Page:McCulley--Black Star's camapign.djvu/244

244 "But this is the United States of America, sir, and we are in one of its greatest cities! I never heard of such a thing! The idea is preposterous! You can't do it!"

"Can't we?" asked the Black Star with a laugh. "It's a very simple thing. We just render you unconscious and carry you away—and you can never be found."

"Why, you dare not!" cried Sir Burton Banks.

"I am not particularly prone to fear," the master criminal said. "I have dared many things, and accomplished many things harder than kidnaping a couple of gentlemen. You need fear nothing; you shall be treated with every courtesy."

"I—I shall fight!" Lord Sambery declared.

"You are an elderly man, sir, and, also, I abhor violence," the Black Star reminded him. "You cannot fight long against one of my vapor guns, your lordship."

"I—I—my country will have you punished for this!"

"The first thing will be to capture me, your lordship," said the master criminal. "I was captured before, but managed to escape, as perhaps you know. But we are wasting valuable time in conversation, and I'll have ample time to talk to you during the next two days. I am forced to have you gentlemen put to sleep for a short time, but I assure you there are no bad after effects."

"You—you" Sir Burton stammered.

"It is quite useless to protest, or to attempt to fight," the Black Star informed him. "By the way, I am going to take Mr. Branniton along, too."

"You fiend!" Branniton's wife cried.