CHAPTER XXX
MUGGS ARRIVES
Verbeck's roadster was stopped on the corner nearest the Brannitonresidence. Verbeck and the chief sprang out and darted across the walk.The police autos came up and discharged their loads of officers. Thechief issued his orders rapidly.
"Surround the place! Get into the alley! Pick up everybody that lookssuspicious--and be ready to fight and fight hard! Let's get them thistime!"
Officers hurried to every side of the house, poured into the alley,rushed across the lawn. They caught the men with the limousine, andthose with the truck that apparently was stalled, and held them forinvestigation later. They drew a close net around the Branniton place,and the chief and Verbeck, with half a dozen trusted men, started towardthe front veranda.
But the master criminal had had watchers scattered around the lawn. Theywere caught in the police net, too, but they were able to give thealarm. They rushed inside the house; and the Black Star was informedthat the police were upon him.
He ordered the guests into one of the smaller rooms, and closed andlocked the door on them. He had the lights turned off all over thehouse; the waiter attended to that. He issued his orders rapidly, like ageneral conducting a battle, sent men to defend the doors and windows.
"Violence appears to be necessary," he said. "We must drive them off andget away, or there'll be more of them upon us within a short time!"
From a window over the veranda, the Black Star looked at the situation.Two of the police automobiles were playing searchlights on the sides ofthe house. Another was driving across the lawn to do the same on thefront. The Black Star took an automatic from beneath his robe, and firedone shot across the lawn.
The shot was a signal. From every window shots were sent at the mensurrounding the house, shots that were not meant to wound or kill, onlyto terrify. But the chief's men were not easily frightened.
They sought refuge behind trees and clumps of brush, and returned thefire. They shattered windows and made it impossible for the Black Star'smen to remain in them. They poured volleys against the doors.
But the master criminal and his men were safe so far. The officers werenot able to get inside the house. The Black Star had no wish to stand asiege, for he knew that there could be but the one outcome. There came alull in the battle, and the Black Star shouted from his window.
"Is the chief there?"
"He's here!" came a voice from the darkness.
"This is the Black Star!"
"Well, what do you want? Are you and your men ready to surrender to us?We'll get you, and get you good, if you don't!"
"Surrender?" the Black Star said. "When I hold the advantage?"
"I don't see it!" the chief shouted.
"No? My dear chief, there are in this house the most prominent personsin your fair city. We have with us, also, two diplomats of internationalfame. I abhor violence, but in such a case as this, it becomesnecessary. You will withdraw your men. You will take them to the corner,beneath the electric light, where we can see them plainly. You will keepthem there fifteen minutes, and after that you may do as you please."
"I see myself!" the chief cried.
"If you do not, I shall use violence upon those in the house. For everyten minutes we are forced to remain here, I shall take a human life. Forevery one of my men wounded or slain, I shall take another human life.Think it over, chief!"
The chief did think it over, with Roger Verbeck to aid him. The BlackStar was at the end of his rope. Captured again, he was certain to beconvicted and sentenced to prison for life. He was the sort who would goout fighting--the sort to do all the harm he could before he went out.
"We're not sure that it's not a bluff!" Verbeck said. "But we can't doas he asks, of course."
"We'll rush the house!" the sheriff declared. "That's our business in acase of this kind, isn't it? We may lose a few men, but it must be done.What else is there to do?"
"We'll have to rush it!" the chief returned. "Our aim is to get insideand fight it out as quickly as possible, without letting that fiend havetime to do much damage. I'll give the orders." The chief whispered themto a captain, and he passed them on.
The Black Star was shouting from a window again. "'Well, what is thedecision, chief?"
"You say you want fifteen minutes?" the chief asked, more to gain timethan anything else.
"Fifteen minutes will be enough, thank you. Remain on that corner withyour men for fifteen minutes, and then do as you please. That is all Iask."
"Well, you're asking enough! What do you suppose the public will saywhen they know I had you and let you go?"
"My dear chief, they'll probably give you credit for saving the lives ofsome prominent persons. I understand that the mayor is a guest here thisevening. Shall I have him come to the window and decide what you are todo?"
"Let him come!" the chief said.
He knew in advance what the mayor would say. The mayor would tell him tocharge the house, break in, and capture the Black Star and his men. Themayor happened to be a man of courage.
Thus the chief had gained a little time, and that was all hewanted--time enough for his orders to be passed around to all theofficers. Now his men were ready.
The chief blew his whistle. The searchlights that had been playing onthe house were extinguished; and through the darkness the police anddeputies rushed upon the Branniton residence!
A volley greeted them from the windows, but the Black Star's men werefiring wildly into the darkness, and their shots had no effect. Officersand deputies crowded the veranda, attacked the French windows, batteredat the doors.
A cheap automobile lurched around the corner and stopped in front of thehouse. Muggs had arrived!
Black Star's Campaign: A Detective Story Page 30