Boy's Cinema (1930-31)

16 gi-oup of rocks at the bottom, and came to a standstill. Bill Dakers Kroaricd as the steering-whoel sinashod against his broad chest and part of the splin- tered body work hit hiui on tl;e back of the head Slowly, dazed almost into up.consciousness, he crawK'-d from the V reokage, and staggered to his feet. Two horsemen stood on the trail above. One of them carried a rifle, and as Bill Dakers straightened him- self, the rifle came swiftly to th3 ready. Bill saw this foggily, and knew tliat liis life could be measured by seconds only. With fingers that were numb and uncertain, he groped towards his holsters. The rifle above spoke, and Bill felt something which seemed like a hammer smash into his right shoulder. He spun round completely from the im- pact. "You darned murderers!" he tried to shout. "I'll—I'H^—" The rifle spat again, and half an ounce of hot lead buried itself in his chest. He threw up his hands and toppled backwards, tried to shout once more, then lay still upon the dirt—dead ! The Cheyenne Kid. IT was two boys from the Development Company's ranch wlio discovered what was left of the pay car. When the car became overdue, the foreman sent tliem along the trail with lanterns the same night to see what had hap- pened, thinking that the delay was due to a simple breakdown. But when, the next day, the foreman saw two bodie-s laid out .side by side in a buggy, riddled with rifle and forty- five buliets, he started to bring the whole influenc3 of the great Wyoming De- velopment Company to bear upon haul- ing the murderers up to justice. The single-line telephone to Cheyenne, the company's headquarters in Wyoming, started to hum with the news, and the company's president at once got into touch with the State Department of Justice. Nothing happened for three whole days, and the township of Twin Falls, hav'ng received another consignment of pay by the express armoured car settled down to the contemplation of yet an- other unsolved mystery. Then, on the morning of the fourth day, .shortly after the cattle hands had spread themselves over the surrounding landscape on their routine work, the trail from Rawlins, fifty miles north of Twin Falls, became alive with flying lead. Two riders bore down upon Twin Falls, ont a hundred yards ahead of the other. It was a pursuit. The foremost rider switched rornd in his saddle every few seconds, and loosed off a stream of shots at the rider beiiind. At such times, the rearmost rider would crouch low over his animal's back, waiting for the other to reload. Then he would straighten iiimself, and his own six-gun would blaze a reply. The sheriff of Twins Falls, his hoary beard bristling with wrath, heard the shooting, and charg("d out of his office on to the veranda which marked the en- trance to his domain. He saw the two riders hurtling down the street, and charged back into his ofTice again, to reappear with a shot gun of doubtful age. He was too late to stop the first of the two riders, but lie sent the second back on liis animal's haniiches at the sight of flic old muzzle-loader, and com- pelled Iiitn to dismount. "You'll stay right here, by gum," said the .sheriff fiercely, "or I'll scatter you all over the street!" The oilier gave one fleeting glance at the rapidly di.sappearing rider he had December 26tfi. 1931, BOY'S CINEMA been pursuing, and shrugged his shoulders by way of agreement. "That's better," said the sheriff. "There's been too much shootin' round here lately, and I'm goin' to put a stop to it. Now just exactly who be you, and why ?" The other looked him up and down amusedly and grinned. " Well, aji' just exactly who be you— and why?" he countered. "I be Hank Bates, Sheriff of Twin Falls, and all the law there is around here, I guess," replied the sheriff. "Huh!" The other whisked a disc of metal from his pocket and held it out. "Well, Mr. Bates, I'm Utah Kane, United States Marshal. Here's my badge. An' right now I'll tell you that you've assisted the escape of one Buck Allen, otherwise known as the Cheyenne Kid." The sheriff started violently and dropped his gun. It hit the roadway with a clatter and exploded, sending a charge of buckshot into a nearby water- butt. He jumped again. "Well, I'll be gosh-darned!" he bel- lowed. "The Cheyenne Kid! Say, there's five thousand dollars reward on him, dead or alive !" He scratched his head exasperatedly. "But listen, mis- ter. I've heard of you, an' I reckon Utah Kane's the man for any roundin' up of toughs that's goin'; but you've got it all wrong this time. I know Buck Allen—we all do round here—an' I reckon he's all right." "Is that so?'' replied Kane sarcas- tically. "Well, Ml-. Clever Bates, tell me how it was he was runnin' from me? Tell me why, if he was innocent and found me after him. he didn't stop right here an' get you to vouch for him." The sheriff tried to think of a reply, but couldn't find one. "Listen, sheriff!" Kane went on. "I'm tallin' on you now to lielp me round up this Buck Allen. That pay- car job was done by the Cheyenne Kid, and the Cheyenne Kid is someone who lives in Twin Falls an' knows all that goes on." " How do you know ?" "Because the Development Co. had an idea that there might be a liold-up, and sent a dummy ear along the trail back here only ten minutes ahead of Bill Dakers. Only two men knew about it— even Bill himself didn't know—yet the dummy car wasn't stopped. One of the men who knew was Buck Allen. Get me?" "Yeah, but that don't signify nothin'," .said the sheriff. "That don't make Buck the Cheyenne Kid." "Then," asked Kane patiently, "why was he runnin' awav?" "H'm, there's something in that," muttered the sheriff, finding Kane's argument tinanswerable. "But I didn't think Buck " Kane cut him short bitingly as he turned away in disgust. "I reckon that's your trouble," he said. "You never did think—'ccpt, may- be, in your sleep !" The Traitor. MF.\XWHILE, far down the trail leading from Twin Falls into the heart of the Colorado Range, Kane's quarry was riding hard. Sud- denly he slowed up and wheeled his mount until he was facing the waj* he had come. He thrust his white stetson to the back of liis head, and gazed steadily along the trail, waiting. For perhaps ten minutes he did not move; then, satisfied that he was no longer being followed, ho urged liis horse into a I gallop once more, and started back for ' Every Tuesday Twin Falls, keeping to the low scrub by the side of the trail. • Soon he came to a whitewashed timber-house on the outskirts of the township. He drew rein some distance from it, keeping himself hidden by the overhanging branches of a tree. As he watched he appeared to be thinking, but no change of expression altered the set of his stern, determined profile. Suddenly, as though tired of in- activity, ho dismounted, and made his way towards the house, keeping low to escape observation. When he reached it, he swung on to the sloping roof of an outbuilding and gained the sill of one of the upper win- dows. He clambered through it, but as he did so a man's voice pulled him up dead. "Who's that?" He swung round in the direction whence the voice came, gun in hand. Then he laughed, spun his weapon on his trigger finger, and thrust it back into its holster. "Hallo, Duke!" he said, with a grin. Duke Porter was foreman of the Wyoming Development Co.'s ranch at Twin Falls, and up to four days ago— until, in fact, the day of Bill Dakers' murder—he had been Buck Allen's boss. And now Buck stood before him, an outlaw. Duke was not too pleased to see him, but he forced a greeting. "Gosh, though. Buck, don't you know the whole town's after you?" he said. "Don't you realise that if you're caught it means a trial and the rope ? Why did vou come here ?" "To see Betty." They were in one of the living-rooms of Betty Thorpe's house, and even as Buck spoke a light footstep sounded on the .stairs. The door opened, and a girl stood framed in the doorway. At the sight of Buck her face went dead white, making the blueness of her eyes and the flax colouring of her hair seem more intense than usual. She stumbled towards him and gripped his hands. "Buck—you!"' she cried. "Oh. why did you risk coming b.ack here?" "Utah Kane is out after me, and he cut my trail to the north, so I had nothing else left but to return here again." His voice softened. "Before leaving for the south, I reckoned I'd see you again. That's all, I guess." Duke Porter shuffled awkwardly, and as he watched Buck and Betty to- gether he remembered that the Stat« Department of Justice had placed five thousand dollars on Buck's head. He fingered the butt of his gun thought- fully. It would be easy to stick Buck up now, send for the sheriff, and collect that five thousand. He checked himself. There was Betty to think about. Pie, too, wanted to marry her. and if he gave Buck over to the sheriff, Betty would regard liim as a traitor, and refuse to have anything to do with him. He had to play his cards carefull,v. If he could fix it so that Buck was placed under arrest without the sus- picions of Bett.v being aroused, Buck would eventually hang, and lioth the girl and tlic reward would fall into his hands. These things flashed quickly through his mind before he spoke again. "Say, Buck, I hope you don't mis- understand my being here Jike thi.s^ with Betty. I mean." he said, with the intention of making fresh protestations of friendship. Buck turned to him. smiling.. "Aw, now, don't be foolish, Duke," lie replied. "You're the best pal a gu»