MUGGS ARRIVES
Verbeck's roadster was stopped on the corner nearest the Branniton
residence. Verbeck and the chief sprang out and darted across the walk.
The police autos came up and discharged their loads of officers. The
chief issued his orders rapidly.
"Surround the place! Get into the alley! Pick up everybody that looks
suspicious--and be ready to fight and fight hard! Let's get them this
time!"
Officers hurried to every side of the house, poured into the alley,
rushed across the lawn. They caught the men with the limousine, and
those with the truck that apparently was stalled, and held them for
investigation later. They drew a close net around the Branniton place,
and the chief and Verbeck, with half a dozen trusted men, started toward
the front veranda.
But the master criminal had had watchers scattered around the lawn. They
were caught in the police net, too, but they were able to give the
alarm. They rushed inside the house; and the Black Star was informed
that the police were upon him.
He ordered the guests into one of the smaller rooms, and closed and
locked the door on them. He had the lights turned off all over the
house; the waiter attended to that. He issued his orders rapidly, like a
general conducting a battle, sent men to defend the doors and windows.
"Violence appears to be necessary," he said. "We must drive them off and
get 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 of
the house. Another was driving across the lawn to do the same on the
front. The Black Star took an automatic from beneath his robe, and fired
one shot across the lawn.
The shot was a signal. From every window shots were sent at the men
surrounding the house, shots that were not meant to wound or kill, only
to terrify. But the chief's men were not easily frightened.
They sought refuge behind trees and clumps of brush, and returned the
fire. They shattered windows and made it impossible for the Black Star's
men to remain in them. They poured volleys against the doors.
But the master criminal and his men were safe so far. The officers were
not able to get inside the house. The Black Star had no wish to stand a
siege, for he knew that there could be but the one outcome. There came a
lull 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 persons
in your fair city. We have with us, also, two diplomats of international
fame. I abhor violence, but in such a case as this, it becomes
necessary. You will withdraw your men. You will take them to the corner,
beneath the electric light, where we can see them plainly. You will keep
them 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 every
ten minutes we are forced to remain here, I shall take a human life. For
every 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 Black
Star was at the end of his rope. Captured again, he was certain to be
convicted and sentenced to prison for life. He was the sort who would go
out 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 do
as he asks, of course."
"We'll rush the house!" the sheriff declared. "That's our business in a
case 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 inside
and fight it out as quickly as possible, without letting that fiend have
time to do much damage. I'll give the orders." The chief whispered them
to a captain, and he passed them on.
The Black Star was shouting from a window again. "'Well, what is the
decision, chief?"
"You say you want fifteen minutes?" the chief asked, more to gain time
than anything else.
"Fifteen minutes will be enough, thank you. Remain on that corner with
your men for fifteen minutes, and then do as you please. That is all I
ask."
"Well, you're asking enough! What do you suppose the public will say
when they know I had you and let you go?"
"My dear chief, they'll probably give you credit for saving the lives of
some prominent persons. I understand that the mayor is a guest here this
evening. Shall I have him come to the window and decide what you are to
do?"
"Let him come!" the chief said.
He knew in advance what the mayor would say. The mayor would tell him to
charge the house, break in, and capture the Black Star and his men. The
mayor happened to be a man of courage.
Thus the chief had gained a little time, and that was all he
wanted--time enough for his orders to be passed around to all the
officers. Now his men were ready.
The chief blew his whistle. The searchlights that had been playing on
the house were extinguished; and through the darkness the police and
deputies rushed upon the Branniton residence!
A volley greeted them from the windows, but the Black Star's men were
firing wildly into the darkness, and their shots had no effect. Officers
and deputies crowded the veranda, attacked the French windows, battered
at the doors.
A cheap automobile lurched around the corner and stopped in front of the
house. Muggs had arrived!