Boy's Cinema (1933)

24 her confidence and explain all. She was in desperate need of a friend now, and she knew that he was the only one likely to help her. "Larry," she said, "there's something I've got to tell you. - My name isn't Martin, but Stratton, and my father is Robert Stratton, the man for whom the police have been searching. An escaped convict, Larry -" The youngster stared at her, and she went on to divulge everything, clearing up much that had previously baffled him. When she had finished he was silent for a space, and then he spoke ruefully. "So all the time I've been shielding your father I've been working hand-in- glove with a wanted man," he muttered, " a man whose sole purpose was to get away with that bullion." "But my father isn't a thief, Larry," Gloria faltered. "His idea, crazy as it might seem, is to keep the gold until the railroad is willing to come to terms with him. He wants to use it to force their hand." "I don't get you," Larry said with a puzzled frown. "I once took your father for a secret agent of the L. & E. Now it appears that he's got a grudge against the company. Just what does he aim to do with that bullion, Gloria?" The girl proceeded to make the whole business clear to him, patiently giving him an outline of her father's plans. "You see, Larry," she explained, " dad was innocent of the charge on which he was sent to prison. He was accused of embezzlement, but it was a frame-up. That's why he's so bitter against the railroad in general and Edwards in particular—for he believes that Edwards was behind the affair." " Edwards seems too straightforward a man to stoop to such tactics," Larry de- clared. "Why should he want to frame your father, anyway?" "Because dad held a high position in the company," Gloria answered, "and at the time the board of directors were considering the election of a new general manager to take the place of one who was retiring. There were three men in the running for the position—dad, Edwards, and Wilbur Stevens, the rail- road attorney. Apparently Edwards felt that Stevens needn't be considered seriously as a rival, but he was afraid of dad being promoted to the vacancy. So he got rid of him—by framing him." Larry shook his head. "I can't imagine Edwards doing that," he said. "Neither can I," Gloria confessed, " but I'm giving you my father's views, and the fact remains that he was framed. He claims that the railroad withheld evidence that would have cleared him at his trial, and he is ready to trade the gold for that evidence." Larry had become thoughtful. He was reflecting, a little ruefully, that there were enough complications in this mystery without Robert Stratton providing another one. Mistaking the reason for his silence, Gloria suddenly laid a timid hand on his sleeve and spoke to him in an urgent tone. "Oh, Larry," she pleaded, "you've got to believe me! All that I've told you about my father is true—every word of it!" He looked down at her, and somehow the appeal in her large eyes was irresistible. "Believe you," he said gently. "Why, Gloria, I'd believe that black was white if you asked me to." "I knew I could trust you," she told him thankfully. "But listen, Larry, the Wrecker's men tricked my father, and he agreed to show them where the gold June 17th, 1933. BOY'S CINEMA is. He thought it was the only way of saving me from being tortured." The youngster frowned. Here was a glaring indication that Stratton's idea of using the bullion as a means of clearing himself was a plan foolhardy in the ex- treme. If the gold were taken away from him now by those crooks, he would ultimately go back to prison under a double charge. " Do you know where your father and the Wrecker's men have gone?" Larry asked Gloria. "Yes," she replied. "To the old mine above Forsyth. And that isn't all— Matthews and Hemingway are there." Larry thrust out his jaw. "We've got to prevent those crooks from getting away with the bullion," he stated. " Yes, and, if possible, we'll see that your father doesn't fall into the hands of the detectives. I'll throw in with you so far as that's concerned, though I'm lining up against the law by doing it." " You'll be helping to see that real justice is done," Gloria rejoined. "But let's get into the car, Larry. There's no time to lose." They hastened forward to where the automobile was standing, and Larry took up his position behind the wheel. Gloria sat beside him, and a moment afterwards the vehicle was raising the dust of the road again in a fierce dash towards Forsyth. They passed through the town some time later, and then forked along the trail that led into the hills. Occasionally Larry tried to make some reassuring comment that might serve to allay his companion's fears, but the girl remained mute with anxiety. There was so much at stake. If the Wrecker's men escaped with the gold, then her father would be held re- sponsible for its irretrievable loss. In any event he faced the prospect of re- capture by the authorities. To the Sound of Gunfire. MATTHEWS and Hemingway had made good speed on the journey from Stockfield to the hills be- yond Forsyth, and it was shortly before noon that they stopped their car in a strip of woodland and marched towards one of the entrances of the abandoned mine. They began to reconnoitre the property, but, of course, found no trace of their man, and they were moving in the direction of an outlet on the north side when they heard another automobile approaching. The car pulled up at some distance from the tunnel mouth, and, peering from the depths of the cavern, Matthews and Hemingway 6aw five men emerge from it. "Stratton and the Wrecker's men!" breathed Matthews. "Yeah!" his assistant growled. "If you ask me, Stratton himself is the Wrecker. I figured that all along. What do we do, chief?" "They're heading this way," Matthews returned. "We'll lie low until they're right inside the tunnel, and then we'll make our play. Not a sound or a movement until I give the word!" They retreated into a cross-cut, and looked round the angle of the wall, watching the approach of Stratton and the gangsters. About a minute after- wards the group entered the semi-gloom of the cavern, coming to a halt beside a big snag of rock about midway between the tunnel-mouth and the cross-cut where Matthews and Hemingway had posted themselves. "Remember, Stratton, no tricks." Barney muttered. "Where's that gold?" Every Tuesday The old man appeared to hesitate, and then with a tremulous hand he pointed to a dim niche hard by. "There!" he stammered, and the crooks saw a number of boxes in the small bay. Barney started towards them eagerly, and in that very moment Matthews and Hemingway stepped from their hiding- place some distance away. " Up with your hands, every one of you," Matthews sang out. "We've got you covered!" The crooks wheeled, and were just able to descry the figures of the two detectives. For a couple of seconds no move was made, and then Barney dived behind the shelter of the snag of rock. His comrades followed suit, and a shot burst from Matthews' gun, the lead whistling above the scuttling forms of the gangsters and grazing Stratton's sleeve, so that he, too, jumped for safety. The Wrecker's men tugged out their revolvers and poured an answering volley into the darkness of the cavern's interior. Matthews and Hemingway jerked back into the cross-cut as the bullets zipped perilously close, and from their vantage-point they opened fire in earnest, the chief detective bent on one knee, his assistant aiming over his head. The smash of gunplay echoed and re- echoed through the tunnel. A slug from Matthews' .45 hit the boulder behind which the gangsters were crouching, and a splinter of rock tore a gash in Barney's temple. The crook jerked his hand to his brow and felt the warm blood flow- ing, but the hurt was not serious, and with an oath he blazed viciously in the direction of the cross-cut. His shot struck the corner formed by the wall of the main tunnel and that of the branch-gallery, and it ricocheted past Hemingway's face. The assistant detective involuntarily ducked out of eight, but he speedily . recovered his nerve, and his gun was soon adding its voice to the din once more. The duel proceeded grimly, and, be- hind the rock where the Wrecker's men had sheltered, old Stratton cowered in the background. He was thoroughly alarmed, and it was some time before he realised that the turn which events had taken was peculiarly in his favour. The crooks were involved in the gun- battle, and they were being kept too busy to pay any heed to him. Here was his chance to escape from them, and likewise to save himself from falling into the clutches of the law. He glanced in the direction of the niche where he had pointed out those boxes, and a curious smile flitted across his mouth. Then he sank down on all- fours and began to crawl towards the tunnel-mouth. He did not straighten until he was clear of the gallery and out in the open air, and, having dived to the right, he was pulling himself to his feet when a third car swung into full view of the mine. It was the automobile occupied by Larry and Gloria, and Stratton remained motionless as he caught sight of his daughter. He saw the girl and her com- panion clamber from the machine and run forward, Larry being the first to reach him. "What's happened?" the youngster panted. "What's going on in the mine?" "The Wrecker's men are shooting it out with Matthews and Hemingway," Stratton answered hoarsely. "I slipped' away." Larry gripped him by the arm. "You (Continued on page 27.)