Boy's Cinema (1930-31)

16 "Louie?" Jackie exclaimed, and at mention of liis brother's name all his doubts vanished. "Surel He's just got back from riorida. He ain't feeling any too good, and he wants to see you." The Midget leaned over the side of tho car and caught at Jackie's arm. "Come on, get in tho car, boy I" Back came Jackie's suspicions with a rush. This man seemed far too anxious to get him in the car for his liking. "Oh," Jackie said in as calm a tone as he could manage, "I'd rather wait until I hear from my brother person- ally." " Now, now, Jackie, it's ciuite on the level !" Tho Midget bit his lip as ho sensed the boy's suspicions. "Come on, jump in. We'll take you to your brother, see?" But Jackie did not move, and at a wink from the Midget Gympy caught at tho youngster's arms. "Here, let me go!" Jackie cried in alarm. Desperately he writhed in Gympy's grasp, managed to break fi-oe, and darted wildly down the road just as a lorry swung out of a side turning. There came a hoarse voice j'elling a frantic warning, a screeching of hastily applied brakes. But too late. The heavy lorry was upon the fleeing youngster oven as its driver strove desperately to slacken speed. Down went Jackie with a terrified shriek as the bonnet of the vehicle struck him with violent impact. Came the horrified cries of those who had witnessed the accident, then a white- faced crowd surrounded the broken little figure that lay so still in the dusty road with tho front wheels of tho now stationary lorry almost touching it. There sounded sobbing, too, for several of Jackie's follow cadets had seen all that had happened from the academy gates, and the sight had appalled them. Then, above all other sound, came the roar of a motor-car as the Midget and Gympy, thoroughly alarmed that they should have been the indirect cause of tho accident, sped away from the scene. Well the two rascals knew that their lives would be forfeit should Louie Ricarno get to know that it was really through them that his kid brother had rushed to his death. The Telegram. WHEN he heard what had led to Jackie's death tho Major of the Military Academy promptly tele- phoned to police headquarters in Charlesworth, tho nearest big town. Mention of the victim's name, together with tho information that the little fellow had been running away from two men who wore evidently trying to kidnap him in a car, was all that was needed to arouso Captain Pat O'Grady's interest. Half an hour later Pat was at the academy questioning tho boys who had witnessed the accident, showing them a batch of photographs that included every crook in and around Charlesworth. And two of the pictures were pointed to by tho boys as being tho portraits of the men who had spoken to Jackie outside tho college gates. , Pat .«miled grimly as, some little while later, ho loft tho academy in his car. The Midget and Gympy ! What had been the reason bphind their attempted kidnapping of little Jackie? A diabolical way if it had boon their inten- tion to pay otf a grievance against Louie Ricarno tlirough his kid brother. Well, he had got something on the Midget and Gympy now, and the evidence iie could bring against them was sufficient to put them away for a long spell. Two thugs less to terrorise December 19th. 1931. BOY'S CINEMA Charlesworth. Pat certainly had good reason to feel satisfied just then. At about the same time that the Major of tho Military Academy got upon the tclophouo to acquaint police head- quarters with the mysterious circum- stances that had led to little Jackie's death, Louie Ricarno was hastily dash- ing off the last few sheets of his life's history. Presently the door opened and Dons entered the room. Ho glanced round, and not noticing tho telegram she held in her hand, gave her a pleasant smile, completely forgetful of the fact that only a short time before he had lost his temper with her. "Say, kid," he said, "what's the Latin word they put at the end of books?" "Fiiiis." Doris approached the desk at which he sat, and arched her eye- brows in surprise. " But you don't mean to say that you're actually through with your book, Louie?" "Sure I do." He got upon his feet, swelling out his chest with pardonable pride. "You see, it had to oe finished to-day, for there's a guy coming to read it in an hour or so—a publisher, you know." • She handed him the telegram then, and he took it with little interest. "So this concludes the life of a gangster and begins the life of a man." There was the semblance of a sneer in the girl's voice. "Finis! Gee, that's swell! I'd have " She broke off, startled, as a violent imprecation burst from Louie's lips. Bewildered eyes gazed at the youngster's suddenly white face, travelled to the trembling hand that held the buff-coloured telegraph form. "Louie, what in heaven's name is the matter? What " The shrill note of the telephone-bell broke into her words, and she sped to the table on which the instrument reposed. For a moment or two she listened to a voice at the other end of the wire, then, still clasping the receiver to her ear, she turned to Louie, who still stood beside his writing-desk as if rooted to the spot. "Louie," she called, "it's the man from tho Atlas Publishing Company. He wants to know if he can come over right now to read your book?" A moment's silence, during which the telegraph form fluttered from Louie's numbed fingers, then "Tell him it's not finished yet I" he said in a voice charged with deadly menace. Quickly Doris conveyed the message to the man at the other end of the line, then with a puzzled frown she returned to the desk and picked up the fallen telegraph form. On it she read: "Brother killed in accident. Caused through two men attempting to kidnap him. Come at once.—^lajor, INIilitary Academy, Fairfield." "My heavens!" was all the girl could say. Qympy Pays the Price. FIVE days later Louie Ricarno, dressed in black save for his soft grey felt hat, came wearily into the sitting-room of the expensive, furnished flat he had rented in the residential quarter of Derwcnt, and sank heavily into a chair. "Any luck?" inquired Mileaway, who had been awaiting Louie's return from nearby Charlesworth. "Yeah," came the listless answer. "Plenty. I got it all from O'Grady's friend in the tobacco store. You see that guy's in Pat's confidence." Every Tuesday "Who did it, Louie?" Mileaway eagerly jisked. But Louie made no reply. Instead, he took up the receiver of the telephone that stood on the table at his elbow and gave a number to. the operator at the exchange. A moment later and his connection was made. "Hallo, is Rocco there?" Louie in- quired, a fierce gleam flashing into his eyes. "Rocco?" reiterated Mileaway. "Did he " "No, he didn't do it." Louie slowly shook his head, then sat bolt upright as a familiar voice came to his ear. "That you, Rocco? It is? . Well, this is Louie Ricarno. You seen anything of Gympy or the Midget lately ? You have ? Wefl, that's grand. Now you listen here. I want you to have Gympy in front of your place to-night at nine o'clock. What? Never you mind what's the idea. You have him in front of your place to-night at nine o'clock, or by hades it'll go hard for you, eee?" "Okay," came Rocco's voice, and with that Louie rang off, a grim smile play- ing around the corners of his set mouth. "So Gympy was one of 'em. And the other the Midget, just as I thought." Mileaway flicked the ash from his cigarette, then glanced at his wrist- watch. "It's after eight now, Louie. Want me to come along?" "No, I'm taking care of that dirty hound myself." Louie ground his teeth savagely. " You stay here and keep Doris company." That suited the fickle Mileaway down to the ground, and as Louie strode from the room he settled himself in the com- fortable settee to wait for the girl who was in the bod-room changing her dress. She put in an appearance a few minutes later, and the two took advantage of Louie's absence to indulge in a mild flirtation and to drink Louie's wine and smoke his cigarettes. But when Louie returned somewhere in the region of ten, Doris had retired for the night and Mileaway was dozing in a chair. But he awoke the moment Louie came in and glanced at him in- quiringly. "Well?" But Louie made no reply, just went across to a decanter of whisky, and poured himself out a liberal helping to which he added a splash of soda. "Thea he turned and raised the glass aloft. "Here's to Gympy and the look on his dirty face when he took it!" He laughed almost hysterically, tossed down his drink, tlien started violently as a knock sounded on the door. "See who it is, Mileaway!" he rasped.-^ As Mileaway went towards the door, Louie set down his glass and dived his hand into his jacket pocket. But the caller was Pat O'Grad^, not members of Rocco's gang as Louie had feared. "Ah, come on in, Pat." As the de- tective advanced into the room and Mileaway recloeed the door, Louie waved a hand towards the decanter ou the sideboard. "What say to a drink, old man?" "Thanks, no!" Pat shook his head, his eyes fastened on Louie's face in dis- concerting fashion. "Say, that was a nice piece of work to-night. A gangster put on the spot and his colleagues, wise to the affair, letting him keep the ap- ixiintment in the hope that they'd got the follow who was after him. But no- thing doing—the guy was too smart and drilled his victim. He even dodged mo and " "What the heck are you getting at?" Louie strove desperately to master the sudden fear that gripped his heart. Did Pat O'Grady suspect him, then? From