11With his amazing
Batcups, he
climbed the wall
and escaped!
Booklet Text
The ferocious Batman-eating tiger charged! Batman, with this Bat-quick reflexes, sidestepped ... fumbled in his Batbelt for his Batclaws and put them on his hands ... raced to the wall and ran up it. He slapped his hands hard against the surface and stayed there, a good ten feet off the floor! The amazing Batcups on his Batclaws held him tightly against the wall as the tiger leaped in vain.
Next, using his vast knowledge of audio-engineering, Batman reversed the polarity on his communicator, then increased the audio to 20,000 decibels. The room was filled with an ear-shattering WHINE! The tiger backed into a corner and cowered there. Batman dropped to the floor, opened the door, and escaped into a long corridor, turning off the communicator. He looked around, then stamped on a wall the luminous sigh of the bat.
12
"My tigers below,
Boy Wonder,
will be fed when
you fall ..."
Booklet Text
Meanwhile, in the Catwoman's evil playroom in the basement, Robin was stretched on a plank suspended over a pit of snarling tigers! On the opposite end of the plank, a clear plastic cylinder, filled with sand, balanced his weight exactly. One move meant horrible death!
"You must be curious, Boy Wonder, why the strange feeding method?" asked Catwoman.
"I'm always interested in the workings of the criminal mind," he replied.
"My pets are orderly beasts and have to be fed on time," explained Catwoman. "So when enough sand runs out, dinner is served!"
"Catwoman, you are not a nice person," said Robin. "You shouldn't let them get so hungry. After all, pets are a responsibility.
She shrugged, pulled the plug from the sand cylinder, and walked away. Slowly, the sand began spilling out.
13
In the catacombs
Batman saw his
Batsign again -
he was lost!
Booklet Text
In the dimly lit corridor, Batman walked along, trying to find his way out of these catacombs. He came to a cross-corridor and saw his Batsign.
What no, Cowled Crusader? Is it a cul-de-sac?
He started down the corridor to the right, but soon came full circle and saw the Batsign again.
Precious moments lost! There's only one possible way out! He turned and ran up the left-hand passage.
14
The sand
was escaping!
Below Robin the
tigers paced!
Booklet Text
While the Catwoman's henchmen watched and taunted him, Robin teetered over the awful pit. Each dropping grain of sand seemed to signal a terrible end. Batman - where are you? Below, the hungry tigers roared for their supper. He slipped slightly! The beasts nervously paced in the pit. Robin slipped again! Oh, agony! Have the sands of time run out for the Boy Wonder?
About twenty feet up the wall above him was an air vent - and in it suddenly appeared the face of Batman - wonderful in-the-nick-of-time Batman! He grasped the situation. His jaws tightened. Catwoman's men, below, did not see the vent being pried open - oh, so quietly ...
15
Batman swung
down, snatching
Robin from a
sure doom!
Booklet Text
Batman removed the grating, thrust an arm through. His Batarang whipped through the air ... the Batrope followed it, wrapping itself around a beam on the ceiling! In a flash, Batman seized the rope ... swung down ... grabbed Robin, and deposited him safely on the floor!
The henchmen were stunned. But they quickly recovered. "You take Batman," yelled Leo, "I'll get Robin!"
16
Robin launched
himself at a
catman - ZAP!
KAPOWIE!
Booklet Text
SOCK! WHAM! A general free-for-all fight took place POW! Robin finally THWACK! knocked out Felix, while OOF! Batman sent Leo sprawling on the floor.
"Tie them up, Robin," said Batman - but Leo, who had been only pretending unconsciousness, crawled stealthily toward the door ... then rose and made a break for it!
"He's gone," said Batman. "Oh well, let's investigate this lair. Perhaps we'll find Catwoman."
The feline lady had fled. But standing regally on her unguarded desk were the two golden cat statues!
17
"These cats
are the shape of
this old
treasure map!
Booklet Text
Back in the
Batcave, they laid the golden cats side by side on a table and studied them carefully. "Notice the strange markings on their backs, Robin," said Batman.
"Holy geography!" said Robin. "It looks like some kind of map!"
"There's a legend that these cats were part of the treasure of the notorious pirate, Captain Manx," said Batman. "And the rest of his loot was never found." He crossed over to a bookshelf and returned with a volume,
History of Gotham City."I've found it!" he said a few minutes later, pointing to a map in the book. "The same markings you get when both cats are side by side! Together they become a map that will lead us to Captain
Manx's treasure!"
In a wooded area near the ocean, Catwoman held her cat-shaped flashlight while Leo dug. His shovel plunged through into an opening ... an underground cave! "At last!" shouted Catwoman. "Captain Manx's lost treasure! I'm rich! Fill the duffel bag, Leo!"Along a lonely road raced the powerful
Batmobile ...
Leo finished stuffing the bag with loot. "What will my share be, Catwoman?"
"This!" She took her heavy flashlight and rapped it over his cranium. He toppled like a giant redwood."Why'd you do that?" mumbled Leo, as his eyes crossed and he lapsed into unconsciousness."There's never enough for two," said Catwoman. She shouldered the loot and started for the entrance ... but, just then came Batman's voice like the crack of a whip.18
They found the
pirates cave and
Catwoman
with the loot.
Booklet Text
The Dauntless Duo stood in the doorway, resolutely blocking her path. Catwoman whirled and ran back into the cave, with the Masked Manhunters in hot pursuit!
19
They cornered
her at the edge
of a bottomless
chasm!
Booklet Text
There followed an eerie chase through the dim, deep underground corridors. Suddenly Catwoman gasped in horror! Ahead of her the cave floor vanished, and a chasm ten feet wide lay across her path. Could she jump it?
"Don't do it, Catwoman!" Batman called. "You'll never make the jump with the load you're carrying!"
"Just watch me, Batman!" she panted defiantly.
She leaped ... missed!" She clung desperately to a stalactite with one hand, the heavy bag with the other!
Batman uncoiled his Batrope. "Hang on, Catwoman. Let go of the bag, then you can catch the rope."
20
Too greedy to
drop the loot
she lost her hold
and fell!
Booklet Text
But Catwoman's greed was stronger than fear! "I can't let go ... I just can't"
Her hand lost its hold ... and, with a caterwaul of terror, she plunged out of sight. Ten heartbeats later, they heard a SPLASH far below.
"Catwoman!" shouted Robin. "Can you hear me? Catwoman?"
"Catwoman!" came the echo. "Can you hear me? Catwoman!"
"Greed is an overpowering emotion," said Batman as he coiled his Batrope. "Come on, Robin; our job is done."
21
"Bruce, do you
think Catwoman
has nine lives, too?"
Booklet Text
The next morning, in Bruce's study at Wayne Manor, Bruce and Dick resumed their interrupted game of three-dimensional chess. Alfred looked on the interest as Bruce moved his Queen catty-corner up three levels to say: "Queen takes Knight and - checkmate!"
Dick sighed. His thoughts were elsewhere.
"Bruce, do you think she might still be alive?
"I don't see how she could be, but - cats are supped to have nine lives, Dick. It's hard to say."