CHAPTER XXVII--IN BLACK STAR'S HANDS
The man who peered through the keyhole saw a large room, furnishedlavishly. The furniture was massive and antique; the rugs on the floorwere valuable; tapestries of rare worth were there; cut glass was on aheavy buffet at one side of the room; an antique lamp standing nearthe center of the room shed an uncertain yellow light that made somethings look grotesque and others fantastic.
At the end of a long table and beside this lamp stood the Black Star,his robe and hood and mask in place and the star of flaming jetflashing on the hood. Behind him was the blackboard upon which hewrote orders to those of his band not enough trusted to hear hisvoice. To one side were six members of the band, each dressed in blackrobe and mask.
On two chairs a short distance in front of him, their hands and feetbound and their mouths gagged, were the two prisoners of the roadster.As the man of mystery watched, one of the Black Star's followersapproached the chairs, and for an instant he held a small spongebeneath the nostrils of each of the two men.
He stepped back near the others. A moment passed, and then Muggsgroaned and opened his eyes. Those eyes seemed to flash fire when hetook in the scene.
"Well, my dear Muggs, here we are again," the Black Star said,laughing a little. "You regain consciousness a second sooner than Mr.Verbeck, as I have noticed before. That, I presume, is because you area tougher specimen of humanity."
"You--you----" Muggs stammered.
"What's this? Your gag has slipped? That is well, for I was about tohave it removed, anyway. So you can talk, eh?"
Muggs waved his head from side to side and caused the gag to slipagain.
"I'd talk to you with my fists if I had th' chance!" Muggs said.
"There you go again--always violence! I have wondered many times howMr. Verbeck can put up with you. Ah, Mr. Verbeck is in the land of theconscious again, I perceive!"
Muggs turned his head and looked at the man beside him. Then he facedthe Black Star again.
"Them ropes on his arms are too tight and that gag's chokin' him,"Muggs complained. "You treat me rough if you want, but you treat myboss decent or I'll have somethin' to say to you some time."
"You scarcely are in a position to threaten just now, Mr. Muggs," theBlack Star replied, laughing. "However, Muggs, it is not my intentionto cause Mr. Verbeck any great degree of physical discomfort. Mentaldiscomfort, of course, is another thing."
He made a motion, and one of his men hurried forward and removed thegag. He looked at the ropes, too, but shook his head as he regainedhis former position at the Black Star's left.
"There, Muggs, are you satisfied?" the Black Star asked. "Your belovedmaster has had his gag removed, and may talk or shriek to his heart'scontent. My man indicates, however, that the ropes are all right. Youcannot tempt me, Muggs. Once, or twice before you and Mr. Verbeck wereable to unfasten your bonds. I want nothing like that to happento-night."
He walked around the end of the table and toward the two prisoners,and he laughed aloud as he looked down upon them.
"Well, Roger Verbeck, here is the Black Star's new headquarters," hesaid. "You often have wished to see the place, I believe, so take alook. You still think you can match wits with the Black Star, eh? Ihave done as I threatened. I have had you and Muggs abducted, and I amgoing to take you along to-night when we do our little trick, and thenleave you unconscious on the spot for the city to laugh at. Aren't youabout ready to admit that the Black Star is too crafty for you?"
"Scarcely," came the reply in a firm voice.
"Why, my men tell me it was like kidnapping babies to get you andMuggs to-night. It really was a shame to do it. So you are going tocontinue your efforts to capture me, eh?"
"I am--certainly!"
"Um! Your voice almost has the note of fear in it. You do not seem assure as you did the last time I had the pleasure of entertaining youfor a few minutes."
"A few minutes is right!" Muggs put in. "You've got your dirty handson us three times now, but you've never kept us longer than a fewminutes. And you'll not keep us to-night----"
"I fear you err, my dear Muggs. I am taking no chances with you oryour precious master to-night. As I live, Mr. Verbeck, your faceappears changed. Your cheeks are somewhat thinner. That comes, Isuppose, from living in continual fear of me. Let me see! Um! It hasbeen about three weeks since I informed you of my intention to abductyou and make you a laughingstock again. You've been worrying about itall that time, eh? Been fearing to sleep or eat or ride abroad? Smallwonder your face is thinner and your voice expresses fatigue."
"He's been off his feed!" Muggs blurted out. "And he's had a bad cold.You needn't think me, or my boss, either, would let anything you saidthrow a scare into us!"
"Indeed? Had a bad cold, eh? I truly am sorry I did not give you thislittle entertainment when you were in good physical condition. Buteverything is prepared, Mr. Verbeck, and also you neglected to informme you had a cold and wanted to discontinue this fight until you werebetter."
The Black Star laughed again as at a good joke, and Muggs growledimprecations deep down in his throat, but the other man merely lookedthe Black Star straight in the eyes and remained silent.
"I trust you understand the program, Mr. Verbeck," the master criminalwent on, his laugh at an end. "It has been about six months since youmade your foolish boast that you could capture me. You should know bythis time that it is an impossibility. However, you have had someexcellent fun trying it, and I have enjoyed the battle immensely. Butnow it must end. It is getting to be a bore."
"Really?"
"Exactly. You're a sportsman, I believe. I'll make a deal with you. IfRoger Verbeck does not capture the Black Star within the nexttwenty-four hours, after being right here and seeing the Black Star'sheadquarters, and being taken by the Black Star to the scene ofto-night's crime--then Roger Verbeck gives his word of honor that he'llstop his feeble attempt and not bother the Black Star more."
"Roger Verbeck does nothing of the sort!"
"Still determined, eh? Very well. Then, Mr. Verbeck, we are going totake you and your man Muggs with us. We're going to give you a dosefrom a vapor gun and leave you where the crime is committed, as I saidwe'd do. We'll give the alarm ourselves and have the police find youtwo there unconscious. Then let the public laugh! I fancy you'll heara howl go up for you to be ordered off the case. I'd not be surprisedif you were hounded out of this town, which has been your home allyour life."
"I think not."
"Which shall you do--make the deal I proposed or be made a publiclaughingstock again?"
"I make no deals with a crook!"
"And what's more, you're wastin' your breath," Muggs put in. "Youleave my boss alone! He's about half sick. He's said a hundred timesthat you'll get too fresh some day. Some day you'll overlook a bet,make a mistake, and then he'll get you. And I'll be right there, Ihope when the gettin's got!"
"You are a very boisterous man, Muggs," the master criminal said."You'd be very vicious, I imagine, under some circumstances. Please donot be so violent. I abhor violence."
"You're right; you'll abhor it if I ever get my hands on you proper!"Muggs exclaimed.
The Black Star brought the palms of his hands together sharply.
"Enough of this chatter!" he commanded. "We have scant time beforeleaving here for the scene of the evening's festivities. You havedecided, Mr. Verbeck, to be made a laughingstock! Very well!"
"And where is this to take place?" came the question.
"Ah! Roger Verbeck thinks I fear to tell him in advance, does he? Why,sir, I'll even tell you every detail of the proposed crime, if youwish. You are most certainly my prisoner, and cannot warn the police,and, could you, it would avail those stupid police nothing. One couldsteal the buttons off their uniforms and they'd not know it until thenext day."
"I'm listening!"
"Such impatience!" the Black Star exclaimed. "Attend me closely, then,Mr. Verbeck--you also, Muggs. Little good it'll do you! It is myintention to-night
to reap a harvest of some three hundred thousanddollars in money and securities. Quite ambitious--that? Merely anordinary task for the Black Star, I assure you."
"You're th' original shrinkin' onion!" Muggs declared.
"Silence, please, while I explain. The money and securities Imentioned are in the vaults of the National Trust Company. Thosevaults are impregnable, it is said. This is a joke, of course. With usit will be as easy to get that fortune as it would be to purchase anew cravat."
"You're some modest violet!" said Muggs.
"Keep quiet, Muggs, and hear the plans," the Black Star said, his eyesglittering through his mask. "Within the past two months there hasbeen formed in the city a new lodge called the Knights of Certainty.When one understands things that title is rather a good joke. Manygood men have heard of the order and wondered why some one did not askthem to join, I presume. The membership was strictly limited. Membersof my own band form the lodge."
"And you're the supreme boss crook!" Muggs said.
"Another remark, Muggs, and you get the vapor gun. Mr. Verbeck, you'dbetter warn your man to remain silent!" The Black Star evidently wasgetting angry.
Muggs turned his head and found his fellow prisoner indicating that hewas to be quiet. Muggs obeyed.
"It would be a difficult task to get into a meeting of the Knights ofCertainty," the Black Star went on. "We're mighty particular who seesthings. I may mention that, from the moment we hired our hall and putin furniture, the room has been under close guard, one of our own meneven doing the janitor work. This hall is on the third floor of theAmerican Building, adjoining the National Trust Company. We have beenmaking our preparations nightly, of course, working from our hall.Some excellent carpenter and mechanical work has been done, and now,when we wish, we have merely to pass through a wall to a stairway andthen make our way over a trail we have prepared to the vaults of thebank and loot them.
"Everything is prepared, I assure you. At this moment my men are inthe uniforms of the watchmen, and doing their work. There will be noone to molest us. The vault locks have been fixed so that a few turnsof the knobs will unlock them, and yet an expert would swear that timelocks and other protections are in perfect working order. It has takenus some time to get this state of affairs prepared, but the rewardwill be well worth our trouble. The bank received a heavy goldshipment two weeks ago. Negotiable securities are piled in the vaults.The bank, in addition, always carries a heavy cash balance, for it hasnumerous branches and small affiliated banks. Yes--I fancy we will bewell repaid for the work we have put on it."
"If you get the stuff!" said Muggs.
The Black Star whirled toward him, and one of his men stepped forward,but the master criminal decided to let the remark pass. He walked tothe head of the table and glanced at his watch.
"We start in half an hour," he said. "Number Six, go down to the riverand inform Number Ten to be ready to get away instantly."
Once more he faced his prisoners.
"How do you like my new headquarters?" he asked. "Only a few chosenand trusted men of mine come here. This is a ramshackle old house, butI have three rooms fixed up comfortably. And there are things of valuein it, believe me! I find it advisable to dispose of loot slowly. I'dhate to flood the market and lower prices."
He laughed again, and once more turned toward his men. For a moment heconversed with them in whispers, ignoring his prisoners. A belltinkled presently; the Black Star touched a button on the end of thetable, and a few seconds later the man who had been sent awayreturned.
"Everything ready, chief," he reported in a low tone.
"Ah! Number Four, telephone Main 5782, ask for Gregg, and say that Mr.Stewart will have four cases of eggs to-morrow. That will tell thoseat the other end that we are starting."
The man designated moved swiftly across the room to the telephone andsent the message. The Black Star waved a hand, and another manapproached the two prisoners, a vapor gun in his hand. They twistedand turned in their bonds, but the gun did its work; the Black Starlaughed again as their heads fell forward.
"Clever Mr. Verbeck and clever Mr. Muggs," he said. "Their attempts tocapture me are childish, to say the least. Get ready now, for we mustbe off."
The men removed their robes and masks and put on overcoats and softhats. The Black Star took off his robe, but his hood and mask remainedin place, and the overcoat he donned had a wide collar that, whenturned up, effectually hid his face. No one, without looking at himsquarely under a bright light, could have seen the mask.
The master criminal waved his hand, and his men picked up the twounconscious prisoners. He led the way, and they followed, and the lastman out turned off the light. Their steps sounded in the fronthallway, the door latch clicked--they were gone.
The man who had been watching all this through the keyhole chuckledaloud now, and presently he opened the door with his key and slippedinto the headquarters room.
There he stood for some minutes to listen, for he wanted to be surethat he was alone in the house, and then he crossed the room to thetelephone, took down the receiver, and called a number in a softvoice.
The number was that of police headquarters.