Boy's Cinema (1930-31)

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As lor Edwards, lie scowlud at tlie toiiDtor, and not until lie suddenly bocanio awaro that the Hook Brothers liad raised thoir voices in song again ilid the scowl leave his face, a slow sinilo following it. With malicious inspiration 1'aI wards drew nearer to the Hook Brothers and interrupted them in t!;oa melody. "Boys," ho said, "tiieio's a coupla guy.s over there plumb disgusted with your singin' " The Hook Brothers paused, turned their heads in the direction indicated by the cattle buyer, and tlicii looked at one another and nodded solemnly. They approached the table- where Dave and Cloudy were sitting. "We understand." they said, "that ye don't care much about the Hook Brothers' singin'." Dave glanced up at them. Their faces were thrust forward threateningly towards him, but he was not in the least perturbed, and his eyes twinkled. "Why." he slated. "I never heard tell of the Hook Brother.*—and I cor- (aiidy didn't hear any ."-ingin'." The Hook Brothers were not partial to sarcasm, and their chests swelled. Then, with a sudden forward move- ment of his shoulder. Red drove his great fist into Dave's chest and hurled the youngster from his chair. Dave was up in a moment, and the twinkling merrinu'iit had gone out of his eyes. Without a word he launched himself at the three brothens like a fury. Rough House. THK Hooks were scattered by Dave's whirlwind onslaught, and Ked took a smashing punch that caught him below the left eye and knocked him staggering to the bar. There was an innnediate uproar as the crowd there became aware that a fight had begun, and shouts of eiKOuragement arose. The Hook Brothers rallied and closed in on Dave. From behind the youngster there was the scrape of a chair, and Cloudy climbed to his feet with a war-like howl. Flinging himself into the scrimmage, he singled out Red, and once again that worthy received a lusty buffet below the left eye. Red knew how to take punishment. He bellowed like an infuriated bull and rushed at Cloudy to avenge the punch. Dave, in the meantime, had his hands full with Kd and Fred, but he was a nuitch for the pair of them, and, sud- denly enveloping them with his strong arms, he slung them across a table. Fred, deep iii the chest and black in the beard, was rendered helpless, one arm pinned down by his brother's weight and the other held in Dave's vice-like grip. But Ed, powerful as a gorilla, clutched at the youngster's shoulder and swung with his right. It was a hannnei blow thai nnist have created luivoc on Dave's jaw had it landed, but the table capsized before the punch coidd comiect, and the three combatants fell (o the floor in a struggling heap. With arms and legs entangled, they writhed aiul fought. Dave had his fore- arm under- Ed's chiti and his wrist was wiapped around Ed's biceps. With the other arm he was manhandling Fred, hut the latter, emitting snarling .sounds from amongst his raven whiskers, had secured a hold on the youngster's wind pipe. He did his best, to .strangle the wits out of Dave, and it was only with a tiemendons effort that the youngster managed to break his grij) and scramble to his feet. The brothern rose with him, but Fred took a count of lixtj- seconds SijPtrjnilnr Mh, 1930 BOY'S CINEMA as a shattering right-hander landed on his jaw. Ed grappled with Dave, and the two of them reeled to the bar, where a couple of bystanders—cronies of the Hook Brothers—suddenly elected to join m the struggle. Climbing on to the counter and kneeling there, they helped Ed to secure Dave, and then one of them wrenched the youngster's face romid so that he could take a crack at his jaw. J^avc tore free before the fellow could launch the blow, and, smashing Ed to the Hoor, he waded into his two sympathisers with both hands. But what of Cloudy ? Cloudy, as a matter of fact, was having a rough time at the hands ol Red. who sent him to the boards with a terrific swing. Two men near by, with kindly sentiments, helped Cloudy to his feet, but Cloudy was too dazed to dis tinguish this as an act of friendliness. and he blindly proceeded to lay them out. He knocked them sprawling over a table—and he had hardly accomplished this when Red stepped close once more and gave him a knock-down punch. His eyes grown glassy. Cloudy lay tumbled across an overturned chair, and, while he reclined in that position. Red Hook gripped him by the throat with one hand, and, swinging his other arm to its full extent, began to batter the wits out of him entirely. Yet Cloudy, though his form was as spare as a scarecrow's, had remarkable powers of endurance, and, swiftly re- co\ering from the punishment inflicted on him, he lurched to his feet the moment Red turned from him. Red made for the spot where Dave was fighting, but, reeling after him. Cloudy overtook him near the bai' and clouted him with such force that he was staggered. And it was at this same moment that a little Irish bar-tender decided to put a stoj) to the battle in the name of law and order. He pinned a badge importantly on his chest and ran to the end of the long <-ouiiter. Two men leaning against a hinged leaf there received a jolt undei the chin as the little Irishman flung it up to pass through. The bar-tender bustled up to Cloudy and Red Hcok. Each was in the act of aiming a terrific punch at the other, and the Irishman received both of them. He described a somersault, lay quiver iiig on the floor, and then, reaching his feet, stumbled back towards the leaf in ihe counter. As ho threw- it up once more the tneii leaning there received a second jolt under their chins. Meanwhile. Dave was lashing out at his assailants w-ith both fists, and. having accounted for them, he wheeled wildly towanls the bar, which was now lined with men whose sympathies were with the Hook Brothers. They baited Dave and jeered at him. and the youngster, ."^airly worked up into a fighting frenzy now, sprang pantherishly iulo the midst of them. They were scattered, and one of them was tumbled over the counler. No.xt instant. however. tlic mob came swarming around him with angry shouts. Dave leapt on to the bar. planted each hand in a man's face, and then jumped in amongst the crowd and swuifg at tliein right and left. It was as he jumped that something fell from the inside of his .shirt, and it slid across the bar-room floor to the feet of a man who had entered the saloon a iiiiniite or two before. The man was .loliii Blake, banker, and, stooping, he picked up what appeared to be a book. It was a book—the report book that ^ Every Tuesday had belonged to Tom Dawson—and between the leaves ot it was the dead Ranger's badge. Blake's face was a study in bewilder- ment, and then, rousing himself and glancing significantly at Edwards, who stood near by, he forced his way through Dave's assailants. "Boys," lie announced, 'meet the first Ranger that ever honoured Bowdeii with a visit.'' There was a blank silence, a silence that was shared by Dave. "I'm .•iorry, Dawson," Blake Went on, "that these hombres gave you such a rough reception." It was Dave's first iininilse to tell him that he had made a mistake—that Daw- son lay dead out on the desert, shot through the back by an iiiilfnown hand. But suddenly it seemed to him that, by taking advanlage of the error in identify and keeping up the deception, he might find it less difficult to achieve the pur- pose which had brought him here to Bowden. He gave the battered Cloudy a side- long glance ere answering Blake. " I guess j-ou don't have to worry about the rough reception," he stated. " I always did hear that a fight was the best way of gettiii' acquainted. • But if you don't mind, me and my pard'll be gettin' along upstairs." "Sure," was the rejoinder. "I reckon you could do with a rest, what with a long ride and a rumpus at the end of -it. Look me up some time, will you'/ The name's Blake—John Blake—and I'm the bimker here." "Sure I'll look you up," said Dave, and then, in company with Cloudy, he passed through the bar-rooiu to the hotel lobby, where Molly Williams was stand- ing with a scared look on her face.' For she had heard the sounds of strife in the saloon. Molly showed Dave and Cloudy to their room, and at the door of it Dave paused to exchange a word or tw-o with her. From the moment when he had first set eyes on her he had been attracted by her, and he was anxious to know more of her. They parted a few minutes afterwards, and Dave entered the room to find Cloudy sitting moodily on a bed. He settled him-elf beside his paid, and for a spdll the two of them gazed thought- fully into space. Dave uas the first to break the tilence. "Cloudy." he said all at once, "what are we goij,i' to do iiovvT' "Do?'' .Cloudy rose to -his foet abruptiv and regarded Dave with a determined glint in liii eye. " D'yoii know what we're gonna do? We're gonna get oiita this town afore that doggone undertaker gets his <laws on us !" "Aw-, forget him. Cloudy," urged Dave. "I mean, what's the next niovo we're going to make in clearing up the my.stery of Dawson's death?'.' "Listen, cowboy—or Ranger—or what- ever y' are." said Cloudy. ■I've stuck alongside you pretty permanent for more'n a coupla years now. But I'm through with lookiii" around fer trouble. So-long!" And, pulling his sombrero farther down over his head, he stepped out towards the door. "So-long." Dave rejoined casually. Cloudy reached the door and actually gripped the handle. Then he seemed to waver, and finally, muttering some- thing into the stubble on his chin, ho turned round again. It WIS not the first time that Cloudy had Ihreaieiied to leave Dave flat, and it was not the first time that he h«>i I hanged his mind.