The Black Star: A Detective Story

by Johnston McCulley

  CHAPTER XII--AT THE CHARITY BALL

  Muggs jerked open the door, rushed through the furnished room, andentered the hall.

  "Boss! Boss!" he hissed.

  Verbeck was just recoiling from the outer door. He closed it asnoiselessly as he could and hurried back.

  "Boss!"

  "That you, Muggs?"

  "Yes. That devil worked a trick on me--he got away. He intended to comehere and get money, then hurry out of town. I--I telephoned the police,boss, to come here, and I came myself to identify him. I didn't knowthat----"

  "All right, Muggs. I understand. You did right."

  "But I let him trick me--and the cops are here. If they catch youthey'll think you're the Black Star."

  Verbeck realized that even better than Muggs. If the capture was madeat the big hall, and the prisoners questioned--as they would be, andmercilessly--Faustina Wendell and her brother, under the strain, mightgive evidence that would convict him.

  "We've got to get away, boss!"

  She had recognized the ring, Verbeck was thinking. Perhaps it wasHoward Wendell who had watched as he went home that night. Yes--he'dhave to escape.

  "Oh, boss! I said I had a hunch!"

  "Quick!" Verbeck whispered. "And be quiet! My roadster is at the curba block away. We must get out and reach it. How many policemen?"

  "A dozen at least, boss--and there may be another auto full of 'emcoming."

  "Hush! Some one is trying that door now. Into the kitchen with you!"

  Muggs hurried through the kitchen door. Verbeck pushed him into acloset and bade him remain there until he returned. Then he went fromthe kitchen to the dining room, and there he lifted his pistol andsent three shots ringing into the ceiling.

  Another instant and he was back in the kitchen, in the closet withMuggs.

  "Perhaps they'll think the Black Star has committed suicide when theyhear those shots and find there isn't a light," he whispered. "Thereis a window behind you, Muggs. Can you open it quietly and withoutattracting attention, while those police are wondering about theshots?"

  Muggs went to work, making no noise. The window was raised a fractionof an inch at a time. Verbeck turned the key in the closet door, forthings might come to a pass where seconds of delay would meaneverything.

  Finally the window was open. Muggs, putting out his head cautiously,looked around.

  "Only one man on this side, boss," he reported. "The others have gonearound to the door."

  "They're in the house," Verbeck replied. "They're flashing theirtorches--I can see them in the hall through the keyhole."

  "This side of the house is dark, boss, shaded by trees. And there is adrift of snow against it. We might get out without being heard orseen."

  "Try it!" ordered Verbeck grimly.

  Muggs went first, like a shadow, and soon was standing beneath thewindow in the deep darkness close to the wall. Verbeck followed,almost afraid to breathe, expecting every second to hear the challengeof a policeman and to be taken. But finally he, too, stood in theshadows against the side of the house.

  "One man," Muggs whispered. "See him? We've got to hurry--those cops inthe house will be through searching soon. You wait here, boss."

  Muggs slipped away beneath the trees; Verbeck could scarcely see him.Nearer and nearer he got to the unsuspecting policeman, who waswatching the group in front of the door. Then Muggs sprang, and thepoliceman went down. It had been done without noise, with a singleblow, but not effectually enough to render the officer unconscious forlong.

  Verbeck hurried across and joined Muggs; each took a deep breath, andthen, just as the man on the ground raised a cry they darted out intothe open, racing for the hedge.

  Behind them was a chorus of cries, a fusillade of shots. They got tothe other side of the hedge and ran wildly for the street. Behind themcame the determined pursuit, a captain shouting orders. As they ran,Verbeck found himself wondering at the queerness of it--that he andMuggs had been forced to attack a guardian of the law in the interestsof justice. Verbeck promised himself to make that policeman a handsomepresent when things were straightened out.

  More shots whistled near them--the police were through the hedge now.On and on they ran, Verbeck slightly in the lead. They saw a policeauto standing in the street near them, another at the other end of theblock. And Verbeck's roadster was a block away!

  They were in the street now, running at their utmost speed. Behindthem came the pursuing policemen, while others rushed toward theautomobiles, intending to take up the pursuit in that manner if thequarry got away. Nearer and nearer they came to the roadster. Whenthey reached it Muggs sprang to the wheel. Verbeck threw himself inbeside Muggs.

  "Shoot at 'em a couple of times, boss, and slow 'em up," Muggs said.

  "That's going too far. Get up on the boulevard!"

  The car started. Another fusillade of shots came, none taking effect.The machine skidded around the corner and dashed at the hill. Itlurched and swayed over the soft, snow-covered ground. Behind came thetwo police automobiles, their sirens shrieking.

  Muggs reached the boulevard, and opened her up. He had no idea exceptto shake off pursuit. Verbeck glanced at his watch as they passedbeneath a light--it was twenty minutes after eleven. Events had beenoccurring rapidly in the last half hour. And he was working under aclose time limit, too. He had to escape the pursuit, and he had toreach the big hall before midnight to save Faustina Wendell and herbrother.

  Verbeck looked back continually--they did not seem to be gaining. Thestreets flashed by. Muggs narrowly evaded collision a score of times,for he was taking desperate chances. To escape, and to save Faustina,and all in forty minutes of time--that was task enough. Added to themental strain of this was the fact that the Black Star had escaped,and that Verbeck's case would fall down in part because of it. Yetsome of the work would be good, for the band would be broken uppartially, at least, if the officers at the big hall caught thethieves with stolen goods in their possession.

  They did not seem to be able to gain on their pursuers, and theprecious minutes were flying. They took corners at a reckless pace,zigzagging through the city in a vain attempt to outwit those whofollowed. Now and then Verbeck waved his hand to indicate a turn, andMuggs obeyed.

  They skirted the retail district, and got to the wholesale district,where there was scant traffic at this hour of the night, but alwaysbehind them came the two police automobiles, sirens shrieking,officers screeching.

  "We can't dodge 'em, boss!" Muggs yelled.

  Verbeck looked at his watch again. He had only thirty minutes! But anautomobile going at racing pace can cover a lot of ground in thirtyminutes, even through the streets of a city. On they dashed, twistingand turning, never gaining, just holding their own.

  Down another hill they raced, and now they were near the stockyards.Here there was no pavement; here the mud and slush and slime splashedover the machine and around them, and the auto lurched and skiddeddangerously.

  "Slow down at the next turn," Verbeck ordered, "I'll drop off, and youkeep on. Get away if you can--work back into town and give them thedodge. I can't waste another minute--I've got to get to the big hall.And I can't do it in the machine, for we can't shake them off."

  "I can take you back nearer the hall, boss."

  "I'd not dare try to drop off there--they might see me. But here, whereit is so dark---- At the next turning, Muggs!"

  "Boss----"

  "Here we are! Get away if you can, and if you do, come to the halllater. I'll be all right!"

  They made the turning, and Verbeck dropped off, and then Muggs openedher up again and dashed on along the muddy street, and behind himrushed the determined police in their two automobiles. They passedwithin forty feet of Roger Verbeck, who was inside a stockade, inclose proximity to a hundred startled Texas steers.

  Less than thirty minutes--and he was at the stockyards. There was not asecond to waste. He could not glance at his watch to get the exacttime without striking a match, and he did not
dare do that becausesome watchman might see and apprehend him. He got out of the cattlepen and started running along the street in the dark, toward thenearest car line. Slush and mud splashed over his trousers, and herealized that he would not be the usual well-groomed Roger Verbecksociety knew when he invaded the big hall.

  He boarded a car, drew his overcoat close around him, and crouched ina corner. It seemed that the car stopped at every street, that it madewretched time. The blocks never before had seemed so long. Verbecklooked at his watch again, fearing he would be too late. He felt onthe verge of screeching to the motorman to give the car greater speed.

  Finally it was up in town, and Verbeck got off and rushed for thenearest taxicab stand. In an instant he was inside a machine, and achauffeur was taking chances to earn the extra pay promised him if hereached the hall before midnight.

  Verbeck took out a handkerchief and wiped off his pumps, and brushedmud and slush from the bottoms of his trousers as well as he could. Hesmoothed down his hair, and tried to regain his composure so that hewould appear outwardly calm at least. He would have to enter the hallin a matter-of-fact way. An excited entrance would attract attention.

  The cab stopped before one of the entrances of the hall. Verbeckglanced at his watch again--it was five minutes of twelve. As he sprangout he tossed the chauffeur a bill. He took a deep breath, threw backhis shoulders, handed his ticket to the man at the door, and steppedinto the lobby with a smile on his face.

  Three men were loitering in the southwest corner by the drinkingfountain. Two more were approaching, and a woman was walking towardthe fountain from the opposite direction. All the men wore bits of redribbon on their coat lapels--the woman on her right shoulder.

  And Verbeck saw something else, too--men who were scattered about incouples, each couple pretending to carry on an animated conversation,but watching the corner. They were detectives, several of whom Verbeckrecognized.

  He walked past the fountain swiftly and turned the corner. FaustinaWendell and her brother were approaching him side by side, eachdecorated with the red ribbon. In a moment they would be out where thedetectives would see, if they had not been observed already. Verbeckhad removed his hat and coat, and as he turned the corner he tossedthem to a check boy. He almost ran forward to meet Faustina andHoward. He knew it lacked but a few seconds to midnight.

  "Quick!" he whispered as he met them. "Don't ask questions, but, forHeaven's sake, do as I say! Take off that red ribbon--quick! Howard!Get back on the floor--anywhere to get out of sight. Faustina--come!"

  Verbeck himself tore the ribbon from her shoulder as Howard removedhis own. He pushed Howard ahead of him until he was on the dancingfloor. He grasped Faustina about the waist--he waltzed her out into thecrowd!

  The hands of the clock pointed to midnight--and from the southwestcorner of the lobby came sounds of a commotion as the detectives,obeying their orders, closed in on the Black Star's crooks.