CHAPTER IV
OVER THE TELEPHONE
The chief of police, notified by Sheriff Kowen that the Black Star hadbeen rescued cleverly by members of his band, dressed quickly andhurried to police headquarters, there to go into his private office andrave and fume, and relate to the world that Sheriff Kowen was anofficial who knew not the meaning of precaution and efficiency.
"That's what he gets for being a bug on raiding gambling joints!" thechief cried. "Anybody would have known it was a plant--anybody withbrains. We fight that fiend of a Black Star for more than a year, RogerVerbeck finally lands him, we convict the brute and have him handed astiff sentence--and then an idiotic sheriff allows him to escape! Now Isuppose we are in for another reign of terror, with every newspaper intown telling the dear public that the police are fit candidates for someold lady's home!"
There was a lot more of this, while captains and lieutenants, sergeantsand roundsmen held their peace and hoped that their superior would notmake this an occasion for reprimanding them for some fancied mistake.The chief had worked his way up from the ranks; he was endowed with morebrute force than intelligence, and he was a bad man when aroused.
"Call Roger Verbeck's apartment, and get him on the wire!" the chiefcommanded.
The desk sergeant tried it immediately. He reported that the apartmenthouse did not answer. The chief made a few remarks about sleepingtelephone operators, and ordered the desk sergeant to try again. Notgetting a reply immediately, the chief called two detectives, orderedthem to hurry to Verbeck's place and acquaint him with the news, and tohave Verbeck get in communication with the chief at once.
"The first thing the Black Star will do, will be to get hold ofVerbeck!" the chief declared. "He'll probably put Verbeck out of the wayif we don't prevent it. Verbeck caught him before, and he'll have to doit again. I've got a police force composed of idiots, imbeciles andblockheads! They couldn't catch a turtle walking across the street!"
* * * * *
At about the same moment the chief of police was indulging in thistirade, Muggs groaned, tried to turn over and found that he could not,experienced nausea, wondered whether he was being taken down with somedisease--and then made the discovery that he was bound and gagged andlashed to the bed.
Having made that discovery, Muggs forced himself to breathe normally,composed himself, and tried to think. The last he remembered, he hadretired, started to fall asleep, and had dropped into the middle of anot unpleasant dream. Now it appeared that there had been violence, andhe had known nothing of it.
"Burglars!" Muggs thought at first. "Doped while I slept, and tied uplike this! I wonder if the boss----"
The mere thought that something disastrous might have happened to RogerVerbeck moved Muggs to instant action. He struggled with his bonds, andat first believed that they could not be slipped; but finally he found aknot that gave a trifle, and he redoubled his efforts, working in afrenzy, his imagination picturing Roger Verbeck robbed and slain.
After a time the knot gave, and Muggs managed to get his hands free. Heremoved 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 thelast rope, and sprang from the bed. Immediately he reeled and fell backagain.
"I'm--sick!" Muggs gasped weakly. "That was--some dope! I wonder whatit----"
And then it came to him.
"I know that feelin' in my head and that taste in my mouth!" he toldhimself. "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 betaken 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 fromthem twice himself before Roger Verbeck saved his life and made a man ofhim.
Once more he started to get up from the bed, this time slowly andcautiously. He did not experience the nausea now, and though he stillfelt weak, yet he managed to stagger across the room toward the door.
He went into Verbeck's bedchamber and snapped on the lights. Verbeck wasnot there. The room was in confusion. Verbeck's clothes, that Muggs hadput out for use in the morning, were gone, and his pajamas were on thefloor in a corner.
Muggs hurried to the bed. It was there, pasted on the headpiece--a tinyblack star!
"If he hurt my boss----" Muggs began, almost sobbing.
And then he felt moved to sudden action again. He rushed into the livingroom and to the telephone. He rattled the hook frantically, andpresently heard the operator's reply.
"I want the police!" Muggs cried into the transmitter. "Mr. Verbeck isgone--been taken away!"
"Say! There are a couple of detectives here now to see Mr. Verbeck," theoperator replied. "They're coming right up!"
Muggs darted back into his own room and began dressing with such speedthat 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 thosecursed vapor guns."
"And Mr. Verbeck is gone! They must have taken him! We've got to findhim! There's a black star--pasted on his bed----"
"The chief just sent us up to see Verbeck about this business. The BlackStar's gang rescued their leader to-night--turned him loose. He left anote saying that he was going to raid the town."
"Well, why stand here and gas about it?" Muggs demanded. "Don't youunderstand that the Black Star's got my boss? He put the big crook injail before, and you can probably guess what he'll get handed to him forit now, if the Black Star is loose!"
"Well, what can we do?" one of the detectives asked. "All we found outwas that there was a closed auto out in front, and three or four menwith it. If they carried Verbeck away, it's a wild guess where they tookhim. This town has some size, remember, and the Black Star and his gangare smooth customers."
"You're a fine lot of detectives!" Muggs sneered. "You don't know whatto do, huh? Expect to find him by standin' around here smokin' cheapcigars? Why don't you talk to headquarters and tell what you know? Getbusy!"
One of the detectives called the station and made his report to thechief. The police reporters were electrified by the statement that RogerVerbeck had been abducted by members of the master crook's organization.At the time the Black Star was arrested, he had sworn to have vengeanceon Verbeck, and though he claimed that he abhorred violence, and seldomresorted to it, there were fears and misgivings lest Verbeck's body befound in some lonely spot, a black star pasted on the forehead.
The chief had not been idle. Every officer in the city was alert. Thepolice knew that the master criminal must have a headquarters somewhere,and that it was their duty to locate it. Until he was under arrestagain, and his band broken up, he was a constant menace. He was liableto strike at any part of the city, at any moment of day or night. Theblow might fall upon one of the big banks, or upon some social gatheringwhere a fortune in jewels could be obtained.
News of Verbeck's abduction was flashed to all officers as soon aspossible. Roads leading from the city were under guard, and all vehicleswere being stopped and their occupants questioned. Arrangements had beenmade to quiz real estate and rental firms in the morning, ascertainevery recent lease, and investigate it. The chief had given out wordthat the headquarters of the master criminal had to be found, andwithout delay.
Muggs journeyed to headquarters with the two detectives, and told allthat 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 clewregarding where Roger Verbeck had been taken, and he, Muggs, wouldrescue him alone.
In vain the chief attempted to quiet Muggs.
"He's my boss--h
e ain't yours!" Muggs shrieked. "He saved my life and heshowed me how to make a man of myself! Maybe you don't care what becomesof him, but I do. And if that big crook harms him, I'll get Mr. BlackStar if it takes me the rest of my life, and I'll choke the life out ofhim 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 andhavin' 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 downthe receiver.
"Hello!" he cried.
"Hello!" a man's voice answered. "Well, well, it is some time since Ihad 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 theBlack Star!"
"Oh, are you?" the chief shouted. "Well, you put one over on SheriffKowen, 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 ofthat gang of yours!"
"Well, well! You are talking violently, chief--but you always wereinclined 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 youconcerned about Roger Verbeck? One of my men reported a few minutes agothat you were. You see, I am keeping in touch with you, chief. I knowevery order you issue, every plan you make."
"What about Verbeck?"
"Don't worry about him. I had him taken to my headquarters so I couldhave 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 doubthe will be with you soon."
"Your headquarters, huh?" the chief cried. "We'll locate that littleplace 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 aquarter where you'd least expect to find it. I scarcely think you canfind it inside twenty-four hours, chief. Besides, you are going to bevery 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 todo, and dare us to catch you at it."
"Chief, your work is too coarse. Trying to anger me into telling you myplans, are you? It cannot be done to-night, chief. But I'll tell youthis much--we intend making quite a haul! Expenses have been heavyrecently, you know, and I must have a sort of indemnity."
"You'll get something worse than that when we get our hands on you!" theexasperated 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 menleft Muggs bound and gagged when they carried Verbeck away. You shouldsee 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 whenyou're caught, too, and then you want to look out for yourself! Kidnapmy boss, will you?"
"Why, Muggs, how violent you are!"
"You--you----" Muggs sputtered. "When I get hold of you, I'll make youthink you never saw or heard tell of that violence stuff before! I'llshow you some real violence, you crook!"
"Tut, tut, Muggs! You'll be working yourself into a passion, my dearboy. By the way, Muggs, tell the chief that he need not bother abouttracing this telephone call. I have tapped a private wire and am talkingover it--understand?"
A click came over the wire, and it went dead. Muggs put up the receiverand 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 atpresent. Well, chief, he had me nabbed, and I've seen the inside of hisnew headquarters."
"Know where they are?"
"I haven't the slightest idea. I was in an inside room--unconscious whentaken there, and unconscious when they brought me away. I came back tolife up in the park, where they had dropped me, got a taxi and hurriedhere. I suppose we have it all to do over again. We've got to catch thatfiend, of course!"
"Will you help, Verbeck?" the chief cried. "Will you take the time andtrouble?"
"You know it! Why, the Black Star challenged me again--said I couldn'tcatch 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 aclew 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 BlackStar is too smooth to be caught in that way. His headquarters probablyis 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 withintwenty-four hours."
"And the Black Star, as we know well, always keeps his word!" RogerVerbeck declared. "So his message probably means that he will strike hisfirst 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 Verbeckadded. "I found out one thing--he has some new people in hisorganization. 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 theheadquarters room robed and masked, and carries on the conversation bymeans of the blackboards. The Black Star issues his orders the same way.He handles them by number, and in his other organization the numberswere 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 orNumber Ten does, but he doesn't know the identities of the persons withthose numbers. He never could go on the witness stand and swear that acertain 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 notswear that the Black Star issued the orders--it might be somebody elsewearing 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. Butwe know his methods now, and that is a help. We will not make themistake of underestimating him. It's all right to let him think so, andto talk like it when he calls up by telephone, but in truth we knowwe'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?" thechief asked.
"I mean just that," said Roger Verbeck. "But we'll get him!"
"You can bet we will!" added Mr. Muggs.