Picture Show (May-Oct 1920)

10 Picture Show, July 24?//, 1920. A SPLENDID STORY OF A MAN'S FIGHT WITH FATE. (Speda, to the -Picture show." ) X VALLE^&e GIANTS WHEN John Cardigan, sturdy pioneer and lumberman, discovered the great belt of red; wdbd timber that made his fortune, and was the beginning of the town of .Sequoia, he made a mental reservation that one stretch, which contained the biggest of all the giant trees, should never be cut down. He named it "The Valley of the Giants." When his wife died he buried her under the shadow of the greatest of the giant trees. He liked to think as he sat listening to the breeze making music through the tree, that "she, too, could hear the soft symphony of Nature's orchestra. The valley was a hallowed place to him, and when his only son grew to years of understanding he made him promise that he would never allow a single tree to be cut in the Valley of the Giants. When his wife died, Cardigan was a rich man. Had he been a hard business man, he would have been a millionaire, but he was a simple pioneer. Other men came to Sequoia, men backed up by the big financiers of New York, men who had one' god, money. They set their eyes on the rich forest proper! v owned by Cardigan, and by trickery and legal cunning, they gradually got the better of the pioneer. Eventually a man named Colonel Pennington, bought up the other syndicates, and with diabolical cunning he set out to ruin Cardigan. The old man had not been far-sighted enough to see the game that was going on. Pennington had acquired all the property that surrounded Cardigan's belt of timber, and the old man had no outlet for his lumber. To get it to the railroad he had to pav Pennington to haul it. Pennington posed as a friend, and by various schemes which he persuaded Cardigan to go into, he got the old man into his debt. In security for this debt, he got Cardigan to give him a mortgage on the Valley of the Giants. Having secured this, he suddenly refused to haul Cardigan's timber. That meant the old pioneer was ruined. Unless he sold his timber. t anlif.Mii could not pay off the mortgage, and if he did not pav off fhe mortgage, Pennington would seize the Valley of the Giants, including the grave where the pioneer's wife was buried. This was the state of affairs when Cardigan's son Bryce left college for his home. But the young man did not know anything about it. He was under tin' impression that his father was still very rich. Neither did he know that on top of his financial misfortunes his father had begun to lose his sight. Old Cardigan was of the stuff that pioneers are made. " Time enough to let the lad know the worst when he comes li e, McTavlsh," he had said to his chlel clerk " Spoiling the last of his time at college won't, help us now." And so it was that Bryce Cardigan was in a verv tappy mood as he sat in the Pullman, that was rapidly bearing him to Sequoia. Ever and again lie cast a surreptitious glance at a very pretty girl, who sat at the other side of the car. She was not more than twenty, he thought, as he looked at the perfect oval lace, the frank blue eyes, and the little tendrils of fine gold hair which peeped from under her fetching little toque. 'fhe girl kept her eyes straight, to the front, at least, so thought Bryce, but like him, she stole a few glances at. the bronzed smiling open face of the young man, and secretly admired the athletic form, and the strong capable hands. ■ When they got to Sequoia, the girl got out. and was followed by a middle-aged lady, evidently her companion. They made for a motor-car which was waiting outside the station, and in charge of a halfbreed. Bryce smiled to himself. That was his car, and the half-breed was George Sea Otter, the man who had taught him woodcraft, and hunting when in was a boy. He sauntered on behind, and came up just in time to hear Ueorgo explaining that the vehicle was a private car, and not the stage, " But I thought, the stage alwavs met the train," said the girl. " Only on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and this is Thursday," broke in Bryce, as he raised his hat. " But. will you not let me give you a lilt '! Mv name is Bryce Cardigan. Anyone around here knows my fat her " " Oh 1 Then you must be the little bov who yean ago took me blackberrying. My name is Shirley Summer, I am the niece of Colonel Pennington said the girl. 'She Introduced her companion, and then stepped into t he scat next to t he driver, as Bryce held I he door open for her. Bryce took the driver's seat, and started the car. As they drove along, Bryce told Shirley all about his home, and the Valley of the Giants, and how he hoped to persuade his father to let him take his place as manager of the big mills. When they parted, Shirley held out her hand with a pleased smile. " I'm glad we are going to be neighbours. You WALLACE REID as Bryce Cardigan. must come over and dine with us to-morrcw night," she said. Bryce willingly accepted the invitation. When Bryce got back to the car. he noticed that George was looking very depressed. " Whatever is the matter, George ? " he asked. " I couldn't tell you when those ladies were there," said George, "but you might as well know now as later. Your father is ruined. Yes, and not only ruined, Mister Bryce, but almost blind as well. And that girl's uncle, Colonel Pennington, is the man that ruined your father." For a few moments Bryce did not speak. Then he turned to George. " Drive quickly, George. 1 might as well see and hear the worst at once." As he walked up the path to his father's house, the old man came out. But he did not see his son. He was feeling his way with his feet, and muttering to himself : " I must meet him. He has got to know the worst now." Bryce put his hand on the old man's shoulder. Tiiere were tears in his eyes, but his voice was steadyas he said, " Father, I know all. I*>t me take you back, dad." And this was Bryce Cardigan's home coming. A Young Man's Resolve. ALL that night the young man thought over the situation. He had heard all the story of Colonel Pennington's treachery, lie knew the financial morass which threatened to engulf his lather ; he realised that only a miracle of surgery could save his dad's sight ; he knew that Colonel Pennington was a villain, but he also knew that he, Bryce Cardigan, was in love with Shirley Summer. And as he picked up the bed clothes, and turned over on his side, he said, " I will save dad and the Valley of the Giants. I will get his eyes cured. I will beat Colonel Pennington, and I will marry Shirley." Then he went to sleep with that same quiet confident smile on his face, as he had done years before when, bruised and battered as the result of a motor car smash, he had turned to his college pals as he lay in bed with the words : " I shall be better to-morrow, and you can tell the captain I shall play in the team on Saturday." The next day the fight began. The first thing Bryce did was to send a telegram to a friend, Buck Ogilvy, the smartest railroad Publicity agent in the country. To his message that he wanted him to help in a big scheme, Bryce added. " Bring best eye specialist you can get with you. Then he went out into the woods. He went, straight to Ids mother's grave, and when he reached It, the blood went from his face. Then it surged back like a blood-red wave. For the great redwood tree which had shaded the grave had been ruthlessly cut down, and the burl (the part near the bottom of the trunk, at its greatest circumference), removed. As the young man moved round the desecrated grave of his mother, he saw an envelope peeping out from under the fallen tree. He picked it up and read the address, " Jules Kondcau, foreman, Colonel Pennington's Logging Camp, Sequoia." Bryce 's jaws snapped as he put the letter in his pocket. He said nothing to his father about the fallen tree, or the letter he had found. . That night he changed into evening dress, and went to dine at Colonel Pennington's, in auswer to Shirley's invitation. The Bully Beaten. THE Colonel was one ol those big blustering man, who so often get a reputation for being masterful.. As a matter of fact. Pennington was a bully. He could play the strong man part, when he hail got a man in his power, or he was hulUing some uu fortunate dependant, but put him up against a real man and he had as many yellow streaks as would have coloured a dozen rainbows. He did not like the look of this quiet young man, who said nothing, but looked a lot. It had been one. thing to fight a blind old man with no business ability, but it was quite another proposition to beat his son. So Colonel Pennington tried to be jovial. Bryce's answer to this was to be frigidly polite. When the cloth was removed from the dining table, Pennington pointed with pride to the table. It was made from one piece of a giant redwood tree, and at the first glance Bryce knew it was the burl of the redwood that had sheltered his mother's grave. But he said nothing. Bryce, when he was out for justice, was a singularly reserved young man. He had already made his plans for the punishment of the man who had desecrated his mother's grave. Those plans were put into execution the first thing on the following morning. He walked over to Penuington's camp and found Jules Rondeau. " I want you," he said quietly. " You are the man who cut down that tree over my mother's grave. I'm going to give you the thrashing of your life." Rondeau was a giant. A big hairy man with the strength of an ape. He ruled the camp by force, and he kept his job because no man had yet been found who could beat him in a rough house fight. His reply was to hurl himself on Bryce. For such a heavy man, he was surprisingly quick on his feet. There is no need to describe that fight. In novels, the hero always wins without receiving a mark, but that sort of thing doesn't happen in real life, when the villain is a man of the strength of Jules Rondeau. Bryce was battered and smashed, but he fought with the ferocity of a panther against the giant strength of a grizzly bear, and in the end he won. As the fight was nearing the finish, Shirley came up with her uncle and her legal adviser. Judge Moore. Pennington showed his teeth in a snarl, as he saw his champion bully on the floor beaten, but a scared look came into his eyes as he heard Jules say to Bryce. " By Gar. I cut that tree down, but I no want to do it. Colonel Pennington he tell mz to do it." Bryce turned to Pennington, with fury in his eyes. " So it was your work then ? I thought it was." He pushed Pennington in the chest and raised his hand to strike him. when Shirley ran between them. She had not heard the awful accusation made by Jules. " How dare you strike my uncle ? " she cried. Bryce turned away. He thought she had heard, and he was bitterly angry to think that she should condone such an act of sacrilege. Colonel Pennington, his niece, and Judge Moore mounted on a logging train thatwas to carry them to the heart of the forest, and Bryce strode moodily back to his own camp. He had not gone more than two hundred yards, when he heard loud cries of alarm. The logging train had by some means got out of control. He heard the men shouting, that if It jumped the junction, it would go into the river. Running along the track, he managed to catch one of the trucks, as it whizzed by at express speed. For a moment, it seemed as if he would be dashed down the bank to certain death, but he hung on and climbed up the truck. The train was now swaying from side to side in an alarming fashion, threatening at every moment, to jump the rails and crash over the bank. The only way to stop it was by the brake, which was at the top of the cabin in w hich were the passengers, and between Bryce and the cabin were four trucks, on which were laid the straight, trunks of the redwood trees. It seemed like commiting suicide to attempt to get to the cabin over the trucks, which were now swayim; trom side to side with awful velocity, but Bryco thought of Shirley and made a dash. How he ever got to the cabin he never knew, but he did. He clambered up the iron ladder outside the cabin and nut on the brake. But the river was just in front. There was only one thing to do. He clambered down and undid the couplings, and then climbed back to the top of the cabin, to jam on the brake still harder. Over the gorge, into the roaring river went the trucks, but less than twenty yards from the junction, Biyce managed to stop the cabin from following them. When Shirley saw who it was that had rescue I them from such a terrible death, she ran up to Brw ,' with outstretched hands. " However can we thank you, Mr. Cardigan," she said. " Don't get sentimental, Shirley," sneered her uncle. " Mr. Cardigan did it as much to save his own life as ours." Shirley's hot blood rose at the Insult, and she turned on her uncle. But Bryce did not wait to hear what she said. With a short laugh, he raised his lint and walked away. When he got to the office, he (Continued on page 16.)