Episode 4 of Nick and The Evil Dr. Fraile

Dateline: Boma, The Congo river Delta

O’Malley here and I’m not dead yet!

I have just landed in yet another beautiful tourist spot here on the West Coast of Africa, as always it is hotter here than Atlanta when Sherman marched through it. Grabbing my trusty Kodak No. 2 Folding Autographic Brownie I jumped off the steamer and searched for a good spot from which I could photograph the action. I quickly met a young local girl on the street corner who was more than helpful. She led me to her apartment were I got a great view of the local hot spots, and all for a reasonable price. (Note to editor I need you to wire an advance for my story. It seems I have contracted a local malady which the missionary here assures me can be cured with a shot, but they require a “donation”.) Soon after the negotiations for the room rate had been settled the action in the street really intensified.

The local Belgian authorities here have recently allowed some good ol’ American boys to come in and start drilling for Texas Tea. This commercial interest apparently agitated the local rabble-rousers as a tribe of Tuaregs has been causing all manner of unrest in this little backwater burg. Not ones to be bullied by the indigenous population the local constabulary grabbed the chief of these troublemakers a certain Bay-ag-Akhamok and threw him in the slammer. Well, just as yours truly was getting settled in to his “accommodations”, the locals tried to bust ol’ Akhamok out of the pokey. And, just as their type will do, they decided a little looting and mischief was in order while they were at it.

The first bit of business was to run the American boys out of town.

Unfortunately for them they ran into some real roughnecks who gave them what for. The American boys were led by a no nonsense veteran named “Sarge” O’Banyon. “Sarge” was not about to be run out of town that easy. The Americans pulled out their gats and showed them Tuaregs how we ran the redskins out of the Wild West.


At one point “Sarge” was surrounded by 3 of the brutes on horseback. With trick shooting and American grit he brought all three of them down.
One of his boys had managed to get their truck started and was headed back to town. “Sarge” seeing this jumped into the back of the truck and continued to unhorse the brigands with his trusty Colt.

Meanwhile back in town, Nick Travers the Great American Hero, and some sailors had accompanied the beautiful Priscilla Nobsknockers into town to locate her father.

Nick had it on good authority that the Evil Dr. Fraile had brought Professor Leo Nobsknockers, inventor of the transmogrification device, here in an attempt to catch a steamer back to Austria. As always our boys were greeted with the utmost enthusiasm from the local population.

As our boys commenced searching house-to-house looking for the cowardly madman they ran smack into the middle of the jailbreak. Lead was flying everywhere as the Tuareg raiders shot at anything that moved. The Belgians were all forced back into their compound and things looked bleak until one of their men appeared on the roof with an automatic rifle which bought them a brief respite. Unfortunately, the sheer numbers of raiders overwhelmed the little garrison and the Tuaregs gained the outer courtyard.

The Americans were in a desperate struggle themselves as they fought their way through the Tuaregs to each house looking for the Evil Dr. Fraile’s hideout. Finally, one of the sailors located the correct house by running into the sharp end of one of the Madman’s scalpels. The Dr. then used his evil mind control power to confuse one of the other sailors and used him to fight off the others as he sought some means of escape. The Lunatic Dr. made it into the street and toward an automobile parked nearby. However the violence in the street was blocking all avenues of escape. Seeing no way out and knowing that even if he did escape he would not be able to get through all the raiders, the coward surrendered to Nick knowing that Nick would then be forced to get him to safety.

At the jail the constables were involved in some tight action, as the close quarters had forced the fight into hand-to-hand combat. Once again the large number of raiders decided the day as the Belgians fell to a man.

Seeing that there would no longer be anyone available to interview in that part of town, and my rental agreement with the young lady concluded, I decided it would be prudent to make for the boat. Where I could interview Nick and the Crackpot Doc uninterrupted by curious onlookers. Not wanting to interfere in the festivities being prepared by the newly installed administration of this little hamlet, I decided to slip out the back way. Lucky for me I did, as in honor of the new tenancy a local wine merchant was having some sort of inventory clearance sale. Not one to pass up a bargain I selected a few choice vintages. As the owner was preoccupied in assisting the new gendarmerie and unable to look up the prices for me I decided to leave a note detailing were I could be billed for my selection.

Back at the boat it seems that the local populace that greeted us so warmly was reluctant to see us shove off so soon. Unfortunately, the commander of our vessel accidentally discharged his revolver towards the onrushing well-wishers and they were reluctant to come closer to bid us farewell. Several of the high spirited lads took this for some sort of foreign farewell and answered back by discharging their weapons in the air. As we slipped down the river I could see the natives happily going about their daily lives and celebrating their newly found independence from the Belgian Colonial office.

Until next time readers! You can count on me to bring you all of the Action… Hot and Heavy!