Boy's Cinema (1930-31)

^2 that there was not a second to be Fosf if she were to rescue him, she flung caution to the winds and made a dash for the basement steps. There was an immediate hue and cry, but June gained the celhir before the crooks could descend (o the ground floor. Unlocking the solid door of Bob's place of captivity, she throw it open and stumbled into the fireman's arms as he was on the point of swinging up a broken chair-leg. "June!" he cried, dropping the im- provised bludgeon as he recognised hor. "They're coming down the stairs, Bob!" she panted. "Quick—we've got to get out of here !" Almost before she finished the sentence slie knev;' that the one way of escape was barred to them, for, stampeding down the steps that led to the base- ment, the crooks swarmed into the cellar in a body. There were no windows to the cellar, and no light penetrated from outside. But, some time previously, Bob had turned on the electric switch, and a powerful bulb now illuminated the place. In the very first moment of attack that lighl was extinguished, with dis- astrous consequences that were not at first apparent. The first to hurl himself at Bob was Merlin, and, seizing the rogue in his powerful arms, the fireman swept him oflt his feet and flung him headlong >: t his companions. Merlin clutched blindly as he dived backward through space, and his hand gripped the lamp that hung from the low ceiling, tearing down both bulb and wire and plunging the cellar into darkness. The accident fused the electric light system and. behind the wainscoting, un- seen threads of metal carried the spectre of fire through the tenement. But, ob- livious of the peril, the crooks closed in on the dim-seen figure of their victim. Bob fought back at them savagely, and speedily discovered that the odds against him were not .so desperately overwhelming as they at first seemed. For the ruffians impeded one another, and the darkness, while it lasted, was actually an advantage in Bob's favour. It was not long, however, before vicious tongues of flame were beginning to rise near the cellar steps, and in the .space of a few minutes the basement .seemed a death-trap. Bob lashed out at his assailants the more fiercely, and with a sudden irresist- ible rush he scattered them to right and left and gained the doorway. June was cowering near by, and, grasping her hand, he hiu-iied her out of the cellar. Flames beat in their faces as they climbed the basemeiu steps, and a thick pall of smoke closed over them. ]'"rom the cellar rose an angry outcry as the crooks started in pursuit. Bob and June reached the floor above, only to discover that the blaze was n hundred times more devastating than it had I)een in the basement. They blun- dered on. but were not quite certain \\hich way they should turn for the street door, and while they hesitated Spike and his men intervened between them and the direct way df escape. Still grasping June's hand. Bob dashed for the stairs that led to the next storey. The gangsters followed—all \\ith the exception of But'h. who fled the tenement convinced that some super- natural force had started the flrc. Flames seemed to be raging on every floor, but the crooks continued the pur- suit determinedly, atid they were on the fugitives' very heels when Bob turned at bay. He hit Merlin,, the first man. fidl in the jaw, and ISIerlin plunged back October 3lst, 193l, BOY'S CINEMA into a belt of fire, throwing his com- panions into confusion as he did so. The pursuit was checked for a moment, and Bob and Juno .'ped on up the stairs. But the crooks quickly resumed the chase, and three flights had been climbed before the .danger of their situa- tion drove them down again in a helter- skelter rush for the street. Bob did not choose to descend after them. He was in his shirtsleeves, and had no coat to throw over June, whose steps were already beginning to falter. The fire seemed worse, raoveover, on the flodrs that they had left below them. "We've got to get to the roof," Bob coughed out. "It's our only chance!" They made for the top landing. Even there the blaze raged menacingly, though it was less intense than on the other storeys, and flames were coiling around Bob as ho lifted June through a scuttle in the ceiling and then clambered after her. He had hoped that they might make their getaway across the roofs, but as he looked aboit him he saw that the deserted tenement stood isolated. There seemed no way of escape, and he was trying to light down a feeling of despair when the familiar clang of fire-bells reached his ears. He strode to the parapet, and, peer- ing down into the street through the flames and smoke that were pouring from the tenement windows, he saw a big .scarlet engine swinging into view. It was followed by another truck, and another, and in a few seconds the hoses were being turned on to the burning building. But the escapes were not yet in sight, and it was plain to Bob tJiat the roof of the tenement was due to cave in at any minute. Then suddenly his glance came to rest on a number of telephone cables run- ning from the tenement to a building across the street, and in a moment an idea was suggested to him. "There's our way out. .Jime !'" he cried, pointing. "Give me your hands!"' She j-ecoilcd from the daring project, but he drew her arms about his neck and bound her wrists around him with a handkerchief. Next instant he had gripped the cables and was swinging himself out across the street. Far below, the p.ivcments were lined with crowds of anxious spectators, who watched Bob and the girl in an agony of suspense, and all at once the tension fairly became nerve-racking as it was seen that the cross-avm to which the telephone cable? were attached was breaking off under the strain. A jerk warned Bob of this now terror. He turned his head and saw that the cross-arm was coming asunder from the post on the tenement roof, and he swung farther out along the cables, in the hope of reaching the building opposite before the support was completely torn away by the strain laid upon it. But he and June wei'O still swaying above the heads of the crowd in the street when the cross-arm was dragged from its fastenings, and a hoarse cry rose from hundreds of throats as man and girl hurried down through space. Morgan's Point. IT was to Bob's comrades of the fire department that June and her com- jianion owed their lives. For a few seconds before the cross-arm snapped, Pat Heeley and several of the other men da.shed into the middle of the street with a safety-net. Plunging through mid-air, Bob and June were caught in the net and hurried to the sidewalk, wliere they were set on their feet. Juno's hands were then un- Every luesaay " tied, and as she seemed to be suffering from shock she was packed into a taxi and driven home, Bob electing to re- main on the spot- and help extinguish one of the worst fires the city had seen. June felt considerably more composed when she reached home, and, locating her father in his study witli Dan Mitchell, she soon related all that had happened. Her father listened to her with awe, Mitchell with secret chagrin, though he managed to conceal the sentiment pretty effectively. "And what about the formula?" Mitchell asked when the girl had finished her story. "I don't know," .Tune answered, with' a frown. "Things happened so quickly that I didn't got a chance to ask Bob." Eager to learn the answer to the ques- tion that was foremost in his mind, Mitchell made some excuse and left the house, driving straight to his office, to find that Spike and the rest of the gang were awaiting him there. He was not long in discovering that the coveted for- mida was still beyond his grasp. "A fine bunch of tripe you are!" he accused his hirelings. " One girl walks in on you. and upsets all my plans!" "Now hold on, Mitch," Spike argued. "It wasn't the girl that beat us: it was the fire. And Danow didn't have the formula, anyhow." "Use your bead!" snapped Mitclioll. "He had the formula when you started, but he didn't have it when you arrived; You thought he was unconscious in that car, but he was smart enough to fool a lot of half-wits like jou! Where is the car?" "It's at Morgan's Point now,'.' growled Spike. Mitchell eyed him keenly. "All right." he said. "You and the boys drive out there. Butch, you go up to Madison's place, watch points there, and report at once if you hear or sec anything that might help ns.'' At that precise moment, just lately returned from the tenement fire. Bob Darrow was taking Pat Heeley and Battalion Chief Wilson into his con- fidence regarding the whereabouts of his formula, and his conversation was one that would have convinced !Mitchell his suspicions were correct. "When these fellows had me in (hat car," Bob said as he stood before his chief's desk at the station, "they (bought I was imconstious. But before they had a chance to search me I slipped the fonnula behind one of the seat cushions. Now, it seems to me I re- member hearing one of the gang men- tioning that the car would have to be taken to soms garage under a water-' tower at iMorgan's Point, after they'd finished with it, and hidden there sgi that they wouldn't be traced by it; That's where I moan to go right now."!? "Can't Oi be afther going wid hiiiij; chief?" Pat Heeley interposed. "Oi'i^ off duty now, and Oi've got me oiil(1 motor-bike. Oi can droive it now waf- out hittin' annything," Wilson smiled. "All right, Pat." he agreed. " 1". ib may need you. But I think /if'd bcilri- do the driving. By the way. Boh, Fll ring Madison for you and tell him yont plans." I I James Madison enfeVed his study ttt find June sitting at his desk. | "I'm going down to police, he i.P quarters, my dear," lie sard, "and I'lti going to take your sports car. Tiit (Continned on page 24.) i