Boy's Cinema (1930-31)

Every Tuesday BOY'S CINEMA To avenge his Texas Ranger pal, a young cowboy runs into the toughest bunch of bad men north of the Rio Grande, A grand thriller of the Old West. On the Run. ACROSS till' wilderness in a head- long dash for freedom swept a toiiplo of riders, with the long arm of Ranger Law reaching forth in a determined efTort to lay hold of them and consign them to a lock-up. The fugitives were no bad men, being Dave Hayes and Cloudy Jones, punchers who had gone on the spree and become too high-spirited and frolicsome in a town which refused to countenance any ■ wild behaviour. And the long arm of Ranger Law was represented by Tom Dawson, who had been bent on introduc- ing them to the inside of a gaol ever since the moment when young Dave Hayes had sportively emptied the main street of the aforementioned town by some }iarmless but noisy gun-play. You will find no scenery more impres- sive than the .scenery of the Texas Desert, with its towering ranges and its curious rock formations that rise up from the scrubby waste land like mon- .strous gargoyles of a prehistoric world. But neither Cloudy Jones, astride his barrel-bodied sorrel, nor Dave Hayes, on his white pinto Tarzan, had much of an eye for the wonders of Nature during that mad gallop. Not far from tVie Border there is a .sluggish, sprawling river that has quenched the thirst of many a man crossing the wilderness, but though Dave and Cloudy were both parched by the lieat and the desert dust, they spurred through the shallows without a pause. and they had reached the dry ground on the other side wlien Tom Dawson gained the ford. The water was scarcely deep enough to cover a bronc's hocks, but it was deep enough to conceal some treacherous hollows where a horse in full career could break a leg. Dave and Cloudy had crossed in safety, but Dawson's mount had the bad luck to find a deep cleft, and as the animal stumbled the Ranger took a heavy fall. He plunged clean over the bronc's head, and his skull came into violent contact with a half-submerged stone. A low groan escaped him. and then he lay still and silent, with his face buried in the wal-er—and he may have lain there till he drowned but for the fact that Dave Hayes chanced to look back and saw what had occurred. \)a\Q drew rein and Cloud.s followed suit, pulling his bronc to a standstill a few yards ahead of his pard.. and throwing a glance over his slioulder to sec what the youngster on the white pinto had already seen. He was a man of mournful visage was Cloudy, and ho had looked as miserable as a sick steer ever since Dave had created tlie rumpus that had brought Dawso i on their trail, but on witnessing the mishap that had befallen the Ranger he almost beamed. ''Can ye beat that fer luck?" he panted. "He's out to the wide!" Dave compressed his lips. He was seventy-four inches from iiead to heel, and he turned the scale; at something over thirteen stones, and he was as big- hearted as ho was stalwart. '"Luck nothin'." he said. "I'm goin' back to Dawson. We can't leave him there to drown." And, in spite of the sour expression tliat at once became apparent on Cloudy's face, he pulled his bronc round and rode to where Dawson was lying. He dismounted beside the Ranger, and. lifting hin\ lie splashed through the ford to the dry ground agaii'.. Cloudy followed him, figuring that Dave had done tlie right thing after all. but never- theless maintaining an expression of doleful disgust. Dave set Dawson down. and. soaking a handkerchief in the water, he dabbed away the blood around an ugly wound on the Ranger's liead. About a minute later Dawson 0|)enei;l his eyes and looked up at him, dazedly at first, and then with a dawning intelligence. "How do you feel, partner?" Dave asked him. Dawson was staring at him. "Not so good," he answered. "But say, what made you turn back ? You must he plumb locoed. You had the chance to get clear away, I reckon, ' "That's what 1 told him," put in Cloudy angrily "an' thoiigh I'll admit it was only right and proper that we should [jiill you outa the ford so's you wouldn't drown, there wasn't no call fj.- him to go an' play nursemaid to you. Ranger, that guy sure is loco, an' I'm loco myself for havin' truck with him. I guess you'd better up an' take us back to gaol with ye." It was plain, however, that the Ranger was in no fit condition to make the return jonrney across the desert right a\\ay, but if Cloudy thought that there was therefore still a chance of himself and Dave making a get-away, he was very speedily disillusioned, for, declaring that the desert was no placi; to leave a man who might become delirious from the severe head injury ho had.,received. Dave announced his inten- tion of remaining with Dawson until the Ranger liad completely recovered. Cloudy regarded him despairingly. "Pard," he said, "I almost wish I vvu7, a real bad man, so I could bust this Ran,ger with the handle o' me gun an' lay him out long enough for me to beat it across the Border." "Yeah?" rejoined Dave.'with a grin. "I'd knock your block off if you did'" So they made Dawson comfortable in the shade of .some stunted trees, and. after tethering the three horses, they .settled thein.sclves beside him. It was then fairly late in the afternoon, and along about dusk, after Cloudy had fixed up a scanty meal, they laid their heads, on their saddles, pulled their hor.so blankets over them, and went to .sleep. Cloudy had a dream in which the interior of a gaol figured prominently, and it was a dream that recurred persist- ently. He was still tossing restlessly in the throes of it when the dawn broke. He was not the only one who stirred, Dawson having awakened. The Ranger seemed himself again, in spite of Dave's fears that his head mjury would prove troublesome, and, rising noiselessly to his feet, he reached for his sombrero. Then he took out pencil and paper and scribbled a note, which he pinned to the blanket that covered Dave, and. having achieved tliis September 6th, 19.30. .