Boy's Cinema (1930-31)

Every Tuesday ' BOY'S CINEMA 21 A fearless young fireman invents a fire-fighting machine, but a fiendish enemy does everything to steal the plans and rob the hero of the girl he worships. A grand new serial of breathless suspense and thrilling drama. Starring Tim McCoy and Marion Shockley. READ THIS FIRST. While en route with his comrades to the scene oj a fire, Bob Dnrrow, oj the Sun Francisco Britjade, saves the life of a hoij icho jails in front oj one oj the monster cnr/ines. Later he calls on James Madison, head oj a chemical company, to whom he puts up an idea jar a patent fire- (xtintjitishcr. Madison is not interested, and Bob leaves disajrpointed, ajter meeting Dan Mitchell, a shady promoter who is bejricndino Madison jor his own ends. That ajternoon Bob rescues June Madison JTOM a fire in her jather's office, then learns tliat the boy he had saved jrom the wheels of the fire-engine was Madison's son, Jackie. In gratitude, Madison ]iclps Bob to perfect his invention, the Darrow fire Bomb. But Dan Mitchell is anxious to sell Madison an extinguisher of his own, and to discredit Bob lie sends a hireling to " doctor " the fireman's invention wUh a deadly explosive. To test the Dnrrow Fire-Bomb, an crd shed in the Madison grounds is set ablaze. Only uhen the fire is at its height does Bob discover that young Jackie is trapped in the lint. Hob dashes into the shed, and is him- self imprisoned by the flames. He is attempting to batter his way out when Madison throws one oj the doctored bombs ! Now Read On. EPISODE 3. "THE FIRE TRAP." Trickery. THE walls of the hut had never been particularly solid, and the fire had weakened them still more when Bob gathered Jackie in his arms and made his desperate bid to break out of the ramshackle building. iris shoulder smashed into the rotten timbers in the very instant that Madison <s> threw the grenade. The woodwork splintered under the impact of his clKirge, and he plunged through the mass of brush ilvat had been piled against the shed and then fired by his own hand. He was scarcely clear of the blazing structure when the fire-bomb struck it. There was a blinding flash and a terrific detonation, and the hut was blown sky- high in a thousanfl fragments. The concussion hurled Bob to the ground; but, dazed as he was by the force of the explosion, the young fire- man had the presence of mind to shield Jackie witli his own body. For it was with the boy's safety and not his own that he was mainly concerned. Debris rained down on Bob. lie could hazaril no guess at the cause of the explosion. He only know that some accident had occurred to mar his experi- ment, and that pieces of flaming wood were falling all around him. The last echoes of the report died away, and the scene cleared. Bob struggled slowly to his feet, lift- ing Jackie with him, kand then, reeling towards a tree and setting the boy in a fork of it, he looked in the direction where the hut had stood. It had been blotted out of existence, only a few charred remains marking the site it had occupied. The fire had certainly been overcome, but not in the manner that Bob Darrow had intended, for had he acted with less promptitude neither he nor .Jackie would have been alive to see the havoc which had been created. Meanwhile, some distance away, Jur;c and her father were crouching on their knees, panic-stricken and horrified by what had taken place. It was only when they rose that they discovered to their intense relief that Jackie and Bob were safe. "Look!" Madison breathed, pointing towards them. "Look, June!" June ran forward, her father stumbling after her. As she reached the forked tree she flung her «rnis around Jackie almost hysterically. "Jackie," she sobbed, "thank Heaven you're safe !" "Aw, I'm all right!" the boy answered stoutly. " Say, lemmc go, sis, will you? I'm not a little girl. I can take harder bumps than that. Quit fussin' over me, will you?" - Madison came up and gripped Bob by the hand. The fireman was in his shirt- sleeves, and had not escaped without one or two burns, while his clothes were blackened and scorched. He was scarcely aware of his hurts, however, counting them slight enough. "Darrow," breathed Madison, "how- can I ever thank you for getting my boy out of that death-trap?" "Never mind about that now, Mx. Madison," Bob rejoined. "'What blew up that shed, anyway ?"_ Madison answered him in a hoarse tone. " When I saw you turn back to Jackie's rescue," he explained, " I picked up one of your extinguishers anil threw it at the hut, hoping to put out the fire. The explosion followed imme- diately." Dan Mitchell had drawn somewhat nearer, moving from behind a gnarled oak-tree, to which he had jumped for shelter when Madison had flung the September 19th, 103i.