Boy's Cinema (1930-31)

14 reply. "I've a good mind to wring your confounded neck." Li Fang hold up his liaiids defensively. "No, no; that is not necc.'-sary,',' lie said, giinning feebly. "I asked only because I wanted to be quite sure." He dvcw from the folds of liis wide sleeves an aged and cracked parchment, anil smoothed it out on the table before him. "Tea years age two brothers discovered a diamond mine in a district Liifested with tyiihoid fever. They worked it for a time, and then both died. By vaiious means—we will not discuss how—a plan of where this mine is lo be found came into my hands." "Well?" said Rupert indifferently. " I want you to find that mine, my friend," pursued Li Faug. "If you will agree to go in search of it, I will pa^' you sufficient for your expenses, anil wc will share equall.y." A smile flickered across the face of the man who was known as Captain Ruin. "Tell me, my friend, are you lionest?" he asked ironically. Li Fang grinned again. He oould afford to let pass a joke or two at him- self. He was in need of Rupert's 'bvaiiis. "I will repeat my offer in writing," he saici smugly. "Don't bother." Rupert's tone veas dry and hard. "You couldn't play a dirty game with mc. you heathen. You've offered me half, and I don't need the assistance of a court of law to got it. When do I have to start?" "As soon as you wish." Rupert studied the plan which lay on the table. For a few moments he did not speak ; then he gave vent to an exclamation of satisfaction. "You did well to send me instead of going yourself, Li Fang," he said. "It is a suicide country up where that mine is located, and I wouldn't swear that the men I shall take with mo will ever come back. As for nic—well. I don't suppose anything could ever kill me." He folded up the chart and put it into his pocket. "Get me four of the hardest toughs you can find on the quay- side, and tell them to report, sober, at sunrise io-morrow. As the journey is, to be made up-river, I'll go and buy a decent samjian which will liold water." Ho was about to turn to go, when his eye fell on a gir! standing a short dis- tance away. She was Chinese-Malay— a mixture of the two races. "That's a darned prettj,' kid you've got th'TC," he commented. " You'd better keep a close watch on some of the men round here, or you'll lose her." Li Fang turned his head, and saw who Rupert meant. "That is Lolah," he said casually. "She is quite safe with me. There are none here who would dare to cast their evil glances at her, for she is my bi'othcr's daughter." Rupert nodded, and went away. As ho threaded his way through the mix- ture of humanity that thronged the cafe, he was completely unaware of tho crafty expression in Li Fang's eyes. "You are \ery clever, my friend," he murnnired softly. "Rut you will never get that half-share. I will send one cvf )ny own men with you, and when yon discover that mine you will die." His expression bocair.e even more crafty. "And when my emissary returns and tells me exactly wliere thp mini- is. 1 will kill him, too. It is oid\ dead nuii who keep secrets." I '' ' In the Jungle. T[IE sampan \voiind its wa,y slowly up the river that led info tlie interior. Apart from Rupert, liiere wore four other men on board, a .September Cth. 1930. BOY'S CINEMA villainous-looking individual by the name of Smith Doing their leader. He was Li Fang's henchman. They were a tough crowd, and it was clear to Rupert, hardened as he was to tho ways of men, that ho would have trouble with them sooner or later. As a, precaution, he carried a heavy- calibred Colt. As a trouble-makei", iie could do fairly well on his own account! Tho remainder of his crew was made up by an enormous South African negro and two beachcombers who would sell their very souls for half a pint of whisky. The location of the mine was about two days' journey frorii Penang. The sampan—a type of boat that is able to go anywhere so long as there is a foot of water in which to float—was inclined to leak. The crew, definitely refused anything to drink by Rupert, were *n a bad himiour. The only saving grace about the whole journey wiis that there was none of that driving squall weather for which the Malay Peninsular is noted. At tho end of the first day, just as the sun was beginning to get low in the heavens, the negro let up a shout of fear. He had crawled under the awning of the boat for a sleep, and beneath him something had moved. "What is the matter, Sambo?" Rupert called- sharply. "There's something here, cap'n," the negro wailed, terror-stricken. "Under that sacking—there I" Ho pointed to one of tlie corners of tho sampan, and Rupert.^ suspecting a snake, drew his gun. With a swift movement, he flung the sacking back. "Lolah!" he exclaimed. The half-caste girl, her lips parted in a smile, scrambled to her feet. "Mc come with you," she said simply. Rupert became angry. This was sheer foolhardiness. It was bad enough taking men into this plague-ridden country, but her presence made it ten times worse. "You had no business to come," he sjiapped. "If Li Fang finds that yon are with us, he'll start trouble, and I think I've just about got enough to contend with on this trip." "Li Fang!" She spoke the name contemptuously. "What care I for Li Fang ? He does not tell me that I am pretty. But you did—so I came." Rupert's anger left him. He was still annoyed that she had come, but he could not feel bad about a girl who was prepared to face death just because he had called her pretty. " Yery well," he said quietly. "It has put us to a lot of unnecessary bother, but wc needn't go into that now." He raised his voice and addressed the crew. "Turn about. I'm going to take her back." The crew hastened to obey, but Lolah clutched Rupert's arm in alarm. "Don't let them do that," she said, frightened. "Please don't. Listen to what 1 have to say." She bent clo.ser to him, and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Li Fang, he say that you are to die when you have found what you are looking for. Li Fang very crafty. He order Smccth to kill you and the others, and when Smccth re- turn to Ponang he die. too. see?" Rupert stared at her dumbfoundedly, hardly believing that such treachery was possible: but he had been in the East sufficiently Jong to know that men cease to be human at times in countries like this. "I'll remember your warning, Lolah," he said grimly. "Meanwhile you must still go back."- Every Tuesday "No, no." Her voice vibrated with stark fear. "If I do, 1 will be killed. Li Fang, he would know that I had told yon." Rupert realised for the first time the danger she was running jn order to warn him of Li Fang's treachery, and ho was touched. He had heard before of the blind devotion that a half-caste girl will often give in exchange for a little kindne.^s, but this was the first time he had come into contact with it. He patted her kindly on the shoulder. "All right,' Lolah," he said gently. "You had better come. When I've done the job I set out to do, and have settled one or two matters with Li Fang, 1*11 sec that you're looked after. You're a good girl." All through that night they worked their way up-river. The next day their way led them -through a jungle, where the trees overhanging on either side seemed to make a natural archway. Now and then wild beasts roared close at hand. \ Rupert, sitting in the bows with a rifle across his knees, studied the map. He was searching for a clearing on the right bank where, the map said, there would be found-the remains'of a small hut. It was middle afternoon before they reached their destination, and the sam- pan .was run in close to the bank. Rupert, his mind ready for any treachery that might arise, stepped ashore and watched while his men began to unload. Lolah was under the awning, out of sight. Suddenly there was a commotion. Lolah screamed; then the negro let up a shout of agony. The shout died away to a horrible gurgle, as though the man was fighting for breath. Rupert leapt aboard in alarm. He found tho negro lying on the bottom of the sampan writhing in death agony. "Get a pan of water," he shouted to Smith. "And hurry." The water was produced, and Rupert forced some of it between the stricken man's lips. For a few brief moments the agony left the negro's face. "What happened?" Rupert asked quickly. "The—black—death " the negro gasped. Then his head fell back. He was finished. Rupert stared down at the dead man in puzzlement. TTie black death ! What could that mean '! Here was a burly negro, strong as a horse, sud- denly laid low without the slightest warning. Rupert rose to his feet. It was no use worrying about it. Life was cheap in Malay, and one man here or there did not make much difference. The main thing was to get his mission ful- filled as soon as possible and return to Penang. Th(?j' weighted the negro's body and buried him in the river. Then, as if nothing unusual had occurred, thry began to penetrate into the jungle in search of the mine. SwiK Poison. THIS way, men !" Rupert's voice rang out tri- umphantly. He had come to a hole in tho ground that was obviously a mine shaft of sorts, and he made hasty preparations to descend into it. It might be the one he sought; on the other hand, it might be only an aban- doned • working from which all the wealth had T)cen extracted. Smith wds the first to hear Rupert's ' (CoDtiDued on page 26.)