Cheer Boys Cheer: The Boys' Journal, No. 62 — page 17: what you’re looking at

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

EG@E— Second Instalment of this Grand New School Serial. a a , ais a acl a FIT I IIIA NII IANNIS AAI IA TE OQuinthre Quest K Seesolbor's Crossroads. By Harry Huntingdon. HSA RAE RIESE RARER ASSAD AAAS RRA AIEEE BREESE ERIE IER 17 HARK * To be a living lie—to pretend that I’ve no thought except for games and work, when all the time I am scheming to rob the place thit shelters me! To make friends with fellows who will turn their backs on mv, when they know what I really am!’’ CHARACTERS IN THIS RIPPING SCHOOL SERIAL, QUENTIN QUINTHRED, a new boy at Windlesthorpe Public School. Under the compulsion of a harsh and grasping father, Quinthred has been sent to Windlesthorpe to make secret search for a hidden treasure, for which purpose he has been provided with plans of some supposed underground passages. On his first day at the school the new boy discovers that GAWLER, the cad of Windlesthorpe, and generally known as the “ Rooshian,” is in possession of duplicate plans of the passages. The Rooshian at once falls toul of Quinthred, who finds a loyal friend in : GALE, a fifth former, whose breezy ways have earned him the nickname of the * Hurricane.” f Quinthred, hating the secret mission which has brought him to the school, wonders what. Gale and all the other fellows would think of him, if they knew the task he is engaged upon. After lights out on the first night the new boy creeps down to his study, where he sud- denly discovers the Rooshian, with a bull's- eye lantern in one hand, examining the panelling of the wall. : Tt is evident that the cad has already gained some knowledge of a secret opening communicating with the underground passages. (Now read on.) CHAPTER VII. Underground, Quinthred choked back hurriedly the accusing words that rose to his lips as he saw Gawler at the secret opening in the study wall. The fellow evidently had not heard the opening of the door, and it seemed worth while to see what he would do. = Ah, that’s it!” The Rooshian had found the secret spring, and the door in the panelling swung open. Quinthred _ noiselessly idfered most of the things he carried—a powerful acetylene lamp was among them—to the fleor, retaining only a ball of strong but thin twine. He ad on rubber-soled shoes, and his intention now was to follow the tival adventurer unheard. The opening was low, and to pass through the Rooshian had to stoop. Quinthred was across the room im three silent strides before he had pulled-to the door. Risking a nesty jam, he slipped his fingers inside. But Gawler had not meant to close the door fully; no doubt he feared being unabie to open it again from the inside, and it only touched gently the intruding fingers. “Three seconds Quinthred waited, his heart beating fast. Then he pulled open the door, tied au end of the string to the leg of a chair hard by, and followed the Rooshian down the staircase, paying out the string all the time. Progress was slow. Gawler’s bulk very nearly filled the narrow space, and his shoulders brushed the wall at times. Quinthred wondered what the fellow’s feelings were. He evidently had his fair share of pluck, or he would not have gone alone on such an enterprise. The thought that he might lose himself in the subterranean passages evideutly had not occurred to him. Tt was to guard against that, of course, that Quinthred had brought the ball of string, which he paid out as he went. But perhaps the Rooshian depended upon his plan of the passages. As for Quinthred, a feeling of something like elation had seized upon him. The quest itself he hated; but to thwart the Rooshian in if was quite to his mind. ‘This feeling did not last long, As they descended, the cobwebbed and musty walls gave place to dank and streaming ones, and the smell was almost unbearable. Quinthred knew that the smell meant danger.. A naked candle is better than a closed lamp in such places. Where a candle will not burn a human life is not safe. Rut probably the Rooshian id not know that. To return without warning him meant leaving him to very real peril. To warn him was to give away ail the advantage hanging to his ignorance of the fact that he was followed. There remained one thing—to follow him and chance everything. Quinthred followed. The staircase had ceased now. Quinthred judged that they were fifty feet or more below the level of Old House’s ground floor. The passage widened slightly, and the Rooshian’s shoulders no lenger touched its walls. Quinthred con- tinued to pay out his twine. Presently the Rooshian stopped. He had reached a place where ths passage forked, and here he knelt, and setting bis iantern down, held a paper close to it. Then he rose again, putting his hand to his head, and took the right-hand way. Quinthred understood that gesture, His own head ached. horribly; he could feel the throbbing of the veins in his temples; and the foul smell almost choked him. But the Rovshian held on, and Quentin held on in his wake. : The ball of string was getting very small. As he paid it out Quinthred wondered for what spot the bully was making. Could it be that the supposed buried treasure was not, after all, the object of his quest? The Rooshian gasped loudiy, and staggered against the wall, and his watcher feared that he was about to faint. A pretty business that would be! They were at least two hundred yards from their starting-point now, and the poisonous atmosphere extended practically all the way. To drag the bully that distance a JS Ik e (Ao) cram Eboo ae (CAN KG OOO INKS) 5 (G00) im