Boy's Cinema (1939-40)

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10' bed and a comparatively small window overlooking the drive Without appearing to do so, Roston glanced out through the single pane of the window every time he approached it, but turned again without any noticeable pause. The lights of the black saloon had been switched ofi. but the side-lamps of the grey roadster had been left burning, and he saw that the drive was almost a semi-circulai one, each end of it stretch- ing to a gateway. Time dragged, and to pass it as he paced he regaled his two custodians with the story of an adventure which had be- fallen him during the Great War They became mildly interested, and when the story was finished Ed Logan said: "That must've been quite an experi- ence, major " " Yeah." Roston reached the window, turned about, and moved towards the bed upon which Carter had relaxed. "But I think the most unusual experience I had during the war was flying with the ceemy's army." "The enemy's army?" echoed Carter iiiCiCdulously. "How could you fight for both sides in a war? " "It does sound funny, doesn't it?" Roston had reached the window again, feri4 he turned with a grin towards the bed. " You see, we fell heir to one of their planes. It was shot down in our lines and the pilot was captured before he could destroy his ship." He turned about. "Well." he went on, "that night we moved it over to our place There was quite a bit of activity going on behind a certain sector, and they wanted photo- graphs of it. So I was elected to take up the plane at dawn " "Did you get the photographs?" In- quired Carter. "I'll say I got them." Roston was facing him again. "But on the way back I was surroimded by a dozen of the enemy ships. They knew that one of theirs was missing, and they'd probably been watch- ing and become suspicious." "What did you do?" asked Carter. "We were flying towards our lines, so I kept on going." Roston was back at the window. "They surrounded me and tried to turn me back, but I kept pointing ahead as though I was on some special mission." The bed was reached again, and Roston paused before ne turned. "As we got over our lines," he con- tinued, "they opened fire. That turned back the flight—but when I wouldn't turn back the fellow in the nearest plane opened machine-gun fire." Roston paced towards the window again. " Good-night! " exclaimed Carter. "Then what did you do?" " I bailed out! " Roston cried; and with that he took a header clean through the window-pane. Broken glass fell into the room; broken glass showered out over the sill. Logan leapt up from his chair. Carter bounded off the bed, and they reached the broken window with six-guns in their hands. They blazed away at shadows, but they did not hit Roston, who had landed in some laurels as he had planned to do. They turned about and rushed out from the room to the stairs, and they were half- way down the stairs when Fornay and Mann ran out from the study because they had heard the shots. Fornay was the first to reach the front door and he got it open, but the grey roadster was roaring down the drive and the fugitive was crouched low over its wheel. More bullets were wasted, and then the four scrambled into the black saloon and set off in pursuit. Mann driving. The road was reached and the grey car became visible in tne light of the headlamps, streaking south under over-arching trees. Mann accelerated but his own appro- priated car maintained its lead. A highway was reached and its surface was smooth. Carter and Logan, who had reloaded their guns, leaned out of oppo- .Novcinljei' 4Ui, 1939. BOY'S CINEMA site windows to shoot at the tyres of the roadster, but they emptied their guns in vain. At a speed of more than seventy miles an hour the black saloon was gaining gradually on the lighter vehicle, and Cartel and Logan were firing again, when Roston daringly took a corner on two wheels into an inferior road. The grey car skidded sideways to within a few inches of a rail fence guarding the cliff- like edge of a disused sand-pit before it was righted and began to sweep up a steep and very rough hill. Mann swung the wheel of the black saloon a fraction of a second too late for the corner, jammed on the brakes, and emitted a yell. The long wheel-base of the saloon had made the abrupt turn im- possible; the cai crashed broadside-on through the fence and went somersaulting to the bottom of the pit. Roston heard the crash and guessed at what had happened. He slowed and braked, backed and turned, and reached the gap in the fence. He got down into the roadway and he peered over the edge of the pit, but he could see nothing dis- tinctly in its inky depths. Near the junction of the road with the highway he found a place where it was possible to clamber down a bank, and eventually he came upon the wreck of the saloon, upside down in the sand. A crescent moon had emerged from a bank of clouds during his descent, and in its faint light he found Carter and Logan in different parts of the pit. It was evident that they had been flung out while the saloon was somersaulting through the air. and both were dead. Carter's gun was still clutched in his right hand, and Roston helped himself to it before he went back, to the almost un- recognisable vehicle. But he did not need the gun. Jules Mann was wedged between part of the broken roof and fragments of what had been the dashboard and was dead. Fornay, half-buiied by part of the back seat and part of the front one, was alive but unconscious and was bleeding at the lips. Roston climbed out from the pit, got back into the roadster, and drove south. He stopped at the first police-box he came to and telephoned the authorities, and in the Bronx he stopped again at a drug store that was open to ring up Colonel Whalen at tne Ciayburn Field. THE SECOND TEST DAWN was breaking when Roston reached the airport, but General Moody and the colonel were still up and waiting for him in the office there. They listened with profound interest to the story he had to tell, although he had out- lined its principal features to Whalen over the telephone. "Fornay is in hospital, under guard," the general informed him. "Among other things he's suffering badly from concus- sion, and may not come round for days The three other men, as you reported, are dead." "Fornay," said Roston, "was absolutely sure of himself—sure that this morning's test would fail, just as the other did. Then we'd reject the invention and he'd buy it." "But what could make him so sure?" asked Whalen. "There's only one conclusion, gentlemen —the man behind the sabotage is Fielding!" The colonel, who was seated at a desk, tugged at his little moustache in silence. The general almost scowled. "But why should Fielding sabotage his own invention?" he demanded sceptically. "Money!" was Roston's emphatic reply. "Evidently Fornay offered him a better proposition," "Oh." objected the general, "it's hard for me to believe that a man like Fielding would stoop to that!" "It's been done before, general," said Whalen. "And it all flts in. This Joseph Dure, you must remember, asked Roston Every Tuesday if Fielding was in on the deal. He and the woman, evidently, were in Fornay's way. and Fornay had both of them re- moved. Yes, it all points to Fielding, but how are we going to prove it?" "We've got to find some way of putting him on the spot," said Roston. "Have you any idea how to do it?" questioned General Moody. "Yes, sir." Roston had been working out a plan during his long drive. "Who have you assigned to make the test flight?" "Lieutenant Carson," the general in- formed him. "Can we send for him?" The general picked up a telephone. "Locate Lieutenant Carson," he said into it, "and have him come in here, please." At a few minutes to seven Roston walked across the flying field with General Moody, Colonel Whalen. and Major Evans towards the new electrically driven bomber which was standing ready on the concrete. Roston was wearing a leather jacket and a crash-helmet, and looked as fresh as paint despite a sleepless night, and the colonel looked very little the worse for wear; but General Moody was distinctly tired-eyed and moved slowly. A young lieutenant was climbing into the cockpit of the machine as Fielding sped towards them in his overalls. "Everything's ready, general," he re- ported. "Thank you. Fielding," said Moody, and then the young heutenant got nimbly out from the plane and ran over. "There's a loose connection in the cock- pit," he stated, a trifle breathlessly. "I didn't want to touch it." "A loose connection?" Fielding echoed, in a surprised voice. "I'll take a look." He went back to the machine and climbed on to a wing to lean over the cockpit. Lieutenant Carson mounted the opposite wing and pointed a- finger. "Right down there," he said. Fielding leaned still farther over the side. "I can't imagine how this got loose," he grunted, "but I'll fix it m a minute." He heaved himself over into the cockpit and stooped to the loose connection with a spanner he took from a pocket of his overalls. The lieutenant imm.diately jumped to the ground, and Roston took his place and got into the cockpit at the controls. Fielding said, without looking up: "Lieutenant, turn the power-switch on to idling speed, will you?" "Yes, sir," responded Roston gruffly, and he reached a hand to the switch. The propeller whirled, the machine shot off across the field. "I said idling speed!" rapped Fielding. "You've got it on full!" Roston did not open his mouth, and Fielding looked up in a fury. He saw a major where he had believed a lieutenant to be, and became alarmed. "Where are you taking me?" he howled. "What's the idea?" The bomber left the ground and rose into the sky. Fielding sank into the seat beside his abductor, and passed a hand across his forehead. Behind them both were parachute-packs, and as the ground was left far below, Roston slipped into the one on his side of the machine. He jerked his thumb at the other one. "Better put on that 'chute," he said grimly. "Army regulations!" Fielding clenched his fists, but other- wise did not move. Roston eyed him side- ways. "What's the matter. Fielding?" he ques- tioned. "You seem to be a little nervous." "1 demand that you take me back to the field at once!" cried the inventor hoarsely. "Not a chance old boy!" returned Roston cheerfully "I want you along- just in case something might happen." "No!" shivered Fielding. "No, I—I can't stay up; it upsets me! My heart!" "It upset Lieutenant Gray's heart, too,"