Boy's Cinema (1935-39)

24 "Miss Mary!" the housekeeper screeched in alarm. "Miss Mary, I just saw that ghost man from the window of my room! Him they calls the Phan- tom ! I saw him—plain as daylight— ridin' away into the brush!" Mary stole a furtive and uncertain glance at Harvey Delaney. His coun- tenance seemed to have grown suddenly rock-like in its hardness, and there was a glitter of resentment in his eyes; and, seeing the look on his features, Mary experienced a feeling of awkwardness, for she knew that it must appear as if she did not trust him. Yet, much as she hated the idea of him taking offence, she could not bring herself to reconsider her impulsive de- cision and go against the Phantom's advice. The Northern Trail IT was early morning, and Dirk and his fellow-rustlers were assembled in the remote cabin that was their hide-out. With them was their leader, courting, as usual, the deepest shadows of a room whose windows were thickly curtained, and in the semi-darkness he and his hirelings were holding a conference upon their ambition to acquire Hidden Valley and the rest of the territory through which the railroad company was to lay its line. "'Well, anyway, boss," Dirk was say- ing, "you've got to give us credit for a clean job the other night. We lifted that Grayson herd, and we've already turned the cattle over to Lopez, the buyer from Mexico." "Which means them steers are safely over the border," put in Keeler, another of the gang. "Yes," agreed the dim-seen leader of the band, "and the loss of her herd leaves Mary Grayson with no resources except the gold diggings her father dis- covered." He paused, and then drummed his fingers on the surface of a scored table at which he and his men were seated. "The Phantom has the only means of locating that mine," he went on trucu- lently. "If we only knew where to look for it, we might trap him there—yeah, and net a fortune into the bargain." " We know that mine is somewhere north of Music Mountain, boss," stated Dirk. "I'm goin' up that way myself this mornin' to meet Red Eagle and his renegades, and pay 'em the dough you promised 'em for helpin* us. I fixed up to see them near Navajo Canyon. Wonder if there's any chance o' me runnin' across tho Phantom while I'm around there." It was a possibility that seemed to impress the gang-leader, for he leaned forward quickly in his chair. "You never know. Dirk," he said. "Listen, take Gabe and Keeler and Roscoe with you. If you do happen to > BOY'S CINEMA spot the Phantom, stick to his trail. He may lead you to the mine. And if he does, let him have it in the back as soon as you're certain you've reached the diggings." Ten minutes later Dirk was riding from the hide-out with the three men who had been detailed to accompany him, and it was at a smart trot that they pushed through the hills, their objective being Navajo Canyon, away to the north. If the gangsters had but known it, they were not the only ones who had business in that locality on this particu- lar morning, for about the time that they set forth on their journey, Mary Grayson was preparing to leave - Hidden Valley ranch and make tracks in the same direction. In fact, at the very moment when Dirk and his comrades departed from their headquarters, Mary was bidding good-bye to her friend Helen Moore in front of the ranch-house porch. "But who is this man Hudson that you want to see?" Helen asked, as the other girl climbed astride a pony that had been saddled for her. " A man who was a close friend of my father's," Mary replied. "He owns a ranch to the north of a place called Navajo Canyon. I was looking through some correspondence in dad's desk last night, and it seems to me that Hudson may have been in his confidence—and perhaps know something about that hidden mine." Having explained the reason for her decision to travel north, Mary 4f.ft her friend and took the trail that led to- wards Music Mountain, and some two or three hours later she might have been seen skirting the slopes of that barren elevation. Then she pressed on- ward into a sombre gorge—the ravinfl known as Navajo Canyon—and it was as she emerged from this, after covering the length of it, that something slithered through the dust immediately ahead of her bronc. It was a rattlesnake that had dragged itself from some rocks near by, and it speedily vanished into a mass of chaparral thickets on the other side of the trail. But its momentary appear- ance startled Mary's horse, and, cavort- ing in its alarm, the pony threw its rider heavily to the ground. The shock of the fall drove the breath from Mary's body, but, recovering her- self, she glanced quickly and fearfully in the direction of the thickets. There was no sign of the rattlesnake, however, and she realised with a feeling of thank- fulness that the serpent had probably been as scared by the encounter as her horse. She then became conscious that her right ankle was paining her. Her foot must have been twisted in the stirrup when she had fallen, and as she made an Every Tuesday effort to rise it gave way beneath her the instant she laid her weight on it. With an exclamation she sank down again, and was nursing the injury ten- derly when she heard a shout and looked round to see a horsemau approaching her from the canyon. "Buck!" she ejaculated. "What are you doing here?" "I've been scouting around to see if I could find any trace of that mine for you," he answered in a tone of concern. "But what happened, Mary? Are you hurt?" She told him how she had been thrown, and, dismounting from his bronc, he examined her ankle and noticed that it was swollen. Then he indicated a dilapidated cabin which stood about three hundred yards beyond the mouth of Navajo Canyon. " I'd better get you over to that shack and do a little doctoring," he said. "Looks to me like you've got a bad sprain there." He secured her horse and lifted her into the saddle, then swung himself on to Silver's back and led the other pony to the cabin he had espied; and on reaching this he carried her inside and placed her on a chair. The chair was thick with dust. So was every other article of furniture in the dwelling, which had obviously been untenanted for a considerable time. "Nice lay-out," Buck commented ironically. "Say, you get your riding- boot and stocking off, while I see if I can find some water." * •-^'He went out of the cabin, and was just in time to see Silver cantering off with Mary's horse through a tract of brushwood not far from the shack, whereupon he promptly sprinted after the two broncs and caught up with them as they were slaking their thirst at a stream on the other side of the thickets. He allowed the animals to drink their fill, and then tethered them to the limb of a tree close by. Next he dipped his sombrero into the stream, and, leaving the ponies where they were, carried the hat back to the cabin. Mary had removed her boot and her stocking, and, using his sombrero as a basin, he bathed her injured ankle and afterwards bound it tightly with a handkerchief. A confusion of sounds caused Buck to rush to one of the grimy windows. Three horsemen were galloping towards the dwelling. They were renegade Indians, their long hair flying in the breeze, their voices raised in a chorus of shrill whoops that were accompanied by the blasts of fire arms which they were flourishing in their hands. "Redskins!" Buck jerked. "And heading straight for this shack!" "Who are they firing at?" Mary gasped. . STELDENI. VISSIMIO ™ October 3rd, 193B. A. DAVIS A CO. (Dept. B.P. 50), 94-104, Denmark Hill, London, S.E.5. BONELLI, STELDENI, VISSIMIO, PANCOTTI, HOHNER, CRUCIANELLI, PAOLO SOPRANI, ETC., ETC. USED AND RECOMMENDED BY JAND LEADERS ALL OVER THE COUNTRY Here we offer a very wonderful Bargain £5 . 5 . O MODEL FOR 47/6. Real Piano Accordions at specially reduced prices. By 8TELDENI. Piano-tmished cabinet, tonal reeds, metal-bound bellows, triple chord action. Complete with shoulder scrap, 81 piano keys, S basses. Cash price 47/6, or sent on receiptor 2 6 tTirst Instalment. Balance payable 4/- monthly until 5t/6 is paid. Elaborate Tutor supplied. 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