Black Star's Campaign: A Detective Story

by Johnston McCulley

  CHAPTER XXV

  END OF THE TRAIL

  Half a dozen feet from the fence Verbeck stopped. He watched the housefor a couple of minutes, and then advanced another pace. He was withinthree feet of the fence now, and he saw what he had expected--wires andcables of metal cunningly woven in the mesh of the structure itself, andin such manner that the whole thing would be charged when a current wasturned on.

  The chief had crawled up behind Verbeck.

  "That fence is deadly!" Verbeck said. "The Black Star used somethinglike this once before, you'll remember, and half a dozen men wereseriously shocked and burned. We don't dare try to pass it at present.The current may or may not be running through it. We can't take thechance. If the gate was open, we probably could pass through withoutdanger, but the gate is a part of the circuit."

  "Well, are we going to let a fence tie us up?" the chief asked. "If theBlack Star and his band are inside, every minute we spend out here givesthem a chance to get ready for us."

  "Warn the men!" Verbeck said.

  The chief sent the word around the circle of officers--nobody was totouch the fence, since it probably was charged with a deadly current,and shocks and burns would result. Sheriff Kowen had crawled up to themthrough the brush.

  "Look!" he exclaimed suddenly.

  A dog, attracted by the men in the woods, had been running from onegroup to another. Now, chasing a stick one of the men had thrown, hebrushed against the fence. A single yelp came from him; and he wasstretched on the ground, apparently lifeless.

  "You see?" Verbeck said. "Perhaps it wouldn't kill a man, but it wouldburn him badly, and put him out of the game."

  "We've got to get through!" the chief declared. "And how are we going todo it?"

  One of the electricians had crawled forward, and they explained thesituation to him.

  "If the current is that strong, we can't fool with it," he saidearnestly. "Electricity isn't a timid plaything at best, and a dose likethat fence hands out is too much for anybody. You'll notice that the doghasn't moved; he's dead. And since we can't get through that fence----"

  "We can go over it!" Verbeck added.

  "How?" the chief and sheriff asked in chorus.

  "Bridge the thing," said Verbeck. "We've got men enough, and there aretrees enough."

  "It'll be one ticklish job," the electrician warned.

  "But it can be done," Verbeck declared. "Chief, have all your men watchthe house closely. If anybody in there tries to interfere with me,bombard the place."

  Verbeck sprang up and ran parallel to the fence for a distance of half ahundred feet. He had spotted a big tree there that had a projectingbranch not fifteen feet from the ground--a branch half a foot indiameter that extended over the fence and into the yard about the house.He swung himself into the tree, reached the branch, and crept out alongit. He crossed over the deadly fence, hesitated a moment, and dropped.Roger Verbeck was inside.

  He found that he was partially screened from the house by a clump ofbrush. He turned his back upon the house and crept toward the fenceagain. The chief and sheriff hurried to meet him.

  "Almost all your men can do as I have done," Verbeck said. "We don'teven have to bridge it. Have them come over, one by one, and have theothers watch the house closely. If the Black Star or any of his men arein there, they know we are after them and are watching us."

  The chief issued the orders. The men made the perilous trip one at atime, and dropped to the ground beside Verbeck. Twenty men in allcrossed over, and left the others to guard outside the fence,maintaining the blockade around the house.

  Not a sign had come from within to show that their presence was known.But Verbeck and those who had fought against the Black Star before knewthat that did not mean safety. It was like the Black Star to wait forthe proper moment before striking.

  "Be careful, you men!" Verbeck warned. "We are fighting the Black Star,please remember, and he can be unscrupulous at times. You may consideryourselves in danger from the moment we start toward the house. In hisold headquarters he had some of the most diabolical traps known to man;and you always find them where you least expect them. Beware of thedoors and windows. Investigate them before you touch them; and if weget inside the place, be alert continually. You may expect pitfalls,vapor bombs--anything!"

  The officers scattered and surrounded the house inside the fence. Thoseon the outside crept as close as they dared, weapons held ready, andwatched the doors and windows.

  On and on went those inside the fence, until they were almost againstthe walls. The chief, the sheriff, and Verbeck were at the front.

  "Doesn't seem to be anybody around," the chief said. "They got wise andleft, I suppose. Well, we'll investigate the place anyway, since we arehere."

  He started up the steps that led to the small veranda at the front ofthe house. His foot struck the lowest step.

  There was a sharp explosion, and half the veranda was torn away. Verbeckand the others reeled backward. A cloud of smoke filled the air; and itwas not the pungent vapor used by the Black Star in his bombs.

  "That was the real thing!" Verbeck declared.

  The chief was pale and trembling as he retreated.

  "I'll get that fiend!" he declared. "Look at the hole that explosionmade in the porch floor! If a man had been over that----"

  "They set it off too quick!" the sheriff said. "We've got to movecarefully, or we'll be having casualties."

  "We must take that chance!" the chief said. "We've got to get thatfiend, and policemen are paid to run into trouble when it is necessary.Into the house, men! Get in any way that you can! Try to take care ofyourselves, but get in!"

  The officers cheered and shouted. They plunged toward windows anddoors. They smashed panes of glass in, and hurled themselves againstdoors as if they knew no fear.

  Half a dozen explosions came, but no man was injured. Here and there apoliceman made an entrance, and others followed him. Within five minutesVerbeck and the chief and Kowen found that all were inside, gathered inthe big hall at the front of the house, and that no man had received ascratch.

  "I guess we're on the right trail, sure enough!" the chief said.

  "And this is where we must be careful," declared Roger Verbeck. "This iswhere we are liable to run into traps."

  The search of the house began. There were but two floors and thebasement, and the search started at the top. There the officers foundnothing except unoccupied rooms that were filled with dust. They evenwent into the garret, and found nothing except a heap of discardedclothing that looked as if it had been there for years.

  Next they searched the ground floor. In the rear was a kitchen, almostimmaculate, with its pots and pans and stores of food. There were threebed-chambers that appeared to be in constant use. And that was all.

  "I suppose it is in the basement, as usual," Verbeck said.

  "Careful, men!" the chief warned. "If they are in the basement, they'llput up a fight. That big crook knows what is in store for him when he'scaught, so you don't want to bank too much on that old bunk of his thathe abhors violence. A cornered rat will put up a stiff fight!"

  They found the basement door. Roger Verbeck went forward, grasped theknob, and jerked the door open suddenly. Again there was a rendingexplosion, and the panels and framework were shattered. Back through thehall staggered Verbeck and the others. The vapor the master crook usedwas mingled with the smoke of the explosion, and was sweeping throughthe hall.

  But the police had been prepared for it. They ran to the open windowsand inhaled the fresh air, remaining there until the poisonous fumes hadbeen swept out of the open front door. Then they rushed back into thehall.

  Before them was a stairway shrouded in dense darkness. Verbeck took anelectric torch in one hand and his automatic in the other, and began thedescent, a detective immediately behind him. He flashed the torch on thestairs, hesitated before treading upon each one, made his way step bystep toward the bottom, expecting every instant to hear the crash ofanother ex
plosion.

  He reached the end of the flight, and found himself in a narrow hall.Along this he went, a file of other men behind him. He came to a door.

  "This seems to be the place," he whispered. "If they are inside, we aredue for a warm reception."

  He grasped the handle and jerked the door open. This time there was noexplosion. He flashed his torch again. In front of the door was a heavycurtain of some sort.

  Verbeck put out his hand and moved the curtain aside gently. He couldsee into the room--could see in the path of the electric torch, and thatwas all.

  Verbeck knew that the situation was precarious. It meant something toenter a dark room in which the Black Star and some of his men might bewaiting. It took courage, the more so since Roger Verbeck was wellacquainted with the master rogue's methods, and realized that the BlackStar was fighting for freedom now.

  "Hold the curtain--and wait!" Verbeck whispered to the man nearest him.

  He slipped inside the curtain and stood with his back against it. He hadextinguished the torch. There was not a glimmer of light, not theslightest sound.

  Verbeck held his automatic ready, and suddenly flashed the torch in hisleft hand. He played it down the length of the room, sweeping the streakof light from side to side.

  "In!" he cried to the others. "Torches!"

  They crowded into the room, their lights flashing. The room wasthoroughly illuminated. The chief gave a cry that was echoed by thesheriff and the others.

  Without a doubt, they were in the Black Star's headquarters. Verbeckknew the room instantly for the one in which he had been prisoner for ashort time. There were the long table, the blackboards, and on the tablea black robe and mask that had been discarded by some member of theband.

  "Careful!" the chief warned.

  "I don't think there is any need of caution," said Roger Verbeck. "Ihave an idea that neither the Black Star nor any of his people arearound the place. He knew we had got on the right trail--and he hasmoved. The Black Star always has another headquarters prepared,remember. He moved half a dozen times the last time we fought againsthim. There is a lamp on the table--one of you men light it."

  Verbeck walked across the room to the blackboard, upon which there wassome fine writing.

  "I thought so!" he exclaimed.

  This is what he read:

  GENTLEMEN: I am aware that you are going to locate the place where I live and work, and so I suppose I am forced to move. Had not that fool of a Landers telephoned me from the roof of the hotel, had not Roger Verbeck overheard the number he called, I would have been safe here as long as I wished to remain.

  I am leaving for a new place that already has been prepared for me. I am taking Muggs along as a sort of hostage. There is no rush, since I have all night to make the move.

  When I go, I shall leave bombs attached to some of the windows and doors, and connected with the veranda steps. They will annoy you, perhaps, and make you think that you are brave men rushing into danger. It is just a little joke.

  For this inconvenience, the city shall be made to pay dearly, of course. It costs me something each time I move my headquarters. I have to leave furniture behind, and I have to inform all my people of the new location. But the people of the city shall pay! To-night, I strike, and I shall strike hard!

  "Fooled again!" the chief shrieked, in rage. "And we were on the righttrail, too!"

  "We'll get him yet!" declared Sheriff Kowen. "Some of his people willmake another slip----"

  "And, in the meantime," Roger Verbeck interrupted, "we'd better bepreparing for to-night and what it may bring forth. After this, theBlack Star will strike with twice his usual strength and cunning. He hassaid he would--and the crook always keeps his word!"