Black Star's Campaign: A Detective Story

by Johnston McCulley

  CHAPTER XXXI

  AN EMPTY NET

  Muggs never forgot that wild ride in the flivver. The street-carconductor drove the little machine as if it had been a racing car. Itlurched around corners, almost ran down traffic policemen, swung aheadof street cars. The conductor was like a maniac. He always had cravedexcitement and adventure. Now it had come to him, and he intended tomake the most of it.

  They dashed up to the Branniton residence, and Muggs, not even thinkingof thanking the conductor, sprang out and rushed across the lawn.

  "Boss! boss!" he shrieked above the din.

  Somebody told him that Verbeck was on the veranda. He rushed there andfound his employer.

  "Boss, was I in time?" he asked. "I got loose as soon as I could!"

  "You bet you were, Muggs. The Black Star's inside, with some of hisgang!"

  "I told the big stiff this was goin' to be his unlucky night! You giveme a chance to get at him, boss! I've got a few scores to settle withthat bird!"

  "We'll all get at him, Muggs! We'll be inside in a minute!"

  The doors and windows were crashing in now. Policemen and deputies werepouring into the house. Shots greeted them, shots from both automaticsand vapor guns. They struggled through clouds of the pungent vapor,here and there a man dropping because he had inhaled some of the fumes.They grappled with men in black robes and masks. Through the house theyfought, while outside were others who watched every exit and caughtthose who tried to get away from the place.

  One of the deputies had been an electrician formerly, and he knew wherethe light switches were located in the Branniton house. He fought hisway to the kitchen, found them, and turned on the lights.

  Things were better for the policemen and deputies after that. They couldtell friends from foes. The Black Star's men barricaded themselves incertain rooms. Some of them threw down their weapons and held up theirhands in token of surrender, and were immediately seized and handcuffed.The others were cleared from the lower floor, fought up the wide stairs,and continued the battle on the second floor.

  Verbeck and Muggs were in the thick of the fight. They were looking forthe Black Star. So were the chief, and Sheriff Kowen. They searched thebasement and the rooms on the ground floor, but found no trace of him.

  "He's on the second floor!" Verbeck cried. "Up we go!"

  The guests who had been held prisoners were released from the room inwhich they had been locked. The women fled to the lawn, and across it tothe street. Some of the men went with them; others joined in the fray.There was a crowd in the street now and more people were arriving everyminute. Word had flashed throughout the city that the Black Star and hisfollowers had been cornered in the residence of Richard Branniton.

  The members of the band were being caught rapidly. A few had beenwounded, a few officers also. But the criminals were scattered now, andhere and there one surrendered, or was overpowered.

  Verbeck and Muggs, the chief and the sheriff thought of nothing but theBlack Star. They knew that the policemen and deputies could care for theothers of the band. It was the master criminal himself that they wanted,to put him behind prison bars once more, to have years added to hissentence, to send him to the big prison up the river where he no longerwould be a menace to society at large.

  They ran from room to room, searching for him. They shrieked suggestionsto one another above the din of the battle. They found a room at one endof the upper hall, with the door locked, and hurled themselves againstit and broke it in.

  There they saw the man they wanted. He had thrown off his robe and mask.He held a bomb in his hand--and stopped them with a gesture.

  "Wait!" he commanded. "This is not a vapor bomb--it is the real thing.It can blow all of us to bits! So four of you came to get me, eh? Mr.Verbeck, and the chief and the sheriff--and Muggs. I suppose, since youare free and here, that you did all this, Muggs?"

  "You bet I did!" Muggs cried.

  "Wait, gentlemen! Don't make a move to raise a weapon, or we all will behurled into the hereafter." The Black Star stepped back toward a window."I suppose you have me cornered," he said. "I suppose you think you aregoing to take me back to jail. But it happens that I have one card yetto play!"

  He hurled the bomb, and it exploded. It was a vapor bomb, after all.The cloud of pungent gas assailed them. They whirled to either side,away from it. There was a crash of glass.

  "He's gone through the window!" Muggs shrieked.

  Trying to keep from breathing, they rushed to the window, got through itand to the roof of the veranda, where they gulped the fresh air!

  The Black Star had jumped to the ground. They saw him for an instant.Then he was lost in the darkness. The chief shouted a warning to hismen.

  "Down, and after him!" Verbeck cried.

  "We've got him!" cried the chief. "The entire yard is surrounded. He'sin a trap!"

  Muggs was the first to reach the ground. He did not stop to climb downone of the posts, but did as the master criminal had done--jumped.

  Verbeck and the chief and Sheriff Kowen were not far behind him.Officers who had been on the veranda charged after the Black Star inresponse to the chief's command.

  The net grew tighter. They were in a corner of the lawn, calling to oneanother. A police auto drove across the grass, and the searchlight wasturned on.

  There was the circle of policemen and deputies, with Verbeck and Muggs,the chief and the sheriff at one side of it.

  But the Black Star was gone!

  CHAPTER XXXII

  THE LETTER

  "He can't have got away!" Muggs exclaimed.

  "Where did he go?" the chief demanded.

  "He didn't come past us," one of the policemen declared. "I don't seehow he got out of the circle. Why, he hasn't had time to get away; andthe men in the street----"

  The officers in the street already had been warned. The entire block wassurrounded; it seemed impossible that the master criminal could escape.

  "Maybe he dodged the boys here, but he'll never get away from theblock!" the chief declared. "Have more searchlights turned on the lawn,and tell the men in the alley to keep awake. He can't be far!"

  Out of the sky came a blinding light. It flooded the house and lawn,turned the night into day.

  "That--that light----" Sheriff Kowen gasped.

  The light disappeared. They waited, watching the sky. They were silentnow. No sound reached their ears except the din from the house. They sawnothing.

  And then they heard the Black Star's voice.

  "Did you really think you had me?" it said. "I must admit that you havewrecked my plans and scattered my organization again. Some of my menwill have to go to prison, I suppose, but you haven't caught me, neverwill catch me! I shall leave the city, and you cannot prevent it. I haveprepared for this emergency. When my organization is formed again,perhaps I shall return. My campaign is over for the present, but therewill be another!"

  The voice died away. There was silence for a moment, and then thebrilliant light flashed again, flooded the lawn, almost blinded the menthere.

  "There is a letter by the alley gate!" The voice of the Black Star nowcame to them faintly. "Good night, gentlemen!"

  "Gone!" the chief gasped. "Gone!"

  "But how on earth----" Kowen began.

  "That letter!" Verbeck cried. "Let's get it!" They hurried to the alleygate, and there they found the letter, as the Black Star had said. Theycarried it back to the police automobile, and read it in front of thesearchlight.

  GENTLEMEN: If you have this letter, it means that my plans have been ruined, and that I have been forced to escape. I cannot neglect this chance to tell you how futile have been your efforts.

  Have you wondered how I spoke to you out of the sky? Have you worried about the bright light? Are you surprised at the way I escaped you just now?

  I have in my organization a wonderful man. He is a mechanical genius gone wrong. He has perfected airplanes as no man dreams they can be perfec
ted. I have been using an airplane--but it is a _noiseless_ airplane! Can you imagine what that would mean if the world had the secret? An airplane, as the public knows it, heralds its approach. With this, I can sail at night over the city, without making the slightest noise. I can hover over a certain spot----

  Yes, I mean _hover_. For this airplane is so perfected that it can stand still in the air. It can be raised or lowered straight up or down. Do you understand now?

  The airplane was hovering over the lawn, a rope ladder dropped from it. I merely climbed up the ladder as the airplane ascended. I am writing this in advance, but I know what I shall do, if forced. I always plan for every emergency, you see. And while you poor fools bite your nails in your chagrin, I shall be speeding through the air to a certain refuge I have prepared. There I shall recuperate and plan some more. *****

  Roger Verbeck read the letter aloud. A chorus of gasps came from thosewho heard.

  "Well, he is gone!" Verbeck said. "But his band is broken up, and thatis something!"

  "And if he ever comes back here, we'll get him, won't we, boss?" Muggsasked.

  "We'll get him!" Roger Verbeck said. There was determination in hisvoice.

  THE END