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31 - Black Stars Campaign by Johnston McCulley · Black Stars Campaign

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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty one of Black Star's Campaign by Johnston McCully
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  Speaker 1: read by Yoganum. This libery wox recording is in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain. Black Star's Campaign, Chapter thirty one an empty net.
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  Speaker 1: Mux never forgot that wild ride in the flow. The
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  Speaker 1: street car conductor drove the little machine as if it
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  Speaker 1: had been a racing car. It larged round corners, almost
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  Speaker 1: ran down traffic. Policemen swung ahead of street cars. The
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  Speaker 1: conductor was like a maniac. He always had crave excitement
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  Speaker 1: and adventure. Now it had come to him, and he
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  Speaker 1: intended to make the most of it. They dashed up
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  Speaker 1: to the Branditon residence, and Mux, not even thinking of packing,
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  Speaker 1: the conductor, sprang out and rushed across the lawn. Boss Boss,
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  Speaker 1: He shrieked above the tin. Somebody told him that Verbeck
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  Speaker 1: was on the Verandah. He rushed there and found his employer. Boss.
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  Speaker 1: Was I in time? He asked. I got loose as
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  Speaker 1: soon as I could. I bet you where mus the
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  Speaker 1: Black Stars inside with some of his gang. I told
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  Speaker 1: the Big Steff this was going to be his unlucky Knights.
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  Speaker 1: You give me a chance to get it in, Boss,
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  Speaker 1: I've got a few scores to settle with that bird.
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  Speaker 1: We'll all get at him, MUCKs. We'll be in sat
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  Speaker 1: in a minute. The doors and windows were crushing in now.
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  Speaker 1: Policemen and deputies were pouring into the house. Shorts greeted them,
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  Speaker 1: shorts from both automatics and vapor guns. They struggled through
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  Speaker 1: clouds of pungent paper. Here and there a man dropping
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  Speaker 1: because he had enailed some of the fumes. They grappled
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  Speaker 1: with men in black robes and masks through the house.
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  Speaker 1: They fought while outside were others who watched every exit
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  Speaker 1: and caught those who tried to get away from the place.
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  Speaker 1: One of the deputies had been an electrician formerly, and
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  Speaker 1: he knew where the light switches were located in the
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  Speaker 1: Branditton house. He fought his way to the kitchen, phuned them,
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  Speaker 1: and turned down the lights. Things were better for the
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  Speaker 1: policemen and deputies after that they could tell friends from force.
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  Speaker 1: The Blackstar's men barricaded themselves in certain rooms. Some of
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  Speaker 1: them threw their weapons and held up their hands in
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  Speaker 1: token of surrender, and were immediately seized and handcuffed. The
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  Speaker 1: others were cleared from the lower floor, fought up the
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  Speaker 1: white stairs and continued the battle on the second floor.
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  Speaker 1: Werberk and Lux were in the thick of the fight.
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  Speaker 1: They were looking for the Black Star, so were the
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  Speaker 1: Chief and Sheriff Covern. They searched the basement and the
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  Speaker 1: rooms on the grownd floor, but found no trace of him.
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  Speaker 1: He's on the second floor, Werbert cried, up. We go.
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  Speaker 1: The guests who had been held prisoners were released from
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  Speaker 1: the room in which they had been locked. The women
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  Speaker 1: fled to the lawn and across to the street. Some
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  Speaker 1: of the men went with them, others joined in the fray.
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  Speaker 1: There was a crowd on the street now, and more
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  Speaker 1: people were arriving every minute. Word had flashed through the
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  Speaker 1: city that the Black Star and the Swallowers had been
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  Speaker 1: cornered in the residence of Richard Brunetton. The members of
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  Speaker 1: the band were being caught rapidly, a few who had
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  Speaker 1: been wounded. A few officers also, But the criminals were
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  Speaker 1: scattered now but yere and there one surrendered. All was
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  Speaker 1: overpowered Berberck and Mugs. The Chief and the sheriff thought
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  Speaker 1: of nothing but the Black Star. They knew that the
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  Speaker 1: policemen and deputies could care for the others of the band.
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  Speaker 1: It was a master criminal himself that they wanted to
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  Speaker 1: put him behind the prison bars once more, to have
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  Speaker 1: years added to his sentence, to send him to the
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  Speaker 1: big prison up the river, where you no longer would
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  Speaker 1: be a menace to society at large. They ran from
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  Speaker 1: room to rome searching for him. They shrieked suggestions to
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  Speaker 1: one another above the dinner of the battle. They found
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  Speaker 1: a room at the one end of the upper hall
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  Speaker 1: with the door locked, and hurled themselves against it and
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  Speaker 1: broke it. In there they saw the man they wanted.
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  Speaker 1: He had thrown off his robe and mask. He held
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  Speaker 1: a bomb in his hand and stopped them with a gesture. Wait,
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  Speaker 1: he commanded. This is not a vapor bomb. It's a
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  Speaker 1: real thing. He can blow all of us to bits.
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  Speaker 1: So four of you come to get me, Ah, mister Verbeck,
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  Speaker 1: and the chief and the sheriff and mus I suppose,
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  Speaker 1: since you are free and here, that you did all
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  Speaker 1: this MUCKs. You bet I did. Wait, gentlemen, don't make
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  Speaker 1: a mood to raise a weapon, or we all will
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  Speaker 1: be hurled into the hereafter the black star stepped back
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  Speaker 1: toward the window. I suppose you have me cornered, they said,
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  Speaker 1: I suppose you think you're going to take me back
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  Speaker 1: to jail. But it happens that I have one card
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  Speaker 1: yet to play. He hurled the bomb and it exploded.
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  Speaker 1: It was a vapor bomb. After all, the cloud of
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  Speaker 1: pungent gas assailed them. They whirled to either side away
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  Speaker 1: from it. There was a crash of glass. He's gone
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  Speaker 1: through the window, Mark strieked, trying to keep from breathing.
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  Speaker 1: They rushed to the window, got through it and to
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  Speaker 1: the roof of the verandah, where they gulped the fresh air.
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  Speaker 1: The black Star had jumped to the ground. They saw
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  Speaker 1: him for an instant, then he was lost in the darkness.
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  Speaker 1: The Chief shouted a warning to his men down and
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  Speaker 1: after him. Berbert cried, you've got him, cried the chief.
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  Speaker 1: The entire yard is surrounded. Isn't a trap? Max was
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  Speaker 1: the first to reach the ground. He did not stop
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  Speaker 1: to climb down one of the posts. But it does.
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  Speaker 1: The master criminal had done chumped Verbeck, and the Chief
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  Speaker 1: and Sheriff Cowen were not far behind. Officers had been
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  Speaker 1: on the verandah charged after the Black Star. In response
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  Speaker 1: to the Chief's command, the net grew tighter. They were
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  Speaker 1: in a corner of the lawn, calling to one another.
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  Speaker 1: A police atto drove across the grass and the searchlight
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  Speaker 1: was turned on. There was a circle of policemen and deputies,
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  Speaker 1: with Verbeck and Max the chief and the sheriff at
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  Speaker 1: one side of it, but the black star was gone
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  Speaker 1: the end of chapter thirty one