Boy's Cinema (1930-31)

20 for Arnold and liis companions, how- ever, and telling Brincy and the other sailors to make themselves scarce, he strode on with Bonnie to the stairs. Arnold and his associates were on the point of ascending when the Englishman overtook them. He grijipod the owner of the Lottie Carson by the arm and swung him around. "I want a word with you, Arnold," lie said grimly. "What's the idea?" the scoundrel demanded. Harry looked him straight in the eye. "Just this!" he rapped out. "You may not know it, but I saw you and Black having a little heart-to-heart talk with this dago Lascara. I can put two and two together, and I've got a sneak- ing fancy that the attack on mo was somo of your dirty work. You thought you'd bump me off, eh?" "I don't know what you're talkmg about, Drake," Arnold retorted viciously. "I had nothing to do with your rotten quarrel. When you start flattering one of these native girls," he added, " it's a good idea to make certain that no other admirers arc around." "The girl had nothing to do with it," Harry blazed, infuriated by the attempt ob throw a slur on his character in Bonnie's presence. "It was a deliberate frame-up between you and this dago here " "No, no!" Lascara protested suavely, taking the cue that Arnold had given him. "I had not'ing to do with it. I control the dancing-girls, but I cannot control the men. Ecf you pay attentions to Pelula and somebody get jealous, captain, it is not my fault if a free fight start." The young Englishman heard Bonnie utter a faint exclamation, and a glance at her face told him that the tissue of plausible lies that his enemies were building around the bar-room fracas had roused doubts in the girl's mind. It was hardly to be wondered at, for both Arnold and Lascara sounded sincere enough in their accusations. "Bonnie," Harry appealed, "you don't believe what they're saying, do you ?" "Oh, I don't know what to believe!" she cried desperately, and with the words she ran upstairs to her room. A husky mutter of laughter escaped Bull Black, and the ruffianly mate nioved nearer to Harry and favoured him with a mocking leer. "You ain't so lucky in handling womenfolk, aro you, Drake?" be taunted. A fierce spasm of rage seized Harry, Lut he betrayed it only by the twitching of tho muscles in his cheek, and when he spoke his voice was cool and level. "JMaybe not," he said, "but I do know how to handle rats like you!" Next instant ho swung his fist to the point of Bull Black's jaw, and he ranmicd home liis bunched kmickles with an impact that swept Arnold's henchman off his feet. Bull hit the floor with a thud, and. neither Arnold nor La.scura seeming dis- posed to take up the quarrel on the mate's behalf, Hari-y strode from the bar-room into the .street. As he emerged he was confronted by Briney, and it was plain from the lalter's first words that he liad witnessed the incident with Bull. "Good for you, captain," he declared. "An' listen—ine an' the boys grabbed a little half-caste that w.is mixed up in tho bar-room row. Sneakin' off along the street, he was, but we didn't let him go till we'd made him talk." "Yes?" Harry murmured. "And what did he say ?" "We .squeezed this much outa him," Decenit)cr lOtli, 19S1. BOY'S CINEMA Briney answered. "The guys that started the fight were in Ijascara's pay, and it was Bull Black that hired Lascara to have you bumped off." Harry bit his lip. "Bull Black isn't the onlj- one behind tho racket," he declared. "Say, Briney. get the boys together, will you? I'd like to talk to them." Collins, Burke and Cormor were stand- ing at a street-corner not far away, and Briney gave them a hail. They came up at the double, and Harry addressed tliem earncstlj'. He did not know that Arlenc Chandos had quietly followed him from Lascara's premises at tho instigation of Ben Arnold, and was lurking within earshot in the mouth of a dark alley. "Listen, boys," Harry said. "We've got to watch our step. Arnold is out to get me, and I don't want you fellows to run into any danger on my account. The best thing you can do is to take passage on the first ship that docks in Twamballa." "Sure, captain," put in Briney, "if you come with us." Harry shook his head. " JMiss Adams is alone among a bunch of traitors who are only . professing friendship to her," he said. "I'm con- vinced that she'll be in an ugly situation once Arnold and his party have her fairly at her mercy on Danger Island— for, with us out of the way, she alone stands between Arnold and his ambition to make a fortune out of those radium deposits that her father discovered." " Well, what do you aim to do, cap- tain?" Burke inquired. "See the whole thing through," was Harry's answer, " even if I have to follow the Lottie Carson when she sails in tho morning." Briney laid a hand on the English- man's arm, and "Captain," he stated, "when 1 speak for meself I reckon I'm speakin' for those hero shipmates o' mine as well. If you think we're gonna desert you, you're wrong " From Jungle Fastnesses. LEAVING Bull and Lascara in the bar-room, Ben Arnold made his way upstairs and knocked at the door of Bonmo'a room, crossing the threshold as she gave liim permission to enter. "Oh, Ben," she said dismally, as he approached her, "was it really true that the fight started because Captain Drake was paying attention to a native girl?" Arnold shrugged. "Well, you know, he's a sailor," he observed, '' and there's the old saying about sailors having a sweetheart in every port." "But I can't believe he's like that." Bonnie told him. "Oh, I'm sick of this whole tragic cruise! " Can't we go home, Ben ?" "Bonnie," Arnold protested, with mock righteousness, "before yo\ir father died he charged you to finish the task ho had begun. Captiin Black has signed on a batch of new men, and the repairs on the ship will bo completed so that wo can sail with the morning's tide. It's this place that's got on your nerves, but I'll check up and see that every- thing is being done to hasten our departure." With that he left her and went down to the bar-room again. The usual cus- tomers had begun to drift back, and the dive was begiiuiiug to assume its cus- tomary iitmofpliere of barbarous gaiety, but of Bull and Lascara there was no sign. Arnold located them, however, in a pri\ate apartment behind the saloon, and as he joined them he looked at them sourly. Every Tuesday "Well, your men bungled tlie job after all, Lascara," ho snapped, but before he could say more. Bull Black tapped him on tho shoulder. " Wait a minute," he stated, in his deep, gruff voice. " Before you start gcttin' sore, Arnold, let mo tell you that Lascara has put up a proposition that looks like a cinch. Let him hear it, Lascara." Tho Portuguese smiled craftily and then beckoned Arnold to a window, through which he pointed a lean fore- fi.nger. Arnold peered forth into the starry night. Lascara's dive stood on the very outskirts of Twamballa, and Twamballa, in more than one respect, was unique. Unlike many other ports that had been settled by wh.ite men along the tropic African coast, its civilisation extended little farther than its streets and dwell- ings. The hinterland behind it was the jungle, primeval, untamed—a vast bar- rier of sinister bush-country stretching between tho coast and tho heart of the Congo region. It was towards the dark wall of junglo that Lascara gestured, and Ben Arnold looked at him dully. " In bush there is tribe known as the Zarbessa," Lascara said softly. "Bad people to make trouble with. I know— for now and then I ti-ade with them. Tho Zarbessa, they are devil worship- pers. They are what you gall ikillers— the mos' dangerous tribe in all Africa. They sacr4fico white man. To-day, some of them were seen near Twamballa— skulking, you understand? Lying in w-ait for victim." "A victim?" Arnold echoed. "'What are you driving at, Lascara ? How do tho Zarbessa expect to get a white man for a sacrifice here in Twamballa?" Lascara leaned closer. " Very few know how," he whispered. "No white man goes out of Twamballa when it is known they are near. Yet every time the Zarbessa come, a white man disappear and we sec him no more. It is their superstition—Zarbessa gods must have white man for sacrifice." Arnold could not repress a faint shudder, for tho manner in which Las- cara had spoken impressed him with a dull .sense of horror. "We'll have to look out for ourselves then," he muttered, "and for the two girls as well, I suppose." "No, not for womenfolk," Lascara re- joined. " Zarbessa only take white man. They believe their devil gods no' want white girl. And now listen, senor—you pay, and I fix it so the Zarbessa take Drake " Arnold laid a hand on his sleeve to compel silence, for at that moment there had come a knock on tho door. The visitor was Arlene, and as she stepped across tho threshold quickly the three men thought she appeared agitated. "I've been looking all over for you." she said. "You've got to do something with Drake. He and his friends have decided to see this thing through to the bitter end. As far as I can make out, they intend to find somo way of follow- ing us when we sail, and in the mean- time they are coming baok here to keep their eyes open and watch points." Bull Black grinned. " Is that so '!" he mused. " Stcppin' right into tho lion's den, huh '! How soon can you get hold of this party from the Zarbessa tribe. Lascara?" "Yes," Arnold interposed eagerly, "and how can we get them to under- stand what we want them to do?" Lascara coolly lit a cigarette. "I live long time in Twamballa." he said. "I speak many dialects, and I