CHAPTER VI
WHAT KOWEN FOUND
No volley greeted them.
There was no crash of vapor bombs, no cloud of pungent gas, no clashwith desperate and determined criminals who fought on behalf of theirleader and master!
There was nothing but silence--a silence broken only by the deepbreathing of the sheriff and his deputies, who had sprawled into thathall expecting to meet with instant battle, and to whom the unexplainedsilence was more trying than combat.
Again Sheriff Kowen gave a signal, and one of the men opened the door atthe end of the hall. They entered an ordinary living room that wasadorned with cheap furniture; it might have been the living room of thehome of a family in moderate circumstances.
They passed on to a small dining room, investigating an ordinarybedchamber. Sheriff Kowen began thinking that he had made a seriousmistake.
"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 acorner 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, andshe hasn't left."
They searched the kitchen, another small bedroom, and found nothing,neither a trace of Mamie Blanchard nor anything that would indicatethat the cottage was a den of thieves. They located a trap door, andopened it, and saw a flight of steps running down into a dark basement.
"Careful!" Kowen warned his men. "They're probably down there waitingfor us! We'll not all run into the trap!"
He delegated one man to remain above. He flashed his electric torch, butcould see nothing except the flight of steps and the landing at thebottom. With some of the others close behind him, with his electrictorch in one hand and his revolver in the other, Sheriff Kowen startedto descend the steps.
Each instant they expected to hear the sound of a shot, or the explosionof a vapor bomb, or to encounter one of the traps rumor said the BlackStar always had in his headquarters. Step by step they descended, butnothing happened.
They reached the landing, peered around the corner of a concreteprojection. Sheriff Kowen gasped.
"Careful!" he warned again. "This is the headquarters, all right, andthere doesn't seem to be anybody here--but you never can tell. Watch outfor tricks and traps! Be careful what you touch and where you step. Whenhe was after the Black Star before, Roger Verbeck found himself in atrap 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 thesteps. He saw an electric switch on the wall, hesitated a moment, andthen turned it. The basement was bathed in light.
All the deputies with him were on the floor of the basement now. Achorus of gasps escaped them.
The basement was not like the rest of the house. It was furnishedlavishly. In the middle was a long table. At either end was a blackboardon 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, thankHeaven! Watch the walls--they're liable to open up and let a gang ofthugs in on us any time. I'm going to look at these papers on thetable."
He posted his deputies where he wished them, and advanced slowly andcarefully across the floor. He was afraid the floor would open andswallow him, afraid of some clever trap that would turn victory intodefeat 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 tinyrubber stamps. Kowen remembered that such was the Black Star's method.
He picked up the nearest and began reading. His eyes bulged and anexclamation escaped him.
"Great--great!" he muttered.
For he was holding in his hands some of the master rogue's orders to hisband. Moreover, they had to do with the campaign of crime the Black Starhad 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 wholegang----"
He picked up another sheet of paper, and started reading that. Once morean 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 oftrouble."
The chief deputy stepped to his side. "Suppose they find out that wehave located their headquarters," he said.
"Let us hope they won't find it out," replied the sheriff. "Don't touchanother thing here."
"How about that woman?"
"That's the one thing that puzzles me," the sheriff admitted. "She camein 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 deputytold him. "You can bet that the Black Star doesn't let his gang hangaround headquarters much. The way he did before was to have them show upone or two at a time, at certain intervals. He's probably issued all hisorders 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 themouth of a narrow tunnel was disclosed. Sheriff Kowen issued his ordersrapidly. 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 thattwisted like a serpent. They came to another small door, finally managedto 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 awayfrom the house without our seeing her! Careful, now! We'll go back andsee that everything is as we found it. I've got a little plan that willbe a winner!"
Back they went through the tunnel. They closed the door, saw that therugs were in place and that everything in the basement was as it shouldbe, and went up the flight of steps.
They made sure that nothing in the house had been disturbed, wentoutside, and found that the front door had not been much damaged. One ofthe deputies locked and bolted it on the inside, then got out through awindow.
"We'll hope that none of his gang has seen us around here," the sheriffexplained. "I've got to let the police in on this, but we'll get thecredit, all right. I haven't men enough! We'll have deputies and policescattered all around this place to-night, and we'll nab anybody thatgoes 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'splace, too. The police can help, but we'll get the credit! And when weget that crook back in jail----"
Sheriff Kowen did not finish the sentence, but some of his deputiesgrinned. They realized that the master crook would be in for a bad hourwhen he was once more behind the bars. Sheriff Kowen knew how to punishprisoners who tried to escape.
"The big crook isn't as clever as he was before," the sheriff said. "Iguess those few months in jail have dulled his wits. If we can catchsome of those whelps that worked the game on us and got him away, I'llbe highly gratified. I won't ne
ed much help when it comes to teachingthem a lesson!"
Once more his deputies grinned. They walked to the corner, receivedfresh orders there, and scattered. Sheriff Kowen engaged a taxicab andordered the chauffeur to take him to police headquarters with thegreatest possible speed, traffic regulations notwithstanding.
He found the chief of police there, and Roger Verbeck in conference withhim. 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 showyour face after letting the Black Star get away from you!"
"Oh, I don't know!" Kowen said, smiling at them. "Have you gentlemendone anything?"
"What can we do except wait until he pulls off a stunt, and then goafter 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 havediscovered the Black Star's headquarters. I have seen some orders to hisgang that he left scattered around his table. I found nobody at homewhen I called, and have every reason to believe that the crook and hisgang 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 trickyindividual, remember. And the orders are----"
"At midnight to-night," said Sheriff Kowen, trying to retain hismodesty, "the Black Star's gang will try to loot the National TrustCompany's vaults. Now, let's get down to business!"