Boy's Cinema (1933)

24 you know about the goto that never reached Montcalm's headquarters!" Cora did not hesitate. She knew that Dulac's concern over the missing treasure was not the outcome of any patriotic instinct, and she had told a dying man that she would convey the secret of its hiding-place to the French commander and no other. But what was a fortune in golden louis compared with the safety of Alice? "The money is buried in the river," she panted, "just off Skull Rock. Now will you let me go?," Dulac exchanged a triumphant glance with .Tuliard and Bertier, yet he did not answer Cora's appeal by releasing her. "You may be lying," he observed. "If we get but of here alive, we shall soon see if you have spoken the truth or not. But until we are satisfied one way or the other, we are not giving you up to Magna, for you are much too valu- able a hostage, mademoiselle." "I have not lied to you," Cora pro- tested vehemently. "Please—please let ma go to Magna. My sister's life depends on it!" Dulac turned a deaf ear to her en- treaties, and, as he planted himself firmly between her and the door, the girl turned away and sank down on the stool again in an attitude of deep despair. Uncas could do nothing on her behalf, and gloomily joined Bertier and .Tuliard at the wall, where the three of them stood guard, though for the next hour nothing occurred to divert their atten- tion from the ledge on which Alice Munro was standing. The stars were beginning to fade before the approach of daylight, and gradually the grey of the dawn spread further across the sky, to be succeeded by a vivid flush that heralded the rising of the sun. It was a morning of surpas- sing beautv, yet it seemed accursed in the eyes of the girl who now moved to the wall and gazed out through one of the cabin's firing-slits, and there was something deathly in the prevailing stillness. Cora watched the ridge, her glance fixed upon the helpless figure of her sister. Three of Magua's braves were beside the captive, and appeared to be gloating over her in her misery, their mocking antics becoming more violently pronounced as the sun's first rays slanted across the summit of the cliff. One of them immediately stooped to the pile of faggots around Alice's skirt, and, as he stepped back a few seconds later. Cora saw the gleam of flames among the twigs! Magua's threat had been no idle one, then, and Alice was indeed doomed. With bated breath Cora watched the fire gather strength and wind its sinister coils about her sister's form, and. at the sight of the younger girl struggling fiercely but vainly to free herself, she covered her face with her hands and uttered a cry of anguish. For a moment she stood there sob- bing, and then she stumbled towards Dulac and looked at him appealingly. "Let me go to her," she moaned. "Lei me go to my sister!" But the renegade shook his head delib- erately, and. with hands folded on the muzzle of his musket, he remained in position at the barred door of the cabin. Plan of Action. HAWK-EYE had been right, and it had been no difficult matter for him and \\\s companions to pick up the trail of Magna and his band after these had separated from ,BIack Fok'jS partv. . f, March Steth. 'IMS BOY'S CINEMA The two white men and their Mohi- can ally had reached the vicinity of the log cabin about the time that Magna had had Alice bound to the pillar of stone, and now, from the cover of some undergrowth well to the south of the Huron's position, they saw the torture fire rising about the girl's figure. "Hawk-eye." Duncan Heyward jerked. "I can't lie idle here and watch this happen to Alice! I'm going to make some kind of bid to save her, and unless you and the Sagamore are men without a spark of humanity in 3 T our souls you'll follow me!" He made as if to go forward, but Hawk-eye restrained him. "Major," he said, "your neadstrong tactics would avail ye nothing. But think not that I and the Sagamore are willing to skulk here without attempt- ing a rescue. I only hold you in check because I know that the one way to beat the Hurons is to use strategy." He paused, and then nodded towards the ridge. "Look again at yonder ledge." he went on. "Does it not strike ye as odd that there should be but three of Magua's followers beside Miss Alice, while the rest lie low in the brush?" "What of it?" Hey ward retorted. "Hawk-eye, you waste time in idle spec- ulation." • "Not idle, friend, I assure ye," the scout made answer, but ere he could say more a warning whisper from the Sagamore caused him to crouch jower in the undergrowth. The Mohican had already flattened himself, and Heyward followed suit. A moment later the three comrades dis- tinctly saw figures crawling through the scrub, and recognised them as the main body of the Hurons, led by Magua in person. The enemy warriors filed past, within a dozen paces of the spot where the two white men and the Mohican were con- cealed, and when they had gone by Hawk-eye spoke in an undertone. "As I half-suspected." he muttered. "While those in the cabin are doubtless concentrating their attention on Miss Alice's plight, Magua and his pack of varmints work round through the under- growth to make a sudden rush and take the defenders off their guard." "All the more reason why we should act quickly," put in Heyward. "Ay," the scout agreed, "and if ye're bent on savin' that girl up there, major, now is your chance. Make your way round to the back of the ridge, ascend by the other side and then get down to that ledge where Miss Alice stands. From the instant you appear on the summit, the Sagamore and I will be covering your approach with our mus- kets. Go now, and may luck be with ye." The major slipped away, and Hawk- eye and the old Mohican chief waited in the undergrowth, their muskets trained on the capering figures of the three braves who had remained on the ledge with Alice. The minutes dragged by, and then all at once the form of Heyward revealed itself against the skyline on the top of the ridge, and scout and Mohican saw him start to make the descent towards the platform of rock on which Alice was standing. Climbing down warily, step by step, the major had reached a point only a few feet above the ledge when one of (he fliree Hurons looked up and caught sight of him. A yell broke from the warrior's lips, and simultaneously Hey- ward fired his musket, drilling the Red- skin through the head. The brave fell lifeless across il><- Every Tuesday faggots that were blazing around Alice, and he had hardly come to rest when the British officer sprang down to the ledge. As he landed he pitched forward on hands and" knees, and in this position he seemed helpless prey for the other two Hurons, who pounced on him furiously with upraised daggers. Down in the undergrowth Hawk eye and the Sagamore pulled the triggers of their muskets, and two shots rang out as one—two shots that sped straight and true, piercing the bodies of Heyward's attackers. The braves threw up their arms and plunged from the cliff, crashing into the brushwood thirty feet below. Hey- ward instantly straightened and darted to Alice, cutting her loose with a few swift strokes of a knife. The girl was not harmed, though the hem of her dress was badly scorched, and, slipping his arm about her waist protectively, the major hurried her to- wards the track that wound down from the ledge. But, en route to the log cabin, Magna and his followers had heard the smash of the shots in their rear, and had turned to see what was afoot. As he caught sight of Heyward and Alice descending from the ledge. He sent back a party of half a dozen war- riors to intercept them, then crept on towards the shack with the remainder of his band. In the meantime, the major and the girl were rapidly making their way into the brushwood, but as they were bound for the spot where tlie former had left Hawk-eye and the Saga- more, they suddenly found their path barred by the savages who had been detailed to prevent their escape. Heyward and Alice whipped round and sped in the opposite direction, with the group of Hurons in full cry, and soon they were clear of the thickets, though .still following a course parallel with the ridge. They were now in view of the log cabin's occupants, and Cora watched their flight anxiously. But their pur- suers were gaining on them steadily, for neither Alice nor her rescuer were able to outstrip the lightly clad Hurons, and all at once the fugitives darted to cover behind a cluster of boulders, where the major charged his musket with the ob- ject of making a forlorn stand. The savages gained the rocks, howling murderously as they flourished toma- hawk, rifle and dagger. In the same instant Magua and the main body of his warriors leapt from the shelter of the scrub and launched their unexpected attack on the blockhouse, shooting fire- arrows at the structure as they came on, and rending the air with a medley of unholy yeils as they swarmed around the dwelling. The defenders were instantly gal- vanised into action, firing desperately into the thick of the enemy and re- loading with fierce haste. Their muskets were actually in contact with the bodies of their assailants as they discharged them, and the racket of the shots mingled with the prevailing din. Cora stood in the middle of the room, appalled by the uproar, gasping as the fumes of exploded powder filled the cabin, and presently the smoke of burn- ing timber was added to those fumes as the fire-arrows directed at the shack began to take effect. The Hurons had surrounded the build- ing, and while a handful attempted to batter down the door, the others strove to gain the slits in the walls and pick off the men of the little garrison with (Continued on page 27.)