CHAPTER X
A DOUBLE CRIME
At a quarter of twelve that night, a man walked rapidly through thealley behind the First National Bank. He knocked on the basement door ofthe 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 hidingplace arranged for you, and you will be sent ample funds. You are not toattempt 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 thiscampaign of his. The man who makes a mistake or disobeys orders won'tlast very long. Where are the robes?"
The watchman opened a box, took out a robe, and handed it over. Theother man put it on quickly, affixed the mask, and started toward a doorthat opened into the basement of the bank building adjoining. At thedoor, he turned again.
"Let the others in, and tell them that they are to hurry," he told thewatchman. "They'll give the usual signal, of course. Hand them theirmasks and gowns."
He opened the door and hurried into the other basement, went up a flightof steps, unlocked another door, and was on the first floor of the bank.
Down in the basement, the watchman admitted other men who arrived twominutes apart, until twelve in all were in the building, and gave themrobes 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 werescattered around the first floor, watching the doors and windows. Twohurried into the vault room.
The shades had been drawn at all the windows, and were fastened securelyat the sides and bottoms so that no light could be seen from theoutside. An electric torch was flashed on the door of the vault, andheld there, and one of the men began working on the lock with toolstaken from beneath his robe.
"It's a cinch!" he whispered. "The more intricate they are, the easierit 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 ofthe man who worked, there was silence in the vault room and in the restof the building. Presently there came a sharp click, the workman gaspedhis satisfaction and stood up. The big door was pulled open.
Both men hurried inside the vault. They began stuffing packages of billsinto 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 usnot 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 manreplied 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 oneof 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 timeis it now?"
"Twelve thirty."
"Just right! Send the signal to the others. The lieutenant is standingby the window at the end of the hall."
A hiss escaped the man's lips, and was carried and echoed through thebuilding. The men gathered in the corridor, the lieutenant made sure allof them were there, and then they descended into the basement, andpassed from it to the one adjoining.
"Signal for the autos," the watchman was ordered. "Then make your ownget-away. And be sure you remember all that you've been told. Obeyorders!"
The watchman stepped into the dark alley, and flashed an electric torchfive times. A chauffeur at the mouth of the alley counted the flashes,and honked his horn. A procession of four automobiles started throughthe alley.
They did not stop, but merely slowed down, and into each machine sprangthe men who had been assigned seats there. The automobiles continuedthrough the alley and turned into the next street, where the chauffeursput on speed.
There were few persons in that particular section of the city at thetime, but those who were on the street saw the automobiles filled withrobed and masked men. They knew what that meant--that the Black Star'sband was working in the vicinity. Their terror kept them dumb until theautomobiles had disappeared, and then they gave the alarm. They knewthat there was but one thing in that section that would attract themaster crook--and that was the vault of the old First National. Thealarm went to police headquarters.
A few blocks down the street, the automobiles scattered, and one by onemade their way to dark parts of the town, where the men in them took offtheir robes and masks, and, one by one, left the machines and dartedaway.
The band was scattered fifteen minutes after the vault had been looted,and one machine, a closed one, was running out along the river roadtoward the resort. The chauffeur drove in a leisurely manner, and thecar attracted no undue attention.
At the end of the lane running to the old farmhouse, where it was pitchdark, the door of the closed car was opened, and a man sprang out. Theautomobile went on along the river road. The man who had jumped from itcarried two canvas bags stuffed with currency. He was Landers, the BlackStar's trusted lieutenant.
Landers hurried along the lane, entered the grove about the house, andtook a telephone from its hiding place behind a clump of brush. Hecalled the house, and the servant who remained on guard at theheadquarters answered.
Landers gave a password, then put the telephone away and sprang to hisfeet. He came to the wire fence that ran around the house, but he didnot touch it. He knew that it was charged with a deadly current. A lightflashed in a window, and Landers opened the gate and went on to thehouse. He disappeared inside. His work for the night was done, exceptthat he had to turn in the swag.
But the Black Star and his band were not done for the night. The men whohad left the automobiles and scattered, immediately made their way tothe National Trust Company's building, and lost themselves in the throngof people there. They bumped elbows with policemen and deputies anddetectives, and grinned when they recognized one another in the crowd.
They were in time to hear the alarm given, and to see policemen springinto automobiles and hurry away. They saw Muggs drive through the crowd,and Roger Verbeck spring into the roadster and start for the FirstNational Bank. Word flashed through the crowd that the master rogue'sband was looting the First National, and the crowd melted away like snowbeneath a blazing sun, hurrying toward the scene of the robbery.
One by one, and cautiously, the Black Star's men entered the alleybehind the National Trust Company's building. Here, too, a basement doorwas opened for them by a watchman. Once more they put on masks and gownsfrom a supply that was in readiness, and posted their guards in thebuilding. Once more two selected men hurried into the vault room.
They began their work on the door of the vault; and suddenly the BlackStar himself appeared before them, his face masked, the flaming star ofjet on the hood of his robe.
"Make it as quick as possible!" he ordered. "We don't want to be heretoo long. Did things go all right at the other place? Was the get-awaygood?"
"Everything went off as planned, sir," one of the men reported. "Thework 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 Starsaid. "And hurry with that vault! We can't spend all night gettinginside that box!"
The rasping of tools against steel, the heavy breathing of the workmantold that the man was doing his best to hurry. But the vault of theNational Trust Company was a complicated affair, and it was a quarter ofan hour before the door finally was swung open.
"Lively, now!" the Black Star commanded. "Those bags of gold are what wewant--and all we want here at this time. Get them to the rear door assoon 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 thevault, hurried through
the corridor with them, went down the stairs, andto the basement door.
The Black Star watched the work. When it was completed, he walked acrossthe room to the nearest telephone, took down the receiver, and gave thenumber 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?" thedesk 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 thechief spoke.
"Hello! This is the chief!"
"This is the Black Star! Did my new searchlight puzzle you a bitto-night, chief? When you know the secret you'll be more startled thanpuzzled. Did you wonder where my voice came from, and how I happened tobe in the air just over you? Maybe you got the idea that I was puttingon a ventriloquist's act."
"We'll get you, you fiend!" the chief cried angrily into thetransmitter.
"Why, chief, how violent you sound! I am afraid you are working yourselfinto a passion."
"You got away with it this time, but you'll not do it again. And you hadto 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 catchyou at it, and you always told the truth in those days. You must belosing your nerve. You said, you crook, that you were going to rob theNational Trust--and then you went after the First National."
"Oh, that was just a little job on the side!" the Black Star said. "Itold you no falsehood, chief. I said that I would rob the NationalTrust, and that is exactly what I have done. I am speaking from thevault room of the National Trust this very minute. I have just removedseveral bags of gold coins!"
"What's that?" the chief cried.
"I am leaving a letter here in the vault room for you, chief, and havejust mailed another to a certain newspaper. You'd better come right overhere and get your letter, chief. And thanks so much for rushing allyour 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 letteraddressed to the chief in the middle of the table, and pasted littleblack stars around the room on the marble. He ran to a rear window andsaw three automobiles passing through the alley. In them were his men,he knew, and also the gold coin taken from the supposedly impregnablevault of the National Trust.
The Black Star laughed again, went to the stairs, and began mountingthem, flight by flight, stopping now and then to laugh at a bound andgagged watchman. Presently he reached the roof by means of a trap door.He closed the door again, and fastened it securely. Then he took anelectric 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 uphis heavy ulster from the roof, where he had left it before descendinginto 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 themachines stop and policemen spring from them. He watched as they gainedentrance to the building, saw a crowd gathering in the street below. TheBlack Star chuckled again, took a vapor bomb from the pocket of hisulster, and hurled it at the street. It struck, exploded, and a cloud ofwhite, pungent vapor drifted across the pavement. Shrieks and cries ofalarm reached his ears. He saw one policeman stagger and fall, overcomeby 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!