“All the time?”
“They did it—just after the box started up. That’s the last I knew—until now.”
“They’re in that shaft!” the chief cried. “I’m going up again to see!”
[CHAPTER XXXIV—WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CHIEF]
The head of the police department, knowing that a crowd surrounded the block now, and that news had gone abroad that the Black Star and some of his men had been cornered, and that certain newspaper reporters were standing by and waiting to see whether the police would be made again to look like fools, grew frantic. Also, his determination to capture the Black Star increased. He had his men drive every one out of the bank building and guard the offices and corridors, and, leaving four men to guard the bottom of the shaft, with two others, he got in the box and started to ascend.
The Black Star, from his post above, heard the chief issue these orders, and knew the box was on its upward journey.
“Couldn’t be better,” he told his men. “Only four at the bottom of the shaft now. You know we have to go, of course? Hurry through the corridor to the narrow flight of stairs in the rear, and climb!”
“But——” one of his men began.
“Silence, fool. The box is almost opposite us!”
The chief and his two men were ascending slowly, examining every inch of the walls with their torches. They stopped for a moment just outside the panel, but evidently saw nothing to make them suspicious, for the box continued its ascent.