Black Star's Campaign: A Detective Story

by Johnston McCulley

  CHAPTER IX

  ORDERS AND LETTERS

  The forces of law and order would have been interested, that day, hadthey 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 thetunnel. She went through it quickly, reached the door in the alley wall,listened, opened it, slipped into the alley, and slammed the door shutagain. That door could not be opened from the outside unless a personknew exactly how to do it.

  Mamie Blanchard hurried through the alley to the street, engaged ataxicab, and drove to a certain hotel, where she ascended in theelevator and went directly to a suite. It was not the same hotel she hadvisited after telling Sheriff Kowen about the gambling house, but shefound 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 heknew that I was a member of the Black Star's band, and threatened to putme in a cell if I didn't tell all I knew. I bluffed him, of course, andthen he got the wise idea of letting me go and trailing me. You couldalmost see it sticking out on his forehead." Miss Blanchard stopped tolaugh.

  "Go on!" the man commanded.

  "The sheriff and a deputy trailed me. When I got near the cottage, Ibegan 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 thesheriff and his deputy still looking at the cottage."

  "Well, you did your part!" the man said. "Now we'll wait to learnwhether the rest of the plan worked out."

  They waited for half an hour. Then the telephone rang, and the mananswered. When he hung up the receiver and turned away, he was grinning.

  "It worked!" he said. "Number Ten has just reported. The sheriff sentfor more men, and broke into the house. They found the basement room andread the orders, and they found the tunnel, too. Number Ten reports thatthe sheriff has gone to police headquarters."

  "And that means," said Mamie Blanchard, "that there'll be half a hundredcops around that cottage to-night, and all the rest will be at theNational Trust Company."

  "Exactly! And while they are at the National Trust, we'll be looting theFirst National. That fake headquarters did the trick--just as the bigboss said it would!"

  "What now, Landers?" Miss Blanchard asked.

  It was the first time she had spoken his name. Like herself, Landers hadbeen in the Black Star's old organization, and now was one of the mastercriminal's shrewd lieutenants. He had helped organize the new band, andhad engineered the Black Star's rescue.

  "I must go and report," he said. "I'll report for you, too. You'dbetter stay pretty close to this suite for a few days. They'll belooking for you now, you know."

  "I might as well be in jail as be a prisoner here," Mamie Blanchardpouted.

  "It's orders!" Landers told her. "You'll be needed again soon, andneeded badly."

  Landers left the hotel, engaged a taxicab, and drove out along the riverroad until he came to a resort. He paid the chauffeur there, and walkedalong the shore, watching the bathers, acting like a prosperous man on alittle holiday.

  But after a time he left the resort and walked on along the road. Heturned into a lane, when he was sure that he was not being observed, andapproached 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 hisblack mask, and touched a button. In the distance a bell tinkled. Then abuzzer sounded, and Landers opened the door and stepped into the BlackStar's headquarters.

  The master rogue was sitting at one end of the table. He got up andstepped to the nearest blackboard. Landers went to the one at the otherend 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 methat everything was left as it was, and that sheriff went immediately topolice headquarters."

  "Good," wrote the Black Star.

  "Any further orders?"

  "Act to-night in accordance with the orders given you yesterday," theBlack Star wrote. "That is all."

  Landers bowed, and backed from the room. He took off mask and gown andhung them up, put on his hat and gloves, and made his way from the houseand into the lane again. Once more he was the prosperous gentlemanenjoying 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 policeheadquarters. Sheriff Kowen went there and held a conference with thechief and Roger Verbeck. They fell hard for that fake headquartersstunt. They are planning to watch the place to-night, and all officersnot 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 asecret niche in the wall, and sat down at the end of the long tableagain. A man entered with a tray containing luncheon, and the Black Starremoved his mask and ate. The servant was a member of the oldorganization, and took part in no crimes--it was not necessary for theBlack Star to wear a mask in his presence.

  Having eaten, the master criminal stretched himself on a couch in onecorner of the room, and slept. It was dusk when he awakened. He ateagain, and as he finished the little bell on the wall jangled. The BlackStar put on his mask, and touched a button.

  The robed and masked man who entered was small. He went directly to theblackboard.

  "Number Sixteen," he wrote.

  "Countersign?"

  "Providence."

  "Report!"

  "First National received shipment of currency to-day as expected," theother 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. NumberTwenty has investigated the vault, and reports that he can open it intwelve 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 mistakesmade 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 itfurther after dark."

  "Very well. I want him to be ready to start about eleven thirty, perhapsa quarter of an hour sooner than that."

  "Yes, sir."

  The servant bowed and left the room. The Black Star took paper out of adrawer, and a box of rubber stamps, and began composing a letter thatwas to cause the chief of police, the sheriff and Roger Verbeck muchchagrin 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. Whi
le 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 tothe chief of police. Then he composed another to be mailed to aprominent 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 thenput both letters into one of his pockets. He glanced at his watch, andtook off his robe, but retained the mask. He donned a heavy ulster, andrang 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 donot 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.