Boy's Cinema (1939-40)

t I Every Tuesday Thrill to the stirring chapters of this new Universal serial of the days when the West rocked to the blazing guns of the intrepid Frontiersmen and Settlers who waged war on Redskins and Renegades READ THIS FIRST Jffl Scott and Dciuhviiiiil Hn irkinK, rnhtiiht- frunliersincn, set out un hc/iiilf of the (}oi eminent tu inieatif/ate the dctiritien iiii/sterioiia orf/anhation ir/iirh in hfnt \rerentinii fetllrrs jroin rear/iiiii/ Oreijon. uu//// that tii(/tini«nli(in ron/ro/x the jnr till the niiilh-ireslcrii terrilniien iij the F?7 Slates, lis chief repreaentniire heiiiii Siiin Moii/an, who is located at a re mute tmrnship knoirn as Clearwater. A icaiion train of iin iniirraiits headed h>/ a via II named John Mason is wend in;/ its trai/ towards Clearwater. The war/on Imss of this rolainn is liiiil liraijti, secretin in the /«ii/ of Miirijan, and in coniiiaiii/ with ii iiaiuj of cronies liruiju does his best to dcslroi/ the train. He is foiled and e.rposcd hi/ Jeff and Dead- irood, hilt irith the aid of a /larti/ of Shoshone Indians he succeeds in escupinfi justice. Later, at Sam More/an's instillation, the Shoshone Indians attack the iin inii/ran/.i' ramp and rustle their horses. The// also tarry off a hoi/ named Jimmie Clark, but, with the aid of a friend known as Idaho Ike and a ixirtj/ of settlers who hare detached them- selves from the Mason train. Jiff and Dead- wood succeed in resniinri Jiiiiiiiie and recorcr- ine/ the stolen ponies as well. Now Read On THE BARGAIN AN atinosphcro of jubilation reigned in the Mason wagon camp outside the frontior township of Clearwater. There in that canip, occupied by innniprants whose motto was "OreKon or bust," and who had abeady braved countless perils in a thousand-mile trek from the east, men and women were weleom- infr tlie advent of a party of friends for whose safety they had entertained the gravest fears. Handsome Jed' Scott and sturdy Dcadwood Hawkins were two of the ncwly-arrivcd party —scouts whose names were known throughout the Far West, and who had contracted to guide the Mason wagon train to tlie promised land of Oi'egon. And with them were little Jimmie Clark, thirteen-year-old orphan who luid come to be regarded as the mascot of the train, Idaho Ike, veteran trapper and long-standing com- rade of Deadwood Hawkins, and a group of pioneers wlio had lost heart in the Mason column's enterprise and turned back for the east the day before, but who had reconsidered their decision and elected to rejoin the outfit. The newcomers had shown up in the vicinity of the camp only a minute or so ago, arid had been preceded by several hundred head of horses—horses belonging to the wagon train and recovered from nuirauding Indians who had stolen them the ijrevious night. It; was small wonder, therefore, that the people v.iio now crowded round JefF Scott and his companions were in high spirits. Two individuals in the forefront of the welcoming throng seemed specially overjoyed by the arrival of Jeff and his party. One was John ifason, organiser of the wagon train, and the other was his beautiful daughter Margaiet. "Jeff," Mason said. "I can't even begin to tell you how thankfid I am to see you and Deadwood and Jinmiie—not to mention Idaho Ike and tlie others." "And not to mention the horses, Mr. Mason," .lefF Scott observed cheerfully. "Don't forget to include them in your wel- come.. You and the folks would be kind of stuck withovit 'em." The genial expression faded from his clean- cut features and gave place to a grirrdy- thoughtful look as he uttered the last words. "Talking of the horses. Mr. !Mason," he tdded, "I'm wondeiing if those Indians who rustled them last night weren't acting on behalf of white men." BOY'S CINEMA 17 "Acting on behalf on white men, .Jeff?" Mason reiterated. "What do you mean?" The stalwart scout leaned closer to him. "You've had a hard time getting this far, Mr. !Mason," he said. "You've kept ruimiiig into trouble all along the line. Aiul you know it's my opinion that a powerful orgam'sation is out to prevent all settlers from reaching . Oregon—an organisation which sees in the colonisation of that territory a serious tfireat to their interests." "You mean that organisation bribed those Redskins to run off our horses" ? the leader of the immigrants muttered. Jefi' nodded. "I'm sure of it," ho declared, "and " The sentence was left unfinislied, for at that moment little Jinunie Clark interrufited the handsome frontiersman's conversation with John Mason. "Say, here come two men w-ith a travois," he exclaimed, " an' it looks like they're carryin' a dead man on it !" The boy was pointing in a south-westerly direction, and, turning their heads, the people in the wagon camp observed a white man and an Indian approaching. The former was lead- ing a somewhat wretched-looking pony which was hanu?ssed to the travois Jinunie had men- tioned; and that travois—a crude, niakc-sliift litter —was occupied by an object which was covered by a rug and which had the appear- ance of a human figure. The oncoming white man and his Indian companion were strangers to everyone in the wagon camp save Idaho Ike, and at sight of them he gave vent to a shout of recognition. "That's no dead man on that travois!" he whooped genially. "I know them two old slickers, an' neither one of 'em woidd tote his own mother-in-law ef she'd passed out on their hands," Jeff, Deadwood and the settlers' moving after him in a body, Idaho hurried forward to meet the individuals with the travois, and a EPISODE 10:— TRAIL OF TREACHERY few seconds later he was extending a hearty gieeting to the pair of them. The white man who was holding the biidlc of the soir.\-looking pony returned the gieet ing in a jovial fasliion. The Indian merely grunted, thougli an appreciatixe gleam in his sloe-black eyes indicated that the encounter afforded him a great deal of pleasure. Then Idaho proccedetl to introduce his twcv ac(iuaintances lo Jeff Scott, Deadwood Hawkins and the immigrants. "Folks." he announced, "meet Beaver Dan and Squirrel Tooth. They've been 'way over in .south-west (Jregon on a hunrin' trip an' they're ))artners o' mine, for I bought an interest in their expedition by stakin' them to grub an' ammunition afore they set out. I might add Reaver Dan is the Iiest trai»f>er this side o' creation, an' Squirrel Tooth is the finest Injun that ever walked—a friend o' white men and no kin o' them varmints that tried to steal your bosses from you." He presented Jeff, Dcadwood, John Mason and the latter's daughter to the two new- comers in iier.son. and after these four liad exchanged salutations with Reaver Dan and S<|uirn'l Tooth, ^Margaret Mason glanced un- easily at the rugswathod object lying on the travois. "Is—is somebody dead?" she asked the white man known as Beavor Dan. Idaho Ike intervened before Beaver Dan could reply. "Didn't you hear me tell Jimmie Clark that was no corpse, Miss Margaret? It's nothin' but a passel o' furs made up to , resemble the outline of a human l>eiri'." "Furs?" Margaret echoed. "Yes, ma'm." It was Beaver Dan who. spoke now. He was a burly fellow of about Idaho's own age, with a weather-beaten face that radiated i;ood humour. "Them's ftus under that rug—an' jirinie ones. too. You .sec, the only safe way of getting pelts out.a Oregon is to make 'em look like something they, ain't." He removed the rug from the travois to disclose a bundle of furs—varied in kind an.'l obviously of considerable value—furs which were bound to letch higii prices in iho market, and which vo'tM one day adorn we.ilfhv Ftbrnary lOtli, KHO