Black Star's Campaign: A Detective Story

by Johnston McCulley

  CHAPTER XXI

  A TENSE MOMENT

  Sheriff Kowen located his deputy instantly, and gave the man his orders.Then the sheriff showed that there was real stuff in him. He did notturn around and reenter the hotel by the main door. It had occurred tohim that, if any of the Black Star's men were on watch, they might getsuspicious if they saw him around the place too much.

  Kowen walked down the street, entered a cigar store, made a purchase,and sauntered on around the block. He darted into the alley and reachedthe rear of the hotel building, and went in at the servants' entrancewhen he was sure that he was not being observed.

  He exhibited his badge to the first man he met, and was shown how toreach the rear stairs. By this means he mounted to the fourth floor andso reached Lawrence's suite again.

  "My man's ready," he reported to Verbeck. "If anybody gets down thatfire escape and away, it'll be peculiar. That man can handle bad ones aseasily as others handle infants."

  "What are you going to do?" Lawrence inquired.

  "The sheriff and I are going to investigate room 256 and the inhabitantsthereof," Verbeck replied. "We are going to walk up to the door andknock. If we find, when the door is opened, that we have made amistake, we shall apologize and say something about knocking at thewrong door. If we find that we have not made a mistake, there probablywill be fireworks."

  "I always did like fireworks," Lawrence said. "Do I get to see these?"

  "You may look from your window all you please," Verbeck said. "But wecan't have you with us just now. There may be nothing in this, and theremay be a lot. Ready, sheriff?"

  "You know it!" the sheriff answered.

  "Allow me to suggest that you put your revolver in your coat pocket, andput your hand in the same pocket and grasp the revolver. Don't show theweapon, of course, until we are sure that we are right. We don't want tofrighten innocent persons, if it can be avoided."

  "Who do you think is in that room, Verbeck?" Kowen asked.

  "Let us see!" Verbeck replied.

  Ignoring Lawrence's demand that he be allowed to accompany them, theyleft the suite and walked slowly down the stairs. They reached thesecond floor, and went along the hall until they reached No. 256. Therethey stopped, listened. They could hear somebody talking inside.

  Verbeck knocked smartly and then stepped close to the door, the sheriffat his side. The voices within were stilled, but nobody answered.Verbeck knocked again, and suddenly the door was thrown open.

  Sheriff Kowen gasped, and his revolver was whipped from his pocket.Roger Verbeck merely chuckled. The woman who had opened the door gave alittle screech and tried to close it again, but Verbeck's footprevented. They thrust her back, stepped inside, and closed the doorbehind them.

  "Good evening, Miss Blanchard!" said Sheriff Kowen. "I tell the truthwhen I say that I am delighted to see you!"

  "And it is some time since I have had the pleasure of greeting ThePrincess," Verbeck added. "Pardon the peculiar manner of this call, butwe felt that it was necessary."

  The face of the woman before them had gone white, and now it flushed.She stepped backward into the room as they advanced. Sitting near thewindow was another woman--fat and forty--and she sprang to her feet.

  "What is the meaning of this intrusion?" she cried. "I shall call theoffice----"

  "Calm yourself, madam!" Verbeck told her. "I have not the pleasure ofyour acquaintance, but I find you in bad company, and that issufficient."

  "Yes, and I've got a couple of dandy cells down at the county jail!" thesheriff said. "They're all cleaned and waiting for you. Hot and coldwater, and eats three times a day. I've stopped raiding gambling densfor the moment and am taking up another line of work."

  He glared at Mamie Blanchard, who was standing close to the table andglaring back at him.

  "Sit down, Miss Blanchard!" Verbeck said. "We are going to have a shortconversation. And kindly do not attempt any foolish move. I dislike tofight a woman, but at times it seems to be necessary."

  Mamie Blanchard sat down. Verbeck could tell, by glancing at her face,that she had regained her composure--that she was clever, dangerous, awoman to be watched closely.

  "Well, what is it?" she demanded.

  "I don't suppose you'll do as I ask, but I am going to give you achance," Verbeck said. "I want some information about the Black Star."

  "I don't know anything about him. I was in his old gang, as you areaware. I supposed you had come to arrest me for that. He didn't see fitto include me in his new organization, because you knew me, I suppose."

  "That statement is not at all clever of you," said Verbeck. "You aretalking to men who know better. You helped engineer his escape, didn'tyou?"

  "Since you know, I did. That is, I got the sheriff to raid the gamblinghouse, and decoyed him to the little cottage. The Black Star gave methat much to do because I needed money. But that is all."

  "You mean your work for him is done?" Verbeck asked.

  "Yes."

  "You're not in touch with him any more?"

  "No."

  "Um! And yet Landers, his trusted lieutenant, is a frequent visitorhere."

  "Perhaps that is for personal reasons," said Mamie Blanchard. "We saweach other a great deal when we were in the old gang, and we are--well,interested in each other to a certain extent."

  "I wish that I could believe your story of a fond romance, but I amafraid that I cannot," Verbeck said. "Let us put the cards on the table.You know, Miss Blanchard, that it is only a question of time when theBlack Star will be recaptured and his band scattered or sent to jail.It will go easier with you personally if you give me the information Idesire; and please do not waste time and breath by saying that you donot know. Where is the Black Star's headquarters?"

  "I don't know--and that is the truth."

  "Possibly it is the truth, but you report to him through somebody. Isuppose it is Landers, since he calls here so much. When will Landers behere again?"

  "I don't know."

  "What do you know about the Black Star's plans for the future?"

  "I don't know anything about them," said Mamie Blanchard.

  "She knows, all right, but she'll not talk," the sheriff declared."Might as well haul them both to jail, I guess. There's an old chargeagainst this Blanchard woman, and we can hold the other on suspicionwhile we make an investigation."

  "You dare take me to jail!" shouted the fat-and-forty lady.

  "Tut, tut!" said Sheriff Kowen.

  The sheriff did not take his eyes off Mamie Blanchard. He was aware thatshe was clever, and he was watching for her to make some move. Hewatched her hands particularly.

  Verbeck bent forward in his chair again. "It will be a great deal betterfor you to talk," he cautioned.

  "I've said all that I am going to say!" Mamie Blanchard declared. "Ifyou want to take me to jail, take me! The Black Star will get me out,and he'll take pay from the city because I was arrested!"

  "You think you can bluff me with a speech like that?" Kowen demanded."Not in the least, young woman! You do not seem to appreciate what youare facing."

  "And you," she said, "do not seem to appreciate what is behind you atthis moment!"

  "Trying to get me to turn around, so you can make some sort of a move,are you?" the sheriff asked. "That's old stuff--telling a man to lookbehind him."

  "There is something behind you, all right," she said.

  A man's voice greeted them from the rear.

  "I've got both of you covered! Drop that gun, sheriff!"

  Both the sheriff and Verbeck suddenly felt something pressing againstthe backs of their necks. Each knew what it was--the muzzle of a weapon.

  "Drop it!" said the voice again.

  The sheriff dropped his gun. He knew it was the only thing to do whenanother man had the drop on him.

  "Sit still! Don't turn around!" said the voice again.

  Suddenly the air about the two men was filled with pungent fumes. Theirheads dropped forward. Once more a vapor gun h
ad done its work, and doneit instantly and well.

  * * * * *

  Roger Verbeck and Sheriff Kowen returned to consciousness to find thatthey were bound and gagged and lashed to chairs placed against the wall.The two women were still in the room. Landers was there, too.

  "You fail again, Verbeck," he said. "You must be losing yourcleverness, as the Black Star says. You enter a room as you enteredthis, and sit down and turn your back upon a closet without examining itfirst. It was very easy to overcome you after that. I didn't look forany brains in the sheriff, of course, but I did in you.

  "The question now is what to do with you. We have been discussing itwhile you were unconscious. Had I my way, you'd be put where you'dbother us no longer, but the Black Star will not countenance that sortof violence. He is tender-hearted in some things, as you know.

  "It appears that you have discovered our little retreat here, and so wecannot remain. These ladies will have to go out with me, without eventaking their clothes and toilet articles, and not return. It is anuisance to find another hiding place, but there are plenty of them inthe city. We shall have to leave you here, of course. I promise totelephone the hotel later, and have you released.

  "Thought you'd get some information, did you? Let me tell you, RogerVerbeck, that you'll never catch the Black Star this time. And he'llstrip the city before he is through. He has planned something forto-morrow night that will not only startle the city, but the entirecountry as well. There is not a chance in the world of you or the policeor the sheriff's force preventing it--or doing anything after it hasbeen accomplished."

  Landers motioned to the women, and they went to the closet for hats andcloaks.

  "I don't see the sense of leaving everything," Mamie Blanchard said. "Wecan say at the office that I am going away for a few days, but that mysister will remain. They'll think that you are merely taking me to thetrain. At least, I can take a bag. I can put a lot of things in that."

  "Very well; perhaps that would be best," Landers agreed. "Take yourtime, my dear. There is no need to rush things. We are not likely to bedisturbed here. You'd better put on a heavy veil, too. There may be adeputy or two around the hotel, and some of them might recognize you.I'll telephone for a taxi just before we go down."

  The two women began packing the bag, while Landers turned his back onhis prisoners, went to the window and looked down at the street.

  Verbeck and the sheriff glanced at each other helplessly. There wassmall chance that they would be able to trail Landers and the women ifthey got away now; and after this they would keep in hiding better. Itappeared that the Black Star's good luck was with him yet.

  Verbeck tugged at his bonds, but knew instantly that there was smallhope of freeing himself. If he did, Landers held the advantage. But itwas Verbeck's idea that he could get free at least soon after the othersleft the room, and make an effort to trace them.

  Landers turned away from the window.

  "Verbeck, your man trailed me this afternoon," he said. "He saw me comeinto this hotel, I suppose, and found out what room I visited. He's outat the Black Star's headquarters now, a pampered guest; but when I get achance, I'm going to give him what's coming to him. He was the cause ofmy getting a rebuke from the Black Star."

  "I wish you'd rap that sheriff on the head," Mamie Blanchard remarked."He's a nuisance!"

  "The Black Star will not stand for work like that, and you know it,"Landers replied. "Besides, the sheriff is harmless; we have little tofear from him."

  Sheriff Kowen's face grew purple with wrath, and he gurgled behind hisgag.

  Mamie Blanchard was packing the bag, and her stout companion wasgathering the things to put into it. Verbeck continued working at thebonds about his wrists. The cords were cutting through the flesh, but hedid not desist. He knew that every second would be precious as soon asLanders and the two women left the room.

  He stopped for an instant, because the exertion was tiring him, and hiswrists pained so much. He saw that Kowen was trying to get free, too,and knew that he was making a failure of it. Landers had done his workwell; it was evident that the man was an expert at binding and gagging.

  Presently Landers came over, inspected their bonds, and laughed.

  "You are only mutilating your wrists, Mr. Verbeck," he said. "I assureyou that you will be unable to get free. I promise to call up the hotelwithin an hour or so, and tell them to come up and release you. It willget into the newspapers, of course--and the public will have anotherlaugh at your expense--but you should be used to that by this time, youand the sheriff both. The town should give us credit for handing them alaugh now and then, as well as thrills."

  The sheriff gurgled behind his gag again.

  Verbeck looked past him to the window at which was the landing of thefire escape. He saw a shadow there, and looked away. Then he glancedback again, a new hope born in his breast. Once more he observed ashadow, and then a man's face showed for an instant as he peered inside.The man was his friend, Lawrence.

  Lawrence had fussed and fumed for ten minutes after Verbeck and thesheriff had left. He had opened the window by the fire escape, and hadlooked down. The shade at the window in the room on the second floor wasonly partially drawn, and Lawrence could see the light streaming out.

  "Wonder what those chaps are up to?" he asked himself. "Mean of Verbecknot to let me in on it. Ought to hear some sort of an explosion soon, Ifancy. Maybe there'll be a row--give the hotel a bad name--beastlymess!"

  He waited for half an hour longer, hanging out of the window andwatching below. He saw nothing, heard nothing. At the foot of the fireescape a man was standing--the sheriff's deputy.

  Then the lust for adventure was born in Lawrence's bosom. He chuckled atthe very idea. He opened the window wider, and got out on the landing ofthe fire escape.

  He began slowly descending the ladder, round by round, passed thelanding on the third floor, and continued to the second. He went closeto the window, and looked in.

  He saw the sheriff and Roger Verbeck bound and gagged and lashed intheir chairs. He saw Landers walking around the room, a revolver in hishand, and the two women packing the bag.

  "Great Scott!" he breathed. "Verbeck and Kowen seem to have come acropper! Prisoners, eh? Ought to give them a bit of help, I suppose.Can't let that other chap get away with this, of course."

  Landers walked toward the window, and Lawrence drew back from it. Hewaited a moment, then glanced in again--and met Verbeck's eyes. Lawrencenodded his head. He went to the end of the fire-escape landing andlooked down at the deputy, who had been watching him carefully,remembering his orders. He took a notebook from his pocket, and a pencilfrom another, and scribbled a message:

  Come up quick! Man and two women in room have Verbeck and sheriff bound and gagged. They are packing bag and preparing to leave. I can't tackle this alone. I'm Verbeck's friend, Lawrence. Either come up the fire escape or go inside and to room 256 and nab them at the door, and I'll watch here.

  He tossed the note down, and the deputy picked it up and read it. Thedeputy was not certain just what to do. If he went inside the hotel hewould disregard the sheriff's orders, which had been to watch the fireescape. So the deputy decided to climb.

  He sprang up and caught the bottom of the iron ladder, reached the firstlanding, and worked his way up, watching Lawrence closely, a weapon heldready if Lawrence proved to be foe instead of friend. Lawrence glancedinside the room again, and gestured to Verbeck that he had reason tohope.