The Crimson Flash

  E-text prepared by Stephen Hutcheson, Rod Crawford, Dave Morgan, and theOnline Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)

  Mystery Stories for Boys

  THE CRIMSON FLASH

  by

  ROY J. SNELL

  The Reilly & Lee Co.Chicago

  Printed in the United States of America

  Copyright, 1922byThe Reilly & Lee Co.All Rights Reserved

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER PAGE I Johnny Loses a Fight 9 II Boxing the Bunco-Steerer 24 III The Feasters See a Haunt 45 IV "Pale Face Bonds" 55 V Strange Doings in the Night 74 VI Johnny Boxes the Bear 85 VII No Box-a Da Bear 100 VIII The Girl and the Tiger 112 IX The Tiger Springs 124 X Gwen Meets a "Hay Maker" 134 XI The Black Beast 144 XII Johnny Wins Double Pay 160 XIII Pant's Story of the Black Cat 173 XIV In Tom Stick's House 184 XV Bursting Balloons 198 XVI The Wreck of the Circus 206 XVII "Get That Black Cat" 217 XVIII How Johnny Got the Ring 232

  THE CRIMSON FLASH

  CHAPTER I JOHNNY LOSES A FIGHT

  In the center of the "big top," which sheltered the mammoth three-ringcircus, brass horns blared to the rhythmic beat of a huge bass drum.

  Eight trained elephants, giant actors of the sawdust ring, patientlystood in line, awaiting the command to make way for the tumblers, trapezeperformers, bareback riders and the queen of the circus.

  The twins, Marjory and Margaret MacDonald, just past ten years of age,and attending their first circus, stood pressed against the rope not anarm's length from the foremost elephant. Suddenly the gigantic creaturereached out a beseeching trunk for a possible peanut.

  Sensing danger, Johnny Thompson, the one-time lightweight boxingchampion, who, besides their maid, stood guard over the millionairetwins, sprang forward. Quick as he was, his movement was far too slow.Marjory jumped back; there was an almost inaudible snap. The elephantstretched his trunk to full length--then in apparent anger uttered ahollow snort.

  A broad bar of sunlight shooting over the top of the canvas wall was cutby a sudden flash. The flash described a circle, then blinked out at thefeet of three waiting young women performers.

  With a cry of consternation on his lips, Johnny Thompson sprang over theropes. Bowling over an elephant trainer in his haste, he bolted towardthe three girl acrobats at whose feet the miniature meteor had vanished.

  Again his agile movement was far too slow. Six pairs of rough hands triedto seize him. Johnny's right shot out. With a little gurgle, an attendantin uniform staggered backward to crumple in the sawdust. A ring-master,leaping like a panther, landed on Johnny's back. Dropping abruptly,Johnny executed a somersault, shook himself free and rose only to butthis head into the stomach of a fat clown.

  And then what promised to be a beautiful scrap ended miserably. Arazor-back, or tent roustabout, struck Johnny on the head with a tentstake. Johnny dropped like an empty meal sack. At once four attendantsdragged him beneath the tent wall into a shady corner. There, after tyinghis hands and feet, they waited for his return to consciousness.

  Little by little Johnny came to himself, and began to fumble at hisfetters.

  "Wow! What hit me?" he grumbled, as he attempted to rub his bruised head.

  "You fell and struck your head on a tent pole," grinned a razor-back.

  "Some scrapper, eh?" a second man commented.

  "Dope or moonshine?" asked a third.

  "Neither," exclaimed Johnny. "It was--darn it! No. That's none of yourbusiness. But I'll get it back if I have to follow this one-horse showfrom Boston to Texas."

  "You won't follow nothin' just at present," scowled the razor-back, eyinghis shackles with satisfaction. "That guy you hit had to go to the show'ssurgeon."

  "Wow!" ejaculated his companion. "And I bet this little feller doesn'tweigh a hundred and ten stripped! How'd he do it?"

  "Let me loose and I'll give you a free exhibition," grinned Johnny, as hesettled back, resolved to take what was coming to him with a smile.

  He was not a quarrelsome fellow, this Johnny Thompson. He had studied thescience of boxing and wrestling because it interested him, and because hewished to be able to take care of himself in every emergency. He neverstruck a man unless forced to do so. The emergency of the past hour hadspurred him to unusual activity. In a way he regretted it now, but onreflection decided that were the same set of conditions to confront himagain, his actions would probably be the same. His one regret was that hehad been unable to attain his end. His only problem now was to recoverlost ground and to reach the desired goal.

  Late that night, with stiffened joints and aching muscles, he made hisway to the desolate spot where but a few hours before a hilarious thronghad laughed at the antics of clowns and thrilled at the daring dance ofthe tight-rope walker.

  In his hand Johnny held a small flashlight. This he flicked about hereand there for some time.

  "That's it," he exclaimed at last. "This is the very spot."

  Dropping on hands and knees he began clawing over the sawdust. Running itthrough his fingers, he gathered it in little piles here and there untilpresently the place resembled a miniature mountain range. He had been atthis for a half hour when he straightened up with a sigh.

  "Not a chance," he murmured, "not a solitary chance! One of those circusdames got it; the trapeze performer, or maybe the tight-rope walker.Which one? That's what I've got to find out."

  Suddenly he leaped to his feet. A long-drawn-out whistle sounded throughthe darkness.

  "The circus train! I've just time to jump it. I'll stow away on her.How's that? A circus stowaway!"

  Johnny dashed across the open space and, just as the train began to move,caught at the iron bars of a gondola car loaded with tent equipment.Climbing aboard, he groped about until he found a soft spot among somepiles of canvas, and, sinking down there, was soon fast asleep. He hadhad no supper, but that mattered little. He would eat a double portion ofham and eggs in the morning. It was enough that he was on his way. Whereto? He did not exactly know.

  When Johnny leaped over the rope in the circus tent the previousafternoon, in his rush toward the lady performers, he had dodged behindthe trained elephants. This took him out of the view of the twins,Marjory and Margaret. So interested were they in the elephants that theydid not miss him, and not having noted the sparkle in the sunlight whichsent Johnny on his mad chase, they remained fully occupied in watchingthe regular events of the circus.

  The elephants had lumbered into the side tent, the tight-rope walker haddanced her airy way across the arena, the brown bear had taken his dailybicycle ride, and the human statuary was on display, when Marjorysuddenly turned to Margaret and said:

  "Why, Johnny's gone!"

  "So he is," said the other twin. "Perhaps he didn't like it. He'll beback, I'm sure."

  The maid was quite accustomed to looking after the millionaire twins, sowhen Johnny failed to put in an appearance at the end of the performance,they passed out with the throng, the maid hailed a taxi and they weresoon on their way home.

  It was then that Marjory, l
ooking down, noticed that the fine gold chainabout her neck hung with two loose ends. Catching her breath, she uttereda startled whisper:

  "Oo! Look! Margaret! It's gone!"

  Margaret looked once, then clasped her hands in horror.

  "And father said you mustn't take it!"

  "But it was our first, our very first circus!"

  "I know," sighed Margaret. "And wasn't it just grand! But now," shesighed, "now, you'll have to tell father."

  "Yes, I will--right away."

  Marjory did tell. They had not been in the house a minute before she toldof their loss.

  "Where's Johnny Thompson?" their father asked.

  "We--we don't know."

  "Don't know?"

  "We haven't seen him for two hours."

  "Well, that settles it. I might have known when I hired an adventurer tolook after my thoroughbreds and guard my children that I'd be sorry. Buthe was a splendid man with the horses; seemed to think of 'em as his own;and as for boxing, I never saw a fellow like him."

  "Yes, and Daddy, we liked him," chimed in Marjory. "We liked him a lot."

  "Well," the father said thoughtfully, "guess I ought to put a man on histrail and bring him back. Probably went off with the circus. But I won't.He's been a soldier, and a good one, I'm told. That excuses a lot. Andthen if you go dangling a few thousand dollars on a bit of gold chain,what can you expect? Better go get your supper and then run on to bed."

  That night, before they crept into their twin beds, Marjory and Margarettalked long and earnestly over something very important.

  "Yes," said Marjory at last, "we'll find some real circus clothessomewhere. Then we'll have Prince and Blackie saddled and bridled. Thenwe'll ride off to find that old circus and bring Johnny Thompson back. Wecan't get along without him; besides, he didn't take it. I just know hedidn't."

  "And if he did, he didn't mean to," supplemented Margaret.

  A moment later they were both sound asleep.

  As Johnny Thompson bumped along in his rail gondola, with the click-clickof the wheels keeping time to the distant pant of the engine, he dreameda madly fantastic dream. In it he felt the nerve-benumbing shudder whichcomes with the shock of a train wreck. He felt himself lifted high in airto fall among rolls of canvas and piles of tent poles, heard the crash ofbreaking timbers, the scream of grinding ironwork, and above it all theroar of frightened animals--tigers, lions, panthers, tossed, still intheir cages, to be buried beneath the wreckage, or hurled free to tumbledown the embankment. In this dream Johnny crawled from beneath the canvasto find himself staring into the red and gleaming eye of some great catthat was stalking him as its prey. He struggled to draw his clasp knifefrom his pocket, and in that mad struggle awoke.

  With every nerve alert he caught the click-click of wheels, the distantpant of the engine. It had been nothing more than a dream. He was stilltraveling steadily forward with the circus.

  Yet, as he settled back, he gave an involuntary shudder and, proppinghimself on one elbow, stared through the darkness toward the spot where,in his dream, the great cat had crouched. To his horror, he caught thered gleam of a single burning eye.

  Instantly there flashed through his mind the row of great caged cats hehad seen that day. Pacing the floor of their dens, pausing now and againfor a leap, a growl, a snarl, they had fascinated him then. Now his bloodran cold at the thought of the creature which, having escaped from itscage, had crept along the swinging cars, leaping lightly from one to theother until the scent of a man had arrested its course. Was it theSenegal lion? Johnny doubted that. Perhaps the tawny yellow Bengal tiger,or the more magnificent one from Siberia.

  All this time, while his mind had worked with the speed of a wireless,Johnny's hand was struggling to free his clasp knife.

  Once more his eye sought the ball of fire. Suddenly as it had come, sosuddenly it had vanished. He started in astonishment. Yet he was not tobe deceived. The creature had turned its head. It was moving. Perhaps atthis very moment it was crouching for a spring. A huge pile of canvasloomed above Johnny. A leap from this vantage, the tearing of claws, thesinking of fangs, and this circus train would have witnessed a tragedy.

  He strained his ears for a sound, but heard none. He strove to make out abulk in the dark, but saw nothing. Could it be a tiger or mountain lion,jaguar or spotted leopard? Or was it the black leopard from Asia? A freshchill ran down Johnny's spine at thought of this creature. Other greatcats had paced their cages, growled, snarled; the black leopard, smallerthan any, but muscular, sharp clawed, keen fanged, with glowering eyes,had lurked in the corner of his cage and gloomed at those who passed. Itwas this animal that Johnny feared the most.

  If he but had a light! At once he thought of his small electric torch.Grasping it in his left hand, he leveled it at the spot where the burningeye had been, and gripping the clasp knife in his right, threw on thebutton.

  As the shaft of light flashed across the canvas, he stared for a second,then his hand trembled with surprise and excitement.

  "Panther Eye, as I live!" he exclaimed. "You old rascal! What are youdoing here?"

  The former companion, for it was not a great cat, but a man, and noneother than Panther Eye, fellow free-lance in many a previous adventure,stared at him through large smoked glasses, a smile playing over hislips.

  "Johnny Thompson, I'll be bound! Some luck to you. What are you doinghere?"

  "Looking for something."

  "Same here, Johnny."

  "And I'll stay with this circus until I find it," said Johnny.

  "Same here, Johnny. Shake on it."

  Pant crawled over the swaying car and extended a hand. Johnny shook itsolemnly.

  "Slept any?" asked Pant.

  "A little."

  "Better sleep some more, hadn't we?"

  "I'm willing."

  "It's a go."

  Pant crept back to his hole in the canvas; Johnny sank back into his. Hewas not to sleep at once, however. His mind was working on many problems.Not the least of these was the question of Panther Eye's presence on thecircus train. This strange fellow, who appeared to be endowed with acapacity for seeing in the dark, was always delving in dark corners,searching out hidden mysteries. What mystery could there be about acircus? What, indeed? Was not Johnny on the trail of a puzzling mysteryhimself?

  Having reasoned thus far he was about to fall asleep, when a single redflash lighted up the peak of the canvas pile, then faded. He thought ofthe red ball of fire he had taken for a cat's eye. He remembered theyellow glow he had seen when with Pant on other occasions. His mindattacked the problem weakly. He was half asleep. In another second theclick-click of the car wheels was heard only in his dreams.