Boy's Cinema (1939-40)

22 before the day's out you and your whole gang will be in custody! " "You think so, commander?" came the suave response. "Well, that remains to be seen. But I am warning you that if you value Kent's life you had better suspend all activities to apprehend me. For I promise you that if an attempt is made to arrest me Kent will die! " With those words Boroff terminated the conversation, and a silence fell upon the radio room at the Coast Guard Station—a silence broken at length by Lieutenant Connell. "Boroff's fiend enough to carry out that threat, sir," he said to Boyle huskily. " He's already wanted for one murder, and he wouldn't stop at committing another one." The commander bit his lip. There was a strained expression on his features. "I know," he answered. "But Boroff and his kind must be annihilated regard- less of the cost. That's what Kent would want. Yes, that's what Kent—would want." He stood motionless for a few seconds, staring sombrely into space. Then he braced himself with an effort and spoke to Lieutenant Bellamy. "Get Dick Norman on the telephone," he instructed. "Ever since he came out of hospital a couple of days ago he's been working on a counter-active compound that will neutralise the effects of Boroff's disintegration gas. I was in touch with him this morning, and though he'd per- fected that compound and could guaran- tee its efficiency he hadn't had time to make it in any quantity. Tell him to push the manufacture of it for all he's worth and get down here with an adequate supply of it as quickly as he can. Tell him I'll arrange for a plane to be waiting for him here." "A plane, sir?" "Yes, Bellamy, a plane," the com- mander rejoined. "Norman intimated to me that the protective compound he's created can best be employed as a form of smoke-screen—lowered over a given area from an aircraft." He paused, then went on speaking. "It's occurred to me that if Boroff finds himself in a tight corner he may use the disintegration gas," he said grimly. "Should he do so, our men won't have a chance unless Norman is on hand with that neutralising compound." Shortly after Boroff had communicated with Commander Boyle by radio, Degado showed up in the small cave to which Terry Kent had been conveyed. He arrived with Thorg's clothes over one arm and with a towel in his hand. and. throwing these to the hulking rogue who had been left to stand guard over Terry, he stepped across to the huddled figure of the coastguard lieutenant. "Kind of cold, aren't you, sailor?" he jibed, observing that the prisoner was shivering spasmodically. He was right. The revenue officer's uniform was soaking wet, and he felt chilled to the marrow. Yet for all his dis- comfort he had an apt retort for the sneering gangster. "Not so cold as you'll be when they throw you in jail," he said. Degado glowered at him, and, drawing back one foo*'. landed him a heavy kick in the ribs. "Cracking wise, eh?" he rasped. "Well, let me tell you nobody's gonna throw me in jail And if they did you wouldn't be alive to see it." He turned from the captive, and made his way from the store-room. As for Terry, he had rolled over with a half- stifled grunt as Degado had laid into him with his boot, and lying on his side now, he was wincing with the pain of that kick when suddenly his eyes came to rest on an object near-by. The object in question was the cigar- butt that Boroff had thrown aside a little while previously, and, as he saw that it l>p<imtj(.i 2ii(i, 1939. BOY'S CINEMA was still smouldering luminously an in- spiration flashed upon Terry's mind. Turning his head, he glanced at Thorg and noted that the latter was towelling himself briskly and was at present paying no heed to him. and, taking advantage of that circumstance, the prisoner raised himself into a sitting posture aird twisted round so that he was able to secure posses- sion of the cigar-butt Boroff had cast to the floor. With the lighted stump gripped between his fingers Terry contrived to bring the glowing end of it into contact with the rope that was snarled around his wrists, and before long the .scorched hemp was sundering strand by strand. In the mean- time the coastguard lieutenant kept his eyes riveted on Thorg, watching the massive ruffian as the fellow dried himself and proceeded to don his clothes. Boroff's slave-like servitor had yet to finish dressing when the rope about Terry's wrists was burned completely through and fell to the rocky floor of the cave, and, his hands free, the revenue officer rose quietly to his feet. Thorg at that moment was in the act of pulling a woollen jersey over his gross head, and, desci'ying an empty sack that lay between him and his gigantic foe, Terry moved towards that sack and picked it up. He was straightening with the flaxen bag when Thorg drew on the jersey and caught sight of him, and in an instant the big fellow became galvanised, bound- ing in his direction with great hands out- stretched. Terry advanced a pace to meet him— and met him with a right that was backed by all his strength and weight. It was a punch that travelled from his hip and cracked home on Thorg's bulldog jowl, and it was a punch that lifted Thorg clean off his feet. Down went that formidable hulk of a man, and as he sprawled his length Terry flung himself atop of him with the sack he had obtained, clapped it over his head and fastened it tightly round his thick neck by means of a cord that was attached to the opening of the bag. Then he scrambled from Thorg's prone form to procure some rope, of which there was no lack in the store-room. Before he had furnished himself with enough rope for his purpose Thorg had recovered from the blow that had felled him, and, rising, he made furious efforts to rid himself of the sack that enveloped his head. But he could not do so, and he was still fumbling with the taut-drawn cord of the bag when Terry hurried back to him and floored him again with a deft wrestling throw. Terry now set to work to bind Thorg. and though the latter struggled violently he was so uttei-ly at a disadvantage oh account of the flaxen receptacle which hooded him that he was pinioned hand and foot in the space of a few minutes. With Thorg rendered helpless, the revenue officer wheeled and started across the store-room in the direction of a crude door which stood ajar and which opened on to a narrow passage. It was one of two doors that the small cave possessed, and Terry did not know if the passage beyond it would lead him to safety. But he did know that there was no escape via the other door, for on the other side of that door was the chain of caverns, which included Boroff's sanctum among their number. Ducking out of the store-room, Terry set forth at a stumbling run along the passage that offered him his only chance of effect- ing a getaway, and he had followed it for a distance of about a hundred yards when he turned a curve in it and to his un- bounded relief saw daylight ahead of him. Less than thirty seconds later he wjis emerging on to the boulder-strewn sum- mit of the headland beneath which the hide-out of Boroff's organisation was located, and from the crown of that pro- jecting cape he looked out to sea and dis- cerned the speedboat occupied by Moore. To the left of Terry, a deep cove in- Every Tuesday dented the craggy face of the headland. There was a track leading down into this cove, and by means of it the lieutenant descended to the bed of the creek and hastened to the water's edge, where he succeeded in attracting Moore's attention. He had soon been picked up by the coastguardsman in the speedboat, and. learning that Moore had already sent in a wireless report to headquarters, he him- self tuned in on the radio with which the small craft was equipped and put through a call to the Portland Station. He was anxious to talk to Commander Boyle in person, and ere long he was m conversation with his superior officer, the O.C. expressing his fervent congratula- tions when Terry had retailed the story of his escape. Then, after acquainting the lieutenant with the anangements which had been made for an attack on the Boroff gang's hide-out, Boyle directed that he and Moore should proceed south- ward to meet the cutter that had been dispatched from headquarters. Terry passed on the order to his sub- ordinate, and Moore acted upon it at once. In another moment the speedboat was swinging in a southerly direction—to skim over the bosom of the sea on a course parallel with the shore, and to hold that course for mile after mile imtil at last its occupants sighted the cutter to which Commander Boyle had referred. It was as Terry and Moore were going aboard the larger vessel that the plight of Thorg in the store-room at Boroff's lair was discovered 'oy Degado. and it was with a look of feverish agitation on his ugly features that Degado released the dis- comfited giant and removed the sack that imprisoned his head. Then he blundered with Thorg in the direction of their employer's study. Boroff was no longer there, however. He and the rest of his associates were in a bigger cave which was situated beyond the study and which was fitted out as a labora- tory, and, with Krohn by his side, Boroff was supervising the packing of the apparatus and chemical supplies that apartment contained. Boroff's mien was self-assured, but his bearing underwent a change when he heard how Degado had found Thorg lying powerless in the store-room, and rage and chagrin were written on his sallow coun- tenance as he turned on his mute under- ling. "What happened?" he snarled. "Tell me what happened?" Thorg looked at him abjectly, and began to gesture with his hands, giving an account of all that had occurred by means of a sign-language which his master alone comprehended. And, watching the play of those swift-moving hands, Boroff seemed to wax more and more savage—till all at once he cried out in the voice of one who could control himself no longer. " You bungling fool! " he shouted at Thorg. "If you'd kept your eyes on that cursed revenue officer he'd still be our hostage! But now—now " He stopped short, and in a sudden paroxysm of fury he struck the big fellow flush in the mouth. It was a blow from which Thorg recoiled, and. retreating to a distance of half a dozen paces, he eyed Boroff uncertainly for a brief interval. Then slowly there dawned upon his brutal visage an expression such as the muni- tions king had never seen him portray before—an expression in contrast to the humility Thorg had been wont to display in the presence of the man who had en- ; slaved him—an expression which was no i longer that of a creature dominated b.v .i another's will to the point of unquestion-* ing bondage—an expression which implied tf hate and deadly malignity. " Boroff took the alarm from it. and his right hand darted to his hip. Next second Thorg was springing at him, but ere he could close with Boroff the scientist snatched out a blue-black automatic and fired twice in rapid succession. Drilled through the body by botli bullets, Thorg checked in mid-stride, came up on his toes, then crashed face down- ,