12 Sports Aces, January 1943 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

a THE RED-LIGHT EXPRESS ll his play, Rock made a hockey player out of Sweeney. But Fate is one wrapire that has a way of reversing fiself. Now Rock was on the spot. Sweeney wished that he had not heen so late reporting, Maybe there was something he eould have done to help Rock. But the doctors were trying a new and expensive treatment on Alice’s crip- pled legs. He had waited to hear the first reports, Sure, Alice had insisted that he leave without her, But Sweeney would no more run out on Alice than she would on him, The locker room was empty when Sweeney got dewn there. The Raiders were already out on the ice ragging the puck and practieing defense plays. At that moment, a stocky, moon-faced figure am- bled from behind a section of lockers. He motioned to Sweeney and Sweeney fol- lowed him to a locker. “You'll find everything you want in there,” he said in a mild voice that seemed to grasp for each word, “If there is any- thing I can do, just let me know. The name’s Buzzy Barnes.” Sweeney recognized the name, Buzzy Barnes had been an ace puckster for many years. Sweeney didn’t remember the de- tails too clearly. But he knew they had picked Buzzy out of a rink smash-up one. night and he had never been the same again. “Okay, Buzzy,” Sweeney said eheer- fully. “Tl hop into my things in a min- ute. I’ve been waiting a long time to get a look at Angel Toland.” “You'll get an eyeful,” Buzzy said slow- ly. “You’re a wing on this outfit, Toland’s the whole team. You wanna remember that if you expect to last around here.” Sweeney couldn’t help but detect a trace. of bitterness in Buzzy’s voice. But he did- n’t give it a second thought. “One job is enough for me to handle, Buzzy.” CHAPTER II Raiders were going through va- rious defensive maneuvers when Sweeney went on the ice. A moment later Sweeney saw the wide-shouldered man skating toward him and knew it was An-— gel Toland. Angel Toland was a big, — rugged man with a bullet head set on a tremendous pair of shoulders, The man’s eyes were as chill as the ice beneath his blades. He glared at Sweeney. “And when does the rest of the choir arrive?” he asked sneeringly. “This is a solo, paisy. We’re all here— all that’s needed.” . Rock lined up the teams, the regulars in purple shirts and the second-stringers donsing white sweatshirts. They took plenty of time aligning themselves on the ice, Sweeney notieed a couple of them shrug their shoulders, bored with the whole thing. Sweeney could understand that. Fhe Raiders didn’t know whether Rock was in or out of the driver’s seat. Reck tooted his whistle and the center- men engaged for the face-off and the ac- tion started. The puck slid loose and Sweeney swept in, grabbed it. An opposing de- fenseman made a half-hearted attempt to back-check the rubber away. He quit and went down the ice. Sweeney’s skates burned under him. He flipped to Nails Hearne, The forward line, Sweeney, Nails and Angel Toland, swung into formation. Angel broke im on the goal and Nails let loose a pass. A defenseman stepped in, intercepted the puck. That brought Swee- ney roaring into action. He .caught the defenseman along the sideboards, hook- checking the rubber away. Sweeney whirled in a burst of zooming speed and Fipped in on the goalie for one of those quickies. The goalie barely made the save. Sweeney let out a howl. 3 “Here we go! Look out!” Sweeney was on the rebound, whipping it to Nails Hearne across the face of the goal. The surprised Nails flubbed the shot. ‘Phe white shirts in their own methodical way took the puck out of the danger zone. They rode right down the left defense lane where Happy Holliday was doing business. Happy simply moved over and the puck-earrier went im and rang the bell, “Don’t move, palsy,” Sweeney said, griped, “I'll throw you a dime to stand on, This is all in fun, huh?” Happy Holliday was a stocky guy,-built EOPNIEOOOKS (E@)