“Easy there, man!” one of them replied. “We’re doin’ something, all right. You just wait here with us until we get the signal.”
“Wait nuthin’!” Muggs exclaimed. “I’m goin’——”
“Wait, Muggs! We know the Black Star is in there and what he’s doing, and we know he’s got Verbeck in there. Take it easy—we’ve got it planned and we’ll get him with the goods.”
“You’ll let him get away with half of what’s in the vaults, that’s what you’ll do!” Muggs stormed. “I’ve seen that gent work before. You just let me get in there! I’ve got a score or two to settle with him!”
“You’ll have to wait——”
He was interrupted by the blast of a whistle. Instantly the officers were active. They sprang to the big double doors of the bank and crashed them open and tumbled inside. Others who came running took up their stations outside to watch every exit. Muggs was the second man through the front door.
It was dark inside, save where some light came through the windows from the street. The police flashed their torches and charged through the main room and into the office section. They tumbled over low partitions and scrambled over tables and desks and chairs, working their way back of the cages toward the vaults.
There had been officers stationed inside the building before the Black Star and his men arrived to begin operations, and they were in the front of the charge. It had been the chief of police who had given the signal on the whistle. Through a glass partition he had watched proceedings until what he judged was the right moment to act. He was eager to catch the master criminal with loot in his hands, to get such evidence that there would be no possibility of a mistrial or acquittal.
There was the sound of crashing glass as the partitions went down. There was a loud command for the Black Star and his men to throw up their hands and surrender.
There came a deafening crash, and a cloud of vapor rolled toward the police. Some inhaled it and fell; others, guessing what it meant, tried to hold breath until it passed, though it half blinded them and made their eyes smart and torrents of tears run from them.