Black Star's Campaign: A Detective Story

by Johnston McCulley

  CHAPTER XVI

  HOT BREAD

  Far downtown, the five fishermen passed through the storeroom andentered another hall. They walked through this to the end, making notthe slightest noise. Each man held a vapor gun in his hand and wasprepared to use it if occasion demanded.

  At the end of the hall, another door was opened with a duplicate key oneof the men took from his pocket. The five crept through, and closed thedoor again.

  "Two men on each floor, and one in the diamond room," the leaderwhispered. "Make sure that we get them all."

  The band scattered. Two remained on the lower floor, two started to thefloor above, and one made his way toward the diamond room in the rear.Dim lights were burning here and there, and the men moved from shadow toshadow, noiselessly alert.

  On the lower floor, the two watchmen were eating their night luncheon.They sat close together, talking in low tones. A light was burning abovethe table upon which they had put their lunch boxes, but the spot couldnot be seen from the street through the windows.

  The Black Star's two men advanced carefully. One of them made a sign,transferred the vapor gun to his left hand, and took a bomb out of hispocket. He hurled it behind the two watchmen.

  They sprang to their feet, gasped, dropped. The two members of the BlackStar's band turned away and darted to the foot of the stairs, ready tohelp their companions if help should be needed.

  On the second floor, the two watchmen were found separated and renderedunconscious immediately. The man who had gone toward the diamond roomstopped just outside the door and peered in. The watchman insideevidently feared no interruption. He was sitting with his back to theopen door, reading a newspaper.

  A shot from the vapor pistol, and he was unconscious. Three of the otherfour men hurried into the room. The other remained below, on guard atthe end of the hall through which they had entered.

  Tools were taken from pockets, and work began on the door of the vault.Two of the band were experienced workmen in whom the Black Star tookpride. They worked swiftly, yet thoroughly. They knew that opening thevault would take some time.

  On the lower floor the two watchmen remained stretched on the carpet.Presently, one of them opened his eyes, then raised his head and lookedaround carefully.

  It happened that he had inhaled very little of the vapor from the bomb.As he fell he had tottered to one side, and the draft from the nearestventilator had carried the fumes away from him. He was a man who hadread all the newspapers ever had printed concerning the Black Star'smethods, and he guessed immediately what had occurred.

  He did not know with how many men he had to contend. He supposed theywere raiding the diamond room, and that there were guards posted, butcould not be sure. He listened intently, glanced around again. He sawnobody, heard nothing except a slight sound that came from the diamondroom, the rasping of tools against steel.

  The watchman had been long in the service of the firm, and was a trustedman. But he also was an old man, and not very strong. He was not thesort to combat the Black Star's band single-handed, though he had arevolver in his pocket.

  But he was the sort who would take a chance to give an alarm. He glancedat his unconscious companion, looked around the room again, and startedcrawling slowly over the floor, a foot at a time.

  He came to the first aisle, and looked down it. There was nobody insight. He crept along the counters, behind them, stopping now and thento listen. He was not making fast progress, but he was afraid to riskeverything in the interests of speed.

  Finally he reached the end of the counter, and once more he lookedaround and listened. He could still hear the slight noise in the diamondroom, but that was all. He had an open space of twenty feet to crossnow, and he proceeded faster, and finally reached the door of a privateoffice.

  He raised himself, opened the door noiselessly and entered. Then hesprang to his feet, locked the door, and darted to the telephone on thedesk.

  He had expected to find the telephone useless, and was gratified thatsuch was not the case. Once more he paused to listen, and then liftedthe receiver from the hook, and put his lips close to the transmitter.

  "Number?" asked the girl at central.

  "Police headquarters--quick!"

  It seemed to him that he waited an eternity before the voice of the desksergeant came to him over the wire.

  "Robbery!" he gasped. "Black Star's men!"

  "Where, man--where?" demanded the sergeant.

  The watchman gave the address.

  "This is one of the watchmen," he added. "The gas bomb didn't put meout, and I managed to crawl to the office. Hurry--hurry! They are in thediamond room now--I don't know how many of them! But hurry!"

  Then the old watchman sank into the chair before the desk, weak andtrembling. He had done his part, and he could not do more. He took outhis revolver, and tried to decide whether he should attack them. Itwould be better, he thought, to wait until the police came--they wouldnot be long.

  Up in the diamond room the Black Star's men had opened the vault door,finally. They reached for three certain trays, and swept the diamondsfrom them. They had orders what to get and what to leave--the masterrogue wanted only some stones recently received, one hundred superiorstones upon which a high valuation had been placed by experts.

  With the gems in their pockets, they left the diamond room and closedthe door behind them. They started down the hall to meet the men who hadremained on guard.

  And suddenly they heard police sirens shrieking, and the front of theestablishment was bathed in light.

  "The cops are on us!" one of them gasped.

  "We needn't worry if we can get through the basement wall and into thebakeshop. But we'll have to hurry," another replied, rushing along thehall.

  They darted down the stairs, closing and locking all the doors as theywent, for they did not want the police to guess the manner of theirentrance. The Black Star might have need of the baker in some otherenterprise.

  They came to the wall and tapped upon it. The baker swung the littledoor open, and they stepped into the shop.

  "Cops all around the place!" he reported. "Must have been tipped off insome way. Where are the stones?"

  "Here!" one replied, and tumbled them on the table.

  Before the baker was a pan of dough. He worked swiftly, forming it intolight biscuits--and into each biscuit he put diamonds. He put thebiscuits into a pan, greased the tops of them, put the pan into one ofthe ovens.

  "Two bottles of beer there--open them!" he ordered in a whisper.

  One of the five fishermen obeyed. They poured the liquor out, drank apart of it, put their glasses down upon the table.

  There was bedlam in the streets now. The police had surrounded theblock. They were battering at doors, and the old watchman was lettingthem in at the front entrance. A crowd already had started to gather.

  "Tight hole!" one of the fishermen said.

  "Not unless you lose your nerve!" the baker answered. "Beginning to getscared?"

  "I guess I've got as much nerve as the next man!"

  "Then show it!" the baker said. "Make a wrong plan, and all of us willbe in trouble. They are sure to come in here in a minute or two."

  Verbeck and Muggs had entered the establishment with the chief. The oldwatchman told his story in a few words. Lights were turned on, and theplace searched, and the unconscious men found. Then Verbeck hurried tothe diamond room, with the others at his heels.

  The door of the vault was open. Empty trays were on the floor; and atthe bottom of the vault was a sheet of white paper, upon which had beenpasted a row of little black stars.

  "Looted!" the chief gasped. "But where can they be?"

  "Gone before we got here!" Muggs said.

  "The watchman says he heard them just as we came up. There are only twoexits to the ground floor--the front door and the rear one--and nowindows in the back large enough to permit a man to pass through."

  "And the back door is bolted on the inside--I investigated
it," Verbecksaid.

  "Then, where have they gone?" the chief cried. "This thing is getting onmy nerves! But we've got the block surrounded, and every man inside thelines will give an account of himself."

  The search of the block began, and it was a methodical and thoroughone. Building by building, room by room it went on, while the crowdsgathered outside. The chief took up his station on a corner and receivedreports that were highly discouraging. It appeared that the mastercriminal's men had disappeared into thin air, or else had left the placebefore the police arrived.

  Verbeck and Muggs conducted an investigation of their own, but foundnothing to help them.

  "This gets my goat, boss!" Muggs said. "I think it's a hoodoo to workwith the cops."

  "I'm beginning to think that myself, Muggs," Verbeck replied. "The BlackStar tricks the police, and when we are with them we get tricked, too.Beginning with to-morrow, Muggs, you and I tackle the job on anindependent basis."

  "That's great, boss! And we'll get that big crook, too!"

  "We'll get him!" Verbeck promised.

  "And when we do, you turn your back for about five minutes, and let mehandle him," Muggs begged. "I want to give him the sore throat, and giveit to him bad!"

  "Maybe you'll get the chance," Verbeck said.

  Down in the bakeshop the five fishermen were making merry around thetable. Upon them entered half a dozen policemen, a captain at theirhead.

  "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" the officer demanded,looking at them suspiciously.

  The five fishermen showed alarm in their faces. The baker rushedforward.

  "Why, they're friends of mine, captain," he said. "They're fishermen,and come up from the wharf now and then at night to have a little drinkof beer with me. I've known them for years."

  "What are your names, and where do you live and work?" the captainasked.

  They were ready with that information. They had prepared it in advance;and, if their answers were investigated, they would stand the test.

  "Well, maybe you're all right, but we can't afford to take any chances,"the captain said. "The Black Star's gang has made a haul in the jewelryhouse on the other side of the block, and we're taking a good look atevery man around here. You'll have to stand a search, or be taken in!"

  The five fishermen announced that they were willing to be searched. Thesearch was carried out immediately. From their pockets were takenknives, bits of twine, chewing tobacco, soiled handkerchiefs--things onewould expect to find in the pockets of such men. They had, of course,hidden their vapor guns and their drilling tools in a safe place underthe cellar flagstones before the police came upon them.

  "Well, what are you hanging around here to-night for?" the captaindemanded.

  "They just came up to have a little drink with me, and to get some freshbread," the baker explained. "They are waiting for it now--fresh-breadand light biscuits. Jim, there, is a fiend for my light biscuits."

  As he finished speaking, the baker turned to his oven and opened thedoor. A delicious aroma streamed forth, and the men sniffed. Bread andbiscuits were tumbled out, and the baker started wrapping them up.

  "What did that gang get in the jewelry store?" he asked the captain.

  "Don't know exactly--diamonds, I suppose. You men get your stuff and getout of here. I guess you're all right. How are you going to get home?"

  "We've got a launch down at the wharf," one of them replied. "She ain'tmuch to look at, and ain't any race horse, but she does manage to getthrough the water a bit. Good enough for our business, I reckon."

  "Get your stuff and come along. I'll see you through the lines," thecaptain told them. "We'll have to search your shop, baker. I'll leave acouple of men to do that."

  "All right. But I ain't in the diamond business," the baker said,grinning.

  The captain opened the door and motioned for the five fishermen to passhim. He conducted them to the street and across it, and passed themthrough the lines. They went on toward the waterfront, talking loudly,swaggering and staggering a bit, jesting, and now and then singing asnatch of song.

  Four of them carried a loaf of bread each. The fifth man carried a dozenlight biscuits beneath his arm.

  And in those biscuits was a fortune in diamonds!