Boy's Cinema (1930-31)

2 BOY'S CINEMA Every Tuesday Arrested for a hold-up of which they are innocent, Tom Dale and his Swedish henchman, Olaf, escape from jail by a trick, and Tom enters into possession of a ranch bequeathed to him by an uncle, only to encounter fresh trouble. A stirring drama of, the West, full of unexpected twists and turns. Starring Buck Jones and Ethel Kenyon. A Hold-Up. FROM Falls City to Westoiiville is a matter of forty-five miles, or there- abouts, and forty-five miles is not considered any distance at all in Texas. But Ton) Dale had ridden ont of Knox County with Olaf Jensen^and the Bar-C Ranch, in that county, is over eighty miles fiom either town, so that, aside fiom a brief night*,s camp in the hills, the two had been in the saddle for the better part- of a day and a half. Tom, however, had no complaints to make. He had made plenty concerning ;nore important things the previous morning to the overbearing foreman of the Bar-C, ere demanding his pay and .mnoiuicing his immediate intention to quit; but he was rather enjoying the ride. The day v.as hot, but not un- comfortabjy so, and Silver, hi.s big and intelligent white horse, was still as fresh ■;f- paint. It wa.s Olaf Jensen^sonietimes known as " Ole," but more frequently as "Swede"—who did all the complain- ing. Yet Olaf had accompanied Torn entiri'ly of his own accord, preferring that young man's company in an un- certain tjuwt to continued employment cu the Bar-C wjthout it. As a matter of fact, it was largely over Olaf that Tom's quanel with the foreman had originated. For Olaf was a queer fellow, a tall and powerful son of l^wedish immigrants, who lacked the coifrage to fight his own battles, though physically callable of holding his own luider the most adverse circumstances. One of the things about him which irritated the foreman was his dogged devotioTi to a battered bowler of Swedish pattern which he invariably wore instead of the regulation cow-hat. And the previous morning the bowler had been knocked off his head, and Olaf himself had been knocked off his horse foi' persisting in wearing the thing. EveiY bit as dogged as Olaf's devotion to his ancient bowler was his devotion to Tom, whom he almost worshipped. Consequently, the foreman had suffered severely at Tom's indignant hands, and Tom had unburdened his mind of many pent-up grievances while the foreman nursed an aching jaw and murdered the pair of them with his eyes. Tom was like that—quick of temper, quick of tongue, and quick to champion the oppressed. His keen grey eyes gave witness to his indomitable soul—and he was as quick on the tiigger as any man in Texas, if not cpiicker. But if he was impulsive h« was warm- hearted. Once iipon a time he hod put a man in bed for weeks for maltreating a steer; and more than once he had flogged a man for flogging a worn-out horse. He was an implacable enemy, but he was a staunch friend. Half-way to Westonville, howevcV, even he became impatient with Olaf, for (he Swede, uncomfortably mounted on a bony brown horse, alternately filled the air with complainings about the heat and snatches of song rendered in a voice so raucous that it grated on one's nerves. Together they breasted a hill out of a region of grassland and looked down upon the winding coach tiail beneath - --- the purple hills, while, nearer to hand, the road- way dipped down between a mass of tumbled rocks. Automatically they paiLsed there, and the majeetic wene appealed to Tom's sense of the beautifuL But Olaf, who had been gi-unting and groaning all the way up the hill, suddenly I egan to sing again. "For the love of Mike, don't sing!" connnanded Tom. "Just look at that road, winding its way among the rocks! Just look at them hills, all purplish-like! Just " "I hope we get to where we're going to soon," interrupted Olaf, with what he considered to be a touch of humour, "because my feet is gettin' .iwful sore!" "Give the old pony a kick and let'a get going," said Tom disgustedly. "You've got no sense of nature." "If you was a-sitting on a bimdle of bones " "Aw, come on, Ole!" They were nearly at the bottom of the hill, when round a bend to the left the coach came into view, travelling from the direction of Westonville. It reached the patch of fallen rock, and there abruptly it came to a full stop, the four horses that were drnwintr it pulled almost on to their hind legs by the driver. For a solitary horseman had ridden out from the rocks, and a gun was in his hand. At that distance, neither Tom nor Olaf could gain a very clear impression of the bandit who, in this wise, had held up the coach, but Tom immediately dug his heels into Silver's broad sides, The Christmas present you MUST have. THE BOY'S CINEMA ANNUAL On sale everywhere, price 6'- net. DecciiitK-r 26th, 1931.