Boy's Cinema (1933)

16 I can aim considerable lower than the top of your hats if you like. You guys " He stopped speaking abruptly and stared in surprise. For the man who appeared to be the leader, the one who had been threatening the middle-aged man and the girl, now sheathed his guns and jerked down the handker- chief that covered his face. Blaze saw a hard, tanned face staring angrily up into his. and dark eyes that narrowed in ugly fashion. "Who the heck asked you to come horning in on this party?" he rasped in a furious voice. " Who the blazes d'you think you arc, eh?" Blaze stared in bewilderment, for, following the example of their leader, the rest of the bandits had pulled down their disguising handkerchiefs, and showed themselves to be ordinary cow- boys. "Why, isn't this a hold-up?" Blaze stammered in surprise. "I moan— weren't you guys holdin' these folks up " But the grey-haired man, who had been staring at the leader of the "bandits" in amazement, now held up his hand for silence. He faced the leader. "Well. Owens," he asked in a mystified voice. "What on earth is nil . this about ? I really thought that you were bandits, and now I find, that it's the boys from my own ranch." He turned to the girl, who was now comforting a middle-aged woman who seemed absolutely terrified, and a mild- faced little man who wore horn-rimmed glasses and who constantly mopped at his brow with a silk handkerchief. I "It's all right, Doris," he said to the girl in a kindly voice. "Nothing to be scared about. Aunt Sarah, nor you, Smithers. This is Parke Owens, the manager of my ranch, and these men with him are the ranch hands. Perhaps they'll be good enough to explain what all this means.'' Blaze, who had been listening to this in disgust, slid to the side of the roof, then dropped down lightly to the track and lounged against the side of the coach, listening. "Well," Owens began with a sheepish grin, "it's like this: The boys and me knew that Miss Doris hadn't been out West since she was a little girl, and we reckoned she probably had all kinds of ideas about the wild and woolly West, and gun-shootin' cowboys, so we just planned this little reception for you us a surprise. 'Course," he added awk- wardly, "we didn't really mean to scare you at all, and I was just on the point of revealing we was only joking, when that Romeo-faced galoot over there "—he shot a venomous glance in the direction of the crestfallen Blaze— "came horning in and spoiled the party." "I don't think he did anything of the kind !" Dons snapped sharply to Owens. "Just a lot of silly cowboys! At least, he was brave enough to tackle ten of you single-handed, not knowing that you weren't bandits !" She tossed her pretty head angrily at Owens, then went across to Blaze, smiling at him delightfully. ''You certainly scared Miss Sarah and Smithers, my secretary," Collins told Owens severely. "Hallo, where's Smithers got to?"" For the secretary had discreetly disappeared. Collins laughed. "Oh, well, I suppose he still doesn't believe it isn't real, and is hiding out of the way somewhere. It was a stupid trick to play, Owens." "I'm right sorry, Mr, Collins," the ranch manager said apologetically. , April 8th, 1933. / BOY'S CINEMA "Wouldn't have scared you for worlds. If it hadn't, been for that tin-horn stranger that came butting in it would have been all right." There was an ugly light in his eyes as he shot a glance to where Blaze was talking to Doris. Poor Blaze was scarlet in the face and twisting his som- brero awkwardly in his hands. " I—I guess I ve made a real fool of myself over this, Miss Doris," he said in a low voice. " I honestly thought it was a real hold-up " "You were wonderful!" Doris said softly, impulsively laying a hand on his arm. "We all thought it was real, and yet you tackled them single-handed. It was a stupid trick to play. Won't you come across and meet my father and ' She stopped as there came the sound of an excited voice from the fore part of the train, where the guard's van stood next to the engine. A negro, the Pullman porter, came stumbling down the track as hard as he could run, his eyes rolling in fright, his black face a sort of muddy grey colour. " Boss, sah ! Dcre am been a real robbery!" he wailed. " De guard am stiff an' dead in de van, an' the safe have been gone bust right open an' robbed !" "What!" The startled exclamation left the group like a pistol-shot. A moment later the conductor oame racing towards them. "Yes! It's true!" he exclaimed. " The guard was strangled and the safe robbed." "How much was in the safe?" Owens, the ranch manager, snapped, his dark eyes flashing suspiciously towards Blaze. "About twenty thousand dollars!" the conductor said breathlessly. " Who can have done it " "There's only one stranger around these parts !" Owens clipped in an ugly voice, and swung around towards Blaze. "We know that none of our boys did it—we've all been here to- gether. What was that guy doing before he horned in on our fake hold- up ?•" There was a moment of tense silence, and accusing eyes bored into Blaze's. " Why, I don't know anything about it " he began, then stopped. For Owen's hand was stealing towards his gun, and there was a threatening light in the manager's eyes. Blaze spoke quickly to Doris in an undertone. "They mean business," he said hur- riedly. "I swear I didn't do it, Miss Doris. Will you believe me?" " Of course I believe you " she began, but BLaze interrupted her. "That's all I want to know," he said. "I'll see you at the ranch some time. Adios !" He ducked quickly, just as Owens and three or four of the ranch hands dived for him. They missed him by yards, and with a chuckle Blaze rolled right under the coaches of the train, and scrambled to his feet on the other side. A shrill whistle left his lips, to be answered instantly by a whinny from Tarzan, who came trotting towards him swiftly. Blaze turned and swung into the saddle as Tarzan oame shooting b}- him. A moment later he was galloping with a rapid tattoo of thudding hoofs back over the ridge again. He was well at the top of the ridge before there came the sound of shooting, and far out of range of the ranchers' guns. "That was sure a funny business, Tarzan," Blaze said to the horse as he galloped into the cover of the sage Every Tuesday brush. "That guy Owens knows' as well as me that I didn't have anything to do with that train robbery. Now I wonder " A Price on Hia Head. IT was sundown the day after the fake train-robbery that had ended in tragedy and a real robbery. The golden rays of the dying sun slanted through the branches of the cotton- wood trees, and rested on a glaring black-and-white notice that had been pinned to the trunk of a tree: "TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS RE- WARD! WANTED FOR MURDER AND ROBBERY. BLAZE HOWELL, SIX FEET TALL, COWBOY, BLACK HAIR. BROWN EYES, GENERALLY HANDSOME APPEARANCE. THE ABOVE REWARD WILL BE PAID TO ANYONE CAPTURING THE SAID MAN. BY ORDER OF THE SHERIFF OF THE COUNTY.—F. MARTIN, SHERIFF." Blaze Howell, the "wanted" man, leaned from his saddle and stared at the notice from narrowed eyes. Then a balf-smile curved his lips. He laughed softly and contemp- tuously at the notice, then swung Tarzan around to westward, in tho direction of the Collins ranch. After a while he stopped the horse and, in the shelter of a gully, lit a fire and fixed a meal for himself and the horse. Ho didn't reckon to get to the Collins ranch until night had well set in. Some hours later he was off on tho trail again, and by the time tho quarter-moon was low, 6aW ahead of him the white buildings of the Collins ranch. Geoffrey Collins was a rich business man, and this ranch of his was moro a hobby than anything else, but a hobby which he managed to mako pay very successfully. He had been work- ing too hard in the city, and on tho advice of his daughter Doris, and his sister Sarah—the lady who had been so scared in the train hold-up. he elected to take a three months' holiday at this ranch of his. Of course, Blaze knew nothing of this. But he guessed t&at Collins was not a real rancher, and that Owens ui. actually the man who was running tho ranch for Collins. The ranch was silent as ho approached. A light gleamed from ono of the rooms downstairs in tho hacienda, another upstairs, and light showed from the window of the mam bunkhouse. "Wonder which is Miss Doris' room," Blaze muttered to Tarzan. "Ah " Even as he spoke, the long window of the upstairs room from which the light gleiamed. opened, and the slim figure of Doris showed on the balcony as she stepped out to take a last look at the star-spangled sky. "So that's her room, eh?" Blaze smiled softly. He swung out of the saddle, leaving Tarzan under the shadow of the 'dobo wall. Then he crept cautiously into the courtyard. On either side of Doris' window there hung, in Mexican fashion, two long strips of gaudy material to make a splash of colour against tho white walls. Like a shadow and as silent, Blaze crept until he was beneath ono of theso strips, and, just as he reached it, Doris turned and re-entered her room, closing tho window behind her. Swiftly, Blaze oaught the strip, tested his weight on it, and found that it would hold him.