Boy's Cinema (1930-31)

24 "I get yoii; but don't wait too long before you show up with llerHn," Con- nolly nuiitered anxiously. "Those two guys might be a handful for us." "We won't be too long," Spike an.swered testily. "Go on—get busy." Connolly started for the cabin, jerk- ing his head to Butch to indicate that he should follow. They did not advance by the same route that Spike had taken wiien lie had reconnoitred the hollow, but marched boldly towards their objec- tive, and they were about seventy-five yards from it when Butch suddenly checked. "Say, Silk," he exclaimed, "it ain't occurred to Spike- that 1 was mixed up in that shindy at the warehouse. Darrow uiiglit recognise me if he sees me a- comin', I guess. Let's hit the brush and work round under cover, the way Spike did just now." "Vou're right, Butch," Connolly agreed, and they plunged into the thickets. Meanwhile, standing at the bench in the cabin laboratory. Bob finished work oti the sample he was making and poured the liquid into a small vial. "Sure, an' it looks pretty enough to dhriiik," Pat commented, as he admired the colour of the liquid. "Yes, but this is not intended for a thirst." Bob replied. "Now we'll go outside and start a good, snappy fire and put it out instantly with just this amount of extinguislier. You know, back at the station the chief laughed at the idea of putting out a blaze with a chemical of this kind," he added, pocket- ing his formula. Pat grinned. "I'd laugh at the chief," he oh^icrved. "but I wouldn't" let him hear me." They walked out of the cabin, and were unmediately seen h-om the brush by C'-ounolly and Butch, who hesitated a moment and then advanced with ex- treme caution. Ignorant of the danger that was closing in on them. Bob and Pat picked upon a dead tree that had been blasted by lightning, and, gathering masses of brushwood, they piled it against the trunk. When he was satisfied with the dimensions of the beacon, Bob set a nutch to the fuel. The dry brushwood blazed up almost at once, and Bob drew back. With Pat at his side, he watched the fire fiom a distance of twenty paces, and in as many seconds lurid tongues of flame were coil- ing up the dead tree-trunk to a height of fifteen feet. "Pat," Bob announced, 'I'm ccr- taijdy enthusiastic about this experi- ment. 1 know it's going to work.'' Pat had become the picture of anxiety, for it seemed to him that the bonfire was assuming a perilous degree of intensity. "You'd better throw the tiling." he urged. "You're goin' to burn tnc whole place up. Supposin' the woods tatch fcire !" "Now don't get scared. Pat," Bob laughed. "I'm going to i)Ut out that blaze quicker than a cataract of water. Here goes !" VVitli the words he lunlcd the tiny vial at tlie base of ttie trie-trunk. There was an explosion that caused Pat to h-ap away in alarm, and a denize cloud of g;is enveloped the bonfire. When the fumes cleari'd an instant later there was not even a glowing ember to be seen airiid the pile of brushwood, and. what was equally remarkable, the explosion had not displaced a single twig. Pat ran forward in amazement, and October lOtli, 19S1. BOY'S CINEMA when Bob-joined him at the .tree^Lrunk the Irishman was reaching out gingerl.v to touch the dry vegetation that had been burning so furiously a moment previously. "It's cold!" he exclaimed. "Bob, your fortiuie's made!" "It sure is, Pat," Bob rejoined. "Just imagine what tliat extinguisher will do to a big fire. Just imagine wliat " He never completed the sentence, for at that instant Butch and Connolly leapt from the brush and poimced on the two firemen. Connolly assailed Bob, and speedily liad cause to regret his choice, for, though taken by surprise, the fireman- inventor soon recovered himself, and with bunched knuckles he proceeded to batter the crook relentlessly. Butch had met with more success in the initial stages of attack. He was a thick-set, powerful ruffian, and he had hurled himself at Pat Heeley's back and felled him with a terrific blow to the neck. Pat was flung to the ground, and Butch dropped a-top of him and struck at him savagely as he lay there. But though he had come straight out of hos- pital, and though he had been half- stiuined by that first cowardly punch, the Irishman managed to pull himself together. Twisting round, he throw Butch oK and then scrambled to his feet. The crook was up with him. and they hit out at each other fiercely. Pat bellow- ing imprecations in his Irish brogue as he did so. It gradually dawned on the sturdy Butch that he had met his match in Pat, and was taking a lot of punish- ment. That some impression had long since been made on Connolly by Bob Darrow, and both gangsters began to wish heartily that Spike and Merliri woidd show up. Ths Blast. THE foreman in charge of one of the shifts working on the mountain- road tunnel made his way to the superintendent. OUR GRAND NEW ANNUAL. « Don't forget to get a copy of this wonderful new Annual. It is packed with thrilling flim stories, pictorial articles and coloured plates. Price 6/- net, at all Newsagents. Every Tuesday "We've struck sclid rock, bois," ho said, "and we'll have to blast it out. I've got the men drilling now." "That means the tunnel will l>c closed for a while, huh?" the superintenderft observed. "All right, I'll tell you what to do. Send a man round to the far end of the tunnel to turn all cars on to the other road." His instructions were obeyed, and a flagman was despatched to the north- eastern end of the timnel, the end farthest from San Francisco. Shortly afterwards Jiuie Madison and lu-r fjither appeared in their sports ca.r, but as they were coming from the direction of the city, and as it was too late to turn them on to the loop road, t.ho superintendent let them through. Tho drilling had not been completed, any- how, so there was as yet no danger. " We're widening the tunnel at tho other end," he explained to the Madisons after waving them down. "The men are working inside, so kindly drive with care." Jimc switched on her headlamps and took no risks. The tunnel extended for a distance of ever a hundred yards, and only when she was clear of it did she turn out the lights and accelerate to a speed of more than ten miles an hour. The Madisons weie hardly through tho tunnel when drilling ceased and thy workmen trooped back to the end wheru the superintendent was standing. A detonating plunger was then made rtvidy to explode the blast that had been laid, but the fir.«t attempt failed to produce any effect. "Something wrong." muttered (ho man operating the plunger, and, after examining it, ho tried it again with tho same result. "Say. get some fuse!" ordered the superintendent impatiently. "We can't wait for that plunger with the dynamite all set. And make sure that fl ig- man's at the other end to stop all traffic." Speeding along the left fork of I ho mountain road, the Madisons knew nothing of the details connected with the work on the timnel. They certainly never imagined that the activities which were in progress there were yet to " become boimd up in their own interests. When they were still less than a mile beyond the tunnel they caught a glimpse of the cabin through a break in the thi< kets, and at the spectacle which met her eyes June pulled up sharply. "Dad," she ga>ped. "look down there in the bellow ! Bob and Pat fighting with two men ;" She swung off the road and drove straight for the cabin. Api)roaching it on foot from another ai.'glc, S[)ike Beldori and Merlin saw the sfjorts car coming, and they involuntarily clucked down. Jiuie drew the auto to a standstill close to the scene of the scuffle, which was now almost at an end. l'"or since Spike and Merlin had not come to their assistance. Connolly and Butch had been thoroughly ovei w helmed. Bob and Pat had turned them into a couple of punching-lKigs. but a^ June and her father a|)peiired they seized the battered ruflians and shook them as terriers might have shaken u pair of rats. "What's the trouble. Ro':>?" asked Madison, descending from liie sport* ca r. "Why. these fellows took us bv .sur- prise." Bob explained. "I gueso we'll run them down to the sheriff's odice and nialce them tell who is back of it all." (Continued on page S6.)