“Well, here we are,” the Black Star said. “Mask, gentlemen! Now bring our prisoners back to life, and we’ll let them see how easy it is to take money.”
While his orders were being obeyed the master criminal went to one of the walls and pressed against a certain spot there. A section of the wall swung out, and in the aperture a masked man stood.
“Everything all right?” the Black Star asked.
“All safe, sir,” came the reply.
“The watchmen——”
“Not a hitch there, sir; they are all unconscious and our men in their places. We have reported regular for four hours, and not a suspicion at headquarters or they’d have investigated before this. The patrolman on the beat even looked in at a window once and waved at our man on the first floor.”
“Excellent!” the Black Star said, rubbing his hands in satisfaction.
He walked back to the end of the room. His prisoners were revived now and had been placed side by side in chairs before one of the curtained windows in the rear of the hall.
“Ah, Mr. Verbeck and Mr. Muggs!” the master criminal smirked. “You are conscious again, then? ’Twas a pity you didn’t see the little fight we had with the police. I’d tell you all about it, but we haven’t the time to spare, and you can read about it in to-morrow’s papers. Well, here you are in the hall of the Knights of Certainty. You see the aperture in the wall? My mechanics have arranged a passageway between the walls of the two buildings. We have a sort of glorified dumb-waiter, and by its use can descend to the first floor of the National Trust Company’s building. Simple, eh? I regret I cannot explain the method we are going to use to get into the burglar-proof vaults. Did it become public property, the manufacturers might invent some means of counteracting it. Kindly sit still, gentlemen, while I have my men prepare the way.”
He deliberately turned his back and walked to the center of the hall again and called his men to him, all except the guards near the doors. He issued instructions, and two men hurried to the aperture in the wall and disappeared. The Black Star was the commanding general now, and his followers were eager to obey.