The Black Star laughed again as at a good joke, and Muggs growled imprecations deep down in his throat, but the other man merely looked the Black Star straight in the eyes and remained silent.
“I trust you understand the program, Mr. Verbeck,” the master criminal went on, his laugh at an end. “It has been about six months since you made your foolish boast that you could capture me. You should know by this time that it is an impossibility. However, you have had some excellent fun trying it, and I have enjoyed the battle immensely. But now it must end. It is getting to be a bore.”
“Really?”
“Exactly. You’re a sportsman, I believe. I’ll make a deal with you. If Roger Verbeck does not capture the Black Star within the next twenty-four hours, after being right here and seeing the Black Star’s headquarters, and being taken by the Black Star to the scene of to-night’s crime—then Roger Verbeck gives his word of honor that he’ll stop his feeble attempt and not bother the Black Star more.”
“Roger Verbeck does nothing of the sort!”
“Still determined, eh? Very well. Then, Mr. Verbeck, we are going to take you and your man Muggs with us. We’re going to give you a dose from a vapor gun and leave you where the crime is committed, as I said we’d do. We’ll give the alarm ourselves and have the police find you two there unconscious. Then let the public laugh! I fancy you’ll hear a howl go up for you to be ordered off the case. I’d not be surprised if you were hounded out of this town, which has been your home all your life.”
“I think not.”
“Which shall you do—make the deal I proposed or be made a public laughingstock again?”
“I make no deals with a crook!”
“And what’s more, you’re wastin’ your breath,” Muggs put in. “You leave my boss alone! He’s about half sick. He’s said a hundred times that you’ll get too fresh some day. Some day you’ll overlook a bet, make a mistake, and then he’ll get you. And I’ll be right there, I hope when the gettin’s got!”