“Several hours ago! I don’t understand.”
“You made a mistake, that’s all—a bad and a sad mistake.”
“Suppose you tell me about it.”
“In good time,” Verbeck replied. “I am waiting for some friends of mine—Muggs and the police and some others.”
“You’ve called the police?”
“To hand you over—yes. How did you escape them to-night? I warned them what you were going to do.”
“So that’s how they discovered it! But how could you warn them, when I had you abducted and carried here and had you watched every minute of the time until—— What do you mean? Explain!”
“You made a bad mistake,” Verbeck reiterated. “That explains everything. Ah!”
Down the road a siren shrieked. Verbeck deliberately turned his back on the Black Star, walked through the house and threw open the front door. Two automobiles splashed through the mud and stopped near the front gate.
“That you, Verbeck?” some one called.