Bill Barnes Air Adventurer, July 1935 — page 19: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AIR ADVENTURER 17 us out, let him hop to it,” the gesticu- lating dummy said. Shorty was across the room in two strides. But Sandy was too quick for him. He bounced out of his chair with astonishing agility. He opened the door and made ready to run as he worked the mouth of the dummy again. “Good night, you kettle of Pennsyl- vania Dutch sauerkraut,’ the dummy said, with a bow. Sandy Sanders got through the door a bare two inches before Shorty’s foot swung toward his pants. “Good night, sweetheart,’ Sandy called as Shorty slammed the door and laughingly leaned against it. What would the kid be up to next? He had learned that trick of ventrilo- quism, Shorty remembered, just before the Bill Barnes expedition to Samerra. Now he was doing it with a stooge, or marionette on strings. Next he'd probably have a Punch and Judy show. Shorty tore off his clothes while he tried to keep from going to sleep on his feet. He was certainly tired, he told himself. In fifteen minutes he was sleeping heavily. THE ROOM was masked in dark- ness when Shorty awakened. There wasnt even the faintest rustle to dis- - turb the abysmal stillness of the room. Yet Shorty was conscious of that same awareness that had possessed him earlier in the evening when he had come into the darkened room to find Sandy there. He moved his head slightly and saw that the illuminated dial of his traveling clock read four twenty. He knew that something foreign to the room had caused him to awaken. His heart was beating faster than usual. His body was tense and damp with per- spiration. Some inherent instinct warned him not to move, to pretend he was still asleep. Suddenly, a spot of light played on the floor and moved toward the secre- BB—2 tary standing against the fur wall. A hand delved into the pigeon hole from the darkness. Shorty gasped. The hand was long and slender like the hand of young Sandy. It was Sandy up to another of his tricks. Shorty grinned and drew in his breath until his lungs were full. He let the air out with a shout that might have been heard at the other end of Long Island. Then he began to laugh. The flashlight went off and the room became dark again. “Going to scare me again, kid?” Shorty asked. There was no answer. “Get out of here, ori! break. both your legs Shorty said impatiently and rolled to the cther side of the bed to go back to sleep. It was fortunate for him that he moved. He could feel the bed shake from the impact of the three bullets that crashed into the mattress where he had been lying as orange darts of flame spurted from a gun near the secretary. Lashing out with both feet Shorty threw himself off the bed to the floor. With the same movement he slipped the automatic that nestled under his pillow into his hand. Lying perfectly still he listened for the slightest sound. His nerves were taut now. He cursed himself for having mis- taken the prowler in his room for young Sandy. He might have known it wouldn’t be Sandy at that time in the morning. The kid was a nut over his hobbies but he wasn’t nutty enough to get up at four o'clock in the morning. This was some one who wanted something badly enough to attempt mur- der to get it. Cold sweat ran into his eyes as he conquered an almost over- whelming desiré to wriggle across the room. He knew the man across the room was waiting for a move from him that would aid his aim when he fired again. When Shorty could stand it no longer oO COmiclbook 5}