SOME FISHERMEN
At his headquarters, the Black Star was pacing the floor nervously, his
hands clasped behind his back. A buzzer sounded, and he hurried to the
telephone, taking it from its hiding place in the niche in the wall.
"Hello!" he said.
"Number Eleven."
"Countersign?"
"Kokomo."
"Report," ordered the master crook.
"Everything went off as planned, sir. I got into the attic without much
trouble, and subdued the guards and policemen when the proper time came.
The fight was started as soon as the men received my signal."
"How about the loot?"
"We got all six of the paintings, sir, and they are on their way to you
now."
"Good! That is all for to-night. Report at the usual time in person
to-morrow."
The Black Star hung up the receiver, rang the bell three times, took the
receiver down again. The ring was heard by men at a telephone instrument
in the woods a quarter of a mile away.
"Hello!" one of them answered.
"Start!" the Black Star said; and then he hung up the receiver again and
touched the bell button. The servant came into the headquarters room.
"Tell the mechanic to be ready to start within five minutes," the master
rogue ordered.
The servant hurried away, and the Black Star took off his robe and put
on the heavy ulster once more. Presently he hurried from the room,
closing and locking the door behind him.
In the woods, six men left the hidden telephone and hurried along a
narrow, winding path through the darkness, going toward the bank of the
river.
They did not speak as they hurried forward, single file, like Indians
following a trail. They reached the shore, and in a little cove came
upon a motor boat hidden beneath overhanging willows. The six got into
the boat.
They moved the craft out into the stream and pointed its bow toward the
city. The six were dressed as fishermen, in uncouth clothing, stubbles
of beard upon their faces, their sleeves rolled up. In the launch was
fishing gear. There was nothing in the appearance of the craft to create
suspicion, but a mechanic, had he looked at the engine, would have
marveled that common fishermen could possess such a perfect piece of
machinery.
The regulation lights were burning. The launch made ordinary speed down
the stream. Two of the men were singing raucously. To all appearances
here were six fishermen going to the city to carouse at some cheap
resort on the waterfront.
At the lower end of town, the launch turned toward the shore. At a small
dock she was moored. But only five of the men left the boat--one
remained curled up in the stern, hidden by a mass of canvas and fishing
gear.
The five entered a cheap resort and drank, and then went upon the
street again, as if starting to another place. They slipped through a
dark alley, emerged on a side street and hurried along it, maintaining a
conversation that had to do with fish and market prices.
After a time they came to a public square in an old section of the city.
Here were business houses that had been there for scores of years,
famous establishments that scorned to move to a more modern district of
the town.
They stopped on a corner and talked loudly, half quarreling, as
intoxicated fishermen might be expected to do. A policeman warned them
to lower their voices and behave, and they went on up the street,
slowly, staggering a bit, laughing now and then.
On the next corner was a bakery. The basement door was open, and a baker
stood in it. Odors of fresh bread and cakes poured out.
"Um!" one of the fishermen gasped. "Any chance to get some hot bread?"
"Do you happen to have the price?" the baker asked.
"We sure have!"
A passing pedestrian heard the conversation, smiled, and walked on.
"Come downstairs, then," the baker said.
They descended the stairs and entered the oven department. They threw
coins on a table, and each was given a loaf of warm bread, and they
began eating, still laughing and talking. The baker's assistant had
finished his work and washed up, and now was telling his employer good
night. He hurried up the steps and went away.
The baker led the five fishermen into a rear room to show them more
ovens, where cakes were baking. He closed the door between the two
rooms. Instantly the demeanor of the five men changed.
"Everything all right?" one of them asked.
"There is one guard in the diamond room. The others are on the two
floors," the baker replied.
"How many in all?"
"Only four."
"Cinch!" said one of the five. "Let's go!"
"I'll have the other stuff ready," the baker informed them.
He opened the door and glanced into the other room, closed the door
again and motioned that everything was all right. The five men hurried
to the other end of the room, and one of them pressed against the wall.
A small door swung open.
They passed through the wall and into the basement of the building
adjoining. An engineer was asleep in a chair before his table, and he
was rendered unconscious immediately by means of a vapor gun. The five
hurried up a flight of stairs, opened a door, and entered a rear hall.
They were at the back of a famous jewelry establishment now, one that
had a famous name in the business world, one which scorned to move to
better quarters, but which was protected by every known device. Another
door was opened, and they were in a storeroom.
They moved with more caution now, for this was dangerous ground. The
Black Star had planned this attack on the assumption that he would be
expected to rob a more pretentious establishment. Few men knew that a
large shipment of gorgeous diamonds had recently been received by this
firm--but the Black Star knew it. One of his band was a trusted clerk in
the house.
Moreover, at that moment, the Black Star was creating a diversion. In
the principal retail district of the city there was a fashionable
jewelry store housed in a modern building. It was being heavily guarded
this night, for the proprietors had taken cognizance of the master
crook's announcement that he intended to purloin rare jewels, and they
flattered themselves that their establishment would be the one visited.
More than a score of special watchmen and police officers were in this
building. One of the proprietors himself was on hand, aiding in
safe-guarding the jewels. The entire establishment was brilliantly
lighted. The shades and fire curtains at the windows were raised, and
the door of the vault room stood open so that it could be seen from the
front street. The Pioneer Diamond Company was taking no chances of being
looted.
And suddenly the building that housed the diamond company was bathed in
brilliant light that seemed to come out of the sky! People in the
streets, remembering what had happened three nights before, began
shrieking that the Black Star and his men were at work. An alarm was
sent to police headquarters, and relayed to the chief at the museum. The
Black Star was robbing the Pioneer Diamond Company!
Leaving a small police guard at the museum, the chief hurried to the
scene with the remainder of his men. Verbeck and Muggs went ahead in
the roadster, charging through the streets, the horn shrieking a
warning. As they arrived, the bright light had disappeared, but soon
they saw it again.
"That's the Black Star," Verbeck said. "I can't figure out how he does
it, but I suppose the solution will be simple enough when we learn it."
"I'd like to beat it out of him!" Muggs said.
The police had entered the building, and the chief had ascertained that
nothing had happened. As far as they knew, there was nobody in the
establishment who did not have a right to be there. But that did not
mean that the danger was over.
"I don't like the looks of this!" Verbeck said. "I am inclined to
believe that the gang is doing the real work in some other place."
"I've got men every place where there is any quantity of precious
stones," the chief said, "and they have orders to send an alarm to
headquarters the instant they see or hear anything that seems to be
suspicious."
The bright light from the sky had disappeared again. Out in the street
there was a series of explosions, and Verbeck and Muggs and the chief
rushed to a window, and saw clouds of vapor rising from the pavement.
"He's got some scheme!" the chief declared. "Watch yourselves, you men,
and be ready to go into action! More of you go into the vault room and
watch there!"
The proprietor was like a maniac, and the chief whirled upon him
angrily.
"What's the matter with you?" he demanded. "You don't see any of the
crook's gang around here, do you? How can we do anything until they
show up? You give me a pain."
"There is a fortune in the vault----"
"And it'll probably remain there!" the chief said. "We are playing a
game that is tough enough without having an insane man raving around
us!"
Another shower of vapor bombs came from the sky. The people in the
streets were scattering, seeking cover. Once more the bright light
blazed forth. Out into the street rushed Verbeck and Muggs. The light
disappeared, and presently they heard the voice of the Black Star.
"Better watch those diamonds, gentlemen!" he shouted. "You'll be missing
a lot of them the first thing you know. I love gems, and I happen to
know that there are some glorious ones in the vault of the Pioneer
Diamond Company."
The voice died away, and they heard no more. Verbeck and Muggs rushed
back into the store. The chief was in the vault room.
"Are all your diamonds and expensive jewels in that vault?" the chief
asked the member of the firm who was spending the night in the store.
"All except a few small stones such as the Black Star would not bother
about."
"Then Mr. Black Star is going to fall down on the job!" the chief
declared. "We'll just pack this vault room full of officers. The only
way those crooks can get in then will be to tunnel through the bottom of
the vault!"
"They can't do that--the vault is impregnable!" the member of the firm
declared.
The chief laughed scornfully. "It may be impregnable as far as ordinary
criminals are concerned," he retorted, "but we are dealing with the
Black Star, please remember, and he dotes on supposedly impregnable
things. Vaults do not seem to bother his men much. Open the door of the
vault, and sit in it yourself. We'll watch the inside as well as the
outside."
The door of the vault was opened. An investigation showed that
everything was all right. And so they waited for the blow that they
expected.
A telephone bell rang, and the member of the firm hurried to the
instrument to answer.
"It's a call for you, chief, from your headquarters," he reported.
The chief rushed to the telephone. He was experiencing a feeling of
apprehension.
"Hello!" he cried.
A desk sergeant at headquarters answered him.
"That you, chief? The Black Star's men are raiding a diamond store
downtown. I just got the tip from a watchmen who dodged them. Wait--I'll
give you the address!"