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Show Jll K i fa I IyalleyI lilt OP THE I iGIANTSlf ft jj J PETERB.KYNE ( U JKim COPYR1GHT, ETf PETER .B.KYNE J jJjS W CHAPTER X. . 11 a onroful nnnlysls of Shirley' feel-legs feel-legs ((iwnrd Hryce Cardigan Immediately Immedi-ately following the Incident In Pen-ijlngton's Pen-ijlngton's woods, line showed her tlint Wider more propitious circumstances Hhe might hnve fallen In love with (hat tempestuous young innn In sheer recognition rec-ognition of tho mntly lovnhle nml nnn-ly nnn-ly qualities she linil dlscorneft In' htm. AR mi offset to the credit side of JjSryco's account with her, however, Jfcere nppenred certnln dehlts In the .epnslderutlon of which Shirley always , Jst her temper nnd nun Immediately Jfulto certnln sho loiilhed the iinfnr-1 iinfnr-1 unuti innn. He hud heen nn honored nnd (for , wight Shirley knew to tho contrary) gcleome guest In the Pennington hoiiie no nlKlit, nnd the following day linil Msnulted IiIh host, comniltted grout ftdlly Injuries upon the hitter's em- Joyces for Utile or no renson snve the , jjtlsfnctlon of nn nhoinlunhle temper. . ittdo threiils of further vlolenre, declared de-clared IiIh unfaltering enmity to her seurest nnd best-loved relntlve, nnd In 1io next lirenth hnd linil the Insolence pm prate of IiIh respect nnd ndiulrntlon er her. I However, nil of these grnvo crimes nd misdemeanors were really Insignificant Insig-nificant rompnred with his crowning ojfetisc. What hnd Infuriated Shirley ras the fnct Hint she had heen nt some ptfons to Inform Hryce Cardigan thnt v&e, lonlhed hlin whereat ho hnd jwiked her over coolly, grinned u little, 'A?W declined to liellevn her I Then, aeawlncly ns If fnto had decreed thnt -lierlfutlllty should he Impressed upon ?hntlll further, Ilryre Cnrdlgan hnd jjlwis grunted nn opportunity to save, jijla strikingly calm, heroic nnd pnln-fglliinnncr, pnln-fglliinnncr, her nnd her uncle from Sirlaln nnd horrible death, thus pine-tfSjupon pine-tfSjupon Shirley nn obligation thnt WftiFua Irritating to acknowledge us It wW f utile to attempt to reciprocate. "5jlmt wns where the shoo pinched. IMJoro thnt dny wns over she hud tern forced to do one of two things Scliiiowlcdgo In no unccrtuln tenus her jwiclitednesR to him, or remuln silent mm! to be convicted of having heen, In r8pTSjn language, a rotter. So she hnd telephoned him nnd purposely left ulyf the door to their former friendly rcMtlnns. ,. Hjionstronsl He hnd seen the open '"'loor nnd deliberately slammed It In a3ScH face. Luckily for them both she lag heard, nil unsuspected by him ns j, fjj slowly hung tho receiver on the Kk, tho soliloquy wherein he gave 1(1 pT " P'ntcd 1nt of the distress with " fWch be ubdlcuted which knowledge PW nil thnt deterred her from despls- K him with the fervor of n woman lyparncd. nfufTlin fimrlnntlnn which n IIpIiIihI Sidle holds for n moth Is too well HjWn to reqjlro further elucldntlon So. In yielding ono dny to a desire "ftlfilt the Valley of tho (llnnts, Shir- SfJ told' herself thnt she wns going infcjre to gnther wild blackberries. She mm; been thinking of n certnln black- feyry pie, which thouRht nuturully In- jid reflection on Ilryco Cardigan OMlJremlnded Shirley o her first visit glthe (limits tindir. the eocort of a boy iflk"nlt'kcrhockers. jmcr meetlnc with Afoirii JteTnvlsh bitt dny, and the snV),c(iiont friend-lihj friend-lihj formed with fhe' woods-boss' Sughter. renewed nil her npprehen-long. npprehen-long. On the assumption thnt Shir, tynnnd Ilryce were pmctlcally frnngern to ench other (nn nssuuip-lonKwhlch nssuuip-lonKwhlch Shirley, for obvious rea-pp rea-pp did not attempt to dlsslpnte), tolra did not hesitate to mention Iryce very frequently. To her he wns iojnne hustnn being In the world ttjrly wnrcji while, nnd It Is tint-roTHor tint-roTHor women to discuss, fre-tjc?Sr fre-tjc?Sr nd nt grent length, the fijjt nearest their hearts. Alolra escribed ISryeo In minute detail nnd iSttetl to her eager auditor little nn-rnous nn-rnous -JnJir nets of kindness, lonshttnhiHss or humor performed by gee his devotion to his father, his allstlc attitude toward the Cnrdl- employees, his nblllty, his Indus-Ami Indus-Ami presently, llttlo by little, glrley'd resentment ngnlnst lilm Ided. nnd In her heart wns born n . wa wIstfulncsH bred of the hope thnt fm day sho would meet Uryce Cnrdl-1 Cnrdl-1 EStyn tho street nnd thnt he would ' I22J. "ft his hnt. smile, nt her his Willing smile, nnd forthwith pro-(ato pro-(ato bully her Into being friendly SSKorglvlns browbeat her Into nd-IJMIhb nd-IJMIhb her change of heart nnd glory- 1M it. ftTSjthlA romnrknblc stnto of mind gfl Shirley Humncr nttnlned at tho jno'John Cardlgnn, lending his Inst ttlo trump In n vnln hopo thnt It Buhl rnahlo him to tnko tho odd trick ttho hugo gnmo ho had played for KB years, docldcd to sell his Valley $A IWjtrlry, as rtplalned In n preceding -"Gptef, bad been prosent tho night ' - ' John Cnrdlgan, tlesjiernle and broughi to bay nt lust, had telephoned 1'enulng ton itt the hitter's home, ncceptlng 1'en nlngton's last offer for the Volley of the (limits. The cruel triumph In the Colonel's hniidsonie fnco ns he curtly lebun'ed old Cardigan had been too up-parent up-parent for the girl to nilstnke; she realized now that n crisis had come In ilie nffiilrs of the Cardigans, nnd niiws her Won there Unshed again the vision of Ilryco Cnrdlgnn's homecoming homecom-ing of u tall old man with his trembling trem-bling anus clasped nroiind his boy, with grlzr.leil cheek laid ngnlnst his son's, ns one who. seeking comfort through bitter jenrx. at length hnd found It. Presently another thought came to Shirley. "I wonder!" she mused. "He's pro-jd. Perhaps th.. -en7ton ,lt he will snob be p ml shorn of his high estate h- him Umry of acquiring new fi..-nus In his old circle. cir-cle. Perhaps If he were secure In his business nlTalrs Ah. yes! Poor boy! lie wns desperate for fifty thousand dollars!" Her heart swelled. "Oh. Ilryc.', Ilryco." she murmured. "I think I'm beginning to understand some of your fury that duv In the woods. It's nil n grent mystery, but Pin sure you didn't Intend to be n so terrible. Oh, my dear. If we hail only continued to be the good friends we slnrted out to be. perhaps you'd let me help you now. For whnt good Is money if one ennuot help one's dear friends In distress? Still, I know you wouldn't let me help you, for men of your stump cannot borrow from a woninu, no mutter how despernto their need. Anil yet you only need n paltry fifty thousand dol-hirst" dol-hirst" Shirley curried to bed with her that night the woes of the Cardigans, nnd In the tnornlng she telephoned Molra McTiivInIi and Invjted the Intter to lunch with her nt home that noon. When Molru cnnie, Shirley saw that she hnd been weeping. "My poor Molra I" sho snld, putting her nrms nround her vIsKor. "Whut has hnppcned to distress you? There, there, dour! Tell me nil nbout It." Slolrn luld her bend on Shirley's shoulder nnd sobbed for severnl minutes. min-utes. Then. "It's .Mr. Hryce," she wnlled. "He's so unhappy. Something's Some-thing's hnppened; they're going to sell CimlU'im's nslwoodsj nnd they don't want to. Just before I left the olllce, Mr. Hryce enme In nnd stood it moment looking nt me so tragically tragi-cally I 1 nsked him what had hnppened. hnp-pened. Then he patted my cheek oh, I know I'm Just ono of his responsibilities responsi-bilities nnd snld, 'Poor Molra! Never any luck!' nnd went Into his private nfllce. I waited u little, and then I went In. loo; nnd oh, Miss Sumner, he had bis head down nn IiIh 1rwl: nml - - -i . when I louehed his head, ho reached up nnd took my hand nnd held It nnd laid his cheek n gainst It n little i (m? II! Molra Described Dryco In Minute De. tail. while and oh, his cheek was wet. It's cruel of find to make him unhappy. un-happy. He's good tco good. And oh, I love him so, Miss Shirley, I love him so nnd he'll never, never know. I'm Just ono of his responsibilities, you know; nnd I shouldn't presume. Itut nobody has ever been kind to mo but Mr. Hryce and you. And I can't help loving people who are kind ntuj genlo to nobodies." Molrn's story her confession of Jove, so tragic because so hopeless-stirred hopeless-stirred Shirley deeply. Sho seated herself In front of Molra and cupped her chin in lior palm. "Of course, dear," sho said, "you couldn't possibly seo anybody you loved suffer so nnd not feel dreadfully about It. And when a man like Brycc I Cardigan Is 6tnick down, he's apt to present rather n tragic and helpless figure. He wanted sympathy, Molru woman's sympathy, nnd It was dear of you to give It to him." "I'd gladly die for him." Moirn answered an-swered simply. "Oh, Miss Shirley, you don't know him tho way wo who work for him do. If you did, you'd love him, too. You couldn't help It. Miss Shirley." "Tell me nbout his trouble. Molrn." "I think It's money. He's been terribly ter-ribly worried for n long time, and I'm nfrnlil things aren't going right with the business. It hurts them terrllily to have to sell tho Valley of the (Hants, but (hoy have to; Colonel Pennington Pen-nington Is tho only one who would consider buying It; they don't want him to have It nnd still they hnve to mII to him, Mr. Ilryco says his father has lost his courago nt last; nnd oh. denr. things nre In such n mess. Mr. Ilryco started to tell me nil nbout It nnd then he stopped suddenly sud-denly nnd wouldn't t-ny nnnther word." Shirley smiled. She thought she understood the reason for thnt. However, How-ever, sho did not pause to speoulnte on It, since tho crying need of the present wns the distribution of a rny of sunshine to broken-hearted Molra. "Silly," nhe chlded. "how needlessly you nre grieving! You say my undo has declined to buy the Valley of tho (Hauls?" Molrn nodded. "My unele doesn't know hnt he's talking nbout. Molrn. I'll see that he does buy It. What price are the Cardigans Cardi-gans asking for It now ?" "Well. Colonel Pennington bus offered of-fered them n hundred thousand dollars dol-lars for It time nnd again, hut last night he withdrew Hint offer. Then they named u price of fifty thousand, and he said he didn't want It at nil." "He needs If, nnd It's worth every cent of n hundred thouKiiud to him, Molrn. Dont worry, dear. He'll buy It. because I'll make him. nnd he'll buy It Immediately; only you must promise nn' not to mention a single word or what I'm telling you to Hryce Cardigan, or in fact, to anybody. Do you promise?" Molrn seized Shirley's hand nnd kissed It Impulsively. "Very well, then." Shirley continued. "That mutter mut-ter Is adjusted, and now we'll nil be happy. Cheer up, dear, and remember remem-ber thnt some time tills afternoon you're going to see Mr. Hryce smile. ugnln, nnd perhaps there won't bo so much of a (loud over Ids smile this time." When Molrn returned to the office of the Cardigan Itcdwood Lumber company, Shirley rang for her mnld. "Hring me my inotorcont and lint. Thelmn," sho ordered, "nnd telephone for the limousine." She seated herself her-self before the mirror nt her dressing-table dressing-table and dusted her adorable nose with n powder-pun. "Mr. Sinurty Cardigan." she murmured happily, "you walked rough-shod over 'my nride, didn't you? Placed mo under an obllpitlon I could never hope to meet and then Ignored me didn't you? Very well, old boy. We all have our Innings sooner or Inter, you know, nnd I'm going to make n substantial payment pay-ment on that huge obligation ns sure ns my mime Is Shirley Sumner. Then, some day when the sun Is shining for you again, .vnu'll come to mo and he very, very humble. You're entirely too Independent. Mr. Cardigan, but, ob, my dear, I do hope you will not need so much money. I'll bo put to my wit's end to get It to you without letting you know, because If your affairs af-fairs go to smash, you'll bo perfectly Intolerable." mio pnuseii suddenly. Wi, rn not do flint, either," she soliloquized, "I'll keep It myself for nn Investment. I'll show Uncle Seth I'm a business woman, wom-an, nfter all. He bus bud his fair clinnco ut the Valley of the (Hants, nfter waiting years for It, and now ho has deliberately sacrificed that chance to ho mean and vindictive. I'll buy tho vnlley but keep my Identity secret from everybody; then, when Uncle Seth finds u stmngcr In possesion, he'll have a fit, and perhaps, before ho recovers, he'll sell me nil his Squaw creek timber only he'll never know I'm the buyer. Shirley, my dear, I'm pleased with you. Henlly, 1 never knew until now why men could be so devoted to business. Won't It ho Jolly to step In between Undo Seth nnd Hryce Cardigan, hold up my hand like a policeman, nnd sny; 'Stop It, hoys. No fighting, If you please. And If anybody wants to know who's boss around here, start something.'" When her uncle enme homo flint night, Shirley observed that ho was preoccupied and disinclined to conversation. con-versation. "1 noticed In this evening's paper." she remarked presently, "that Mr. Cardigan bus sold his Valley of the (Hunts. So you bought It, after all?" "No such luck I" he almost barked. "I'm ut) Idiot. I should be placed In charge of a Keeper. Now, for heaven's sake, Shirley, don't discuss that timber tim-ber with inn, for If you do. I'll go plnln, lunatic crazy." "Poor Uncle Seth." she purred sweetly. Her apparent sympathy soothed his rasped soul, lie continued contin-ued : "Oh. I'll get the Internal property, nmt It will bo worth what I hnve to ly for It, only It certainly does gravel me to realize that I nm about to bo held up, with no help In sight, I'll seo Judge Moore tomorrow nnd offer him n quick profit for his client. Thnt's the gnme. you know." "I do hope tho new owner exhibits sorae common sense, undo denr," she replied, and turned back to tho piano. "Hnt I greatly fear," she ndd&l to herself, her-self, "that Uio new owner Is going tn prove a most obstinate creature and frightfully hard to discover." Tree fo his promise, (he Colonel cnlled on Judgo Moore bright and early tho following morning. "Act Threo of that little business drama entitled The Valley of tho Glunts,' my deur Judge," lie announced pleasantly. pleas-antly. "I piy the lead In this act. You remember me, 1 hope. I played a bit In Act Two." "In so far as my Information goes, sir, you'o been cut out of the cast In Act Three. I don't seem to find any lines for you to speak." "One line, Judge; ono little line, Whnt prollt does your client want on that quarter-section?" "That quarter-section Is not In the market. Colonel. When It Is, I'll send for you, since you're tho only logical prospect should my client decide to sell. And remembering how you butted butt-ed In on politics In this county last full nnd provided n slush fund to beat me nnd place u crook on the Superior court bench, in order to give you nn edge In the mnny suits you nre nl-wuys nl-wuys filing or having ll'-ed against yon, I rise to remark Hint you have nbout "I Should De Placed In Charge of a Keeper." ten split seconds In which to disappear disap-pear from my olllce. If you linger longer, I'll start throwing paperweights." paper-weights." And ns If to emphasize his remnrk, tho Judge's hand closed over one of thu articles In question. The Colonel withdrew with what dignity he could muster. Upon his return from the olllce thnt night, Hryce Cnrdlgan found his father fa-ther hnd left his bed nnd wns seated before the library fire. "Feeling a whole lot better today, eh. pal?" his son queried. John Cardigan smiled, "Yes, son," he replied plaintively, "I guess I'll mnnnge to live Illl next spring." "Oh, I knew there wns nothing wrong with you, John Cardigan, thnt a healthy check wouldn't cure. Well, wo enti afford to druw our breath now, and that gives us u fighting chance, partner. And right nfter dinner you nnd I will sit down nnd start brewing ii pot of powerful bad medicine for the Colonel." Accordingly, dinner disposed of. fa ther nnd son sat down together to prepare pre-pare the plan of campaign. Tor the space of seviral minutes a silence settled set-tled between them, the while they puffed meditatively upon their cigars. Then the old man spoke. "We'll have to fight him In the dark." "Vliy?" "Hecuuse If Pennington knows, or even suspects tho identity of the mnn who Is going to pnrnllel his logging railroad, ho will throw all tho weight of his truly capable mind, his wealth and ills ruthlessness ngnlnst . mi and J on will bo smashed. You have one advantage starting out. The Colonel doosn't think you have the cniirngo to parallel his rond In the first place; In flits second place, he knows you haven't tho money; nnd In the third plnco he Is morally certnln you cannot borrow It, because you haven't any col lateral (o secure your note. So, nil thlngH considered the Colonel will ho slow tn suspect us of having nn nee In the hole; but by Jinks we have It, ami we're going to pluy It. You must engage en-gage some reliable engineer to look over the proposed route of the road mid give us tin estimate of the cost of construction." "For tho sake of argument ue will consider thnt done, and Unit the estimate esti-mate conies wllhlii (he scope of tho sum Gregory Is willing to ndvunce us," "Now, then, you are going to In-corpornte In-corpornte n company to hulld a road twelve miles long nnd u private rond. at that. That would be a fatal step. Pennington would know somebody wns going to build a logging road, and regardless re-gardless if who the builders were; he would have to light them In self-pro-tectliin. How nre you going to cover yovr trail, my son?" Ilryco pondered. "I will, to begin, hnve n dummy board of directors. Also, my rnd ennnot bo private; sin "iist ho n common carrier, wo i "ell carry our deception still d Incorporate for the purpoi ding a road from So- quoin U Pass, Ore., there to connect Southern Pacific." John - -.lulled. "The old dream rovt. eh? Well, the old Jokes always bring a hearty laugh. People will laugh nt your company, bocause folks up this way realize that i Jti construe! ton cost of such road is prohibitive." . "Well, since we'ro not going to build moro than twelve miles of our road during the next year, nnd probably not more than ten tulles nddltlonnl during the present century, we won't worry over It. It doesn't cost a cent mor to procure n franchise to build a rond from here to 4he moon. If wo fall to build to Grunt's Puss, our franchise to build the uncompleted portion of tho rond merely lapses and wo hold only thnt portion which we hnve constructed. construct-ed. Thnt's all we want to hold. More-oxer, More-oxer, deeds to rights of wny can bo drawn with a tliue-llnilt, nfter which they revert to the orlglnnl owners." "Good strategy, my son! And cer-tiilnly cer-tiilnly as u common carrier we will ba welcomed by the formers mid cnttlo-men cnttlo-men nlong our short line." "Well, that about completes tho rough outline of our plan. We have n year In which to build our road; If we do not hurry, the mill will have to shut down for lack of logs, when our contract with Pennington expires," "You forget the manager for our new corporation tho vlco president and general manager. He must ho a mnn of renl ability nnd a person you can trnst Implicitly." "I hnve (he ery man. His nnmn Is Puck Ogllvy and only this very day I received n letter from him begging mo for a small loan. -I hnve Huck on Ico In n fifth-class San Francisco hotel." "Tell me nbout him, Hryce." "I'll rend you his letter. I claim there Is more eharncter In u letter than In n face." Hero Hryce read aloud: "Golden Onto Hotel itooms Fifty Cents nnd Up. "San Francisco. Oil., Aug. 10. 101(1. "My deur Cardigan: Hark to th voice of ono crying in tho wilderness; (hen picture to yourself tho unlovtly spectnclo of n strong man crying. "I.ct us nssunie thnt you hnvo duly considered. Now wind up your wrist nnd send me n rectangular piece of white, blue, green or pink paper bearing bear-ing In the lower right-hand corner, la your clear, bold chlrogrnphy, the niiiglc words 'Hryce Cnrdlgan' with tho III tie upaud-dowti hook and llourlsl' which Identities your signature given In your serious moods nnd lends vuluo to otherwise worthless paper. "When you knew me last, I was n prosperous young contractor. Alast I put all my eggs In one basket and produced pro-duced nn omelette. Took n contract to build u railroad In Honduras. Honduras Hon-duras got to fighting with Nicaragua; the government I had done business with went out of business; nnd thu Nlcnrnguon army recruited nil my laborers la-borers and mounted them on my mules and horses, swiped nil my grub, nnd told me to go home. I went. Why stuv? Moreover, 1 had an Incentive consisting of nbout nn Inch of bayonet fortunately not applied In u vital sMit which accelerated rulher thnn decreased my speed. "Hurry, my deur Cardigan. I finished fin-ished enlliig my overcoat tho dny before be-fore yesterday. "Make It a hundred, nnd God will bless you. When I get It. I'll come to Sequoia and kiss you. I'll pay you back some (line of course. "Wistfully thine. "HUCIC OOII.VY. . "P. S. Delays nre dangerous, nnd procrastination Is the thief of time. II." John Cnrdlgan chuckled. "I'd lake Hack Ogllvy, Hryce. He'll do. Is he honest?" "I don't know. Ho whs, Uio Inst time 1 saw him." "Then wire him n hundred. Don't wnlt for the mall." "I have already wired him the hundred. hun-dred. In nil probability he Is now out whirling llko a dervish." "Good boy I Well. 1 think we'vo planned sufficient for the present, Hryce. You'd better leave Tor Snn Francisco tomorrow nnd close your deal wllli Gregory. Hire a good lawyer law-yer to draw tip the agreement between you ; he sure yo'ir're right, mid then go ahead full speed. When you return to Seqiioln, I'll hnve u few more points to give yoii. I'll mull them over In the meantime." (TO UK CONTINtiKD.) |