Indianapolis Times, Volume 48, Number 44, Indianapolis, Marion County, 1 May 1936 — Page 35

MAY 1, 1936

Today's Short Story ■— THE LAST CHANCE By Edward Seymour

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THE mechanic brought the radio car around from the repair shop in the rear of the state troopers’ barracks, parked it, banged the door and went off whistling. Capt. Liscomb called, “Barnett.” Tom Barnett, six feet of black puttees, olive green uniform and titled cap, all of it adorned with the badges and buttons of a state trooper, answered, “Sir?” “Listen,” said hia commanding officer. “Try to get this straight. Keep your fingers off that radio.” He emphasized each word, spacing them. Tom said, “Yes, sir.” “Because if you don’t,” continued Captain Liscomb, “you won’t get another chance. That’s the third car you’ve had in the shop.. The mechanics tell me you’ve been putting some sort of a gadget on the radio to get regular broadcasts and then tinker with them until you break them. You’ve broken your last one. That’s all.” n n n AGAIN Tom said, “Yes, sir,” saluted and walked out. He got into the car and drove off on a regular tour of duty. Two troopers were usually assigned to each car, but an epidemic of sickness had forced single assignments in some cases. Tom turned on the radio, which was set for the headquarters broadcasting station. The announcer’s voice came in, calling numbers for a test. Tom groaned inwardly. He hated the sound of that voice. For months he had listened to it, calling the license numbers of stolen automobiles, describing men and women wanted for reasons seldom given and—the only times it was welcomed—calling for a quick dash to action. But he had to listen to it. Later, maybe, he might be able to tinker a bit and tune in on station WHRN'S hot jazz band for a while. Then he remembered. It was his last chance. He wished he knew more about radios, how they operated and how a man could tune them without breaking them. Other troopers did it. They knew how. He had just had tough luck. “Shut up,” he said aloud as the dispatcher's voice began counting again. n n n THE car rolled along at a steady 30 miles an hour cruising speed. It went through small towns and villages, probed back roads, caused other cars suddenly to begin crawling along as their drivers sighted it and cause a young man with itching fingers vo twist a dial. The road sloped in a long descent into Ridgeville, took an abrupt turn and became the main street of the town. The radio car came down the sloping road, took the turn and almost ran down a man running swiftly with a canvas bag dangling from one hand. Ahead of him ran another man, both of them toward a slowly-moving automobile whose doors were open. A voice shouted and a third man skidded to a stop on the sidewalk in front of the Ridgeville Bank. The running men turned, the car stopped and for a brief moment it was like a tableau, all of them in arrested motion. nan THE first shot struck the windshield of Tom's car, flattened and dropped to the hood. Behind the bullet-proof glass his own actions were automatic. The muzzle of his pistol banged against the steering wheel as he threw his arm across his body and fired at the man on the bank steps. Metal shrieked as bullets tore through tho thin sheathing of the car. The man or the bank steps swayed and fell into a twitching hudole. Two more splotched scars appeared on the windshield and the seat shook as bullets pounded into the seat beside him. They were comhvg at an angle.

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The other car was backing up. Its doors were closed now and the two men who had been running were in it. Streaks of flame were coming from its lowered windows. Tom knocked open the far door of his own car and reached for the bracketed rifle above the windshield in one motion. He sprawled through and lay on the running board as far forward as he could get without raising his head. The engine would stop bullets. tt tt tt OUICKLY he thrust up the rifle, took one shot in the general direction of the car he could not see and then went down on his hands and knees. He realized that the men shooting at him could not see beneath his own car from she height of theirs. Behind him bullets tore through the radiator and hood. Tom peered from the back of the car. Then, prone on the ground, he brought his rifle into action, firing directly at the flashes in the other car. The heavier roaring of the rifle drowned the sharp crack of pistols. Their firing ceased. The car began moving. For the first time Tom took a careful sight and fired. The car went on and then slowly swerved, bumped softly against the curbing and stopped. A man, pistol in hand, came runnig from the bank behind Tom, stooped beside him and said, “Are you hurt?’’ Without waiting for an answer he emptied his pistol into the stalled machine. “They shot one of our tellers,” he said when the roar died away. Tom said, “I don’t think they’ll do any more shooting.” He was right. When, guns on the alert, they opened a shot-rid-dled door of the car they found two men dead and one dying. The bank guard drew the canvas sack from beneath one of the bodies. tt it it iN “Worth taking a chance for. They would have gotten away with it, too, if you hadn’t come along. Guess they didn’t figure on that.” But they had. Just how well the bank holdup had been planned Tom learned when another radio car came roaring up to the bank and was quickly followed by another, with Capt. Lipscomb sitting beside the driver. Reports were made quickly, orders given and the rapidly gathering crowd kept back as the wounded bandit was lifted out of the car. “Good shooting, kid,” said Joe Miley, a fellow trooper, as he clapped Tom on the shoulder. “You sure had your nerve with you. Liscomb is tickled pink. I brought him over. Heard you were in bad with him. This ought to straighten it out. He would have had a hell of a time explaining if they had gotten away with it. Especially after sending in that fake alarm.” “Huh?” said Tom. it tt n “T'VIDN’T you get it?” asked Miley. M-J “That call about a riot over in Phillipsburg? The dispatcher sent it out. Yours was the only car in ?0 miles that didn’t go there. One of these birds probably made the call.” He jerked a thumb at the bandit machine. “They had it figured pretty," he went on. “Sending a fr.ke call for cars to stop a riot that wasn’t there and then cracking a bank 50 tuilcz away. How was it you didn’t go?” Before Tom could answer, Capt. Lipscomb called: “Barnett, come here, will you?” Tom obeyed, pausing to take a quick look at his own car. Capt. Lipscomb held out his hand. “Fine work,” he said. “I’ll send in a report about this. It may mean a step up for you. If you feel shaky you can go back to the barracks in another car.” “I’m all right, sir,” Tom answered. “But ” he paused. “But what?” asked the captain. “I’ve broken another radio,” answered Tom. “That is, a bullet went through it and smashed it. It’s no good.” LIPSCOMB laughed. “We’ll have it fixed up," he said. “I don’t care how many you break that way. Just forget what I said this morning.” “Yes, sir,” answered Tom. He was glad to forget. And glad to have his commanding officer forget. Because the radio had been broken before the bullet smashed it, broken by Tom’s attempts to get station WHRN and a little relief from the dispatcher's voice. THE END

OUR BOARDING HOUSE

fUf B3Ar>,’PRi9MP / X MYSELF> l|l|F I'VE MUC6E.D A LOTTA I§§ Hf HAVE CALkSMT THE RARE Nf ABOVE AM* |||t PROM IBADETEE, FOUND J|| BELOW THE WATERS'-'- J| Jp IN THE SUNKEN LAKES WcF l HOPE HE SNATCHES OP TAHITI AMO MUCH SOUaHT ST THAT # AFTER, FOR SCIENTIFIC STUDY/ 1 THE ONLY TIME X EVER J f THE NATIVES CALL THEM THE # HEARD OF THAT D.T. J? A TIC INC USES/ MEANING, CAMELS JL MACKEREL OF YOURS, y pf OF THE WATERS/ THESE WAS FROM A WOOZY^ BISH CAW <3O 30 HOURS WfTH-jC WHO CLAIMED *S ([ ' ( OUT A -DRINK { THEIR FINS ( HE HOOKED OWE -4i| ARE SO LARSE, THEY CAW \ l WHILE SAILIWGOVER W zl LEAp ,wr ° atr and /v

FRECKLES AND HIS FRIENDS—

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WASHINGTON TUBBS II

r HE wouldn't) QUICK. JEFF PICKET'S BIN KNOCKED /ALLEY BACKA the sunbeam 1 T^, E , k^ LU </C*/ER TH* MEAD AN r ROBBED OF Maoot) GROCERY. ALL THE MONEY'S belles fN rAcu t — in ssoo bills, i figger. L /iy AiyucvioN THEY'LL HEAD FER A CITY—- —\ Yu/uppcly THEY'LL NEVER DARE TRY TO 1 i Vs) PASS THAT MONEY HERE.HEY, Z y-y [O MM WASH, ANSWER THE PHONET, ait nv Ann

ALLEY OOP

YOU'VE GOT 7H' TDEA -1 KNOW TH AtSaTBH® ( ?AWRI GH T PER YOU >IR MUST-THAT AS GRAND WIZER, ■Will “I’M AS HOW Y’FEEL/ SIT I lAM A 810 BUST/ BUT I'M TELLINf (FWOOSH 1 THERE AN POUT. YOU

BOOTS AND HER BUDDIES

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TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD MENI

Despite his resolution to kill the stranger, Orando’s curiosity was intrigued, ‘ What would you do if I should release you?" he inquired uncertainly. “You are a hunter,” Tarzan answered: “sc I should bring you near to the meat animals, and ward off the danger of savage beasts.”

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THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Tarzan’s reply was carefully calculated. He knew the superstitions of the natives. He knew that each believed his fate controlled. Orando cried out in startled awe: “But that is what my ‘muzimo’ is supposed to and me and help me hunt."

With Major Hoople

OUT OUR WAY

L the thrill. MUNTERS* "

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BOOTS'.OH AM GLAD YOU \M DIGGING, EY YAVSYEQnI &RGET \T\ ARE BACVd \ 1 LNAS OAPYANG ! \_\6HT \ HE WON’T I COME HERE GETTING LX)PP\ED J WHERE'S STOP TOP A J AND G\UE ME NBOUTYOU T MINUTE'. I FEEL S° | A L\FT .VNNLL^ ma by nea service, utc* t. m.

"I am your ‘muzimo!’” Tarzan said quietly after a dramatic pause. Orando was speechless. Now he understood why the stranger was unafraid of death. He was immortal, invulnerable. The ape-man immediately followed up his advantage. -Release me!”

—By Edgar Rice Burroughs

Orando hastened to comply. It was not dimcult to raise the branch and release Tarzan. Bui the Jungle Lord was not yet free. He was now to face a perilous test of the powers he claimed as Orando’s protector. High in a tree, a panther crouched to spring upon the black warrior!

COMIC PAGB

-By Williams

—By Blosser

—By Crane

—By Hamlin

—By Martin