Boy's Cinema (1930-31)

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f^ 16 Vfc TOM SAWYER/'t (Coatinued from page 13.) I clothoji won his lirai't. It was con- sidered a terriblo dogiadalion to have to sit with the girls. The teacher knew the power of the birch, but to sit a boy amongst the girls was worse than a caning. There was a vacant place on the form next to Becky. Tom got busy with his tata|)ult and pieces of hard paper. The teacher, with a fiendish grin, ordered Tom to sit with the girls, and the whole school gasped anci Becky blushed when Tom eagerly went and sat beside her. The love aflfair made such rapid pro- gress that after school they plighted itlieir love by carving their names on a tree. Unfortunately Tom made a grave I mistake when, in a moment of bravado, he mentioned tliat he had been "en- gaged " before to Amy Lawrence. Becky was angry, and when Tom ex- plained that he did not oare for Amy any more then Becky gave way to tears. 'The lovers were parted, and Tom went off vowing that he would never marry— not even if he lived to be a thousand. That night, whilst thinking of his troubles as he lay in bed. lie heard the meow of a oat. Almost had he for- gotten about Huckleberry Finn and the <'ure for warts. ' Without disturbing the sleeping Sid lie dressed and cautiously climbed out of tlie window. He meowed softly and slithered to the ground down a drain- pipe. Like shadows the two boys stole towards the"^ churchyard. KA faint wind moaned through the trees, and Toia shivered. The boys BOY'S CINEMA spoke seldom and then under their breath. Near the grave of the bad nuin were three elms, and when Huckle- berry clamljered up into the branches 'loin was not long after liim. "Hucky, do you believe the dead people like it for us to be here?" "I wish I knowed," whispered his buddv. "It's awful solemn like, ain't it?" The hooting of a distant owl made them start, the wind seemed to get up. and the branches to form themselves into strange shapes and shadows. Just when the boys thought nothing was going to happen Tom clutched at Huckleberry's ragged slee\e and pointed. At the far end of the church- yard was a moving light. "It's the devils, sure enough." Huck whispered after a while. "Three of 'em. Oh, Tom. I guess we're goners!" "rJie light came closer, and the quaking boys saw that there were three men. "They're humans,'' muttered Huckle- berry, vastly relieved. "Look, it's Muff Potter, Dr. Robinson, and Injun Joe— that murderin' half-breed. Why for they come here?" Then the boys witnessed a drama so bloodciu'dling that almost they thought it was a nightmare. These men had come to rob the graveyard, and Dr. Robinson was the ringleader. The doctor was not liked, and was something of a my.stery. The work was almost done when Potter and Injun Joe began to demand their money, and when the doctor refused till the task was com- pleted a quarrel ensued. The boys saw Potter and Dr. Robin- .son milling round, and gasped when the doctor felled the older man with a spade, and they nearly gave themselves away when Injun Joe, knife in hand, crept up behind the doctor and stabbed him with a knife that Muff Potter had dropped when the fight first started. Every Tuesday But the villainy did not end there. Injun Joe stooped over the two motion- less figures and placed the knife in tho hands of Muff" Potter. He chuckled fiendishly when his task was done, and calmly seated himself on a barrow to await the return to consciousness of his companion. The moon wont behind a blanket of clouds, and t'ne tw'O boys slithered down the tree ;ind ran for dear life. "Tom, we got to keep mum," Huckle- berry told his friend after a long dis- cussion on the murder. "That Injun devil wouldn't think any more of drown- ing us or cutting our throats than he would a couple oi cats. We got to swear to keep mum—we got to swear on our blood." They pricked their thumbs, and on a piece of old parchment wrote the foUow- mg: 'I'Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer swears they will keep mum about this, and they wish they may drop dead in their tracks if they ever tell and rot." When Tom crept in at the bed-room window he thought the gentle-snoring Sid was asleep, but Sid was very much awake. When Tom awoke after appalling nightmares, Sid was dressed and gone, and his Aunt Polly appeared and lectured him on the evil of stealing out at nights. A flogging Tom coxdd have stood, but when the old lady began to crv, Tom felt mightv like tears him- self. ■ What with losing Becky, the murder and this trouble with his aunt decided Tom that life was a mighty miserable thing. When he got to school his cup of misery was complete, becait=;e the prized Jew's harp that he had given Becky was reposing on his desk. (CoQiinaed on page 27.) i|» The three chief characters: Jackie Coogan (Tom Sawyer), Mltzl Gree n (Becky), Junior Durkin (^Huckleberry Finn), IJL