected now. He realized the task that was before
+him, and he knew the danger he would be running. A fall would mean death
+on the pavement twelve floors below. Verbeck was thankful that it was
+dark.
+
+Once more he looked up at the cornice. Then he got through the window,
+balanced himself on the sill, and reached up and grasped the edge of the
+cornice with his hands.
+
+He hesitated a moment, took a deep breath, and started to draw himself
+up. It was a difficult task, even for a man who always had been known as
+an athlete. He managed to get one elbow over the edge of the cornice,
+and thus he held himself, and rested, and tried to reduce his breathing
+to normal.
+
+The hardest part of the task was before him, he knew. He had swung away
+from the window below. If he was forced to lower himself, he doubted
+whether he could swing his legs in enough to brace himself on the sill.
+
+"Have to do it, now!" Roger Verbeck told himself.
+
+Again he started drawing himself up. He got his other elbow over the
+edge of the cornice, rested again for an instant, and then started to
+turn. Now his chest rested against the cornice. He exerted all his
+strength and managed to get one leg up. It was not difficult, after
+that, to draw up the other. So he remained stretched on a narrow ledge
+twelve stories above a busy street, panting, almost exhausted, dizzy.
+
+Verbeck closed his eyes and stretched himself out to his full length. He
+realized that he could not hope to go the remainder of the way until he
+had recovered his strength. However, it did not take him long to
+recuperate.
+
+He raised himself on his elbows and glanced upward. The parapet was
+above him, and not difficult to scale, but to reach the edge of it he
+would have to stand up straight on the narrow ledge upon which he now
+was stretched.
+
+Verbeck took a deep breath and started drawing up his knees. Presently
+he was in a kneeling position. Then, inch by inch, he raised his body.
+His hands crept up the face of the wall before him, stretched out and
+grasped the edge of the parapet.
+
+Once more he was forced to draw himself up. He was very quiet about it,
+too. He did not know but that Landers might be directly above him, ready
+to receive him, or to thrust him over.
+
+He got his elbows over the edge, and stopped to breathe and to listen.
+He could hear Kowen and Lawrence pounding on the door, and he found that
+Landers and the women were not near.
+
+Verbeck began to think that good fortune was with him. He continued to
+draw himself up, and finally was stretched, panting, on the top of the
+parapet.
+
+He was in no hurry, now. He had no intention of clashing physically with
+Landers while in an exhausted condition. There was no way, he thought,
+in which Landers and the women could escape from the roof except through
+the door at which the sheriff and Lawrence were pounding.
+
+Verbeck waited until he felt refreshed, and then slipped down to the
+roof. Noiselessly he made his way across it toward the door. He came to
+a chimney, and stopped beside it, to watch and listen.
+
+He had no weapon on him, and he knew that Landers had a vapor gun. One
+shot from that might render him unconscious, put him out of the fight.
+He could hear Landers and the women talking not very far from where he
+stood.
+
+"They can't get through that door for some time," Landers was saying.
+"I'm going to telephone."
+
+"He'll not come!" Mamie Blanchard wailed. "Why didn't we go down the
+stairs instead of up? We might have known we would have been caught in a
+trap."
+
+"We'll see whether he'll come or not!" Landers said. "If the telephone
+is not out of commission----"
+
+During the hot summer months, the roof was used as a garden. There was a
+little building in one corner of it that was used as a refreshment
+stand, and there always was a telephone there.
+
+Verbeck knew that Landers was rushing across the roof to the building.
+He heard him smash against the frail door, heard it crash in. The women,
+it was evident, remained near the door leading to the stairs that went
+below.
+
+Leaving the shadow of the chimney, Verbeck crept forward toward the
+little structure where Landers had gone to telephone. He hoped to catch
+the Black Star's lieutenant at a disadvantage and subdue him. He was
+much interested, too, in what Landers' telephone message might be, and
+to whom it would be sent.
+
+Without a sound, Verbeck crossed the roof and came to the side of the
+little building. Landers had flashed an electric torch, and was taking
+the telephone from beneath the counter. Verbeck saw him take down the
+receiver.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+MUGGS GIVES A TIP
+
+
+It was evident that the hotel switchboard operator was surprised to get
+a call from the roof.
+
+"Oh, it's all right!" Verbeck heard Landers say. "I'm up on the roof
+with the Misses Whaley. One of the ladies is going to leave the city,
+and she wanted to call a friend from here--just a whim. I found the door
+unlocked."
+
+Then he gave a number. Roger Verbeck made a mental note of it. Here
+might be a clew that would lead to something important.
+
+Verbeck crept close to the door, and listened. Presently Landers spoke
+again.
+
+"Hello! This is Landers! I'm trapped on the roof of the New Nortonia
+Hotel with Mamie and her sister. Kowen and his crowd are trying to break
+the door in now, but I think it'll take them some time, and then I can
+stand them off for a while. If you don't come for us, we're caught....
+Yes, Verbeck and the sheriff. They walked in on us. I got them under
+control, but some others came. The place is a regular trap.... Thanks!
+But hurry!"
+
+Verbeck slipped to one side as Landers put the receiver on the hook and
+hurried out. He followed the Black Star's lieutenant back across the
+roof, and watched as he met the women.
+
+"He'll come for us!" Verbeck heard Landers say. "It'll take him some
+time, of course--fifteen minutes at least. We'll have to hold off those
+men on the other side of the door. If it comes to the worst, some of
+them will get something more than a dose out of a vapor gun. I don't
+intend to spend fifteen or twenty years in prison!"
+
+"If we had only gone downstairs----" Mamie Blanchard began.
+
+"If we had, we'd have run into a few deputies. I tell you they planned
+to trap us! They've shadowed some of us----"
+
+"Then it must have been you!" Mamie Blanchard told him. "I have not been
+out of the hotel, remember. It's your carelessness that got us into this
+mess!"
+
+"Well, we won't quarrel about it," Landers said. "You women go to the
+other side of the roof and wait. I'll stay near the door and handle
+those men if they manage to break it open."
+
+Landers approached the door, and Verbeck crept after him. The light was
+so faint that he could see little--just a shadow where the master
+crook's lieutenant was walking. Verbeck crouched as he advanced, made no
+noise, and was ready to stop if Landers betrayed any suspicion. But
+Landers, it appeared, did not expect a foe on the roof, and was intent
+only upon the door at which the sheriff and Lawrence were pounding.
+
+Verbeck had picked up a piece of timber beside the little refreshment
+stand. It was the only weapon he had. He hated to use it, but he felt
+that the situation justified its use. Landers was about a match for him
+physically, and it was Verbeck's duty to make a prisoner of him, open
+the door, and let the others take the women into custody.
+
+Landers was stamping upon the door.
+
+"Get away, or I'll fire through it!" he called, as the pounding ceased
+for a moment.
+
+He sent one shot crashing through the wood and Verbeck could hear a
+chorus of shrieks below. He knew Landers' plan--to delay them as much as
+he could. And for what? That was what Verbeck could not fathom.
+
+To whom had Landers telephoned? How could he be rescued from the roof?
+Would the Black Star and his band face a battle with police and
+deputies, attempt to raid the hotel and save Landers and the two women?
+
+Landers had stepped back, and was listening to what was being said
+below. Verbeck crept forward until he was within six feet of the other
+man. He raised the piece of timber.
+
+He sent but one blow home, but he knew as it struck that it would send
+Landers crashing to the roof, even though it did not render him
+unconscious. He sprang past him, and fumbled at the heavy bolts on the
+door, drew them, and threw the door open.
+
+"Up--quick!" he cried.
+
+Glad cries from the sheriff and Lawrence greeted him. They sprang to the
+roof, two deputies at their heels. They seized the groaning Landers, and
+rushed across the roof toward the women.
+
+"Torches!" Kowen cried.
+
+The torches flashed. The women were standing near one of the big
+chimneys. Kowen led his deputies toward them.
+
+"You don't get away this time!" he said. "It's handcuffs and a cell for
+you! You've played your last game with the Black Star, you two
+beauties!"
+
+The fair prisoners were led toward the stairs. Landers had been
+handcuffed, and was being carried to the floor below. Verbeck and
+Lawrence followed them, but when they reached the floor below, Verbeck
+called the sheriff aside.
+
+"Landers telephoned from the refreshment stand on the roof," he said. "I
+have made a note of the number; it might lead us to something. But here
+is the funny part--he asked somebody to come and rescue him. How they
+are going to try it, I do not know; but I think that message went to the
+Black Star."
+
+"Maybe he'll try a raid here," Kowen suggested.
+
+"Landers estimated, so he told the women, that he would be here in
+fifteen minutes, at least. But how could even the Black Star get enough
+of his men together to raid a place like this in that length of time?
+It's the roof we have to watch. You remember how the Black Star escaped
+from the roof of the National Trust Building, don't you? He seems to
+have methods of which we know nothing."
+
+"Some more of that light stuff, and talking to us out of the air,
+probably," the sheriff said. "Well, what shall we do?"
+
+"Have your deputies put the prisoners in a room and guard them. We'll
+stay here by the door and watch the roof!"
+
+Sheriff Kowen gave the orders. He and Verbeck remained by the door,
+Lawrence with them.
+
+"What's the big idea?" Lawrence inquired.
+
+"Perhaps nothing; we are waiting to see," Verbeck replied.
+
+"Well, can't you let a fellow in on it? If it hadn't been for me, those
+people would be far away by this time; and you'd be bound and gagged in
+that room, waiting for the public to laugh at you!"
+
+"Simply this," Verbeck said; "Landers telephoned to somebody to rescue
+him from the roof, and we are waiting to see who comes to do it, and how
+he comes."
+
+They waited for ten minutes without hearing or seeing anything. They
+left the door and walked to the nearest chimney, and stood there,
+watching, listening, like men who expected something to drop from the
+sky.
+
+And something did come from the sky--that puzzling, brilliant light they
+were learning to know so well. It flooded the roof, swept across it,
+almost blinding the three men there. Verbeck and Kowen and Lawrence ran
+back to the open door, shading their eyes with their hands.
+
+The light disappeared and they heard the Black Star's voice. "What have
+you done with my people?" he shouted.
+
+"We've put handcuffs on 'em, you crook!" Kowen shrieked. "And we'll do
+as much for you one of these days!"
+
+"Watch out!" Verbeck warned.
+
+Some sixth sense seemed to tell him what was coming. And it did--a vapor
+bomb that burst not ten feet from the doorway. They darted back and away
+from it. They saw the bright light flood the roof again. Then the
+darkness came once more, and they heard nothing more, saw nothing more.
+
+"I'd like to know how he does that!" Kowen said. "Does he hang around in
+the sky like a star? Well, he didn't rescue anybody, anyway! That's one
+comfort!"
+
+"He hasn't been more than fifteen minutes getting here," Verbeck said.
+"But we don't know how he is traveling, and so we can't judge how far
+away his headquarters might be. That telephone number----"
+
+"We can investigate that, at any rate, the first thing in the morning,"
+Kowen said. "I'll get the telephone people busy. Now I'll take these
+prisoners down to the jail and give each of them a nice little room,
+American plan."
+
+The prisoners were taken away, the excitement in the hotel died down,
+Verbeck went to Lawrence's suite to smoke a cigarette and get away from
+the crowd for a time, and finally started home.
+
+He was worrying about Muggs, for one thing. He was hoping that the valet
+would find some way in which he could be of service, while he was a
+prisoner in the Black Star's headquarters. He knew that Muggs could be
+depended upon to make every effort.
+
+The Black Star's threat--about doing something sensational the following
+night--also came to his mind. Was the master rogue to win again? Was
+there no way in which he could be stopped, recaptured, put behind prison
+bars? Already the city was in the grip of terror. No man could tell
+where the Black Star would strike next. He might loot another bank, or a
+jewelry store, or raid the jail in an effort to rescue his companions
+in crime. The public was considering everything--except the thing that
+the Black Star had actually planned to do.
+
+Mrs. Richard Branniton completed her arrangements for entertaining the
+distinguished diplomats, Lord Sambery and Sir Burton Banks, and had no
+thought that the master criminal might pay her residence a visit while
+her guests were enjoying themselves.
+
+Verbeck reached his rooms and threw himself into an easy-chair to rest.
+He did not fear for himself. He did not think that the Black Star would
+make an attempt to abduct him again, for prisoners were only in the way
+at the master criminal's headquarters. Also, there were half a dozen
+plain-clothes men in the apartment house, watching everybody who
+entered, ready to act in any emergency that might present itself.
+
+It was too early to retire, so Verbeck smoked, and tried to read a
+magazine, but found that he could not get himself interested. He
+disliked to go to one of his clubs, for all the other members would want
+to discuss the Black Star and nothing else.
+
+He started across the room to get a favorite book from the case, but
+whirled around and went back, because the telephone had rung.
+
+"Hello!" he called.
+
+"Verbeck?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"This is the Black Star. Some of my men have informed me how Landers and
+the two women were caught. It took courage to climb to the roof the way
+you did, but that is not the point. Those three people are very
+necessary members of my organization, and I want them released."
+
+Verbeck laughed into the telephone.
+
+"Have you called the sheriff?" he asked. "He seems to be the man in
+charge just now."
+
+"I have not called the sheriff yet. I thought I'd call you first, and
+get you to influence him. You see, Verbeck, I have Muggs here with me."
+
+"What has that to do with it?"
+
+"Simply this--if I have to descend to violence, I'll do it. Nothing
+shall stop me from having my revenge upon the city. Unless those people
+of mine are released by noon to-morrow, I'll blow the jail off the
+map--and I'll attend to Mr. Muggs."
+
+"In what way?" Verbeck asked.
+
+"I'll simply have him knocked on the head and dumped into the river. If
+I have to be violent, I'll be a proper thug! What have you to say?"
+
+"Nothing, except that you have a wonderful nerve to speak as you do."
+
+"Perhaps you think I can't blow the jail to pieces?"
+
+"I do not say you can't, but I don't think you'll do it--not with
+Landers and The Princess inside it."
+
+"And maybe you think I'd hesitate about making away with Muggs, do you?"
+
+"I scarcely think you'll do anything of the sort," Verbeck said. "You
+would accomplish nothing, and you'd be hanged for murder after we caught
+you."
+
+"You don't think I am serious," the Black Star replied. "I agreed to
+give you until noon to-morrow----"
+
+"But I couldn't make the sheriff turn them loose! You may be sure that
+he'll guard them well, and see that they stand trial. Why, if they were
+turned loose----"
+
+"I'll arrange that. They are to be freed and put in the middle of the
+polo field. I'll do the rest. On second thought, I'll give you more
+time, Verbeck, if you have to argue with the sheriff. I'm going to be
+busy to-morrow night, as I have said. I'll give you until the following
+morning. I'll ring you up then for your answer; and it had better be
+what I want to hear."
+
+"You actually think we'd do such a thing?" Verbeck asked. "We'd look
+pretty, wouldn't we, turning three criminals loose because another
+criminal asked it!"
+
+"Not an ordinary criminal--but the Black Star! And I don't ask it--I
+demand it! Muggs is here, and I am going to let him speak to you.
+Perhaps you don't really believe that he is here. He'll tell you that I
+am serious and mean what I say."
+
+Verbeck waited, his heart pounding at his ribs. If Muggs only had the
+presence of mind, if he----
+
+"Hello, boss!" came Muggs' voice over the wire.
+
+"Hello, Muggs."
+
+"I'm sure here in this big crook's headquarters, boss. I don't know what
+he intends to hand me, but it'll be plenty."
+
+"Muggs, what do you want me to do?" Verbeck asked.
+
+"Well, maybe I'm prejudiced," Muggs said, "but I don't care to be
+knocked on the head and thrown in any river. It wouldn't be a hard job
+for them--the river ain't far away!" That was a hint, at least. "And it
+ain't exactly nice to be croaked with music ringin' in your ears----"
+
+Verbeck heard an exclamation of rage, the sound of a blow, a gasp, and
+then nothing more except a little click that told him the wire was dead.
+Muggs had tried to give a tip, and had not been given a chance to
+complete it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+ON THE TRAIL
+
+
+Verbeck tried to remember the exact words that Muggs had spoken. He had
+said plainly that the headquarters of the Black Star were not far from
+the river. That in itself was a help, but not a very great one.
+
+There were thousands of places in the city, not far from the river,
+where the Black Star could hide and where the members of his band could
+visit him. The headquarters might be in a warehouse on the water front,
+in some pretentious mansion on the hills overlooking the stream.
+
+And what else was it that Muggs had said? That he didn't want to die
+with music ringing in his ears! Verbeck wondered what that might mean,
+for it was the statement, evidently, that had caused such a quick end to
+the conversation.
+
+Verbeck paced the floor and thought it out. He knew the city from one
+end to the other. He had been born there, reared there, had watched it
+grow. Music ringing in his ears----
+
+"The resort park!" Verbeck gasped. "That's what he must have meant! The
+Black Star's headquarters will be found near the river and near the
+resort park, where the band plays every afternoon and evening!"
+
+Verbeck rushed to the telephone, called the sheriff, and asked him to
+come to his apartment immediately.
+
+"I've got a tip that's better than the last one," he said. "Muggs gave
+it to me."
+
+"Muggs?"
+
+"Don't ask me to explain now. Hurry up here. And have the telephone
+people investigate that number I gave you, and report to you here about
+it."
+
+Then Verbeck called the chief of police, finally locating him at his
+home.
+
+"Chief, there's no use keeping up the bluff any longer," he said. "The
+Black Star knows very well that I am still after him. I wish you'd get
+over to my apartment as soon as you can. I've got something important to
+tell you. Kowen will be here----"
+
+"Why did you call Kowen?" the chief demanded. "Couldn't we handle it
+alone? I understand Kowen won enough glory to-night to last him a
+month."
+
+"Come over, and do your quarreling here!" Verbeck said.
+
+Kowen was the first to arrive, fifteen minutes later.
+
+"What's the big tip?" he asked. "Anything to it?"
+
+"Wait until the chief gets here."
+
+"Did you send for the chief? Was that necessary, Verbeck? It seems to me
+that we worked pretty well together this evening. Why give the police
+some of the credit? I lost the Black Star, remember, and I ought to have
+a chance to get him back!"
+
+"There'll be work enough for all of us--and glory enough," Verbeck
+assured him.
+
+Then the chief came storming in and exchanged glares with the sheriff.
+
+"Before we begin, it might be well to have an understanding," Verbeck
+said. "You gentlemen must stop scrapping and become allies. We have a
+big job on hand, and we want to wind it up as quickly as possible."
+
+Then he told them of his conversation with the Black Star, and of what
+Muggs had said.
+
+"Let them go?" Kowen screeched. "I'd let him wreck the town first! Those
+crooks are in jail, and they're going to stay there!"
+
+"That isn't the point," Verbeck interrupted. "It's the little tip Muggs
+gave that interests us. According to what he said, the Black Star's
+headquarters are near the river, and I believe, when he spoke of the
+music, that he meant the resort park."
+
+"I think you're right!" the chief exclaimed.
+
+"But where could the headquarters be in that locality?" the sheriff
+wanted to know.
+
+"It's our job to find out," the chief said, "and we'll start at
+daylight. If we can locate it before night, perhaps we can stop whatever
+it is that the big crook intends to do."
+
+The telephone bell rang again. The call was for the sheriff, and he
+spent some time listening to the person at the other end of the wire.
+When he turned toward them again, his face was beaming.
+
+"It begins to look good," he said. "That was from the manager of the
+telephone company. He looked up that number that Landers called. It is a
+little summer cottage far up the river beyond the resort park."
+
+"Great!" the chief exclaimed. "We'll land 'em yet!"
+
+"But that isn't the funny thing about it. The manager says he sent a man
+out there in a machine. There is nobody living in the cottage, and
+there hasn't been for months, yet the telephone bills have been paid
+regularly."
+
+"Meaning," said Verbeck, "that the bills are paid by one of the Black
+Star's organization. Of course his headquarters are not in the cottage.
+But we'll find the place somewhere in that locality."
+
+"Where do you get that?" Kowen asked.
+
+"It means simply that somewhere between the cottage and the next station
+on the line, the Black Star has plugged in on the wire. When that number
+is called, the bell rings in his own headquarters. When he calls, it
+appears to the switchboard operator that the number is calling."
+
+"I believe you've got it!" the chief cried.
+
+"In the morning, you can go to that cottage and follow the wire, examine
+every foot of it, discover where the other wire is plugged in, follow
+it, and find the place that we want. Other men can search through the
+neighborhood. We're on the right track!"
+
+For another hour they worked perfecting their plans, and then the chief
+and the sheriff, friendly again, took their departure. Verbeck left a
+call at the office for an early hour, and made haste to retire and
+fortify himself with sleep.
+
+He was up soon after break of day, had his bath and breakfast, and went
+down to get his roadster from the garage, feeling particularly fit. He
+drove immediately to police headquarters and went into the private
+office of the chief, who with Sheriff Kowen was waiting for him.
+
+"I had twenty men out there at daybreak working on that telephone line,"
+the chief said. "They are scattered, of course--look like linemen. In
+fact, they are making a bluff at stringing a new line--but they are
+searching for the place where the Black Star taps the wire. It wouldn't
+surprise me much to find that the Black Star knows as much about our
+plans as we know ourselves--he seems to be able to get all the
+information he wants--but maybe we can get the better of the fiend this
+time!"
+
+"Are we going to wait here for that wire squad to report?" Kowen asked.
+
+"No; there is no use in that," the chief replied. "I have sent twenty
+more men out there--all in plain clothes. They went out a couple at a
+time; have been going out since midnight. Some are near the resort park
+and others are scattered through the woods. Did you send your deputies
+to the other side, sheriff?"
+
+"I did; between us we have men on the north, east and south, and the
+river is on the west. Maybe we have that crook's headquarters
+surrounded, and maybe we haven't."
+
+"We may as well start out there," Verbeck put in.
+
+The chief got into the roadster with him; the sheriff had a car of his
+own, driven by a deputy. They drove rapidly through the city and out
+along the river road. They came to the resort, and got out and parked
+their cars. The sheriff and the chief began receiving reports from their
+forces.
+
+All the buildings in the resort had been searched well, and nothing
+found. Men had discovered nothing suspicious in the woods. There was a
+large fish cannery near, and it had been investigated thoroughly. The
+men scattered around the woods were closing in, drawing the net
+tighter.
+
+The wire squad was at work. They had followed the wire from the little
+cottage, after making an investigation there and being sure that the
+cottage was not the entrance to a subterranean abode used by the Black
+Star. Even while the man in charge of the squad was making his report,
+word was flashed down the line that the extra wire had been found.
+
+The sheriff and chief got into Verbeck's machine, and he drove them a
+quarter of a mile down the road. The wire had been tapped in a very
+clever manner, as one of the electricians of the department explained.
+It was running underground, through a small cable.
+
+The chief called for more of his men, and they began unearthing the
+line. It seemed to run straight toward the east, and through the woods.
+The chief sent a captain and half a dozen men ahead of the wire squad.
+
+"We're getting close to them, I think," the chief declared. "I feel that
+this is going to be our lucky day."
+
+After a time they found a telephone instrument attached to the wire and
+hidden beneath a heap of brush. Next they came upon the old farmhouse,
+with the wire fence around it. There the telephone wire left the ground
+and ran from tree to tree through the grove, to disappear into the
+building.
+
+"There!" the chief said. "We'll get the place surrounded----"
+
+He gave quick orders, and the force of officers began closing in. Within
+a few minutes, the house had a circle of determined men around it.
+Verbeck and the chief had been watching it closely, while the sheriff
+placed the men. They had seen no sign of life.
+
+"Probably gone--if this is really the place," Verbeck said. "It wouldn't
+have been difficult for the Black Star to learn our plans, and he had
+all night in which to get away."
+
+"Well, we'll get in there, anyway," the chief said. "It may be our luck
+that he is still there with some of his gang. If he is gone, and had to
+get out in a hurry, he might have left something behind that will give
+us a clew as to what he intends doing to-night."
+
+"And we could put a lot of trust in that, couldn't we?" said Roger
+Verbeck. "He won over us before, because we gave considerable attention
+to some bogus orders he left on a table in a bogus headquarters--don't
+forget that."
+
+"I'm not liable to; the precious newspapers won't let me," said the
+chief.
+
+The men were creeping through the brush now, approaching the fence.
+Verbeck had the chief issue an order for them to stop.
+
+"I don't like the looks of that fence," he said. "You'll notice that the
+house is old and weather-beaten, and about to fall to pieces, from its
+appearance; but the fence is a substantial one, and new. I have an idea
+that the man who touches that fence will meet with serious trouble."
+
+"By George, it is a new fence!" the chief admitted.
+
+"Wait!" Verbeck said.
+
+He crawled forward alone, foot by foot, stopping now and then to glance
+toward the old farmhouse, and made his way toward the fence that held
+the deadly current.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+END OF THE TRAIL
+
+
+Half a dozen feet from the fence Verbeck stopped. He watched the house
+for a couple of minutes, and then advanced another pace. He was within
+three feet of the fence now, and he saw what he had expected--wires and
+cables of metal cunningly woven in the mesh of the structure itself, and
+in such manner that the whole thing would be charged when a current was
+turned on.
+
+The chief had crawled up behind Verbeck.
+
+"That fence is deadly!" Verbeck said. "The Black Star used something
+like this once before, you'll remember, and half a dozen men were
+seriously shocked and burned. We don't dare try to pass it at present.
+The current may or may not be running through it. We can't take the
+chance. If the gate was open, we probably could pass through without
+danger, but the gate is a part of the circuit."
+
+"Well, are we going to let a fence tie us up?" the chief asked. "If the
+Black Star and his band are inside, every minute we spend out here gives
+them a chance to get ready for us."
+
+"Warn the men!" Verbeck said.
+
+The chief sent the word around the circle of officers--nobody was to
+touch the fence, since it probably was charged with a deadly current,
+and shocks and burns would result. Sheriff Kowen had crawled up to them
+through the brush.
+
+"Look!" he exclaimed suddenly.
+
+A dog, attracted by the men in the woods, had been running from one
+group to another. Now, chasing a stick one of the men had thrown, he
+brushed against the fence. A single yelp came from him; and he was
+stretched on the ground, apparently lifeless.
+
+"You see?" Verbeck said. "Perhaps it wouldn't kill a man, but it would
+burn him badly, and put him out of the game."
+
+"We've got to get through!" the chief declared. "And how are we going to
+do it?"
+
+One of the electricians had crawled forward, and they explained the
+situation to him.
+
+"If the current is that strong, we can't fool with it," he said
+earnestly. "Electricity isn't a timid plaything at best, and a dose like
+that fence hands out is too much for anybody. You'll notice that the dog
+hasn't moved; he's dead. And since we can't get through that fence----"
+
+"We can go over it!" Verbeck added.
+
+"How?" the chief and sheriff asked in chorus.
+
+"Bridge the thing," said Verbeck. "We've got men enough, and there are
+trees enough."
+
+"It'll be one ticklish job," the electrician warned.
+
+"But it can be done," Verbeck declared. "Chief, have all your men watch
+the house closely. If anybody in there tries to interfere with me,
+bombard the place."
+
+Verbeck sprang up and ran parallel to the fence for a distance of half a
+hundred feet. He had spotted a big tree there that had a projecting
+branch not fifteen feet from the ground--a branch half a foot in
+diameter that extended over the fence and into the yard about the house.
+He swung himself into the tree, reached the branch, and crept out along
+it. He crossed over the deadly fence, hesitated a moment, and dropped.
+Roger Verbeck was inside.
+
+He found that he was partially screened from the house by a clump of
+brush. He turned his back upon the house and crept toward the fence
+again. The chief and sheriff hurried to meet him.
+
+"Almost all your men can do as I have done," Verbeck said. "We don't
+even have to bridge it. Have them come over, one by one, and have the
+others watch the house closely. If the Black Star or any of his men are
+in there, they know we are after them and are watching us."
+
+The chief issued the orders. The men made the perilous trip one at a
+time, and dropped to the ground beside Verbeck. Twenty men in all
+crossed over, and left the others to guard outside the fence,
+maintaining the blockade around the house.
+
+Not a sign had come from within to show that their presence was known.
+But Verbeck and those who had fought against the Black Star before knew
+that that did not mean safety. It was like the Black Star to wait for
+the proper moment before striking.
+
+"Be careful, you men!" Verbeck warned. "We are fighting the Black Star,
+please remember, and he can be unscrupulous at times. You may consider
+yourselves in danger from the moment we start toward the house. In his
+old headquarters he had some of the most diabolical traps known to man;
+and you always find them where you least expect them. Beware of the
+doors and windows. Investigate them before you touch them; and if we
+get inside the place, be alert continually. You may expect pitfalls,
+vapor bombs--anything!"
+
+The officers scattered and surrounded the house inside the fence. Those
+on the outside crept as close as they dared, weapons held ready, and
+watched the doors and windows.
+
+On and on went those inside the fence, until they were almost against
+the walls. The chief, the sheriff, and Verbeck were at the front.
+
+"Doesn't seem to be anybody around," the chief said. "They got wise and
+left, I suppose. Well, we'll investigate the place anyway, since we are
+here."
+
+He started up the steps that led to the small veranda at the front of
+the house. His foot struck the lowest step.
+
+There was a sharp explosion, and half the veranda was torn away. Verbeck
+and the others reeled backward. A cloud of smoke filled the air; and it
+was not the pungent vapor used by the Black Star in his bombs.
+
+"That was the real thing!" Verbeck declared.
+
+The chief was pale and trembling as he retreated.
+
+"I'll get that fiend!" he declared. "Look at the hole that explosion
+made in the porch floor! If a man had been over that----"
+
+"They set it off too quick!" the sheriff said. "We've got to move
+carefully, or we'll be having casualties."
+
+"We must take that chance!" the chief said. "We've got to get that
+fiend, and policemen are paid to run into trouble when it is necessary.
+Into the house, men! Get in any way that you can! Try to take care of
+yourselves, but get in!"
+
+The officers cheered and shouted. They plunged toward windows and
+doors. They smashed panes of glass in, and hurled themselves against
+doors as if they knew no fear.
+
+Half a dozen explosions came, but no man was injured. Here and there a
+policeman made an entrance, and others followed him. Within five minutes
+Verbeck and the chief and Kowen found that all were inside, gathered in
+the big hall at the front of the house, and that no man had received a
+scratch.
+
+"I guess we're on the right trail, sure enough!" the chief said.
+
+"And this is where we must be careful," declared Roger Verbeck. "This is
+where we are liable to run into traps."
+
+The search of the house began. There were but two floors and the
+basement, and the search started at the top. There the officers found
+nothing except unoccupied rooms that were filled with dust. They even
+went into the garret, and found nothing except a heap of discarded
+clothing that looked as if it had been there for years.
+
+Next they searched the ground floor. In the rear was a kitchen, almost
+immaculate, with its pots and pans and stores of food. There were three
+bed-chambers that appeared to be in constant use. And that was all.
+
+"I suppose it is in the basement, as usual," Verbeck said.
+
+"Careful, men!" the chief warned. "If they are in the basement, they'll
+put up a fight. That big crook knows what is in store for him when he's
+caught, so you don't want to bank too much on that old bunk of his that
+he abhors violence. A cornered rat will put up a stiff fight!"
+
+They found the basement door. Roger Verbeck went forward, grasped the
+knob, and jerked the door open suddenly. Again there was a rending
+explosion, and the panels and framework were shattered. Back through the
+hall staggered Verbeck and the others. The vapor the master crook used
+was mingled with the smoke of the explosion, and was sweeping through
+the hall.
+
+But the police had been prepared for it. They ran to the open windows
+and inhaled the fresh air, remaining there until the poisonous fumes had
+been swept out of the open front door. Then they rushed back into the
+hall.
+
+Before them was a stairway shrouded in dense darkness. Verbeck took an
+electric torch in one hand and his automatic in the other, and began the
+descent, a detective immediately behind him. He flashed the torch on the
+stairs, hesitated before treading upon each one, made his way step by
+step toward the bottom, expecting every instant to hear the crash of
+another explosion.
+
+He reached the end of the flight, and found himself in a narrow hall.
+Along this he went, a file of other men behind him. He came to a door.
+
+"This seems to be the place," he whispered. "If they are inside, we are
+due for a warm reception."
+
+He grasped the handle and jerked the door open. This time there was no
+explosion. He flashed his torch again. In front of the door was a heavy
+curtain of some sort.
+
+Verbeck put out his hand and moved the curtain aside gently. He could
+see into the room--could see in the path of the electric torch, and that
+was all.
+
+Verbeck knew that the situation was precarious. It meant something to
+enter a dark room in which the Black Star and some of his men might be
+waiting. It took courage, the more so since Roger Verbeck was well
+acquainted with the master rogue's methods, and realized that the Black
+Star was fighting for freedom now.
+
+"Hold the curtain--and wait!" Verbeck whispered to the man nearest him.
+
+He slipped inside the curtain and stood with his back against it. He had
+extinguished the torch. There was not a glimmer of light, not the
+slightest sound.
+
+Verbeck held his automatic ready, and suddenly flashed the torch in his
+left hand. He played it down the length of the room, sweeping the streak
+of light from side to side.
+
+"In!" he cried to the others. "Torches!"
+
+They crowded into the room, their lights flashing. The room was
+thoroughly illuminated. The chief gave a cry that was echoed by the
+sheriff and the others.
+
+Without a doubt, they were in the Black Star's headquarters. Verbeck
+knew the room instantly for the one in which he had been prisoner for a
+short time. There were the long table, the blackboards, and on the table
+a black robe and mask that had been discarded by some member of the
+band.
+
+"Careful!" the chief warned.
+
+"I don't think there is any need of caution," said Roger Verbeck. "I
+have an idea that neither the Black Star nor any of his people are
+around the place. He knew we had got on the right trail--and he has
+moved. The Black Star always has another headquarters prepared,
+remember. He moved half a dozen times the last time we fought against
+him. There is a lamp on the table--one of you men light it."
+
+Verbeck walked across the room to the blackboard, upon which there was
+some fine writing.
+
+"I thought so!" he exclaimed.
+
+This is what he read:
+
+     GENTLEMEN: I am aware that you are going to locate the place where
+     I live and work, and so I suppose I am forced to move. Had not that
+     fool of a Landers telephoned me from the roof of the hotel, had not
+     Roger Verbeck overheard the number he called, I would have been
+     safe here as long as I wished to remain.
+
+     I am leaving for a new place that already has been prepared for me.
+     I am taking Muggs along as a sort of hostage. There is no rush,
+     since I have all night to make the move.
+
+     When I go, I shall leave bombs attached to some of the windows and
+     doors, and connected with the veranda steps. They will annoy you,
+     perhaps, and make you think that you are brave men rushing into
+     danger. It is just a little joke.
+
+     For this inconvenience, the city shall be made to pay dearly, of
+     course. It costs me something each time I move my headquarters. I
+     have to leave furniture behind, and I have to inform all my people
+     of the new location. But the people of the city shall pay!
+     To-night, I strike, and I shall strike hard!
+
+"Fooled again!" the chief shrieked, in rage. "And we were on the right
+trail, too!"
+
+"We'll get him yet!" declared Sheriff Kowen. "Some of his people will
+make another slip----"
+
+"And, in the meantime," Roger Verbeck interrupted, "we'd better be
+preparing for to-night and what it may bring forth. After this, the
+Black Star will strike with twice his usual strength and cunning. He has
+said he would--and the crook always keeps his word!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+THE BIG BLOW
+
+
+Reduced to a state of unconsciousness by means of a vapor gun, Muggs was
+moved, some time during the night, to the new headquarters. When he
+regained consciousness he found himself in a room similar to the old
+one, except that it was somewhat smaller. Muggs did not know in what
+section of the city he was.
+
+The Black Star was speaking over the telephone, and as Muggs sat up on
+the couch, he hung up the receiver and turned around.
+
+"Well, Muggs, we have had a bit of excitement," the master crook said.
+"Verbeck risked his life to get to the roof of a certain hotel, but he
+managed to get a telephone number that caused us considerable trouble. I
+have just received a report from one of my men. He tells me that
+Verbeck, and a squad of police and deputies, have surrounded the old
+house and are creeping upon it as if it contained a crowd of desperate
+characters. They will have some excitement, too, Muggs, and then will
+discover nothing but an empty nest."
+
+"Yeh?" Muggs asked. "They'll discover you, too, one of these days; and
+then I hope they give you life!"
+
+"Inclined toward violence again, Muggs, when I have been treating you so
+nicely? I am really ashamed of you."
+
+"As if I cared!" Muggs scoffed.
+
+"I am thinking of taking you along to-night, Muggs, when we call upon
+Mrs. Richard Branniton and her guests. But if you are not a good boy, I
+shall leave you at home."
+
+The Black Star chuckled and turned toward the end of the table. The bell
+on the wall tinkled, and a robed and masked man entered and went to the
+blackboard, which here was installed on one side of the room.
+
+"Number Three," he wrote.
+
+"Countersign?"
+
+"Colorado."
+
+"Report," wrote the Black Star.
+
+"Lord Sambery and Sir Burton Banks arrived on time and now are at the
+Branniton house."
+
+"Any new developments?"
+
+"None have been learned. We are watching closely," wrote Number Three.
+
+"I have decided to seize Branniton himself to-night, with the other two,
+and hold him for ransom," the Black Star wrote. "You will have your
+squad attend to it, and be sure that they do not fail. The man who
+prosecuted me must be punished."
+
+"I shall attend to it, and warn the men that they must not fail."
+
+"There have been no changes in transportation means?"
+
+"None whatever."
+
+"That is all. Retire," the Black Star wrote.
+
+The man backed through the door and closed it after him.
+
+"You're goin' to run against a snag," Muggs told the Black Star. "You're
+bitin' off more than you can chew, and it's likely to choke you!"
+
+"I scarcely think so, Muggs. This little affair is so well planned that
+there can be no failure. It is the master stroke of my career. It will
+add to my fame, and, at the same time, it will be highly profitable.
+When the news gets out, the country will be shocked."
+
+"You go to monkeyin' with the government, and you'll get yours!" Muggs
+told him again. "Them gents are guests of the government, ain't they?"
+
+"I should think that they were, Muggs. They are here on very important
+international business. I may mention that it is so important that I
+expect to collect the ransom within forty-eight hours. I understand
+there are certain negotiations pending, and that there can be no delay."
+
+The Black Star sat down at the end of the table and began consulting his
+memorandum book again, completely ignoring Muggs, who remained sitting
+on the couch. Muggs' hands were lashed together, and he knew that he was
+being watched continually. And yet he felt that he had a duty to
+perform.
+
+"I ain't helpin' the boss at all," Muggs mused. "I tried to, once, and I
+fell down. If this big crook puts that over to-night, it'll make the
+boss a bigger laughingstock than before. Gee, I wish I could do
+somethin'!"
+
+Verbeck was wishing the same thing late that afternoon. When it came to
+locating the new headquarters of the master crook, the police and
+deputies admitted that they did not know which way to turn.
+
+Meanwhile the city was in terror. The Black Star had said that he would
+strike to-night--and strike hard. Banks and financial institutions were
+sending in frantic demands that they be given adequate police
+protection. Jewelry establishments were doing the same. Private
+detective agencies were swamped with orders for operatives. From one end
+of the city to the other, men and women asked the question, where would
+the Black Star strike?
+
+Mrs. Richard Branniton was not thinking of the master rogue. She was
+busy entertaining her distinguished guests. Luncheon had been served,
+and they were being shown the city. Then they returned to the Branniton
+residence, and sought their suites to get some rest before the reception
+of the evening.
+
+Branniton had engaged four more private detectives, making eight in all,
+and had planned to have them scattered about the house. But that was the
+ordinary safeguard against ordinary jewel thieves, and had nothing to do
+with the Black Star. Branniton was not thinking of the master crook,
+either. His mind was upon the fact that he was gathering political
+influence by entertaining the two famous diplomats.
+
+Late that afternoon, Roger Verbeck went to police headquarters for a
+conference with the chief and Sheriff Kowen.
+
+"We can't do anything except have our men waiting and ready," the chief
+said. "I've received about a thousand reports from my men, and there
+isn't one of them worth the paper it's written on. They seem to think
+they've got to report something or get into trouble with me. The papers
+are right--the police are a gang of fools and court jesters!"
+
+"Well, what can we do?" Kowen complained. "Did we get credit for getting
+on that crook's trail? We did not. The evening papers are roasting us
+because we didn't nab him. I'm getting pretty sick of this business!"
+
+"We wouldn't be in this business if you hadn't been asleep and let that
+gang get the Black Star out of jail!" the chief reminded him.
+
+"Wait!" Verbeck commanded. "Are we going to fight among ourselves? Is
+that a way to catch the Black Star?"
+
+"What's the matter with Muggs?" the chief demanded.
+
+"The chances are that Muggs is not able to do anything," Verbeck
+replied. "I can imagine that he is being watched closely since he gave
+me that little tip over the telephone; and I'm hoping that nothing worse
+has happened to him. Muggs, you may be sure, will help us if he gets the
+chance."
+
+Nightfall found them still at police headquarters. They had sent out for
+something to eat. The police reserves had been gathered. Kowen had his
+deputies ready. The Black Star, they knew, might strike at eight in the
+evening, at midnight, at three in the morning. They had to be ready.
+Their one hope was to get a quick alarm, to reach the scene in time to
+capture the master rogue, or at least important members of his band.
+
+The residence of Richard Branniton was a blaze of light. Guests were
+arriving--prominent men, beautiful women, bejeweled leaders of the
+city's society. An orchestra was playing in the ballroom. Men and women
+were greeting one another, laughing and chatting.
+
+The Branniton residence was surrounded by wide lawns studded with big
+maple trees. Here and there were dark spaces not reached by the lights
+from either the house or the street. Two blocks away was a small park.
+
+At nine thirty o'clock several men approached this park singly, each
+acting as if he was going about his business or hurrying to his home.
+They followed the walks, and now and then they passed and whispered a
+few words to one another.
+
+More men happened to walk through the alley in the rear of the Branniton
+house. Some of these men had bundles beneath their arms. There was a
+door in the alley wall, and before it was a caterer's wagon. Men were
+carrying refreshments into the house.
+
+At one of the corners of the residence, in the rear, there was a small
+veranda that was shrouded in darkness. While the caterer's men were
+carrying in the provisions, several of the other men, who had been in
+the alley, slipped through the door and sought the dark veranda.
+Crouched there, they waited.
+
+Here and there a shadow flitted across the lawn from dark spot to dark
+spot--but the shadows were men. A big limousine stopped on a side street
+half a block away, the shades drawn at all its windows. A truck stalled
+on the other side street, apparently, and four men in it worked at the
+engine. Finally one left, saying he would telephone for help.
+
+Across the avenue from the Branniton residence a crowd had gathered to
+watch the guests arrive, muttering when two police officers urged them
+to move on. In the crowd were several men who gave one another knowing
+looks now and then.
+
+The last guests arrived. The hour of ten struck. Inside the Branniton
+house the orchestra was playing and couples were dancing. Mrs. Richard
+Branniton was beaming upon her guests, and her husband was seeking to
+make an impression upon Sir Burton Banks and Lord Sambery. Branniton had
+hopes of receiving an important diplomatic post abroad.
+
+As the hour of ten struck, the men beside the dark rear veranda
+unfastened the bundles they had been carrying, and put on black robes
+and masks. More men approached the house from the other side, keeping in
+the shadows, and when they reached the darkness near the wall put on
+robes and masks.
+
+At ten minutes after the hour of ten, thirty men had gathered beside the
+dark veranda, and fifteen more were scattered near the house, on guard.
+In the midst of these thirty men, the Black Star suddenly appeared.
+
+"I want no mistakes!" he whispered. "Is every man in his proper place?"
+
+"Yes, sir," one of them replied.
+
+"One of the waiters is a man of ours. Has he reported?"
+
+"Not yet, sir."
+
+They waited a few minutes, and another man slipped around the corner of
+the house.
+
+"Everything is ready, sir," he reported. He was the waiter.
+
+"How soon can you do your part?" the Black Star asked.
+
+"In about five minutes."
+
+"Off for about three minutes, and then on again!"
+
+"Yes, sir," said the waiter, and he slipped away and reëntered the
+house.
+
+The Black Star whispered a command, and the men scattered, keeping well
+in the darkness, but gradually surrounding the house, except in front,
+where it was brilliantly lighted.
+
+And suddenly the lights in the house went out!
+
+Feminine shrieks, boisterous laughter, jests came from those within. To
+them it was a joke--a fuse burned out at a critical time. Branniton
+called upon his servants to ascertain the cause of the trouble
+immediately and remedy it.
+
+Then, as suddenly as they had been extinguished, the lights came on
+again. The waiter had manipulated the switch in the basement as the
+Black Star had instructed.
+
+Mrs. Richard Branniton's guests shrieked in alarm now. The doors had
+been closed; the shades had been drawn at the windows. And before each
+door and window stood a man dressed in a black robe, with a black mask
+over his face. Each one so dressed held a weapon menacingly before him.
+
+A voice from the hallway caused them to turn. They saw a tall man
+dressed in a robe, his face covered with a mask--and on the hood of his
+robe was a flaming star of jet.
+
+"Do not make a move, ladies and gentlemen!" he cried. "I am the Black
+Star, and these are my men! We will use violence if we are forced to do
+so, though we'd rather not. I may mention that the few detectives you
+had in the house have been taken care of, and you are absolutely at our
+mercy. The telephone wires are cut, too. We are here to make a
+collection of rare jewels and ornaments, and to carry away with us three
+men."
+
+"You crook!" Branniton cried, rushing toward him.
+
+The Black Star raised his arm. A vapor gun exploded. Richard Branniton
+crashed to the floor. Women screamed.
+
+"He is not injured--merely rendered unconscious!" the Black Star called
+out. "If you faint, ladies, I am afraid that nobody will be able to take
+care of you, so please don't do it. Line up against that wall,
+ladies--and the gentlemen against this one. Remember--my men will fire
+at the first move any of you make!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+MUGGS TAKES A CHANCE
+
+
+It was an evening of varied experiences for Muggs, one that he liked to
+remember later as being the acme in adventure and chance taking.
+
+Muggs had been held a prisoner in the headquarters room at the place to
+which he had been moved, listening to the Black Star perfect his
+arrangements for his descent upon the Branniton residence--a prisoner
+who was allowed to see and to hear, yet was helpless to give a warning.
+
+Now and then he got up from the couch and walked back and forth across
+the room, while the master criminal chuckled behind his mask, and
+frequently indulged his taste for sarcastic remarks.
+
+"My dear Muggs, it would be a feather in your cap, would it not, if you
+were able to tell the authorities all that you know now?" the Black Star
+asked. "What a sensation you could cause by walking into police
+headquarters and shrieking your information into the ears of the chief
+and the sheriff and Roger Verbeck! But I am afraid that you will not be
+able to do anything of the sort, Muggs. However, we all have our little
+disappointments in life."
+
+"You'll have somethin' worse than a disappointment before this thing is
+over!" Muggs snarled.
+
+"You are still inclined toward violence--eh, Muggs? You should cultivate
+a more peaceful nature, such as I possess. Violence merely destroys
+itself, my dear Muggs."
+
+"Yeh, and I'll probably destroy you before we make an end of this!"
+Muggs declared. "I tell you that you can't get away with it! You're
+about due to strangle on what you've bitten off!"
+
+The Black Star did not reply to that; he merely chuckled and went back
+to the end of the table to consult his memorandum book again. It
+appeared to Muggs that the master crook consulted that book to a great
+extent this day, acting as if he felt that there was some minor detail
+he had forgotten.
+
+After a time, the little bell on the wall tinkled, and a robed and
+masked figure entered the room and went to the blackboard. Muggs glanced
+at him in disgust. The Black Star's men had been reporting continually
+during the day.
+
+"Number Five," the man wrote.
+
+"Countersign?" wrote the Black Star on his blackboard.
+
+"Everglades."
+
+"Report."
+
+"There appears to be no suspicion as to what we really intend to do
+to-night. The police reserves are being held in waiting, and the sheriff
+has his deputies ready for action, but those seem to be all the
+arrangements that have been made."
+
+"How about Verbeck?" the Black Star wrote.
+
+"He is at police headquarters now, waiting for the alarm so he can take
+the trail."
+
+"Good. That is all," the Black Star wrote.
+
+The member of the band bowed and backed through the door. The Black Star
+wrote something in the memorandum book, closed it and put it into a
+drawer in the table. Then he turned toward Muggs again.
+
+"Muggs, I have decided to have you remain here this evening," he said,
+"I cannot spare the time to watch you, and so shall not take you with
+me."
+
+"Thanks for that much!" Muggs growled.
+
+"You will remain in this room, Muggs, and I shall have to keep your
+wrists lashed together, of course. I know that it will be
+uncomfortable--but that is the penalty for discovering my old
+headquarters and forcing us to move. I can't have you interfering with
+my plans to-night, you know."
+
+"If I had a chance, I'd interfere with 'em, all right!"
+
+"But the chance is missing--eh, Muggs? Do you mean you'd try to prevent
+me from making a fortune for my band by running away with some jewels
+and a couple of diplomats?"
+
+"You haven't run away with them yet," Muggs told him.
+
+"It is only a matter of an hour or so, my dear Muggs. Probably I shall
+bring those diplomats here. You'll have the chance, Muggs, to associate
+with a lord and a knight."
+
+The Black Star rang, and his servant entered.
+
+"I am going to leave our prisoner here to-night when I leave," the Black
+Star said. "I expect to find him here when I return. You understand?"
+
+"He'll be here, sir!" the servant promised.
+
+"As long as he behaves himself, give him the liberty of this room," the
+master criminal went on to say. "If he does not behave, handle him in
+your own way."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Tell the mechanic to be ready to start in ten minutes."
+
+The servant hurried out. The Black Star glanced into his memorandum book
+again, and paced the floor, now and then looking at the little clock on
+the table. After a time, the servant returned.
+
+"The mechanic is ready, sir," he reported.
+
+"Good. Take care of Muggs while I am gone, but do not pester him so long
+as he is a good boy."
+
+"He'd better not pester me!" Muggs growled.
+
+The Black Star wrapped his robe closely around him, and put on the heavy
+ulster over it. He looked at Muggs once more, his eyes glittering
+through the mask. Then he chuckled, and hurried through the door.
+
+Muggs threw himself full length on the couch and glared at the man who
+acted as the master rogue's servant.
+
+"I'm gettin' mighty tired of this," he complained. "The eats are all
+right, and I suppose I hadn't ought to kick, but it ain't nice to have
+your wrists tied together all the time."
+
+"If you're schemin' to get me to unfasten 'em, you ain't goin' to work
+the scheme, I can tell you that!" the servant declared. "Them wrists of
+yours stay just as they are, far as I'm concerned."
+
+"You'd better never let me get 'em loose!" Muggs warned him.
+
+"You wouldn't do much if they were."
+
+"Is that so? I could separate you into sections in about ten minutes!"
+Muggs told him.
+
+The servant laughed, sat down at the end of the table, and started to
+smoke. Muggs glared at him, rolled over, and turned his back to the
+room and the man in it.
+
+Muggs might not have shown it outwardly, but he was almost frantic. The
+Black Star and his men were on their way, he knew. Before long they
+would surround the Branniton residence. They would get inside, rob women
+guests of their jewels, kidnap the two diplomats and Branniton, and rush
+away again before the police could reach the scene. Once more the public
+would howl, and the newspapers would ask why the police and Roger
+Verbeck did not capture the master criminal who did much as he pleased
+with the wealth of the town.
+
+Muggs did not know, of course, where he was at the present moment. This
+new headquarters might be out at the edge of the city, or in the very
+heart of it. But Muggs did know that, if he could escape from the
+building, there would be a chance of warning the police and Verbeck,
+possibly in time for them to do something.
+
+He tested the cords that lashed his wrists, and told himself for the
+hundredth time that they could not be removed. Everything had been taken
+from his pockets, including his knife. He had glanced around the
+headquarters room whenever he had a chance, and he had failed to see
+anything that might help him.
+
+To get his wrists free--that was the first task. And then he would have
+to escape from the place, wherever it was. He did not know whether the
+servant was the only man remaining there; the Black Star might have
+others around, on guard. Nor were men all that had to be considered.
+There might be traps in the house, there might be another deadly fence,
+or something like that.
+
+Muggs was beginning to feel desperate. He knew that every second had its
+value now. He rolled over, sat up on the couch, and yawned.
+
+"I sure hope the Black Star turns me loose to-morrow," he said. "He
+hinted that he might, after he pulled off to-night's stunt."
+
+"Yes, and maybe he won't, unless the sheriff lets Landers and those two
+women go," the servant said.
+
+"Gee, the sheriff won't do that. Even my boss couldn't make him do it.
+He's got those three in the jug, and there they'll stay, unless the
+Black Star rescues them himself." Muggs got up and walked slowly to the
+table. "There ain't any law against me havin' a smoke, is there?" he
+asked.
+
+"Help yourself--anything like that goes as long as you behave," the
+servant replied.
+
+"The Black Star has a good brand of cigarettes, I'll say that much for
+him," said Muggs. "My boss smokes the same kind."
+
+"You're kinder crazy about that boss of yours, ain't you?" the servant
+asked.
+
+"Sure! Why not? He saved my life, and he certainly has helped me since.
+He gives me a steady job, good money, and treats me decent."
+
+"He ain't like the general run of bosses, then."
+
+"I should say not!" Muggs declared.
+
+He put a cigarette in his mouth and picked up a match. It was an awkward
+task with his bound wrists. He struck the match, held the flame to the
+end of the cigarette, and puffed a cloud of smoke.
+
+"If every man had a boss like mine," Muggs continued, "the world would
+be a better place. I had a boss in Paris once that was a terror. I
+almost strangled him one day."
+
+"Why didn't you?" the servant asked.
+
+Muggs dropped the flaming match--into the filled wastebasket.
+
+"Oh, somethin' happened to stop me--somebody got his lamps on me, or
+somethin'. And I didn't happen to get a chance again. I had to do a
+dodge. The cops was after me."
+
+"Cops?"
+
+"Say, I've had real cops after me in my day!" Muggs boasted. "I cut out
+that line of life a few years ago, when I met Mr. Verbeck, but before
+that I was somethin' of a terror--especially in Paris."
+
+"Paris? I've never had a chance to go there," said the servant.
+
+"You want to go when you get a roll, some time. It's some town,
+boy--_some_ town!"
+
+Muggs puffed at the cigarette again, and then turned toward the couch.
+The servant gave a cry and sprang from his chair.
+
+"You cursed fool!" he shrieked. "You dropped that match in them papers!"
+
+Muggs whirled around, astonishment in his face. "Put it out--or the
+whole darned place will burn down!" he cried. "If it catches on them
+curtains and things----"
+
+He darted forward himself, snatched a small rug from the floor, and
+began beating at the flaming wastebasket. The servant was working on the
+other side of the table, trying to watch Muggs at the same time, but
+the latter seemed to be eager to put put the fire.
+
+Muggs smashed at the flaming paper with his rug--and managed to scatter
+it. He ran from burning sheet to burning sheet, beating at the flames.
+The servant was not so watchful now. Muggs seemed intent only on putting
+out the fire and preventing a serious blaze; but as he fought the flames
+he managed now and then to thrust his hands and wrists into the fire!
+
+The flames seared his flesh, but Muggs ignored that. He saw the cords
+that bound his wrists begin to smoke. He saw fire attack one of them. He
+thrust his wrists into the fire again, as he beat at a sheet of flaming
+paper, and tugged at his bonds. The fire was almost out now. He tugged
+at his bonds again.
+
+They gave--they snapped--Muggs was free!
+
+He gave a cry of relief, whirled around--launched himself straight at
+the Black Star's servant!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+THE ALARM
+
+
+The man realized in that instant that he had been tricked. He snarled
+like a beast and sprang to one side.
+
+Muggs was upon him before he could utter a cry. They clashed, each
+trying to find the other's throat. Muggs found that this would be no
+easy battle. Here was a man who was used to rough tactics, such as did
+not meet with the approval of the Black Star.
+
+Across the room they fought, Muggs trying to get the advantage, trying
+to keep the other from shrieking for help, trying to get in a blow that
+would silence his adversary for a time.
+
+The servant fought to carry out his orders that Muggs should be kept
+prisoner; but Muggs fought with the knowledge that he was trying to
+prevent the Black Star from having success in his latest undertaking,
+trying to help Roger Verbeck to victory.
+
+Back and forth across the room they continued to battle. They fought
+fiercely, and both were becoming exhausted. Now they were on their feet,
+wrestling, and now they were upon the floor, rolling over and over,
+striking at each other, reaching for each other's throat and eyes.
+
+And finally Muggs managed to get the grasp for which he had been
+striving. The servant gave a groan of pain, and his hold on the valet
+relaxed. Muggs choked--choked, and finally sprang to his feet and
+looked down at the unconscious man.
+
+He would be unconscious for some time, Muggs knew, as he did not intend
+to waste precious time binding and gagging him. He ran to the door
+through which the Black Star had gone, and stood there for a moment to
+listen. He heard nobody outside--remembered that nobody had been
+attracted by the sounds of combat.
+
+Muggs lifted the curtain, opened the door, and stepped into a dark hall.
+He had no weapon, no electric torch, not so much as a match in his
+pocket. He ran lightly to the end of the hall and found another door.
+This he opened cautiously, an inch at a time. He found that it opened
+into a room that was dimly lighted, a room that did not seem to have
+seen much use.
+
+Muggs hurried in and closed and locked the door behind him. On the
+opposite side there was another door; Muggs listened at that for a time,
+and then opened it. He found himself facing another hall.
+
+He hurried into it, and went on. He came to a flight of stairs and went
+up. He realized, now, that he had been in a basement. At the top of the
+stairs was a large room, half filled with rusted machinery and empty
+packing cases.
+
+Muggs stooped and picked up from the floor a short iron bar; he had a
+weapon now. On he went, across the big room to a window. He looked out.
+
+He was in the manufacturing district, he knew. This building was an old,
+abandoned factory. He could see the yard filled with scrap iron, the
+high fence around it, and, beyond, the empty street. Farther beyond that
+was the city, flashing with light.
+
+Muggs started to raise the window. It stuck, but he managed to pry it up
+with the bar of iron, stopping now and then to listen and watch. He
+couldn't convince himself that the Black Star had left no guard other
+than the servant now unconscious below. That wasn't at all like the
+Black Star, Muggs thought. There must be a trap somewhere.
+
+Then he remembered that the Black Star had been forced to move quickly.
+Perhaps this headquarters had not been completed when the master
+criminal had taken up his abode there.
+
+Muggs got the window up, put out his head and looked around. It was
+pitch dark beneath the window and along the wall. Muggs got through,
+lowered himself and dropped.
+
+He crouched against the wall, listening, the bar of iron clutched in his
+hand, ready for instant fight if occasion demanded it. Then he started
+following the wall, going toward where he had noticed a gate in the high
+fence.
+
+He reached the corner of the building, and glanced around it cautiously.
+Not far from him, he seemed to see something move. Muggs was not sure at
+first whether it was an elusive shadow or a man. He decided an instant
+later that it was a man.
+
+He scarcely breathed now. He had escaped thus far, and he did not intend
+to be stopped. He did not intend to waste much time, either. Even now,
+perhaps, the Black Star and his followers were surrounding the Branniton
+residence. Even now, perhaps, they were robbing women of their jewels,
+rendering the three men they had decided to abduct unconscious, and
+preparing to carry them away.
+
+Like a shadow, the iron bar held ready, Muggs crept along the wall in
+the direction of the guard.
+
+He was within ten feet of him when a match glowed. The flame shot up,
+and Muggs could see that the match was burning in the man's cupped
+hands, and that he was trying to light a cigar. Muggs covered the ten
+feet in two springs, the iron bar swept through the air and landed.
+There was a little whimper, and the Black Star's guard was stretched on
+the ground.
+
+Muggs turned and ran across the yard. He had decided not to try the
+gate, for there might be another guard there. He sprang, grasped the top
+of the fence, running the risk that it might be charged and deadly,
+found that such was not the case, and drew himself up. A moment later,
+he was in the street.
+
+Muggs never had been much of a runner, but he ran to-night. Up the
+street he went, his elbows glued to his sides, head bent forward,
+stumbling and staggering over the rough cobblestones, but making
+excellent progress. There was no person on the street, no vehicle in
+sight. This was an old manufacturing district far down the river, where
+there was nothing to attract people. Only a few street lights were
+burning, and they were far apart.
+
+Almost breathless, Muggs ran on. His heart was pounding at his ribs, his
+side pained, his breathing was labored. He turned a corner into another
+street, and continued running!
+
+Would he never reach a telephone? Would he never run across a member of
+the police force? Was there nobody in that end of town who could help
+him? Block after block he ran, always looking for a light, for a dingy
+saloon, for some place where he could get into communication with police
+headquarters and give the alarm. He was in despair; he felt that he
+could not keep up much longer.
+
+Presently he saw lights ahead of him, and felt hope and joy surge within
+him. Ahead, only two blocks away, was one of the barns of the city
+street railway.
+
+Panting, exhausted, Muggs stumbled through the entrance and ran into the
+little office. Half a dozen conductors and motormen sprang from their
+benches and hurried toward him.
+
+"Quick--telephone!" Muggs gasped. "Police----"
+
+He saw the telephone instrument on the wall, and lurched toward it. He
+grasped the receiver, tore it from the hook, began calling into the
+transmitter. One of the conductors was trying to talk to him; one of the
+motormen was trying to stop him from using the instrument until he
+explained. Muggs threw out a foot and kicked him away.
+
+"Police headquarters! Police headquarters!" he shrieked. "This
+headquarters? Give me the chief! This is Muggs! Yes--Muggs!
+Hurry--hurry!--That you, chief? Mr. Verbeck there? This is Muggs. I
+just--got away. Black Star's gang--going to raid--Branniton house--get
+jewels--kidnap them swells----"
+
+And then Muggs sank slowly against the wall.
+
+His words had electrified the conductors and motormen. They picked him
+up, and one of them continued the conversation, telling what had
+happened, but he soon found himself talking to nobody. The chief had
+recognized Muggs' voice and that had been enough.
+
+The conductors and motormen threw water into Muggs' face, and he gasped
+and sat up. They helped him to a bench and sat him there, while he
+fought for breath, grasped his chest where it pained, struggled to
+regain his strength.
+
+"Got--to get there----" he gasped.
+
+"Where?" one of the men cried.
+
+"Richard Branniton's house--in the--West End!"
+
+"The foreman's flivver's out in front; he'll let us use it," a conductor
+cried. "I don't go on duty for an hour yet. Come on!"
+
+He ran toward the curb, and Muggs staggered after him. Muggs got into
+the cheap little car. The obliging conductor cranked it and sprang in
+beside him.
+
+"We'll get there quick, or we'll shake every bolt and nut off the blamed
+thing!" he said.
+
+The flivver lurched away down the street.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It would have done Muggs good had he been able to see the effect of his
+message at police headquarters. The chief sprang from his chair
+shrieking the news. Verbeck and the sheriff dashed with him through the
+assembly room and out to the street, and as they went, the chief shouted
+his orders. The reserves ran out and sprang into the automobiles, the
+deputies did the same.
+
+"Good Muggs!" Verbeck cried, as he drove like a fiend through the
+streets. "I knew he'd do it--if he had a chance!"
+
+Verbeck swung between two street cars, causing two motormen to turn pale
+for an instant, and then to curse joy riders. Strung out behind the
+powerful roadsters were the police cars. The sirens were not working
+now. The chief had issued orders that they were not to be used if it
+could be avoided, as it would indicate to the Black Star and his men
+that they were coming.
+
+"Hope we get him this time!" the chief shrieked into Verbeck's ear.
+"Drive, man, drive!"
+
+Verbeck drove. He forced the powerful roadster to do its utmost. He
+called upon the expensive engine to pay for itself this night. He swung
+around other vehicles, dashed around corners, swept up hills like a
+comet.
+
+They passed through the retail district, and got on a wide avenue where
+there was not so much traffic, and where better speed could be made. And
+now they were in the section of better residences, speeding on.
+
+They turned another corner--and the Branniton house was but four blocks
+away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+CAUGHT IN THE NET
+
+
+At the Branniton residence, Richard Branniton was stretched on the
+floor, unconscious from the effects of a vapor gun. The men were
+standing against one wall, the ladies against another. The Black Star's
+men guarded the doors and windows and watched the guests. The master
+criminal himself was in the center of the room.
+
+"I must have all your jewels, ladies," he said. "You need not be
+alarmed; you shall not be harmed if you conduct yourselves properly. And
+you gentlemen will be safer if you indulge in no attempt to better your
+present condition. I assure you that you are at the mercy of my band."
+
+He made a sign, and three of his men took bags from beneath their robes
+and started toward the line of women.
+
+"Take off your jewelry and toss it into the bags," the Black Star
+directed. "Married ladies may retain their wedding rings and their
+engagement rings, but must give up everything else. That is just to show
+that I am not hard-hearted, as some persons would have the world
+believe."
+
+He laughed gleefully as his men began their task. Terrified women
+removed their jewels and handed them over. Weeping women, hysterical
+women, surrendered necklaces, brooches, rings. The bags were filled
+rapidly, and the Black Star's men stepped back again.
+
+"And now we have something else to do," the Black Star said. "Which of
+you gentlemen is Lord Sambery?"
+
+One of them stepped forward, a dignified man of perhaps fifty. "I have
+that honor," he said stiffly.
+
+"I admire you greatly, sir," the Black Star said. "I have read a great
+deal about the work you have done. I admire you so much that I insist
+you become my guest for a time."
+
+"I beg your pardon?" stammered the astonished nobleman.
+
+"I insist upon it, sir!" the Black Star said. "And where is Sir Burton
+Banks?"
+
+"I am here!"
+
+"I admire you, too, sir, and you shall be my guest also," the Black Star
+declared.
+
+"Allow me to decline your hospitality," said Sir Burton Banks stiffly.
+
+"But I cannot allow you to do so," the master criminal said, chuckling.
+"You see, you mean money to me."
+
+"How is that?" Sir Burton Banks demanded.
+
+"Not your money," the Black Star said. "It has occurred to us that you
+two gentlemen are in this country on an important mission, and that your
+time is very valuable. We have an idea that, if you should be detained,
+certain persons and personages would pay a handsome sum for your
+release."
+
+"Why, confound the fellow! He means to abduct us and hold us for
+ransom!" Lord Sambery exclaimed.
+
+"You have guessed it," the Black Star said.
+
+"But this is the United States of America, sir, and we are in one of its
+greatest cities! I never heard of such a thing! The idea is
+preposterous! You can't do it!"
+
+"Can't we?" asked the Black Star with a laugh. "It's a very simple
+thing. We just render you unconscious and carry you away--and you can
+never be found."
+
+"Why, you dare not!" cried Sir Burton Banks.
+
+"I am not particularly prone to fear," the master criminal said. "I have
+dared many things, and accomplished many things harder than kidnaping a
+couple of gentlemen. You need fear nothing; you shall be treated with
+every courtesy."
+
+"I--I shall fight!" Lord Sambery declared.
+
+"You are an elderly man, sir, and, also, I abhor violence," the Black
+Star reminded him. "You cannot fight long against one of my vapor guns,
+your lordship."
+
+"I--I--my country will have you punished for this!"
+
+"The first thing will be to capture me, your lordship," said the master
+criminal. "I was captured before, but managed to escape, as perhaps you
+know. But we are wasting valuable time in conversation, and I'll have
+ample time to talk to you during the next two days. I am forced to have
+you gentlemen put to sleep for a short time, but I assure you there are
+no bad after effects."
+
+"You--you----" Sir Burton stammered.
+
+"It is quite useless to protest, or to attempt to fight," the Black Star
+informed him. "By the way, I am going to take Mr. Branniton along, too."
+
+"You fiend!" Branniton's wife cried.
+
+"He shall not be harmed, my dear madam, but it will cost him something
+to regain his liberty. He caused me considerable annoyance; he was the
+prosecuting attorney at my trial."
+
+"And he shall be again!" Mrs. Branniton retorted.
+
+"Perhaps--we shall see! I have no idea of standing trial again, my dear
+madam. By the time I am captured, your husband probably will be a United
+States senator, or an ambassador abroad. I realize that he is a man of
+promise."
+
+The Black Star signaled to two of his men, and they advanced toward Lord
+Sambery and Sir Burton Banks. The latter showed that he intended to
+fight, regardless of what the master criminal had said. But the Black
+Star's men rushed in, discharged their vapor guns, and darted back
+again. The two diplomats toppled over on the floor. A woman shrieked.
+
+"They are not harmed a bit," the Black Star assured them. "They will
+simply awake from a sleep, and feel quite fit. Ladies, I regret that I
+interrupted your little party. I suggest you continue it after I leave
+with my men. In reality, you should thank me. You will have something to
+talk about for the remainder of your lives; and women, I have heard,
+love to talk!"
+
+He backed toward the entrance to the hall.
+
+A shrill whistle came from the lawn outside--another--a third. The Black
+Star whirled toward the door. His men stood still, listening. Into the
+room rushed a robed and masked member of the band.
+
+"Police, sir--all around the place!" he cried.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+MUGGS ARRIVES
+
+
+Verbeck's roadster was stopped on the corner nearest the Branniton
+residence. Verbeck and the chief sprang out and darted across the walk.
+The police autos came up and discharged their loads of officers. The
+chief issued his orders rapidly.
+
+"Surround the place! Get into the alley! Pick up everybody that looks
+suspicious--and be ready to fight and fight hard! Let's get them this
+time!"
+
+Officers hurried to every side of the house, poured into the alley,
+rushed across the lawn. They caught the men with the limousine, and
+those with the truck that apparently was stalled, and held them for
+investigation later. They drew a close net around the Branniton place,
+and the chief and Verbeck, with half a dozen trusted men, started toward
+the front veranda.
+
+But the master criminal had had watchers scattered around the lawn. They
+were caught in the police net, too, but they were able to give the
+alarm. They rushed inside the house; and the Black Star was informed
+that the police were upon him.
+
+He ordered the guests into one of the smaller rooms, and closed and
+locked the door on them. He had the lights turned off all over the
+house; the waiter attended to that. He issued his orders rapidly, like a
+general conducting a battle, sent men to defend the doors and windows.
+
+"Violence appears to be necessary," he said. "We must drive them off and
+get away, or there'll be more of them upon us within a short time!"
+
+From a window over the veranda, the Black Star looked at the situation.
+Two of the police automobiles were playing searchlights on the sides of
+the house. Another was driving across the lawn to do the same on the
+front. The Black Star took an automatic from beneath his robe, and fired
+one shot across the lawn.
+
+The shot was a signal. From every window shots were sent at the men
+surrounding the house, shots that were not meant to wound or kill, only
+to terrify. But the chief's men were not easily frightened.
+
+They sought refuge behind trees and clumps of brush, and returned the
+fire. They shattered windows and made it impossible for the Black Star's
+men to remain in them. They poured volleys against the doors.
+
+But the master criminal and his men were safe so far. The officers were
+not able to get inside the house. The Black Star had no wish to stand a
+siege, for he knew that there could be but the one outcome. There came a
+lull in the battle, and the Black Star shouted from his window.
+
+"Is the chief there?"
+
+"He's here!" came a voice from the darkness.
+
+"This is the Black Star!"
+
+"Well, what do you want? Are you and your men ready to surrender to us?
+We'll get you, and get you good, if you don't!"
+
+"Surrender?" the Black Star said. "When I hold the advantage?"
+
+"I don't see it!" the chief shouted.
+
+"No? My dear chief, there are in this house the most prominent persons
+in your fair city. We have with us, also, two diplomats of international
+fame. I abhor violence, but in such a case as this, it becomes
+necessary. You will withdraw your men. You will take them to the corner,
+beneath the electric light, where we can see them plainly. You will keep
+them there fifteen minutes, and after that you may do as you please."
+
+"I see myself!" the chief cried.
+
+"If you do not, I shall use violence upon those in the house. For every
+ten minutes we are forced to remain here, I shall take a human life. For
+every one of my men wounded or slain, I shall take another human life.
+Think it over, chief!"
+
+The chief did think it over, with Roger Verbeck to aid him. The Black
+Star was at the end of his rope. Captured again, he was certain to be
+convicted and sentenced to prison for life. He was the sort who would go
+out fighting--the sort to do all the harm he could before he went out.
+
+"We're not sure that it's not a bluff!" Verbeck said. "But we can't do
+as he asks, of course."
+
+"We'll rush the house!" the sheriff declared. "That's our business in a
+case of this kind, isn't it? We may lose a few men, but it must be done.
+What else is there to do?"
+
+"We'll have to rush it!" the chief returned. "Our aim is to get inside
+and fight it out as quickly as possible, without letting that fiend have
+time to do much damage. I'll give the orders." The chief whispered them
+to a captain, and he passed them on.
+
+The Black Star was shouting from a window again. "'Well, what is the
+decision, chief?"
+
+"You say you want fifteen minutes?" the chief asked, more to gain time
+than anything else.
+
+"Fifteen minutes will be enough, thank you. Remain on that corner with
+your men for fifteen minutes, and then do as you please. That is all I
+ask."
+
+"Well, you're asking enough! What do you suppose the public will say
+when they know I had you and let you go?"
+
+"My dear chief, they'll probably give you credit for saving the lives of
+some prominent persons. I understand that the mayor is a guest here this
+evening. Shall I have him come to the window and decide what you are to
+do?"
+
+"Let him come!" the chief said.
+
+He knew in advance what the mayor would say. The mayor would tell him to
+charge the house, break in, and capture the Black Star and his men. The
+mayor happened to be a man of courage.
+
+Thus the chief had gained a little time, and that was all he
+wanted--time enough for his orders to be passed around to all the
+officers. Now his men were ready.
+
+The chief blew his whistle. The searchlights that had been playing on
+the house were extinguished; and through the darkness the police and
+deputies rushed upon the Branniton residence!
+
+A volley greeted them from the windows, but the Black Star's men were
+firing wildly into the darkness, and their shots had no effect. Officers
+and deputies crowded the veranda, attacked the French windows, battered
+at the doors.
+
+A cheap automobile lurched around the corner and stopped in front of the
+house. Muggs had arrived!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+AN EMPTY NET
+
+
+Muggs never forgot that wild ride in the flivver. The street-car
+conductor drove the little machine as if it had been a racing car. It
+lurched around corners, almost ran down traffic policemen, swung ahead
+of street cars. The conductor was like a maniac. He always had craved
+excitement and adventure. Now it had come to him, and he intended to
+make the most of it.
+
+They dashed up to the Branniton residence, and Muggs, not even thinking
+of thanking the conductor, sprang out and rushed across the lawn.
+
+"Boss! boss!" he shrieked above the din.
+
+Somebody told him that Verbeck was on the veranda. He rushed there and
+found his employer.
+
+"Boss, was I in time?" he asked. "I got loose as soon as I could!"
+
+"You bet you were, Muggs. The Black Star's inside, with some of his
+gang!"
+
+"I told the big stiff this was goin' to be his unlucky night! You give
+me a chance to get at him, boss! I've got a few scores to settle with
+that bird!"
+
+"We'll all get at him, Muggs! We'll be inside in a minute!"
+
+The doors and windows were crashing in now. Policemen and deputies were
+pouring into the house. Shots greeted them, shots from both automatics
+and vapor guns. They struggled through clouds of the pungent vapor,
+here and there a man dropping because he had inhaled some of the fumes.
+They grappled with men in black robes and masks. Through the house they
+fought, while outside were others who watched every exit and caught
+those who tried to get away from the place.
+
+One of the deputies had been an electrician formerly, and he knew where
+the light switches were located in the Branniton house. He fought his
+way to the kitchen, found them, and turned on the lights.
+
+Things were better for the policemen and deputies after that. They could
+tell friends from foes. The Black Star's men barricaded themselves in
+certain rooms. Some of them threw down their weapons and held up their
+hands in token of surrender, and were immediately seized and handcuffed.
+The others were cleared from the lower floor, fought up the wide stairs,
+and continued the battle on the second floor.
+
+Verbeck and Muggs were in the thick of the fight. They were looking for
+the Black Star. So were the chief, and Sheriff Kowen. They searched the
+basement and the rooms on the ground floor, but found no trace of him.
+
+"He's on the second floor!" Verbeck cried. "Up we go!"
+
+The guests who had been held prisoners were released from the room in
+which they had been locked. The women fled to the lawn, and across it to
+the street. Some of the men went with them; others joined in the fray.
+There was a crowd in the street now and more people were arriving every
+minute. Word had flashed throughout the city that the Black Star and his
+followers had been cornered in the residence of Richard Branniton.
+
+The members of the band were being caught rapidly. A few had been
+wounded, a few officers also. But the criminals were scattered now, and
+here and there one surrendered, or was overpowered.
+
+Verbeck and Muggs, the chief and the sheriff thought of nothing but the
+Black Star. They knew that the policemen and deputies could care for the
+others of the band. It was the master criminal himself that they wanted,
+to put him behind prison bars once more, to have years added to his
+sentence, to send him to the big prison up the river where he no longer
+would be a menace to society at large.
+
+They ran from room to room, searching for him. They shrieked suggestions
+to one another above the din of the battle. They found a room at one end
+of the upper hall, with the door locked, and hurled themselves against
+it and broke it in.
+
+There they saw the man they wanted. He had thrown off his robe and mask.
+He held a bomb in his hand--and stopped them with a gesture.
+
+"Wait!" he commanded. "This is not a vapor bomb--it is the real thing.
+It can blow all of us to bits! So four of you came to get me, eh? Mr.
+Verbeck, and the chief and the sheriff--and Muggs. I suppose, since you
+are free and here, that you did all this, Muggs?"
+
+"You bet I did!" Muggs cried.
+
+"Wait, gentlemen! Don't make a move to raise a weapon, or we all will be
+hurled into the hereafter." The Black Star stepped back toward a window.
+"I suppose you have me cornered," he said. "I suppose you think you are
+going to take me back to jail. But it happens that I have one card yet
+to play!"
+
+He hurled the bomb, and it exploded. It was a vapor bomb, after all.
+The cloud of pungent gas assailed them. They whirled to either side,
+away from it. There was a crash of glass.
+
+"He's gone through the window!" Muggs shrieked.
+
+Trying to keep from breathing, they rushed to the window, got through it
+and to the roof of the veranda, where they gulped the fresh air!
+
+The Black Star had jumped to the ground. They saw him for an instant.
+Then he was lost in the darkness. The chief shouted a warning to his
+men.
+
+"Down, and after him!" Verbeck cried.
+
+"We've got him!" cried the chief. "The entire yard is surrounded. He's
+in a trap!"
+
+Muggs was the first to reach the ground. He did not stop to climb down
+one of the posts, but did as the master criminal had done--jumped.
+
+Verbeck and the chief and Sheriff Kowen were not far behind him.
+Officers who had been on the veranda charged after the Black Star in
+response to the chief's command.
+
+The net grew tighter. They were in a corner of the lawn, calling to one
+another. A police auto drove across the grass, and the searchlight was
+turned on.
+
+There was the circle of policemen and deputies, with Verbeck and Muggs,
+the chief and the sheriff at one side of it.
+
+But the Black Star was gone!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+THE LETTER
+
+
+"He can't have got away!" Muggs exclaimed.
+
+"Where did he go?" the chief demanded.
+
+"He didn't come past us," one of the policemen declared. "I don't see
+how he got out of the circle. Why, he hasn't had time to get away; and
+the men in the street----"
+
+The officers in the street already had been warned. The entire block was
+surrounded; it seemed impossible that the master criminal could escape.
+
+"Maybe he dodged the boys here, but he'll never get away from the
+block!" the chief declared. "Have more searchlights turned on the lawn,
+and tell the men in the alley to keep awake. He can't be far!"
+
+Out of the sky came a blinding light. It flooded the house and lawn,
+turned the night into day.
+
+"That--that light----" Sheriff Kowen gasped.
+
+The light disappeared. They waited, watching the sky. They were silent
+now. No sound reached their ears except the din from the house. They saw
+nothing.
+
+And then they heard the Black Star's voice.
+
+"Did you really think you had me?" it said. "I must admit that you have
+wrecked my plans and scattered my organization again. Some of my men
+will have to go to prison, I suppose, but you haven't caught me, never
+will catch me! I shall leave the city, and you cannot prevent it. I have
+prepared for this emergency. When my organization is formed again,
+perhaps I shall return. My campaign is over for the present, but there
+will be another!"
+
+The voice died away. There was silence for a moment, and then the
+brilliant light flashed again, flooded the lawn, almost blinded the men
+there.
+
+"There is a letter by the alley gate!" The voice of the Black Star now
+came to them faintly. "Good night, gentlemen!"
+
+"Gone!" the chief gasped. "Gone!"
+
+"But how on earth----" Kowen began.
+
+"That letter!" Verbeck cried. "Let's get it!" They hurried to the alley
+gate, and there they found the letter, as the Black Star had said. They
+carried it back to the police automobile, and read it in front of the
+searchlight.
+
+     GENTLEMEN: If you have this letter, it means that my plans have
+     been ruined, and that I have been forced to escape. I cannot
+     neglect this chance to tell you how futile have been your efforts.
+
+     Have you wondered how I spoke to you out of the sky? Have you
+     worried about the bright light? Are you surprised at the way I
+     escaped you just now?
+
+     I have in my organization a wonderful man. He is a mechanical
+     genius gone wrong. He has perfected airplanes as no man dreams they
+     can be perfected. I have been using an airplane--but it is a
+     _noiseless_ airplane! Can you imagine what that would mean if the
+     world had the secret? An airplane, as the public knows it, heralds
+     its approach. With this, I can sail at night over the city,
+     without making the slightest noise. I can hover over a certain
+     spot----
+
+     Yes, I mean _hover_. For this airplane is so perfected that it can
+     stand still in the air. It can be raised or lowered straight up or
+     down. Do you understand now?
+
+     The airplane was hovering over the lawn, a rope ladder dropped from
+     it. I merely climbed up the ladder as the airplane ascended. I am
+     writing this in advance, but I know what I shall do, if forced. I
+     always plan for every emergency, you see. And while you poor fools
+     bite your nails in your chagrin, I shall be speeding through the
+     air to a certain refuge I have prepared. There I shall recuperate
+     and plan some more. *****
+
+Roger Verbeck read the letter aloud. A chorus of gasps came from those
+who heard.
+
+"Well, he is gone!" Verbeck said. "But his band is broken up, and that
+is something!"
+
+"And if he ever comes back here, we'll get him, won't we, boss?" Muggs
+asked.
+
+"We'll get him!" Roger Verbeck said. There was determination in his
+voice.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Black Star's Campaign, by Johnston McCulley
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40484 ***