Boy's Cinema (1933)

14 trail. Panting from his exertions, tor- tured with the fears of a hunted tiling, Jim hurled the ' leg-irons far into the undergrowth, the chain-links flying with them. Then he plunged deeper into the brush. The ugly chorus of the bloodhounds was in his eargj and seemed to grow steadily louder, hard as he ran. He itruck on madly, forging through dense masses of plant-life, blundering into oozy mire, then pitching headlong into the, stagnant waters of a swamp that spread its fluid slime through the brush in all directions. Reeds flourished here, thick, hollow stems that took their nourishment from the muddy bed of the swamp. Jim snatched at one, broke if off, then waded into deeper water, blowing through the reed to make certain that nothing was lodged in its stalk. The swamp was up above his waisi ere he paused, and by that time the baying of the bloodhounds was alarmingly near. Putting one end of the reed in his mouth and closing his lips firmly about the 6tem, he sank underneath the surface and lay on his back. The stalk of the reed projected above the water, a secret air-tube for the man below. Held firm on the leash by a warder, the pack of bloodhounds approached the swamp, muzzles close to the ground, nosing out the trail, and behind them came three more armed guards. But suddenly the dogs checked, and, still baying, began to turn hither and thither with a baffled air. They had reached the water, and water was a safeguard against that faculty which had made them invaluable in a manhunt. The scent was lost. '"He's taken to the swamps," one of the warders sang out. " We'd better scatter, boysy and see if any of us can get a squint-of him." ' * - They splashed into .'the water, and began to make their way through it in different directions. One prowling guard passed within six inches of Jim's prone body, almost treading on him. But the man went by without suspecting the fugitive's presence under the green, stagnating film that covered the surface of the swamp. The search grew remote, but not until many minutes had elapsed did Jim take the risk of showing himself. Then, standing up, he listened attentively for a spell. He heard the baying of the hounds, and the voices of the guards calling to one another, but the sounds came from far away, and, stumbling from the swamp, he pushed on through the thickets at his best speed. Later that day he obtained a change of clothes at a farmhouse where no one was at home, and twenty four hours afterwards he was in the city of Atlanta, lying low at the address of an ex-convict vho was a friend of the Bomber. The police of the whole county were on the look-out for him by then, and he was compelled to remain in hiding for nearly a month. But one night, when tho hue and cry had abated, he jumped a freight-train bound for the north. Betrayed ! YEARS had elapsed, and the career of Jim Allen had been tho story of a man's courageous climb against adversity—a man who, arriving in Chicago after weeks of wandering, had at last found employment in an engineering company. He started as a labourer, and in six April 8th, 1033. BOY'S CINEMA months he was under-foreman of a gang. Scaling the ladder of progress, he rose to a still higher rung and became foreman, and it was about the time of this second promotion that he became fascinated by Marie Denver. He imagined that she was a girl who would stand by him in any circum- stances, but he found out his mistake when he was foolish enough to let her divine the secret of his past. From that moment she turned blackmailer, and thenceforth he was the victim of her incessant threats of exposure, her con- stant demands for money. Haunted by the terror of betrayal and consequent extradition to Georgia and the chain gang, he nevertheless worked hard and studied hard to make good, and each year marked another step in his ascent from the rank and file of ordinary men. In 1932 ho was president of that gigantic company which had given him his first, job as a labourer. A man of substance; an authority on great con- structional schemes; builder of mighty projects for the harnessing and span- ning of rivers, creator of new highways, luxury hotels, and other commercial enterprises. And only Marie Denver knew the dread that was locked in his heart, a dread that she played upon, bleeding him like a leech. Then he met Helen Livingstone, and, as friendship ripened into romance, he knew that ho had found in her a girl as true as the steel and as sound as the granite which men fashioned in accord- ance with his blue-print designs. The pity was that he had not met her before -running foul of Marie Denver. Yet, in spite of that threatening figure in the background of his life, he was happier than he had ever been before, and ho reached the uttermost peak of fame when the blow fell that was to hurl him down. Representatives from the' City Hall had called to offer him the contract of erecting a bridge that promised to be a:: engineering wonder of the world. He was discussing it with them when two men forced their way into the privacy of his office, two men whose credentials proved them to be detectives from the Central Bureau of the Georgia Police Department. "James Allen," one of them said, "we hold a warrant for your arrest." Perhaps Marie Denver had w r earied of her game, perhaps she had found an even wealthier victim to terrorise with blackmail. The fact remained that she had betrayed him, and James Allen, ex- convict president of a vast engineering concern, found himself lodged in the city gaol, pending the legal procedure necessary for his extradition. He was released on bail within twenty- four hours, and in the meantime the Chicago Press was blazoning the news of his arrest. Headlines and leading articles glorified his war record, de- nounced the judicial system that had sentenced him to ten years for a petty, half-proved theft; lauded his magnificent riso from the gutter, and demanded that the State of Illinois should refuse to deliver up this admirable citizen to the bloodhound State of Georgia. A political storm was raised. In the heat and bitterness of his feelings Jim gave a four-hour interview to a group of Chicago reporters, and laid bare a vivid expose of tho scandalous chain gang settlements. When quoted in print, his narrative served to aggravate tho situation and enrage the Georgia authorities. Every Tuesday The furore dragged on. State of Georgia claiming the right to take J<;mes Allen, State of Illinois protesting, though it seemed that the latter body might in the end be forced to surrender the man who was on bail. Then came a change of front on the part ol Georgia administration, and their repre- sentatives sought a private conferc with the former convict. They made verbal promises. They ex- plained to Jim that the Slate of Georgia would be satisfied if he went back of his own accord for ninety days. "A mere formality." their spokesman told Jim, "and it will save further of which there has been more than enough. You would merely be put to some kind of clerical work in one of the penal settlements. Then, at the end of the nine, 1 )- days, you would obtain a free pardon, and would be at liberty to return to Chicago and take up your activities here again." Jim figured the thing out, discussed it with Helen Livingstone. "Jim," she pleaded, "don't go! I'm afraid—somehow I'm afraid!" He scoffed at her fears. Didn't the State of Georgia . guarantee that he would be liberated in three month* ? Wasn't that better than holding out, and perhaps being turned over at. last by the Illinois authorities and . forced to serve another nine years amid tho horrors of the chain gang ? . . Jim made his decision, threw himself on the mercy of the Southern State., and entrained for its capital in- the custody of detectives. And before many hours had elapsed he learned that he had been betrayed a second "time, this time by a constitution infuriated at his exposure of their convict system. He was drafted to the worst camp of all, and the Chief Warden grinned mock- ingly at hirn ^vhen he mentioned "clerical work:" 'He "was shackled, lad forth and bundled into a cage crammed with other unfortunates, among whom ho discovered the Bomber, who had been resentenced under the Vagrancy Act only a few months after his previous release. Jim Allen was in the chain gang again, condemned to the grinding tyranny of back-breaking labour and brute guards, the discomforts of iron fetters and food that sickened. Des- perately ho clung to the belief that, even so, he would be pardoned in ninety days; that the authorities were only trying to make things hard for him while he was in their power. But three. four, five and six months passed, and still no pardon came. Ho had been tricked. Tho State had broken its promise to him. Forced to accept tho awful truth at last, he beat against the cage-bars in his misery and his rage until his hands bled from a scoro of wounds. Then sullen, smoulder- ing bitterness took shape in his soul. Forces were at work for his release, but weeks and months dragged by. The machine of State law could not be moved in Jim Allen's favour. Jim Allen was in the chain gang, and there ho should remain till the full ten years of his sentence were served. Jim Allen judged otherwise, and planned and plotted with the Bomber. Like the younger man, the Bomber was in for a long term, and all eagerness to escape. Their chance came. They were work- ing on a mountain road, and a lorry- load of dynamite for blasting had reached the working-party. A glanco (Continued on page 26.)