Boy's Cinema (1930-31)

18 "Someone doin' some target l)iactice," replied Kane amiably, stuffing anolhcr wad of salt pork into iiis mouth. One of the boys from the Develop- ment Co.'s ranch thrust his head in at the door. "Shootin' down at the big barn," he said breathlessly. "It's the Cheyenne Kid !" Both Kano and the sheriff forgot breakfast and charged into the street. Their mounts were standing at the end of the veranda, and they leapt into their saddles and gallojied off in the direction of the Development Co.'s ranch. When they reached it they found a crowd outside. Thrusting their way ihrougli, they got close to find Duke I'cirter, gun in hand, shouting to sonie- one inside the barn to come out. Kane rode up to him. "Hey, what's the yollin' for?" ho demanded. "Buck Allen is in there," Duke explained. "Gorman, my assistant, was in there talkin' to Aladgo. and Buck bust in on them. He stuck Gorman up, and when Madge tried to stop him shootin' ho plugged her." "Buck shot; a woman?" said Kane incredulously. "I guess I don't qurite believe that." "It's true," said Duke. "What's more " Kane silenced him with a gesture, and turned his attention to the barn. "Come on out. Buck!" he called. "The game's up!" He reached for his gun, expecting a rush, but his fingers never closed over the butt. The door of the barn re- mained shut, but a trap-door in the roof swung back, and Buck leapt on to the weather-boards. His six-gun was in his hand, and in his eyes was a gleam that meant business. "I'd have shot it out with you, Kane," ho said quietly, "but there's a woman in there that needs attention pronto. You'd better send one of the boys for Doc. Stevens." Kane, his hands above his head for safety's sake, nodded. "Okay!" he said calmly. "Wurdy, ride to tlie doc's house an' bring him back. And now. Buck, I reckon you'd better surrender. You're surrounded, an' we'll get you sooner or later." "I'll surrender all right," said Buck. "But before I do, there's something I want to say. I just hoard what Duke Porter said. I met INIadge here by appointment. She used to bo Duke's girl, and ho threw her over. Well, she said she had got something important to tell me, but before she could begin some- one shot her from the doorway. It looked uncommonly like Gorman, from the glimpse I caught of him before he bolted." "Whore is he now?" asked Kano, eye- ing Buck's gun steadily. " I don't know." Kane frowned, and he shifted uncom- fortablv in his saddle. "Ail" right," he said. "I'll talk to Gorman later. An' now. what about surrendering? I've a perfectly good breakfast to finish back at the sheriff's place, an' I guess I'm still hungry." There was a tense silence while Buck hesitated. Ho glanced over the group tlioughtfully, and the shorifT began to quail at the thought of him trying to shoot his way out. Then with a short laugh Buck flimg his gun to Kane, and leapt down from the roof. "Hero I am, Kane," he said. "I reckon you've got me." A wave of relief swept over the jf-atchers behind Kane, and everyone December 28th, 1931. BOY'S CINEMA lowered their hands. Then as Kane marched his prisoner off, a babel of talk- ing broke out. Buck—the Cheyenne Kid —had surrendered I Almost without a fight ho had calmly given himself up to justice. It was a mystery, and no one seemed able to throw the least light on it. The boys gave it up. Kane Qets Busy. KANE put Buck in the lock-up behind the sheriff's office, and quietly settled down to his breakfast again. The sheriff sat down opposite, but not to oat. He wanted to know things, and judging from the expression on his face, he wanted to know them pretty badly. " See here, Kane," he said suddenly, "I reckon I don't quite understand all this. I thought that, seein' how the Cheyenne Kid is dmgorous, you'd be takin' him to the County gaol right away." Kane emerged from a plateful of whaffles, and fixed the sheriff with an expressionless stare. " Mister Hank Bates," he said with solemn politeness, "you belong to a past age—an age of lynchings and shootin' on sight. When someone's done a crime, you jest pick on the first guy tliat seems suspicious, and stick him up for trial, an' he's generally dumb enough to say things that'll get liimself convicted, whether he's guiltj' or not." "But " "Don't interrupt. It's mo that's doin' the talkin'." Kane stuffed his mouth full once more, and set his jaws to clearing a space through which he could go on. "In the West to-day wo still carry the outward trappings of the days of law- lessness, but hombres who get arrested now shout loud for a lawyer as soon as they find themselves in the calaboose. We ain't quite got to the complications of finger-prints an' other horrors of civilisation, maybe, but we do have to use brains. Ge^ me?" "Meanin' that I haven't got any?" Kano shrugged his shoulders. "Meanin' that I have," he countered politely, "an' that's upsetting nobody's feolin's, I guess. Anyway, jest for the time boin', I want you to do things for mo, and not ask questions. You'll see why, when it filters into that block you call a brain." The shor-ff subsided, disgruntled. "What do you want me to do?" he a.sked surlily. "Bring Gorman to me here in an hour." "But Duke Porter said " Kane throw up his hands in despair. "By all the powers," he swore, "stop that thinkin' you keep indulgin' in I It'll be getting you into trouble. Do as I say, and quit stallin' !" "Okay," said the sheriff. Th-3 conversation ended by the sound of Kane swilling hot coffee ns though he wore giving an imitation of Niagara in a music-hall. A quarter of an hour later he wan- dered out into the one main street that ran through Twin Falls, resumed the chewing of peanuts that had been inter- rupted by breakfast, and strolled off towards the hospital. Ho disappeared inside, and after a brief altercation with Doc Stevens bo- cause the doc didn't want Madge, the shot woman, disturbed, went in to sec her. Ho was with her a bare ton seconds; then he came out again, n broad grin on his face. Ho mot Betty in the porch. She caught hold of his arm as lie went past her, and slopped him. " Mr. Kano <" "Yeah?" "How is sheT"- Every Tuesday "Who—Madge? Oh, she's fine ! Tho doo reckons she'll get better all right." He flipped a peanut shell at a bucket, and scored a direct hit. "She'll be about again in time to give evidence at the trial." Betty s i.a.co changed colour. "Mr. Kano, you don't believe • that Buck really committed those crimes, do you?" she implored. "He—he couldn't." "No?' Kane glanced at her kindlv. "Well, maybe I think he did, and maybe I think ho didn't. Come along to the sheriff's place this afternoon, an' I'll lot you know definitely." He wandered away, his head bent in thought, and an expression of intense satisfaction on his face. Several men greeted him as he passed back along tho main street, but he neither returned their greetings nor looked at them. Eventually ho reached the office again, and wont inside. He grinned inscrutably at Buck, who watched him from behind the iron bars of the lock-up. "Say, Buck, here's the keys!" He took them off the nail on which they hung, and tossed them into the lock-up. "Come on out—company's comin'!" Buck looked hesitatingly at the keys, then at Kano, unable to fathom wliat Kane was getting at. Then he picked them up, and started unlocking the door. " Company ? Who ? " "Gorman. I told the sheriff to send him." Kane looked out of tho window. "Ah, I guess he's arrived! Come in, Gorman !" Gorinari entered, his close-set eyes looking shiftily about him. He was the assistant-foreman down at the Develop ment Co.'s ranch, and not too popular with ths Doys. "The sheriff said you wanted me," said Gorman. "What about, anywa;, ? I'm busy, an' " Kane smiled at him disarmingly. "Gorman, Buck here says he reckons it was you who shot a woman down at tho barn this morning, an' you say it was him. Ever had much to do with Indians, Gorman?" "Now look here, Kane " began Gorman. Kane interrupted him a second tiino. He reached over, and jerked the gun from Gorman's holster. "Nica-lookin' gun that, Gorman," ho said absently. "Oh, about them Indians ! Well, Indians used to liavc a great way of gettin' at the truth of a thing like this. They gave the two men one weapon, and they figured that the sur- vivor was innocent. Now I don't want to see either of you two boys get killed, so I've picked my own weapon—that short cattle-whip on the wall over there." He turned and strolled towards the door. "Fix it between yourselves. I'll bo back in ton minutes." Ho went out, shutting the door be- hind him. The Fighting Test. BUCK faced Gorman and waited. Ho had no intention of making the first move, knowing that once Gorman started anything, ho would have him at a disadvantage. Gorman watched Buck craftily, crouching low. Suddenly, without warn- ing, he made a break for the door. Buck stepped across his line of flight, gripped him by the shoulders, and hurled him backwards. Gorman hit the wall behind him with a crash, and leaned against 't. gasping for breath. "I'm not lottin' you got away. Gorman," said Buck. "Not before you are ready to toll Kano who shot Madge. Now. are vou goin' to toll decently, and in good order, or do I have to lam it out of vou?" "You can't do that!" squeaked Gorman, soared stiff. "It ain't law l'-