CHAPTER XIII
THE MOVING PICTURES
Captain Haskin, though he took no one into his confidence as to justwhat he was doing, impressed Dick and Jack alike as a man who, oncestarted, would never drop any undertaking until he was successful. Hemight not always succeed, but failure in his case would never be due tolack of effort. So they were not surprised when he came to them a dayor two after the Burtons had left town and told them that he had whatmight be a valuable clue.
"I want you to come to the theatre with me," he said. He smiled as hesaid it. "That may seem like a frivolous thing to do when we are atwork on a mystery of this sort, but you'll see what I mean when we getthere."
Dick and Jack, who liked the railroad detective and trusted himimplicitly, were certainly surprised, but they made no bones aboutaccompanying him. He had called for them at Dick's house, where Jackwas spending the evening, and he said he wanted Tom Binns and PeteStubbs to be along, too. So they rode with him in the automobile whichhe was using, and picked up the other Scouts.
"I don't believe you ever saw the particular theatre I'm going to takeyou to," he said, when he had all four of them in the car. "It isn'tmuch of a theatre, even for a moving picture place. It's a littleplace over near the river, and the films are cheap and not very good.But you'll see why I picked it out later."
It was a long ride, after they had picked up Tom Binns, even in thedetective's big car. As they rode, Haskin kept looking around behindhim.
"I've had a queer feeling two or three times to-day," he said, "that Iwas being followed. I've shadowed so many people in my time that I'mpretty well acquainted with the ways of doing it, and I must say Idon't like the look of things. Those fellows are desperate enough todo anything at all, but if they're actually shadowing the detectivewho's in charge of the efforts to run them down and catch them they'vegot even more nerve than I thought was possible."
Two or three times, now, as they made their way along, at a slow paceby Haskin's direction, those in the car got a glimpse of a smallerautomobile that seemed to hang pretty persistently on their track.They were evidently never out of sight of the occupants of the othercar for very long.
"I suppose they know what they're doing," said Haskin, finally, "butwhat their game is, is beyond me. I'm not trying to hide from them oranyone else. I don't see why they should want to track me down thisway. Go ahead, full speed, now! We'll give them a chase for it, ifthey're looking for that."
It was not long before the car pulled up in a dirty, tumbledown streetnear the water front, before a shop that had been turned into a movingpicture theatre. Haskin paid their way in, and they found themselvesin a darkened hall and the pictures were being thrown on to the screenas they entered.
"One of the things these people do to attract people to their theatre,"explained Haskin, as they took their seats, "is to have a film madeevery week right here in the district where it is to be shown. Forinstance, this week they are showing a picture that was made on theriver front a few days ago. People come and think that perhaps they'llsee themselves or their friends in the 'movies.' It's lots of fun forthem, you see, and it's a good idea for the company that invented it."
Jack and Dick suddenly began to understand.
"Is there anyone we know in the pictures, Captain?" asked Jack.
"That's what I hope, Jack. What I do know is that there is a sectionof the film that shows three of the men who tried to wreck the trainthe other night. They are talking with some other men, and it isbecause I think that one of these others may be this man Broom that Iwant you to see it and identify him, if you can. Then, you see, we cansend out his picture and have a much better chance of catching him."
Haskin had looked around carefully before he spoke. He had no ideathat there would be anyone around who would be able to make head ortail out of what he was saying, but he was trained to take chances onlywhen he had to. But there seemed to be no one near except a sleepy,slouchy sailor in a seat immediately behind him. The man had beendrinking, and his heavy breathing convinced Haskin that he washarmlessly asleep.
But the next time he looked around the sailor was gone. He must havemoved very quietly to escape the notice of Haskin, and he was justpassing out through the door when the detective saw him.
"That's bad business!" he said to himself. "It was mighty careless ofme. I ought to have known better, certainly, than to talk that way,even if there didn't seem to be anyone around to hear me. I only hopehe didn't understand, or that he really is what he seems to be--just asailor on a spree."
They had a long and tedious wait for the time to come when theall-important film should be begun. What was reeled off first hadlittle interest for any of them. The three Scouts all liked the movingpicture shows well enough, but they preferred the other kind, the sortshown in the better houses uptown, and they could not get up muchinterest in the pictures that seemed to delight those who were seatedall about them.
The place grew constantly more and more crowded. It was evidently apopular diversion near the river, and the attraction of the localscenes film, with the chance that any spectator might suddenly findhimself a part of the performance, was what pleased them the most andattracted the greatest attention.
At last it was time for that particular film to be begun. It was quitea long one, as it turned out, and it was not until a number of pictureshad been shown that Haskin suddenly leaned forward and pointed to alittle pier, beside which a motor boat was bobbing up and down.
Jack, with a gasp, and a queer little thrill running up and down hisback, recognized three men who stood by the boat. They were quarrelingabout something, and were by no means still, but there was no mistakingthem. They were three of the men that he had seen in the littlestation on the night that the attempt to wreck the Limited had failed.And, from the edge of the screen, another man was walking toward them.
"There," said Haskin, "that's the fellow I want you to watch. Is thatBroom? If it is--"
He couldn't finish. There was a sudden sputtering by the film. Thelights went out--only to give place to a dark, red glare near the film.And, at the same moment, there was a wild shriek from the back of thehall--"Fire!"
The lights winked on again in a moment, and then went out and on again,alternating for two or three minutes, so that at one moment the little,crowded theatre was black as ink and the next as light as day. Most ofthose in the audience were women and children, and they were in a panicin a moment.
"Come on, Scouts!" roared Dick Crawford. "If they don't stop crowdingand pushing, not one of these people will get out of this place alive."
The three Scouts knew what to do and how to do it. They were preparedfor this as well as for any other emergency. They were, perhaps, theonly cool-headed ones in the place. Adding their voices to Dick's, andwith Haskin to help them, they managed somehow to restore some sort oforder. They fought their way through the packed aisles, and, thoughthe fire was gaining, back by the film, they made the people pass outin good order. Great as was the peril, not one of them flinched.
Jack Danby, in the center aisle, had to bear the brunt of the wild rushfor the door, but he managed to keep the people from piling up againstthe door, and so making a human dam that would have kept everyone fromsafety. One or two men, and the braver of the women, inspired by theactions of the Scouts, pulled themselves together, and helped them, andbefore the flames had made much headway, everyone, it seemed, was out.But Jack Danby remembered seeing a child fall just before the lastgroup had gone through the door. He did not see it outside, and,despite protests from all who saw him, he made his way back.
The lights had gone out for good now, but there was plenty of chance tosee even in that grimy, smoke-filled place, by the fitful glare of theflames that were reaching out and licking up the seats and the tawdrydecorations now. And he had not very far to go before he found what hewas looking for--the body of a little girl who had fallen and beenovercome by the smoke. He picked her up and with little
difficultycarried her out to the street, where a fireman took her from him.
The firemen made short work of the blaze, and Haskin, with the fourScouts, walked away and reached the automobile, which had been forcedto move several blocks on account of the fire.
"That fire wasn't any accident," said Haskin, gravely. "Now I know whythose fellows were following me. They were afraid of something of thissort. My heavens, what cold-blooded scoundrels they are! They werewilling to wreck that train--now they took the chance of killingeveryone in that little theatre to keep me from seeing that film--and,I suppose, with the idea that they could get rid of me and the mostdangerous witness against them at the same time, and by a single blow."
"Do you really think they did that?" cried Dick, shocked by the idea.
"I think so, yes. But it's one thing to think so, and to say that Ithink so, and it's quite another to prove it. That's the trouble! ButI'm going to try pretty hard, and I'll fix the blame on them and seethat they go to jail for it if there's any human way of doing it. It'sa pity they succeeded as well as they did. They've destroyed thatfilm, and it would have been mighty useful as evidence against them,let me tell you!"
"Is there no duplicate?"
"I'm afraid not. But we'll try, anyway. There's no harm in that."