“Into the garret!” Riley said.
They ran up the narrow stairs. Riley and Muggs both held their automatics ready now, and Verbeck reached for his. They threw open the door opening into one of the half-finished rooms. There was the wire, almost hidden as it ran along the bottom of the window. It followed a wide crack in the floor across the room. It disappeared into the wall.
Riley raised a hand for silence, and pointed to the floor.
“We were blind before,” he whispered. “See those tracks? Whoever made them scattered dust behind him. They’re almost obliterated—but there they are! We didn’t use our eyes before. And that wire——”
“Must run into the old toy closet,” Verbeck interrupted. “But—see here! The door of the closet is locked on this side, and you can see it hasn’t been opened.”
“You’re right—it hasn’t! But we’ll just take a look!”
Verbeck turned the key. Muggs and Riley focused the light of their torches on the door, and held their automatics ready. Verbeck sprang aside and hurled the door open.
The interior of the closet was flooded with light. All three gasped as they looked.
No Black Star menaced them with weapon. No diabolical engine of destruction was there.
But there was the end of the wire!