Boy's Cinema (1939-40)

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;; II Every Tuesday crates in a stooping attitude, he clapped eyes on a window whose sash was up- He reached that window, lifted his head above the sill in a wary fashion and at oncG found himself peering into the laboratory of the kelp plant. Sloan was there, and so were the in- dividuals who had been described by him as "chemists." But a number of other men were also there—a group of men who had obviously emerged from the office of "Mr. Anderson," for the door of that room was agape and the inmates of that laboratory were gathered about its thi-eshold. Boroff wa.<i one of the men in quesiion, and Degado, Krohn, Thorg and Rackcrby were included in the party. His lids contracting, Terry took brief Stock of the assemblage and then ducked below the sill again lest he should be seen, and hardly had he crouched low when he heard the voice of Sloan. "But I don't understand, Boroff," the latter said. "What if that cameraman did take a picture of the pile of kelp? It doesn't matter, does it?" "It matters a great deal," was the fierce lejoinder. "It didn't dawn on me until this moment, but that picture will betray us. For the amatite in the boxes hidden under that mass of seaweed is radio-active and those tell-tale boxes will therefore show up on the film. They'll be clearly visible through the screen of kelp! Degado, take half a dozen men with you and get after that photographer. At all costs the films in his camera must be destroyed. Wait, I have the ignition-key to the car. Here it is." The key being produced and handed over, Degado made haste to select six of his fellow-gangsiers from amongst the ill- favoured crowd gathered in the laboratory, and a moment later he and the rogues he had chosen were hiurying from the room, appearing shortly afterwards in the yard and entering the big sedan that was "parked " there. Meanwhile Terry had backed from the window, and, having heard every word of the conversation that had taken place in the laboratory, he glanced between two of the stacks of crates that shielded him and saw Degado and his cronies pack into the sedan and drive off. They were bound to catch up with Jean and Snapper, he told himself, and, alarmed for the .safety of his fiancee and the cameraman, he wished fervently that he possessed some means of warning the two newspaper representatives of their peril. There seemed no way in which he could possibly contact them, however, and he was standing there helplessly v,?hen all at once two men showed up in the side-gate by which he had gained admittance to the yard. Terry had never seen them before, but he had no doubt that they were members of Boroff's organisation, and he was not mistaken. They were two of the gang, sure enough, and had been absent in Pier- Port since early morning, and as they caught sight of Terry in the shadow of the stacked crates they advanced on him suspiciously. "Hey, what are you doin' here?" growled one of them, a beefy individual with a - jaw reminiscent of a bulldog's. "Me?" Terry answered. "I'm just a visitor looking the place over." " Yeah?" he of the bulldog jaw retorted. "Well, maybe you'd like to tell that to the boss." He gripped Teiry by the arm, but on the instant the revenue officer pulled him- self free and almost simultaneously he whipped a smashing right-hander to the point of the fellow's chin. It was a punch that landed with pile-driving impact, and, buckling at the knees, the rogue went down in a heap. Immediately the other man raised an angry shout and lunged at Terry in an attempt to grapple with him. Yet he was not destined to close with the lieutenant- BOY'S CINEMA for he ran Into a straight left that took him flush in the mouth, and, recoiling, he sampled in the very next second a right that was the twin of the blow that had droDpec; his accomplice. The crook pitched lo the ground, and as he fell Terry heard an outcry near by —wheeled to see the occupants of the laboratory crowding to the open window at which ne, Terry, had been posted. The brief scuffle in the yard had attracted their attention and as they beheld the young coastguardsman and the huddled figures of the ruffians he had floored a chorus of oaths broke from them. Then Boroff voiced a harsh command. "Get him!" he bit out. Two of liis minions scrambled over the window-sill, but Terry heaved against the stacked crates and brought the boxes toppling down, thereby impeding his foes. Next moment he turned to take to his heels, and it was even as he tm-ned that a man on a motor-cycle swung in through the main gateway of the enclosure and drew up there. No sooner did Terry see the newcomei" than he resolved to commandeer his bike, and he promptly made a dash for him. As for the motor-cyclist, he gaped at the revenue officer uncertainly unfil the latter was almost upon him, and then he sent his hand to his hip in a belated effort to snatch out a gun that he was apparently carrying in his back pocket. But before he could lay hand on the weapon the lieutenant was in striking distance. Terry lashed out at the man, and, bunched knuckles thumping home, knocked the fellow sprawliiig. The bike went down as well, and Terry was stooping to lay hold of it when, on an afterthought, he switched his attention on its rider again; and, despite the danger of delay, he tore off a leather helmet and jerkin that the motor-cyclist was wearing. In the meantime, the gangsters who had climbed out through the labora- tory window had been joined by Boroff and the rest of the scoundrelly scientist's accomplices. The whole crew of them were floundering among the tumbled crates that Terry had overturned, however, and they had yet to stagger clear of the litter of boxes when their quarry picked up the motor-bike, forked the saddle of it, and kicked the starter. The engine of the bike came into opera- tion, and roared stridently as Terry opened the throttle. In another instant he was storming out through the main gateway of the yard, and, swerving south- ward, he was travel- ling at the machine's flat-out speed when Boroff and his asso- ciates charged forth on to the road. A shot rang out, and a bullet zipped perilously close to Terry—so close that he felt the hot breath of it against his neck as it sang past him viciously. It was suc- ceeded by a pro- longed and concen- trated fusillade, but his hair-breadth es- cape from that first 21 slug had Induced him to veer to and fro across the road, and, dorcriblng a zig-zag course that baffled the ;iim of the crook-s, he survived that murderous rain of lead. Unscathed, he reach(!d a bend in the highway, and swept round it to disappear from the view of his enemies; and onct; out of their sight he braked the machine he was riding and pulled up, in order to don the helmet and jerkin he had taken from the owner of the bike. He also drew down a pair of goggles that were attached to the helmet, ana then he resumed his .southward journey, accelerat- ing till the motor-cycle was going " at full blast" again. That machine was as powerful an outfit as Terry could have wished to handle, and it was at a furious pace that he streaked down the road, the wind driving hard against him, the bike's exhaust roaring vibrantly; and he had been travelling in hair-raising style for four or five minutes v/hcn he saw ahead of him a rough, nar- row track that branched off to the right. It was a mere footpath, and, as Terry knew, it formed a kind of loop with the road, linking up with the highway a mile or two farther south. It had never been intended for traffic, but the Coast Guard lieutenant was aware that it was in effect a short cut, and he realised that it offered him an opportunity of making up on Degado and his party more rapidly than he could have done by keeping to the coast road, which snaked tortuously on a course that followed the contours of the rugged Maine seaboard. He turned on to the side-track, and, at unabated speed, he tore along it, fists clenched on the motor-cycle's grips, wrists braced to counteract the irregularities in the broken surface of the by-way on to which he had elected to swing. Again and again he came within an ace of disaster as the bike hit bump or pot- hole. But, although he had not ridden a Youll enjoy youKself with nu P Invite the Physog Family to your party. They will make it hum I Get them in your family circle—you'll like them! A variety of eyes, noses and mouths are supplied lor you to place on the faces; there are literally thousands of possible expressions, and each one will make yoii roar with laughter! Grown-ups and children alike wiU love the Physog F'amily t^'^:iiM:»i!IJ GROWN-UPS ri/ M ti:nii:ii M^ FOR THE 0/ al\ TousJiops, Stalioners mid Slorcs Order Irom Harrods ol Kmtihtsbridyv, Gamages. Rcntalls, Kingston-on-Thames, Boots' Stationery Departments, or from branches of limothij White and Taiilors, W, H. Smith S- Son, Wiiman it Sons, or Burnstdes. Post Free, 2/9, Irom Dcpt. H, Wnddy Productions, 27a, Farringdon •iireet. London. K CA. November 4th, 19S9.