ORDERS AND LETTERS
The forces of law and order would have been interested, that day, had
they watched Mamie Blanchard continually.
When she entered the little cottage, she locked the door on the inside,
hurried through the kitchen and into the basement, and entered the
tunnel. She went through it quickly, reached the door in the alley wall,
listened, opened it, slipped into the alley, and slammed the door shut
again. That door could not be opened from the outside unless a person
knew exactly how to do it.
Mamie Blanchard hurried through the alley to the street, engaged a
taxicab, and drove to a certain hotel, where she ascended in the
elevator and went directly to a suite. It was not the same hotel she had
visited after telling Sheriff Kowen about the gambling house, but she
found the same people there--a middle-aged woman and a middle-aged man.
"Well?" the man asked gruffly.
"Couldn't be better," said Mamie Blanchard.
"What happened?"
"I let him see me, and he took me to his office in the jail. Said he
knew that I was a member of the Black Star's band, and threatened to put
me in a cell if I didn't tell all I knew. I bluffed him, of course, and
then he got the wise idea of letting me go and trailing me. You could
almost see it sticking out on his forehead." Miss Blanchard stopped to
laugh.
"Go on!" the man commanded.
"The sheriff and a deputy trailed me. When I got near the cottage, I
began acting in a peculiar manner. I hurried inside, locked the door,
and went out through the tunnel and the alley. At the corner, I saw the
sheriff and his deputy still looking at the cottage."
"Well, you did your part!" the man said. "Now we'll wait to learn
whether the rest of the plan worked out."
They waited for half an hour. Then the telephone rang, and the man
answered. When he hung up the receiver and turned away, he was grinning.
"It worked!" he said. "Number Ten has just reported. The sheriff sent
for more men, and broke into the house. They found the basement room and
read the orders, and they found the tunnel, too. Number Ten reports that
the sheriff has gone to police headquarters."
"And that means," said Mamie Blanchard, "that there'll be half a hundred
cops around that cottage to-night, and all the rest will be at the
National Trust Company."
"Exactly! And while they are at the National Trust, we'll be looting the
First National. That fake headquarters did the trick--just as the big
boss said it would!"
"What now, Landers?" Miss Blanchard asked.
It was the first time she had spoken his name. Like herself, Landers had
been in the Black Star's old organization, and now was one of the master
criminal's shrewd lieutenants. He had helped organize the new band, and
had engineered the Black Star's rescue.
"I must go and report," he said. "I'll report for you, too. You'd
better stay pretty close to this suite for a few days. They'll be
looking for you now, you know."
"I might as well be in jail as be a prisoner here," Mamie Blanchard
pouted.
"It's orders!" Landers told her. "You'll be needed again soon, and
needed badly."
Landers left the hotel, engaged a taxicab, and drove out along the river
road until he came to a resort. He paid the chauffeur there, and walked
along the shore, watching the bathers, acting like a prosperous man on a
little holiday.
But after a time he left the resort and walked on along the road. He
turned into a lane, when he was sure that he was not being observed, and
approached a ramshackle farmhouse that was hidden in a grove.
Landers entered the house, went down a flight of steps to the basement,
and stopped in a little room. There he put on a long black robe and his
black mask, and touched a button. In the distance a bell tinkled. Then a
buzzer sounded, and Landers opened the door and stepped into the Black
Star's headquarters.
The master rogue was sitting at one end of the table. He got up and
stepped to the nearest blackboard. Landers went to the one at the other
end of the room, and picked up the chalk.
"Number One," he wrote.
"Countersign?" wrote the Black Star.
"Amboy."
"Report!" the Black Star wrote.
Landers turned to the blackboard and wrote rapidly.
"Sheriff decoyed to fake headquarters. Decoy escaped in manner planned.
Sheriff broke in and found room in basement. Number Ten reported to me
that everything was left as it was, and that sheriff went immediately to
police headquarters."
"Good," wrote the Black Star.
"Any further orders?"
"Act to-night in accordance with the orders given you yesterday," the
Black Star wrote. "That is all."
Landers bowed, and backed from the room. He took off mask and gown and
hung them up, put on his hat and gloves, and made his way from the house
and into the lane again. Once more he was the prosperous gentleman
enjoying a day in the woods and along the river.
Back in the old farmhouse, the Black Star was receiving another report,
this time by telephone.
"Number Eight," said the voice.
"Countersign?" asked the Black Star.
"Harvard!"
"Well?"
"I have been in communication with Number Twelve, who is in police
headquarters. Sheriff Kowen went there and held a conference with the
chief and Roger Verbeck. They fell hard for that fake headquarters
stunt. They are planning to watch the place to-night, and all officers
not there will be in the neighborhood of the National Trust Company,
where they expect us to strike."
"Very good!" the Black Star said. "You have your orders for to-night?"
"Yes, sir."
"Carry them out. There is nothing new!"
The master rogue hung up the receiver, put the telephone away in a
secret niche in the wall, and sat down at the end of the long table
again. A man entered with a tray containing luncheon, and the Black Star
removed his mask and ate. The servant was a member of the old
organization, and took part in no crimes--it was not necessary for the
Black Star to wear a mask in his presence.
Having eaten, the master criminal stretched himself on a couch in one
corner of the room, and slept. It was dusk when he awakened. He ate
again, and as he finished the little bell on the wall jangled. The Black
Star put on his mask, and touched a button.
The robed and masked man who entered was small. He went directly to the
blackboard.
"Number Sixteen," he wrote.
"Countersign?"
"Providence."
"Report!"
"First National received shipment of currency to-day as expected," the
other wrote.
"What amount?"
"Three hundred thousand."
"What else have you to report?"
"One of the watchmen is our man, and he will attend to the other. Number
Twenty has investigated the vault, and reports that he can open it in
twelve or fifteen minutes."
"How about transportation?" the Black Star wrote.
"One limousine and three closed autos; all has been arranged."
"Good!" the Black Star wrote. "That is all--except I want no mistakes
made to-night."
The other man left the room. The master criminal touched a bell button,
and the servant entered.
"Has the mechanic reported?" the Black Star asked.
"Yes, sir. The machine is in perfect working order, sir. He will test it
further after dark."
"Very well. I want him to be ready to start about eleven thirty, perhaps
a quarter of an hour sooner than that."
"Yes, sir."
The servant bowed and left the room. The Black Star took paper out of a
drawer, and a box of rubber stamps, and began composing a letter that
was to cause the chief of police, the sheriff and Roger Verbeck much
chagrin before morning.
To those poor fools whom it most concerns:
I was amused at the manner in which you guarded the little cottage
so well. That fake headquarters was placed there in order to have
you send all officers to the National Trust Building. I understand
it fooled even Roger Verbeck. You may place all the blame on the
sheriff, since he responded so well to my decoy. While you guard
the National Trust, I shall be looting the First National of the
shipment of currency it received to-day. It is the first blow in my
campaign. And when you learn that I am looting it, and rush there,
I shall----But you will know what by the time you read this note.
The Black Star put the folded note into an envelope, and addressed it to
the chief of police. Then he composed another to be mailed to a
prominent newspaper.
I, the Black Star, begin my campaign to-night. Three nights from
now, I and my men shall steal certain jewels and art objects that
are famous. You may guess what they are, and where. Guard all
jewels and objects of art in the city, if you wish, but that will
not prevent us from getting them. *****
The Black Star put the letter into an envelope, addressed it, and then
put both letters into one of his pockets. He glanced at his watch, and
took off his robe, but retained the mask. He donned a heavy ulster, and
rang for the servant again.
"Tell the mechanic to be ready in ten minutes," he said.
"Yes, sir."
"After I have left the house, throw on the protecting current, and do
not turn it off unless you get the proper signal."
"I understand, sir."
"The wires were tested this afternoon?"
"Yes, sir; everything is in excellent condition."
"Good!" said the Black Star.