CHAPTER XXXII.--INTO THE VAULT
Verbeck and Muggs had taken many wild rides in the big roadster, butnothing that compared to this. On the boulevard, the street cleanershad removed most of the snow, but the slush had frozen, and the goingwas treacherous. The car skidded from side to side, at times almostturned end for end, lurched and swayed sickeningly.
Detective Riley gritted his teeth and clung to one end of the seat inwhich Verbeck crouched. Muggs bent forward, squinting his eyes andtrying to get a clear view ahead. They turned corners and swept aroundcurves at dangerous speed, sprang down hills as if the car was somewild thing running for life from a hereditary foe.
It was half past two o'clock in the morning, and few vehicles wereabroad, a fact for which Muggs gave devout thanks. They reached theedge of the business district, yet he did not slacken the car's speed.Detective Riley had said no word since the start--now he was the sleuthon the trail, the officer of the law ready to try conclusions with thecriminal. Neither did Roger Verbeck speak, not even to shriek ordersto Muggs, for Muggs did not need orders, and Verbeck was thinking ofthe humiliation in store for him unless the master criminal wascaught.
Muggs dodged an owl car by less than a foot, and took a corner on twowheels. Riley would have been dashed from the machine had not Verbeckflung an arm around him. Down another hill they raced, and into across street, where the heavy traffic of the day had obliterated themost of the slush, and the going was safer.
They were within a few blocks of their destination now. Verbeck andRiley were both wondering if the sergeant had been able to get toanother telephone and notify headquarters. The Black Star might have achance of escape if the block was not surrounded.
And they were not certain that he had not committed his theft andescaped already. He had had plenty of time while they were followingthe dictagraph wire, especially since it was certain his plans hadbeen made carefully. Would they arrive in time to find him at work?Or, would they find the door of the vault open and a fortune in jewelsgone?
Riley bent over and screeched in Muggs' ear:
"Stop that horn! And stop the machine at the corner this way!"
Muggs nodded that he understood. He drove around another corner, andswung the roadster to a stop. Riley sprang to the walk, Verbeck andMuggs following closely. They hurried around the corner and to theentrance of the big building.
Automatics and electric torches were held ready now. There was nowatchman in the entrance, and they started to creep up the stairs tothe second floor. And there, at the top of the marble steps, just infront of the heavy glass doors that opened into the establishment ofJones & Co., they found the watchman.
He was stretched on the floor, bound and gagged and with a black staron his forehead. Riley motioned for silence, and relieved the watchmanof gag and ropes.
"He slipped up on me," the man whispered. "He's inside now."
"Only one?"
"Just one man!" the watchman whispered. "He tapped me on the head andhad me gagged before I knew what was happening. Then he bound me. I'msure there was only one man. He unlocked the door with a key."
"How long ago?"
"Half an hour or more."
"Then he's gone out some other way," Riley whispered to the others."He wouldn't stay in there that long. What's the matter withheadquarters, I wonder? I don't hear any siren. Here, you, watchman,go down and tell the men, when they come, to surround the block, andsend a few in here. We'll go on in."
The watchman tottered to the top of the stairs and started down. Rileydrew Verbeck and Muggs close to him.
"No lights until we're sure where we stand," he instructed. "He may beready to shoot, if he's still in there, and a light furnishes a swelltarget. There'll be a faint light inside, reflected from the stairs. Iknow this place. This is the only entrance except a freight elevatorat the rear. There are windows, of course, that open into the court.I'm afraid he's gone that way! Ready? Come on, then, and keep youreyes open!"
Inch by inch Riley swung the glass door open, so as not to make anysound. Inch by inch they crept inside and closed the door again. Herethe aisles were covered with thick carpets. An uncertain light camethrough the door and made the interior of the gem store a mass ofshadows.
Before them was the general retail salesroom, with its rows ofcounters and show cases on either side, and its divans and chairs inthe center. Slowly, carefully, holding weapons and torches ready, theycrept from shadow to shadow, scarcely daring to breathe, fearing theywould make a sound.
They soon were convinced nobody was in the salesroom. They came to thepartition in the rear, and found the door partly open. Here theyredoubled their caution. If the Black Star was present he wassomewhere behind that partition.
Riley opened the door carefully, and they stepped inside. Here theyfound a dim light, too, coming in from the street. Here were tableswhere diamonds were displayed to purchasing merchants, sets of mirrorsso an employee could see the entire interior at a glance, and, at theopposite end of the room, the door to the great vault of Jones &Co.--the vault that held always a fortune in jewels and was supposed tobe impregnable.
They crouched--and looked. Verbeck drew in his breath sharply.
The door of the vault stood open.
In it, his back toward them, gloating over a handful of jewels,was--the Black Star!
As they watched, they heard him chuckle softly, saw him throw up hishead--_and walk into the vault_!