Boy's Cinema (1930-31)

Every Tuesday —Mitchell, Spike Bekloii, and a vil- lainous-looking confederate. Spike remained at the wheel as Dan Milchell and the other man alighted. To tho latter Mitchell spoko in ati undertone. "Tim Shayne will be covering thi'^ Etietch in his sports single-seater at any minute," ho explained, "heading for the starting-point where ho intends to take over tho Brown Special from Madi- son's mechanic. All joii have to do is to go up to tho brow of that hill and tip me otf when you sec Shayne coming. I'll bo posted at the_ edge of the trees here, and I'll give Spike the word as soon as I get your signal." The look-out nodded and ran to the brow of tho hill Mitchell had indicated. The promoter himself stood at the junc- tion of tho side road and the highway, and was waiting there when Spike called to him from the tourer. "Say, boss," Boldon mentioned, " sup- posin' Shayne dodges the crack-up. What are you gonna do then?" "He'll crack up if you're smart enough to do this job the way I want it done," Mitchell retorted. "If your.' not, I've still got a trick left in my hand. I've been in touch with Spud Rossiter, the mechanic working on tho Brown Special, and I oiled his palm to the tune of a hundred dollars last night." Ho turned his attention to the brow of the hill, and had not long to wait before he saw tho look-out turn and wave his arm, then dart out of sight. On the instant Mitchell backed into th- fide-road and gave Spike Bcldon the signal for action. A high-pitched engine whine suddenly became audible on tho highway—the whine of a light car travelling at top speed. Next second Tim Shayno hurtled into view in a bullet-shaped auto. He was touching seventy in a dash to the San Francisco Speedway, from which the competifors were to .set forth on a two-hundred-milo road race, follow- ing a course that would brm^ them back to the stAdium and tho finishing-pomt. Crouched behind tho stecrmg column and the segment of wind-shield that pro- tected his face, he looked like some dare- devil demon symbolical of tho cult for Speed. With foot crammed on the accelerator and exhaust throbbing out the vibrant scream of the engine, Shayne flashed down tho long hill, from the crest of which he had first been sighted. He was almost level with the sidc- load at the foot of the descent, when Spike Beldon drove out into the middle of the high- way. Tim Shayne slung round tho steering- wheel madly -and swerved to avoid tho crash. Spike swerved, too, and, wheel to wheel, crowded Shayne off the road. The raco- driver's- bullet - shap auto seemed to leap from the highway, then plunged down an embankment, turning over and over in its wild career, and finish- ing up with its wheels to the sky. Luckily Shayne had been flung clear, or he must have been pinned BOY'S CINEMA down and crushed by the weight of his machine. He was found by two passers- by not long afterwards, lying at some distance from the car, with both legs broken and his right arm fractured. But he was conscious, and a pitiful moan escaped him as the two men who tiad found him tried to lift him from the ground. "Ill get to the nearest 'phone and call an ambulance," said one of the men. To tho other, who remained with him, Tim Shayne spoke faltcringly, giving out a brief message before ho sank back in a dead faint. "Shoot a wire to James Madison at the speedway," he groaned, and the man bcsido him took out pencil and paper. An hour later, standing by the sleek, grey racing car known as the Brown Special, James Madison received that fateful missive, and as he read it his face blanched. "Why, what's wrong, daddy?" asked June, who was be.side him. Without a word ^ladison handed the telegram to his daughter. "Hurt in accident," she read, able to drive.— Tim Sh.wne." 'Un- A familiar figure approached at (hat moment, and, looking up with dismay written on her lovely face, June saw Dan Mit<hell. She hold out the wire to him in that same stricken silence with which her father had passed it over an instant before. "That's tough luck," observed Mitchell, when he had scanned it. "And no time to find another driver, huh?" Ho glanced towards the starting-line, to which tho entrants were already beginning to drive their cars, and Juno and her father looked at each other hopelessly^Juno because the horror of that thoughtless promise she had made was weighing on her mind almost in- tolerably. She had given her word that she would marry Dan Mitchell if Pollard's Hayden 23 Special won tho race, and, with tho Brown Special out of tho running, Pollard was a certainty for first place! It was while June was facing this un- foreseen and overwhelming dilemma that Bob Darrow reached the speedway. From the grand-stand he caught sight of the ^Madisons and Dan ^Mitchell near tho starting-point, and he was making his way down tlie terraces when he was hailed by Pat Heeley, who, like himself, was off duty and in civvies. Bob exclianged a few. cheery words with the Irishman, and then continued liis descent to the track. As lio approached the spot where the Browi» Siiecial was standing he could not help noticing tho Madisons' gloom. "Hallo!" he said, coming up to Juno. "Is anything wrong?" She answered him with an efTort. "Oh, Bob,'' she told him, "Tim Shayne has been hurt—and there's no one to drive the Brown Special." Bob did not realise the magnitude of tho catastrophe. "Why, that's too bad," ho murmured. " But still, there will be other races, and " June interrupted him. Her father was close by, but Mitchell's attention had been diverted and was out of earshot. "You don't understand. Bob," Juno said desperately. " Dad had a ten thou- sand dollar bet with Mitchell, and—and I agreed to accept an engagement ring from Mitchell if Pollard won in the Hayden car. Oh, I must have been mad, but I felt so confident about tho Brown Special, and I never dreamed this would happen." Bob was staring at her incredulously, as if he could scarcely grasp tho situation. "It's a promise I can't break," Juno wont on tremulously. " I gave Dan my word in all seriousness, and if tho Spud Rossiter tried to stop him, but Pat tweaked reached for a suit of him violently by the nose and then overalls. September 26tli, 1031.