"It's comin' closer to the ground," said Muggs.
Once more the light was extinguished, and the crowds in the street grew silent. Again it blazed forth, and this time it was so bright and near that a man could not look into it.
Then they heard a laugh, and the well-known voice of the Black Star.
"Hello, chief! Hello, Verbeck and Muggs! Watching the trust company, are you? I'm afraid that'll not do any good!"
The chief drew his revolver and fired rapidly into the air. The Black Star's sarcastic laugh reached them, and the light was extinguished again. The sky was black; they saw nothing, heard nothing.
"What kind of a thing is this?" the chief gasped. "He wasn't more than a hundred feet above us when he spoke. What can it be? He can't be in an airplane, or we'd hear the roar of the engine!"
"And his band is probably looting the vault of the trust company right now, or has looted it!" Verbeck said.
He ran quickly across the street, and Muggs and the chief followed at his heels. They knocked on a rear door of the building, and it was opened at once.
"Everything all right?" the chief asked.
"Nothing doing yet, chief," replied the detective who had opened the door.