Boy's Cinema (1930-31)

reply. "Cuthbert Chaunccy Dale ! Re- lative o' yours, d'you s'pose?" "Wiiat's that?" cried Tom. "Ciithbcrt Chaunoey Oh, but you can't do that 1" Torn had snatched away the missive and was tearing open the envelope. "Can't I?" said he grimly. "Well, this letter happens to belong- to me." "But your name's Tom." " Listen, Swede, my name Is Cutlibert Cluuniccy Dale. But if you ever men- tion it to anybody, or chip me about it, youll wish you hadn't." "Why, boss," gasped Olaf, "I swear I'm never goin' to toll anybody such a terrible thing like that! But I'd just like to ask you how you came to got a name like Chaun " "Don't say it again!" hissed Tom. "ily parents gave it to me, but, I think it was the fault of an aunt who read hooks. I had an awful time trying to live it down when I was a kid, and as soon as I left liome I took the name of Toui." He had extracted a letter from the envelope while he was talking, and, opening it out, proceeded to master its contents. "It's from a lawyer in Westonville," he informed Olaf. " You know I was aiming to look up an uncle who had a ranch there, in case he could give us both a job. Well, this lawyer says he's dead, and I've inherited a section of land up there, and what am I going to <lo about it!" "By golly!" rejoiced the Swede. "I felt in my bones that something was coming our way !" Something was coming their way with a vengeance; for the sheriff and his men had caught sight of Silver and the brown horse down by the roadway, and, dismounting, liad crept in among the rooks to surround their quarry The two v>ere storing the remainder of the letters in the mail-bag when a sten- torian voice immediately over their heads startled them. "Up with your hands!" "Boss," gasped Olaf as he got to his feet in a panic and raised his hands, " he's come back !" Tom stood beside him. His quick eyes had. seen more than one gun pointed in their direction, but ho said nothing. • And then the sheriff came scrambling down to them, and his men cWed in triumphantly. "Got tihc goods on you this time!" barked the sheriff. Certainly the evidence seemed clear enough. There was the mail-bag in the dust, and at the feet of the captives lay the last of the unre-stored letters which they had dropped as they held up thoir hands. To make matters worse, Tom's Indignant protest indicated a complete knowledge of the hold-up, for what he said was this: "Why, you don't think we held up the stage, do you?" "Wo ain't thinkin'," snorted the sherifT, "we know!" "Oh, listen, you fellows. I can ex- plain everything." "You'll do all your explainin' at the end of a rope," retorted the slieriff. Whereupon Olaf, trembling like an aspen leaf, stammered : "Aw, but say, mister, the—the—the ff "Shut up!" " I^I—I—I'm shut," faltered the un- )ia|)py Swede. But Tom was not to be silenced so easily. "Say," ho insisted, "wo ran that bandit off, and was aimin' to bring that stuff to town." The sheriff frowned. Certainly this captive looke<l honest enough, with his clear-cut, clean-shaven features and tiis keen grey eves. But while the sheriff December 2eth, 1931. BOY'S CINEMA was wavering, one of his men stepped forward and snatched the opened en- velope from the pocket of Tom's shirt. "If these guys didn't do it," he cried scornfully, " what's this letter doin' on him?" The sheriff was convinced, refused to listen to any further argimicnts, and picked up tlic mail-bag. The prisoners were marched off to tho spot where the horses had boon left, and a few minutes later the whole party were on their way to Falls City. It was late in the afternoon when the town gaol was reached. Tom demanded that tho driver of the coach should be produced to establish his innocence, but the coach had long since proceeded on the second stage of its journey to distant Oak Springs, so the prisoners were marched through the sheriff's office to the barred cell bcjond it. " You hombres sure picked a bad day for a hold-up," .said the .sheriff sarcastic- ally as he removed the key from the lock. "Friday, the 13th." He strode back to the front doorway and addressed the members of his posse, who were waiting there. "You fellows had better go and get some grub," he said. "Old Jed won't be back till day after to-morrow, so there's no hurry." The men went off, and the sheriff pre- sently devoured a meal which was brought to him by his red-headed deputy from the hotel over the way. The deputy went home to tea; the sheriff, tired with his exertion.s, put. his feet on the desk, lolled back in his chair, tilted his big hat over his eyes— and slumbered. Daylight was fading when he wakened with a .start. .Judging by the commo- tion in the cell the two prisoners were fighting ! He rose heavily and went to the iron door. In the dim light he saw that Tom had got Olaf by tho throat and seemed intent on choking him. "What are you doing in there?" he roared. " Leave him alone !" But instead of obeying the coinmand, Tom forced his victim back against a wall, and tho sheriff in a fury unlocked the door and rushed in to separate them. Immediately Tom turned his attention to the intruder, and Olaf sprang for the open door and ran out into the street. A well-timed blow to the sheriff's scrubby chin sent that discomfited official sprawling backwards on the solitary bunk, and before he could re- gain his feet the door of the cell was locked on him, and Tom was half-way across the office. Silver and the brown horse had been left tethoicd to the hitching-rail outside, and it was only a matter of seconds to tinfastcn them. But a man on the veranda of tho Blue Boar saloon raised the alarm. Pushing open the swing doors, he cried excitedly: " Bill! Mike 1 The bandits are get- ting away !" 'Stcn came tumbling out into tho street, and there was a rush for liorsos. Tho deputy sheriff scuttled over to tho gaol and released the hoodwinked sheriff, but by the time tho posse wore in the saddle and creating a cloud of dust Tom and Olaf were out of sight. It is no easy matter to pursue wcU- mouiitod fugitives m the dark, and there was as yet no moon. This way and that the pursuers rode, hut by the time the moon came tip over the hills the trail was cold, and the chase proved fruitless. An Inheritanca For Tom. TOM and his companion deserted tho road as soon as they were out of the town. A belt of long-leaf pines provided cover for the better part Every Tuesday of two miles, and then they galloped across a stretch of prairie and plunged into a gulch lined with rock. They were in the gulch before the moon rose, and a brief pause convinced them that no one as yet had found their trail. "Friday the thirteenth!" quoth Olaf dismally. "D'you know this is my birthday?" " So it's you that's brought all the luck, is it?" growled Tom. "Pity I didn't really choke you, eh?" They rode on without any particular hurry. Westonville beckoned, in view of the letter from the lawyer, but Westonville would do well enough in the morning. They reached the end of the gulch, and found themselves in a, moonlit landscape of grassy slopes with a river gleaming in the distance. "My, but I'm mighty hungry," re- marked Olaf. "Same here," declared Tom. They breasted a little rise, and then he pointed. Down on the river bank, under a tree, a camp fire had been lit— a camp fire over which a dark figure crouched, evidently preparing some sort of a meal. They rode down, and as they approached tho figure resolved it- self into a man with a decided limp, who drew his gun and waited. "How do?" inquired Tom pleasantly. " Stranger in these parts ?" demanded the man. " Yeah. Don't know this range very well," replied Tom. "In fact, wc'ro trying to get out of it." "Looking for someone?" . The voice was suspicious, alm<Kt truculent, and the gun still threatcncci. But Tom replied, with an air of frank- ness: "No one in particular. .lust got out of a little trouble, and thought maybe I could get some grub up here." "Well, I can stake you to some food," said the man in a more friendly manner, and put away his gun. "I'm in a little trouble myself. My horse stuck his foot in a gopher-holc yesterday and turned over on me. I can't got around very well. Still, maybe I can help you. All I've got is some beans and bacon, and some good .Java coffee." " That coffee smells good!" rejoiced Tom. " Swede, we eat! How- far are we from Westonville, pardner ?" "Well, you're in Falls County now. Westonville is just the other side of tho ridge. The grub's in the pack. Per- haps you'll help me cook it?" Tom expressed his readiness, and h<> and Olaf dismounted, but it was Olaf who demonstrated his powers as a cook while Tom and the stranger conversed. Bob Starrctt, it appeared, was tho lone camper's name, and Tom decided that he rather liked him, despite his some- what grutf voice and his dark features. Over tho meal that followed Starrett asked what his guests were doing in that particular part of the country. "As a matter of fact," confided Tom, "I'm heading for the Dale ranch. It used to belong to an uncle of mine, and I've fallen heir to it." Starrett stared. "You don't mean old Tom Dale?" he exclaimed. " I do. Did you know him ? " "Yes," replied Starrett warmly, "I knew him well. He did mo a favour once. His was that stretch of land a follow by the name of Moore tried to cheat him out of." "Cheat him out of?" echoed Tom, to whom this was news. "Well, I guess that gives me two reasons for going to Westonville." Starrett rolled cigarettes for himself