ANOTHER TELEPHONE CALL
The newspapers the following day were full of the exploits of the Black
Star. They explained that the master crook had inaugurated his campaign
of crime and revenge by looting two of the richest financial
institutions in the city. From the First National his men had obtained
more than three hundred thousand dollars in currency. From the vault of
the National Trust Company had been taken a quarter of a million in gold
coin.
Banking officials were frantic. They made arrangements to safeguard
their property, fearing to lose the confidence of their depositors. They
engaged extra watchmen, men they knew personally, since to engage a
stranger, no matter how good his references, might be to put one of the
Black Star's men in the place.
Sheriff Kowen and his deputies were blamed, the chief and his policemen
were declared incompetent and inefficient, and Roger Verbeck and Muggs
were held up to ridicule.
The mysterious light that had come out of the sky was described at
length, and many speculations made as to its nature. The scene on the
roof of the building, told by one of the detectives, was played up, and
there were many conjectures as to what it meant.
Had the master criminal come into possession of some wonderful new
invention? Was he able to escape when and as he liked? Some inclined
toward this belief, and others declared that the Black Star had gone
down a fire escape under the noses of the officers, entered the building
through a window at some floor, walked down the stairs and emerged into
the alley and gone his way. The Black Star, one paper stated, was a mere
man and did not call upon the supernatural to aid him. He merely had
better brains than the police.
Where would he strike next?
Within three days, he had said in his letter to one of the papers, he
would steal, with the aid of his band, jewels and famous objects of art.
Thousands of persons had valuable jewels, and it was well known that the
master criminal was a gem fiend, that he had a great collection and
gloated over them. Perhaps he meant a jewelry establishment, a wholesale
diamond house.
When it came to famous objects of art, there was a wealth of them in the
city. Two millionaires had great collections. There was a famous museum
that housed several hundred priceless paintings. Here and there
throughout the city were others.
Jewels were carried to safe-deposit vaults. The guards at the museum
were doubled. The two millionaires obtained police protection for their
residences. And the city waited.
Two days passed, during which nothing was heard of the Black Star and
his band. Sheriff Kowen and his deputies searched in vain for Mamie
Blanchard. Roger Verbeck and Muggs drove about in the big roadster
continually, watching people, trying to catch a glimpse of some known
member of the Black Star's old organization.
The city was gone over, block by block, in an effort to locate the
master crook's headquarters, but to no avail. The search extended to the
suburbs, but nobody thought of the old farmhouse far up the river near
the pleasure resort.
"Well, it's about time we heard from him again!" the chief said to
Verbeck on the morning of the third day.
"I look for him to strike to-night," Verbeck said.
"And where do you think he'll strike?"
"That is the puzzle," Verbeck admitted. "I scarcely think he will
attempt the museum. It would be a blow to civic pride if he did and
succeeded, of course, but the odds would be against him."
"He seems to thrive on odds that are against him," the chief replied.
"Sooner or later, we'll get him!" Verbeck declared. "Sooner or later one
of his people will make a slip that will give us the clew we need. They
can't keep it up forever."
"But I want to land him right away!" the chief fumed. "Did you happen to
read the morning paper? If this sort of thing keeps up, the mayor will
be asking for my resignation, and I'll go out of office without having
vindicated myself. Confound Kowen, anyway! Why couldn't he keep the
crook when he had him? But for Kowen, the Black Star would be doing time
in the big prison right now!"
"But he isn't--and it doesn't do any particular good to wail about it,"
said Verbeck. "The thing to do is to get him again. Made any plans?"
"I'm up in the air!" the chief complained. "What plans can I make? I've
got men guarding the museum, and those millionaires' residences, and a
few scattered near the jewelry establishments. And I'll hold men ready
to go to any section of the city when we get an alarm. That is all I can
do. If we knew where he was going to strike----"
A buzzer sounded, and the chief took up the telephone.
"Hello!" he called.
"That you, chief?"
"Yes."
"Ah, good morning. This is the Black Star! I have tapped a private line
again, chief, to have a little chat with you! I've been resting for a
couple of days, giving my men and women a holiday. But I'm eager to be
busy again!"
"When I get my hands on you----" the chief began.
"Tut, tut! Why do you always grow violent when I do you the honor of
calling you up?"
"Honor? Insult, you mean! We'll get you, and get you good, one of these
days!"
"I'll have all the wealth in town if you delay it very long," said the
Black Star laughing. "By the way, chief, I'd suggest that you keep a lot
of your men at headquarters to-night. You are going to need them."
"Think so?"
"I know it! And I have a faint idea that the newspapers are going to say
more naughty things about you to-morrow. That was a pretty grilling the
_Herald_ gave you, wasn't it?"
"I'll give you a grilling when I get my hands on you!" the chief said.
"So you're going to pull off some sort of a stunt to-night, are you?"
"I am. Inaction bores me, chief. My men are eager to get to work again.
They take great pleasure in helping outwit the stupid men on your
force."
"We'll see who'll do the final outwitting!" the chief cried. "I'm going
to----"
"Going to get me, I think you said before. Sorry to dispute you, chief,
but I can't agree. How do you expect to accomplish it?"
"Tell me one thing," said the chief. "How did you get off that roof, and
where did you go?"
"Sorry, but that is a sort of state secret for the present," the Black
Star replied.
"Well, if you didn't go down one of the fire escapes, write a letter to
the newspapers and say so. They're swearing that you walked right out of
that building before our noses."
"All right, chief, I'll inform the papers that I did nothing of the
kind. But I'll not explain at this time just what I did do. You see, I
might want to do it again soon."
"If you are so blamed sure of your ability, why not tell me what you are
going to do to-night?"
"Gladly chief. I am going to collect some jewels and some objects of
art."
"Oh, are you?" asked the chief. "Going to collect them in any particular
spot?"
"Naturally; but I do not intend to tell you the spot just now. That
would be running too much of a risk, I am afraid. By the way, is Mr.
Verbeck there?"
"He is!"
"I haven't time to speak to him, but will you kindly tell him for me
that I hope he shows more speed in this little duel with me. I was
disgusted with him the other evening--he showed no cleverness at all.
Tell him that I hope he improves. And now, chief, I must end the
conversation for the time being."
There was a click at the other end of the wire. The chief slammed the
receiver into its hook and whirled around in his chair.
"Wanted me to tell you to show more cleverness and make the game more
interesting, Verbeck," the chief said. "Make it interesting for him if
we get the chance, all right! Says he's going to collect jewels and
objects of art this evening."
"Then I suppose he'll do it," Verbeck said. "Have your men ready to jump
out as soon as the alarm comes in. What is the sheriff doing, chief?"
"Kowen? Sleeping on the job, I suppose. He swears that he and his
deputies will catch the Black Star--beat us to it. I had a row with him
yesterday at luncheon. Kowen makes me tired! He's looking for that
Blanchard woman."
"The Princess? He's not likely to find her," Verbeck said. "Either the
Black Star has sent her out of the city, or she is in hiding some place
where she'll not be located easily. You can wager that the Black Star
takes good care of The Princess--she is one of the most valuable members
of his band!"