Boy's Cinema (1933)

Every Tuesday Johnny snatched up the rifle and with :ot the lock to pieces; but as Whitc- the door wide he raised the rifle to his shoulder. Stand back ," he cried, "or I shoot!" "Now listen, Johnny,'' pleaded White- bou • ua top step. "Don't make i-take your brother did, use when they bring him back here they're going to hang him ! Now listen, Johnny, don't go, boy! If you stay here TJ be out in a week. Now believe me ' He was descending the steps while he speaking, and the guards were crowding behind him. Johnny, backing . from the wagon, broke in wildly: "I don't believe you! I don't believe you I" Yet somehow he could not pull the trigger. He did pot want to hang, but his brother must not hang, either. He • find him and warn him. He flung down the rifle and bolted. Right through the flaring remnants of the fence :ough ground to the shelter.of a wood, while Whitehouse, followed by the guards, made his way out from the pen winch had ceased to be a pen. The gua ed, but Whitehouse panic-stricken than they, reached the office of the contractor, as yet only partly on fire. The telephone on Billing'-: desk was He rang up i] Vulcan. If his home. Il< . up the captain of the file brigade. Pin it for the camp on the ; Road at top speed! Tiie sheriff rounded tip a number of volunt • ■ them to his office. "And don't forget, men," lie said to i he bad explained the circum- that yon get fifty dollar-- a id you bring back.'' "How much if they're dead, sheriff?" inquired an avaricious farmer, "Fifty, dead or alive," was the reply. Long lie fun- dawn nearly a hundred men, countryside for ions of the iff and the police; and in the n ing their numtx v in- boys joined—unbidden— in the man-hunt. The fire, by dawn, had been cxtin- it only a heap of smouldering remained of what had which the "fish tank ■ roof. BOY'S CINEMA " Th» Wrong Way ! " PI BLY thi net boi n of having been herded together for the convicts fli«l in little the nighl Bu( Johnny, having escaped ,.; dered at first in quite a diffi ion from that which his brother had taken. The i about the Lil Road varied < hi I here ■ irile valley-, several of which the . them, plunged n, in row of moving figures. There were plenty of little caves among the rocks, but the pursuit was drawing uncom- fortably near. "As soon as it gets dark,'' derided Duke, "we're going to spiit up. We've knew it because h got a better chance of getting through by ourselves." Johnny, without realising it, had changed his course during "the night, and at that moment was less than a quarter of a mile away. But he had covered so much ground that he was worn out and could hardly drag one leg before the other. He, too, had seen a line of advancing figures to the north, but it was quite a different line. He clambered down a bank into a long hollow and paused there to recover a measure of strength. Fo ;r boys from a neighbouring village. who had set out on their own account Ho try to run the convicts to earth, appeared on the batik high above him, and one of them was carrying a six- shooter which belonged to "his father. A foolish adventure which might, quite ly, have ended tragically for them; - it happened, they -tumbled only upon Johnny. The boy with the six- shooter whispered *o his compa: then took aim and fired. Johnny heard tt and felt a sudden Bting in hi, left shoulder. He i p. "What did you do that for?" he asked d th the gun '.'aped, -tam- ben, fright at what be had done, took to his I with the other 1i him. and dizzy, tot- tered farther along the hollow to a brook fed by a waterfall from the rooks above and stooped to drink; but wcak- overcame him and he coll.. upon the h It was the deaf and dumb convict who caught sight of him there. He had left the others in their .hiding-place to e by himself without waiting for dark- but, recognising Johnny, he climbed down to him, found that DC ded and unconscious, and went back ike. lie gestured with his head and his hand- excited but unintelligible ged at Duki ' pointing towards the hollow. The Med to silence him, but rose and motioned to him to lead the way. Or. at that prone figure in the hollow was sufficient for hi- ned down to the brook, knelt beside his brother and raised him up. Th> Heel with crim- son, and Duke -oaked a haudki i in the water while the deaf-mute away the ihirt. The wound was bathed and bound, and then Duki . er his own broad iho tldi set resolutely off in the direction of the camp. It was as he was striding out from a that Johnny recovered his set "Duk. v, "you'r. Dg way!" "No, I'ii sxed Duke "I'm taking yos to where there s a doctor and some medicine, nd .M;«i \ 'II hang : I e! They'll d Duke rs- "Thcy may take . '■ h :y- it "it'* funny, [you do 27 isn't it? I didn't feel the shot. I just felt a little sting." "Sure, kid." "It makes you—kinda—weak, thoug Johnny had fainted again, and Duke e was once more carry- But he kept ing a dead weight. doggedly on his way. By late afternoon practically all the convicts had been either recaptured or shot down. The group Duke had left behind among the rocks were surrounded and surrendered. Men who had taken refuge in trees were scented by the blood- hounds and forced to descend, and the deaf and dumb convict was shot down by a farmer before he had covered a quarter of a mile just as he rose in- cautiously from a bush behind which he had tried to conceal himself. Justice ! IT was not till Duke had reached the fringe of the burnt-out camp that he was seen. Captured convicts were being driven into the "fish tank" and into pens hurriedly erected; but three of the guards stared in astonishment as he advanced wearily towards them, his face haggard and streaming with perspira- tion, his unconscious brother hanging limply over his shoulder. Billings was gloomily surveying the wreck and rum of -lied- and cabins and stores when the news was brought to him. Whitehouse, a> well as the captain of the firj brigade and the Sheriff of Vulcan, were with him. "Well," he stud bitterly, "my goose ■iked in tin- fire, but I'll get some M■■tion out of seeing the ringleaders hanged!" guard came running up. "They've caught the Fllis boys!" ho cried. Billings and his companions walked over to the spot I ike was being held prisoner. Johnny had been placed on a stretcher in which other wounded convicts had already been conveyed to hospital, and an ambulance stood near. "Sheriff," cried Billings venomously, "I want both brothers held for mine "You can't, hang this on Johnny," exploded Duke, "1 made him come back with me." "You understand me, sheriff?" in- listed the contractor. "I want Johanj Fllis held for murder. He was one ol the ringleadi "Not tin.- boy, Billings,'' said White house sternly. "Aw, don't waste your sympathy on a killc: "Killer?" echoed Whitehouse indig- nantly. "Why, this boy saved 61 guard in camp from being burned to death!" The sheriff eyed the contractor with a certain amount at acoxn. "What's the poim in prosecuting this Hillings.'' he said, "with White- house giving him a clean bill of health?" Johnny called I tchei at that moment, and Duke turned plead ingly to i!' "Let me talk to my brother, will he -aid. McCarthy nodded, and Duke went down on his knee- be ide her. "Here I am, kid," Duke said gently. " I ten I an. Johnny." Johnny linked wistfully up at him. " Aw. gee, Duke." he said in a faint voice, "why did yon brine me. back?' "Don't be a chump, .Johnny." Duke !fou baa to be taken care of, dido But look at I. h they'll make January 21st, 1933.