Boy's Cinema (1939-40)

i 4 ] Every Tuesday immediately followed by a bustle of activity. Everything happened just ns on the previous day. The statT put away their books and papers and filed down into the basement, where their names were checked ott' as they went into the shelter. Mr. Marlow stood at the door, and when tlie checker told him that everyone had been accounted for, that the public had been cleared from the buildinp and the front doors closed, the manager went into the shelter and pulled the air-lock door shut after him. Not one person in that building knew that at that precise moment Inspector Walmsley and Flick, hurrying up in the car, had let themselves into the building by a small side door, and stood in the dark passage, waiting. From where they stood they could see the main staircase, and as they waited a figure in a steel helmet and carrying a cas-mask passed swiftly down the stairs, staring furtively behind him as he went. No need for them to be told that this was Horton. Walmslev touched Flick's sleeve, and thev crept out from their hiding-place and followed Horton down into the basement. As thev rounded the corner of the stairs, well out of range of the shaded lights, an amazing scene met their eyes. They looked across to the wall communicating with the shop next door, and even as they watched the sandbags piled against it moved forward and collapsed in a heap on the floor, revealing the wall behind in which a great gap had been made. Through this gap three men hurried, carrying with them a strange-looking arrangement of metal. .One glance at it was enough to tell its purpose. They carried it across the floor to the closed door of the shelter, clamped it over the handle of the air-lock door, and screwed down some bolts on it. The people inside were imprisoned. The whole bank staff was in there, helpless, whilst the raiders worked within a few feet of them. Keys jangled as they were inserted in the door of the big strong-room; the door swung open, revealing a metal grille inside. A key inserted in this brought it swinging open, too, and the way to the strong-room was clear. The whole thing seemed like a dream to Flick, standing there watching a robbery —a big-scale robbery—going on, and doing nothing to stop it. But Flick trusted Walmsley. The police plans must be complete ■ Quick, laddie—back!" It was a fierce whisper from the detective at his side, and in a flash the boy shi'ank backwards into a patch of darkness. Just in time, for Horton was approaching the stairs, going up to see that no other member of the A.R.P. patrol was likely to come down. Breathing hard, the figure of Horton, in steel helmet and respirator, came up the stairs, passing within inches of them. Something must have aroused his sus- picions, for as he drew level he stopped and peered into the alcove where the two were crouching. Not satisfied, he came towards the alcove, his beady black eyes showing some fear from under the rim of his helmet. Flick felt Walmsley tense for a spring; heard him whisper almost inaudibly, " Go for his legs!" In two seconds the detec- tive sprang from the darkness, clapped his arm over Horton's mouth, and bore him over backwards in a vice-like grip. Flick leaped at the man's legs and held on tight. They dragged him backwards up the stairs, and as they reached the small side door through which Walmsley and Flick had entered, it opened, and a stream of plain-clothes policemen filed through. Two of them took Horton, then Walmslev, motioning for silence, led the way down the stairs again. The next few moments were the most dramatic Flick had ever experienced, for where the staircase led into the basement there was very little light compared with the blaze of electric bulbs near the strong- room. The crooks, busy in that region, did BOY'S CINEMA not hear a sound as, one by one, the plain- clothes men tiled into the basement until they stood around in a circle, every one holding a revolver. " Good-afternoon, gentlemen!" Walmsley's voice, like a shaft of cold steel, cut through the darkness. The men by the strong-room swimg round, petrified at the sight of the dark semi- circle of plain-clothes men advancing on them without a word. Then one of the crooks made a sudden dive for the black cavity that had been cut in the wall. But he got no nearer than within six feet of it. for projecting through that cavity was a hand holding a revolver. ■■ Guns to the right of them, guns to the left." grinned Walmsley. "If you fellows know what's good for you, you'll do just what you're told. Corne on!'' he added more sternly. "Line up agahist that wall. " "All because of a spanner,'' mused Walmsley, as he sat with Flick in Marlow's office afterwards. "It fascinated me, because no one claimed it, and spanners don't drop from Heaven! "Anything unusual is worth investiga- ting iri a bank, and it didn't take me long to discover that there was something fishy. I tried to imagine how the whole bank staff might be locked in that air-raid shelter whilst the strong-rooms were rifled. There was no lock on the shelter door, but when I examined the lever handle on the outside I found distinct traces of some sort of clamp having been fixed to it. "Someone was planning some dirty work! But who? The spanner gave us one clue, for the fingerprints on it matched up with those on a box which Horton handled. Horton was on late duty; he had a chance to get to work, probably trying out the clamp that was to fit over the door of the shelter. Horton also man- aged to get wax impressions of important keys. Go on, Flick.' smiled the detective. 'The next instalment's yours." 23 "In our last instalment," grinned Flick, "wc left our hero with one big problem- how to get away with the spondulicks. It proved easy, for next door to the bank was an empt.N' shop. Our crooks took it over. 'Cour.se, in the ordinary way if you start hammering away in a cellar next to a bank, the police are likely to ask awkward questions. But now you can just give 'cm a sweet smile and say ' We're building an air-raid shelter.' The chief worked out the rest—that Horton had been disturbed at his work and left the spanner behind: that as Horton did not come on duty until midday the hold-up would happen in the early afternoon, and that as he was in the know, he would choose a time when there was plenty of dough in the money bags. Other littie things like getting one of his l^als to put through a false air-raid alarm, and cutting the wire of the telephone in the air-raid shelter so that help could not be summoned, were easy." "If I'd been the crooks I should have iTiade a night job of it, so there would be no need to imprison the staff," ventured Marlow. "That's old stuff, my dear chap," answered Walmsley. "The idea now is to work in daylight—bluff it out rather than try to sneak away with it. The crooks were going to cariy their loot out of the shop next door firmly packed in sandbags, dump them on a small lorry, and drive away. What policeman would have thought that suspicious? "Well," he mused, "just as the crooks seem to run dry of new ideas, something crops up to give them new opportunities. This time it's the war." 'But with Detective-inspector Walmslev knocking around, they've got to mind their A.R.P.'s and Q's!' grinned Flick. Next week's grand number of BOY'S CINEMA contains a long complete story of the epic film "Union Pacific"—full details on page 24 OH-Stadnterbiiimetit/ It's right here in BOY'S CINE:\IA ANNUAL.! A hundred and sixty pages of it. Fun and thrills— laughs and excitement — you'll find them in plenty in this fascinating photogravure book. Don't miss it I Contenls: of Picture Story Gunga Din Visiting King Kong by Car Full«page portraits of Favourite Stars How Talkies are Made (In Pictures) Life Stories of Pat O'Brien and Humphrey Bogart Boy Stars of 1940, etc. October 21st, 1939.