Boy's Cinema (1935-39)

8 "I do this on one condition." "Condition ?" '■Red, you reckon I'm on the level, but j'oui- binich of cutthroats think I'm some sort of a double-crossing rat," said O'Malley. ''If it weren't for you. Red, I wouldn't dre,Tm of working with such a bunch. I gotta do this hold-up just to show these monkeys I got nerve. Okay. I'll do it, but the condition is what I collect I keep." "We share everything!" shouted Butch. " When it's a joint affair you may do," retorted O'Malley. "But I'm doing all the dirty work, and it ain't any of my choice. You wished this on me—okay, then I take the swag. In that dirty little cheap saloon they maj' play for stakes that you boys call high, but I doubt if I collected eveiy coin and note it would be much more than five hundred smackers. I'll do this holdup just to show you how it should be done, and after that I stand in with the gang. What d'you say. Red?" "I guess you're right," said Red, who was impressed by O'Malley's colossal im- pertinence in dictating terms. "'What ye take ye keeps." He held out his hand. "It's a deal." " I guessed you'd come round to my way of thinking," grinned O'Malley. "The conditions indicate a storm to- night, but I reckon Saturday should be a grand night. The poor rubes at the saloon will have more money at the end of the week. If we start from here at midday we should be on the outskirts of Silver Creek shortly before dusk." When Edith Hyland heard from her brother that Red Jagger, Dan Rawlings and a number of the men were planning a hold-up she was bitterly disappointed. Though she knew Dan was a bad man she had foolishly imagined that he was going to lead a new life at her wish. She had begged him to do this and to help her brother to keep straight. He must have been laughing at her, and she decided that she hated Dan Rawlings. Red Jagger left instructions with three of his men to keep watch on the Hylands and that on no account were they to leave their shack. Red had tried to make friends with the girl, and knew that she despised and disliked him. That had enraged the man, and his evil brain knew that the girl would try to escape with her brother if a chance arose. From her shack window Edith saw nine horsemen galloping towards an opening in the pines. How mai-vellously Dan rode. Tears smartened her eyes— how could a man with such a kindly smile be so wicked ? She hoped he would be caught, and that made her heart miss a beat. Surely she was not falling in love with an outlaw. On the outskirts of Silver Creek Red Jagger halted his men and they split up into three parties, so they wovild not excite suspicion. They were ordered to .-.converge on the Eldorado, but to take no part in the affair miless the order came from Red. It -was to be Dan Rawlings' show. And Dan did the job in a manner that made Red Jagger blink. Dan walked into the crowded saloon, where men were drinking, singing and losing their money at the tables. Red Jagger and Bute!) were lolling at the bar when Dan made his appearance. Everyone backed away from a faro table as Dan flashed out his gun. There was (he roar of his gun, as he shot out the lamps hancing from the roof in a manner so swift that it was like light- ning. Someone fired at Dan, and in the g\m flash Red Jagger saw a bag full of notes grabbed b-" his new man. A moment later c e the clutter of hoofs. " Well. I must say that was the swiftest January 9tli, 1037. BOY'S CINEMA hold-up I've ever seen." whispered Red. " Come on. Butch, we'd better get outa here." O'Malley rode hard and got clear away from' the posse sent in pursuit, and. making a detour, rode under cover of the woods till he was close to the Mountie outpost. The troopers had been aroused, and the station was almost deserted when O'Mallev walked in. The sergeant grabbed for his gun, mistaking liim for an outlaw, and then laughed as he recog- nised the daiing Irishman. "I'll wager all I've got that jou know something about this hold-up at the Eldorado." "You're right." O'Malley tossed the bag of money on to the table. " I lifted that to-night." "You stole it—whatever for?" " So that Red Jagger and his gang of ruffians wilt think I'm a real bad lad," chuckled O'Malley. "Listen, sergeant, whilst I spill my story and don't ask too many questions as I've gotta get to the hide-out before Red Jagger gets back." Swiftly O'Mallev told his story and all that had happened. " I'm pretty sure that Red Jagger and his men shot Marshall, but I don't know which one," he concluded. "So I got to carry on with my role of Dan Raw- lings. If a message is brought to you bearing that name I want you to act on it. I'm going to try to urge Red to do something this side of the border." He grinned. " I'm aiming at the bank at Silver Creek, and if Red could be lured into trying it, then we can pinch him on this side of the border. Guess I'll have to be moving." "How about this money?" " Sergeant, you're awful good at telling stories," grinned O'Malley from the doorway. "You were out riding and saw a man going like the wind, and not liking the looks of him you gave chase. He dropped the bag of gold and got right away. Ain't that a swell story?" " It'll do, O'Malley, but don't let those thugs get wise to you," warned the sergeant. On leaving the outpost O'Malley went at a fast gallop and at last came in sight of the hide-out in the hills. As he dis- mounted outside his shack he hearj the distant clatter of hoofs, and knew he had got back before Red Jagger. O'Malley was comfortably ensconced in a chair in the mess-room at the main shack when Jagger and his men entered. "Hallo, Dan, thought we mighta .seen you outside Silver Creek!" cried Red Jagger. "Too risky," drawled the trooper. " Not good for that posse to get wise that it was anything else but a lone-man shov^." "Guess you're right," nodded Red. "It was smart work, Dan." "How nuich did you collect?" de- manded Butch, his ugly face avid with greed. "Not so bad." Butch looked at the others. "We reckon you should cache in," he cried. "We want our share." "I carried out this hold-up on the understanding that what I got was mine," came (he answer. "I might have known you mongooses would want your cut." "It's always been the rule, Dan," stated Red. " Djd I carry out this job on those conditions, or didn't I?" The bogus Dan Rawlings stuck out his lov/er lip. "I said what I collected was niine, and no one else's property. Next job we all cut in, l)ut nix on the Eldorado. If you had been in my place, Red, would you hand over the dough you lisked your life to get to this bunch of hornets?" Every Tuesday "No!" shouted Red. "But next "time wo all get our share." "Okay by me," O'Malley answered truculently. " And I suppose we sit aromid this dump for weeks before we do 'a thing." "It ain't safe across the border." "Why go across the border, when there are fat pickings clOse at hand." " What do you mean?" -asked Red. " Ain't Silver Creek got a bank, and I always did hear it was stuff full of money. What I took to-night was chicken feed, and if divided wouldn't amount to much, but that bank would give us enough to be rich for life—and dead easy." Simply, the trooper explained how the bank at Silver Creek could be held up and robbed of its wealth. Red Jagger and his men listened in silence. "Sounds easy enough," Red had (o admit. " But Canada is a refuge, and that's why we've never done any hold- uj) this side of the border." " Then j'O!'. might as well take a good rest," came the sneering retort of the schemer. " You brought in a buncli of papers, and they're still howling about your daring raids, and by all accounts the other side of the border lies a recep- tion party waiting to fill you mugs with lead. No one expects you to carry out a raid in Canada. We carry out the raid and make for the hide-out, where we lie low for a spell, then go West and slip over the border or into British Columbia. But maybe it's too tough a job for you guys to tackle." "Nothing's too big for us." Red thrust his big head forward. "In two days' time the bank gets a big consign- ment of gold. Joe at the Eldorado told me, and he ain't ever wrong. On that night we stick up Silver Creek Bank." O'Malley had hard work to hide a triumphant grin. What Edith Overheard O'MALLEY wanted to slip out that night and ride down to warn the sergeant, but he found there was a guard on the horses. Apparently, Butch and one or two of the others were not too sure of Dan Rawlings. Then to make matters worse Red suggested—it was the same as an order—that he come and sleep in the main shack. It was partly old Gabby's fault, because the cook was always scowling at O'Malley and trying to remember where he had seen the big fellow before. Besides, Reel thought it a good idea so they could complete their plans. Edith informed O'Malley that she was pleased he was going as she had no time for people who held up saloons at the point of a gun. After a somewhat inipleasant night listening to Red snoring, the trooper got up early and came out of the shack in time to see Bud and his sister mounting their horses. It would spoil everything if these two left now before Bud's innOf cenco was proved. Edith gave O'Malley a frigid stare as he came rushing up to (hem. "Where you two going?" "We're quitting," mumbled Bud. " Edie reckons you've kinda gone back on us." ''If only you two young idiots would " He turned to see Red Jagger appear. "Come down off those broncs!" he shouted. "You ain't walking out on us!" Red heard, and came lumbering across. The girl tried to spur her horse, but O'Malley was too quick and grabbed the bridle. Forcibly he pulled tne girl out of the saddle, and down climbed Bud. " You leave my sister alone!" he (Continued on page Z5!' .