Page:McCulley--Black Star's camapign.djvu/253

Rh vapor bomb, after all. The cloud of pungent gas assailed them. They whirled to either side, away from it. There was a crash of glass.

"He's gone through the window!" Muggs shrieked.

Trying to keep from breathing, they rushed to the window, got through it and to the roof of the veranda, where they gulped the fresh air!

The Black Star had jumped to the ground. They saw him for an instant. Then he was lost in the darkness. The chief shouted a warning to his men.

"Down, and after him!" Verbeck cried.

"We've got him!" cried the chief. "The entire yard is surrounded. He's in a trap!"

Muggs was the first to reach the ground. He did not stop to climb down one of the posts, but did as the master criminal had done—jumped.

Verbeck and the chief and Sheriff Kowen were not far behind him. Officers who had been on the veranda charged after the Black Star in response to the chief's command.

The net grew tighter. They were in a corner of the lawn, calling to one another. A police auto drove across the grass, and the searchlight was turned on.

There was the circle of policemen and deputies, with Verbeck and Muggs, the chief and the sheriff at one side of it.

But the Black Star was gone!