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Show I 1 1 The VALLEY GIANTS III H By PETER B. KYNE B Author of "CappjT RIckW Copjrtjht by Peter D. Kjne H 1 1 " 1 DB' HWMHHHMM B M M B CHAPTER XVI Continued. IH "Has Poundstoue roturnciJ your I Hi cnrT" lio queried. I HI "Why, yes, Wliut makes you osk?" 9 HP "Oh, I had a suspicion ho might (Iffllli You sec, I ml led lilut up mil) suggest- jBlh ed It; somehow his honor In peculiar HHI ly susceptible to suggestions from me, H. "Dryco Cordlgun," bIio dccliired, HB "you're n sly rascal that's wnnt you arc. ( shan't tclt you another thing." jH "I hopo j on hnd n stenographer nt HlJ tho dlctogrnpli when the tnnyor nnd H your undo cooked up their little deal. HHJ That was thouglitful of you, Shirley. HHB It was a hully dull to have up your HHI flloovo at tUo niml showdown, for with Hfltf It you can make Unkledunk hehnvo nHB himself nnil force that compromise HRf y" flP0Kn "' Seriously, however, I Hlgf don't wont you to uso It. Shirley. We HHj roust nvolil n scandal by all means; wjj nnl Praise he. I don't need your dub HI ,0 ''nt your uncle'fl brains out. I'm BiH taking his club away from him to uso HRul for that purpose." KEI "Really, I bellcvo you're lioppy to MS "Happy? I Hhould tell n man) If BH "'0 streets of Sequoia wero paved HUM with eggs, I could walk them nil day Hff without making nn omelette." HHJ "It must bo nice to feel so happy, HHtt lifter so many months of tho blues." MB "Indeed It Is, Shirley. You see until fflgH very recently I wns very much wor- IHK rlcd as to your uttltuilo townrd me. I f3B couldn't bellcvo you'd so far forget HMH yourself ns to love mo In splto of MnH everything so I never took the trouble ttHflg to nk you. And now I don't huvo to UB nk you. I know! And I'll be around IHH to see you after I get that crossing In I" HHI "you'ro pcifectly hnrrltl," sho wK& ' Wnjswl, am) hung up without tho for- DHf rnntlty of saying good-by. NHS Shortly nftcr Shirley's departuro IlMB from his onlcc, Ilryco had n visit from HHI Duck Ogllvy. Tho latter wore n neatly RlKJ pressed suit of Shepherd plaid, with KiWj whlto carnation In his lapel, and ho MnSI was onPnrc,,,,y tne most. light-hearted ft Ml young man In Humboldt county. Ho MoK struck an nttltudo and demanded: K "Doss, what do you think of my now I B "Vou lunatic 1 Don't you know red fl. K blonds should never wear light shades? Iff Vou'ro dressed llko n negro minstrel." HE "Well, I feel as bapp7 as an end- I tl mn' Alul ,)y t0 WA?' 'ou'ro n" H W chirked up yourself. Who's been help- HH Ing you to tho elixir of life? When l9t wo parted Inst night, you wero forty fluKi fathoms deep In tho slough of do- HH "n" 'ess a divinity tbnn Miss Shir- njHH ley Sumncrl Sho called this morning HJHji to explain that last night's fiasco was uH nono'of her making, and quite Inno- IH( contly sho Imparted tho Information Mlj that old Pennington lighted out for HH San Francisco nt ono o'clock this HEH morning. Wherefore I laugh. To-hot HH' na-haht" Mt "l'hroolong, loud rau'.ous cheers for HUBi Uncle. IIo's gono to rush a restrain' JKjKtj Ing order through the United States HUb ' "Three Long, Loud, Raucous Cheers IG - for Uncle." SjM, district court. Wonder why ho didn't lTW wire his attorney to attend to tho hL matter for hlin." HHj "Ho has the crossing blocked, anil HHI Inasmuch ns tho mnyor feeds out of Hi Pennington's hand, tho Colonel Is qulto HyHI confident that said crossing will re- jHmPi main blocked. As for tho restraining HII order well, If one wants n thing well H 0 done, ono should do It oneself." H '19 I ' "All that doesn't expluln your I H ' ' cheerful attitude, though." I 1 "0h, but " does- rvo told you KO j About old Duncan McTavlsh. Molra's i HI j father, haven't I?" Ogllvy nodded, and Hnfln Dryeo continued: "When I fired tho MrH! ol11 scoundrel for boozlpg, It almost jlHf$ l'kp his heart ; ho had to leava Hum- Kwlgl ,)0,llt where everybody know hljn, so Pflfll 1l0 wn",,orwl dow, '"to Mendocino ' l if ( eounty nnd got n Job sticking' lumber ,t n ,n l,, ,lr'ln v,iril ot the Wllllts Lum- "SiHHtBBaaMMHfi her compnnj He's been there two months now, and I am Informed by his employer that old Mac hnsn't tnk-en tnk-en n drink In all that time. And what's more, be Isn't going to tako ono again." "How tlo you know?" "Decntise I make It my business to find out. Mac was tho finest woods-boss woods-boss this county over knew ; ifcnco you do not nssumo that I would loso tho old scoundrel without making n fight for hlin, do you? Why, Duck, he's been on tho Cnrdlgnn pny roll thirty years, and I only fired him In order to reform hlin. Well, last week I sent ono of Mac's old friends down to Wllllts punwsely to cnll on hlin and Invito him out 'for n tlmu;' but Mac wouldn't drink with him. No. sir, ho couldn't bo tempted. On the contrnry, ho told tho tempter that I had promised prom-ised to give him hack his Job If ho remained re-mained on the water wngon for ono year; ho wns resolved to win back his Job nnd his self-respect." "I know what your plan Is," Ogllvy Interrupted. "Msten, now, to father's words of wisdom. Didn't you hear mo tell that girl nnd her villainous avuncular avun-cular relative last night that I had another an-other nee up my kimono?" llryro nodded. "Thnt was not brag, old dear, I had the ace, and this morning I pluyed It wherefore In my heart thero Is that pence that pnsseth undcrstnndlng-partlcularly undcrstnndlng-partlcularly since I have Just hud n telegram Informing me thnt my nee took the odd trick. "You will recall that from the very Instant we decided to cut In thnt Jump-crossing, Jump-crossing, wo commenced to plan itgnlnst Interference by Pennington; In consequence wo kept, or tried to keep, our decision a secret. However, there existed nt nil times the possibility thnt Pennington might discover our benevolent benevo-lent Intentions and block us with his only weapon n restraining order Issued Is-sued by the Judgo of the United Stntes district conrt. "Now, ono of tho most delightful things I know nbout a court Is that It Is open to all men seeking Justice or Injustice disguised ns Justlco. Also there Is n wlso old saw to tho effect thnt battles nro won by tho fellow who gets there first with tho most men. The situation from thetnrt was absurdly simple. If Pennington got to tho district dis-trict court first, we were lost I" "You mean you got thero first?" ex-claimed ex-claimed Drycc. "I did by tho very simple method of prepnrlng to get there first In case anything slipped. Something did slip Inst night I However, I wns ready; so nil I had to do was press the button but-ton for ns Omar Khayyam remarked: 'What shall It avail n man If ho buy-eth buy-eth n padlock for his stable after his favorlto stnlllnn hath been lifted?' Several Sev-eral days ngo, my boy, I wrote a long letter to our attorney In San I'ranclsco explaining every detail of our predlcn-nmnt predlcn-nmnt ; tho Instant I received that temporary tem-porary franchise from tho city council, I mailed a certified copy of It to our attorney also. Then. In nntlclpntjon of our discovery by Pennington, I Instructed In-structed the nttorney to prepare the complaint and petition for n restraining restrain-ing order ngnlnst Seth Pennington ot nl, and stand by to rush to tho Judge with It the Instant he heard from mo I "Well, nbout tho tlmu old Pennington Penning-ton started for San Francisco this morning, I had our attorney out of bed and on the long-dlstnnco telephone; nt nine o'clock this morning he appeared In the United States district court; at nlne-llfteen tho Judge Signed n restrain-Ing restrain-Ing order forbidding our enemies to interfere with us In tho exercise of n xlght regnll.V granted us by the city of Sequoia, nnd nt nine-thirty a deputy United States marshal started In nn nutnmohllo for Sequoia, via tho over-Innd over-Innd route, lie will arrive Inte tomorrow tomor-row night, nnd on Sunday we will got that locomotive out of our way and Install In-stall our crossing." "And Pennington" "AJi, the poor Pennington I Mon pnuvre Sethi" Duck sighed comically. comical-ly. "He will bo Just twenty-four hours late." "You old be-foxl" Dryco murmured. "You wicked, wicked mnnl" Duck Ogllvy lifted his lapel and sniffed luxuriously nt his white carnation, carna-tion, the while u thin little smile played around tho corners of his humorous hu-morous mouth. "Ah," he murmured presently, "life's pretty sweet, Isn't It?" CHAPTER XVII. Events followed each other with refreshing re-freshing rapidity. While the crew of tho big locomotlvo on tho crossing busied themselves getting up steum, Sexton mid Jules Rondeau tolled nt tho loading of tho discarded holler and heavy castings aboard two tint enrs. Dy utilizing tho steel derrick on the company's wrecking car. this task was comploted by noon, nrd after luncheon tho mogul backed up the main line past tho switch Into tho Laguna Ornndo yards; whereupon tho switch engine kicked tho two tint cars and tho wrecking car out of tho yard and down to tho crossing, where tho obstructions wero jfromptly unloaded. Tho pollco wntched tho oporutlon with nlcit later- est but forebore to Interfere In this high-handed closing of n public thor-opghfnrc. thor-opghfnrc. To Sexton's nnnoynnce nnd secret npprehenslon, Dryco Cardigan and Duck Ogllvy promptly appenreil on the scene, both very cheerful and lavish with expert advice as to the best method of expediting the Job In hand. To Dryce's surprise Jules Dondenu appeared ap-peared to tako secret enjovment of this good-natured chnlllng of tho La-gunn La-gunn Ornndo malinger. Occasionally ho eyed Dryco curiously but without animus, nnd presently he Hashed the latter n lightning wink, us If to sny: "What u fool Sexton Is to oppose you I" "Well, Itondenu," Drycc hailed the woods-boss cheerfully, "I sec you have quite recovered from thnt working over I gave you some time ngo. No hard feelings, I trust. I shouldn't care to have that Job to do over again. You're n tough one." "Dy gar, she don' pny for have hard feelings wlr. you, m'sleur," Itondenu answered bluntly. "We have ono lino light, but" he shrugged "I don' wnnt some more,' He approached Drycc and lowered bis voice. "For one month "Wen I Cut Your Been Trees, M'eleur, I Feel Like Hell." I nm no good nil zo tain. Wo don' fight some more, m'sleur. And I hnve feel nshnino' for doso Dlack Minorca feller. Always wlr. him cot Is ze knife or ze cluli and now cet Is zo rifle. Cochon I Wen I fight, I fight wlr. what le bon Dlcu give me." "You appear to have a certain code, after till," Dryco laughed. "I am Inclined In-clined to like you for It. You're sporty In your wny, you tremendous scoundrel scoun-drel 1" "Mehbeso," Itondenu suggested hope-fuljy, hope-fuljy, "M'sleur likes mo for woods-boss?" woods-boss?" "Why, what's tho mnttcr with Pennington? Pen-nington? Is he tired of you?" The color mounted slowly to the woods bully's swurthy cheek. "Mademoiselle "Made-moiselle Summalr, he's tell me pretty soon bo's goln' be boss of I.agunu Ornnde nn' stop all thees light. An' wen Mndemolselle, be Is In the saddle, gooiVbjo Jules Itondenu. Thees countryI coun-tryI llko him. I feel snd. M'sleur, to leavo doso beeg trees." He paused, looking rather wistfully nt Dryce. "I nm lino woods-boss for somebody," ho suggested hopefully. "You think Miss Sumner dislikes you then, Itondenu?" "I don tbeenk. I know." He sigh-ed; sigh-ed; his huge body seemed to droop. "I am out of zeo good luck now," he murmured bitterly. "Kverjbody, she hate Jules Itondenu." Again he sighed. "Dose beeg trees! In Quebec wo have none. In zeo woods, M'sleur, I feel hero 1" And he laid his great calloused, hairy hand over his heart. "WVn I cut your beeg trees, M'sleur, I feel like hell." 'That Infernal gorilla of a man Is a poet," Duck Ogllvy declared. "I'd think twice before I let him get out of the country, Dryce." '"Whose salt he eats, tils song ho sings,'" quoth Dryce. "I forgive you, Itondenu, nnd when I need a woods-boss woods-boss llko you, I'll send for you." At eleven o'clock Saturday night the deputy United States inarshnl arrived In Sequoia. Upon tho ndvlco of Duck Ogllvy, howoier, he made no attempt nt servlco that night, notwithstanding tho fact that Jules Itondenu nnd his bullied still guarded tho crossing. At eight o'clock Sunday morning, how-ever, how-ever, Dryco Cnrdlgnn drovo him down to the crossing. Duck Ogllvy was already al-ready thero with his men, superintend-Ing superintend-Ing erection of n hugo derrick close to the heap of obstructions placed on the crossing. Sexton wnH watching hlin uneasily, and Hushed as Ogllvy pointed him out to tho inarshnl. "There's your meat, marshal," ho announced. .Tho inarshnl approached nnd extended toward Sexton a copy of tho restraining order. Tho latter struck tt aside nnd refused to accept It whereupon the deputy marshal tapped tap-ped him on the shoulder with It. "Tog I You're out of tho game, my friend," ho said pleasantly. As the document fluttered to Sexton's Sex-ton's feet, the Intter turned to Jules Domicilii. "I enn no longer tako charge here, Itondenu," ho explained. "I nm forbidden to Interfere." "Jules Itondenu can do ze Job," the woods-boss replied easily. "Ze law, she havo not restrain' me. I guess, mehbeso, you don' take doso thecngs away, eh, M'sleur Cardigan. Myself, I lak see." Tho deputy marshal hanlled Don-dean Don-dean a paper, ot the same time showing show-ing his badge. "You're out, too, my friend." he laughed. "Don't be foolish fool-ish to try to buck the luw. If you do, I shall hnve to place n nice little pair of handcuffs on you and throw you In Jail and If jou resist arrest, I shall have to shoot you. I have one of these little restraining orders for every able-bodied mail In thp Lngunn Ornnde Lumber company's employ thanks to Mr, Ogllvy's foresight; so It Is useless to try to bent this game on n technicality." Sexton, who still lingered, mnde n gesture of surrender. "Dismiss your crew, Itondeuu," lie ordered. "We're whipped to n frazzle." A gleam of pleasure, not unmixed with triumph, lighted the dark eyes of the French-Canadian. "I tol' M'sleur Sexton she cannot fight M'sleur Cnrdlgnn Cnrdl-gnn nnd win," ho sntd simply. "Now niehhe he believe that Jules Dondcnu know something." "Shut up." Sexton roared petulantly. petulant-ly. Itondenu shrugged contemptuous-ly. contemptuous-ly. turned, nnd with a sweep of his great arm Indicated to his men that they wero to go; then, without n bnck-word bnck-word glunco to see thnt they followed, the woods boss strode away In tho direction of the Lngunn Ornndo mill. Arrived nt the mill olllce, he entered, took down the telephone, nnd cnllcd up Shirley Sumner. "Mademoiselle," he said, "Jules Itondenu spenks to you. I hnve for you zee good news. Dryce Cardigan, she puts In tho crossing today. Ono iiinii of thu law she comes from San Francisco with papers, and M'sleur Sexton sny to me: 'Itondenu, wo are whip. Deesmess your men.' So I have decsincss dozo men, nnd now I dees-mess dees-mess myself. Mehbeso blmeby I go to work for M'sleur Cardigan. For Mndemolselle I have no weesh to make trouhlo to fire me. I queer. I will not light dose dirty fight some more. Au revolr, mademoiselle. I go." And without further ado he hung up. "What's this, what's this?" Sexton demanded. "You're going to quit! Nonsense, Itondenu, nonsense I" "I will hnve my time, M'sleur," said Jules Itondenu. "I go to work for n mnn. Mehbeso I nm not woods boss for heem, but I work." "You'll hnvo to wait until the Colonel Col-onel returns, Itondenu." "I will hnve my tlmo," said Jules Rondeau patiently. "Then you'll wult till pay day for It, Rondeau.. You know our rules. Any mnn who quits without notice wnlts until tho regular pay day for his money." Jules ndvnnced until he towered directly di-rectly over tho muimger. "I tol' M'sleur I would hnvo my time," he repeated onco more. "Is M'sleur deaf In ze enrs?" Ho raised his right bond, much ns n bear raises Its paw; his blunt lingers worked n little nnd there wns a smoldering fire In his dark eyes. Without further protest Sexton opened tho safe, counted out tho wages due, and took Rondeau's receipt. re-ceipt. 'Thank you, M'sleur," the woods boss growled as he swept the coin Into his pocket. "Now I work for M'sleur Cnrdlgnn; so, M'sleur, I will hnve zeo switch engine weeth two Hut enrs and zee wrecking cnr. Dozo dam trash on zeo crossing M'sleur Cardigan does not like, nnd by gnr, I take heem uwny. You onderstand, M'sleur? I nm Jules Rondeau, and I work for M'sleur Cardigan. Ln In, M'sleur!" The great hand closed over Sexton's collar. "Not zee pistol no, not for Jules Itondenu." Quite as easily as a woman dresses n hnby, be gagged Sexton with Sexton's Sex-ton's own handkerchief, laid hlin gently gent-ly on tho floor and departed, locking tho door behind him nnd taking the key. At tho corner of tho building, where tho telephone lino entered the olllce, ho paused, Jerked once nt tho wire, nnd passed on, leaving tho broken brok-en ends on tho ground. In tho roundhouse he found the switch eiiL'Ino rroiv nn ilni.- ,.., i..,. ,for stenm In tho holler. The withdrawal with-drawal of both locomotives, brief as hnd been their absence, had caused a glut of logs nt tho Lngunn Grande landings, and Sexton was catching up with the trallle by sending thr switch engine crew out for one traliilond. even though It wns Sunday. The crew had been used to receiving orders from Rondeau, nnd moreover they wero not nwnro of his recent action'; hence nt his command they ran the switch engine out of the roundhniiso. coupled up the two Hut curs nnd tho wrecking car, and hacked down to the crossing. Upon arrival, Jules Rondeau Ron-deau leaned out of the cab window nnd hnlled Dryce. "M'slour," ho snld, "do not bozzer to make zeo derrick. I havo here zeo wrecking cnr all you need ; pretty soon we lift hlin off zee crossing, I tell you, eh, M'sleur Cardigan?" Cardi-gan?" Dryco stepped over to the switch cnglno nnd looked up nt his Into enemy. en-emy. "Dy whoso orders Is this train hero?" he queried. "Mine," Itondenu quickly answered. "M'slour Sexton I havo Ua Ilka one lectio pig and lock her In her office. I work now for M'sleur." And he did. lie waited not for confirmation from his new tnnster but proceeded to direct operations like the horn driver nnd lender of men that he was. With his Into employer's employ-er's gear he fastened to the old castings cast-ings nnd the bolter, lifted them with the derrick on the wrecking car, and swung tiiein up mid around onto the flat cars. Dy the middle of the afternoon after-noon the crossing wns once more clear. Then tho Cardigan crew fell upon It while Jules Rondeau ran tho train back to tho Lngunn Ornndo yards, dismissed dis-missed his ciew, returned to the mill oHIce, mid released the mnnnger. "You'll pay through tho noso for this, you scoundrel," Sexton whimpered. whim-pered. "I'll Hx you, you traitor." "You feex nothing. M'sleur Sexton," Rondeau replied Impertiirbably. "Who Is witness Jules Rondeau tlo you up? Somebody seo you, no? I guess you don' feex mo. Sucre I I guess you don' try." CHAPTER XVIII. Colonel Pennington's discovery nt Sun Francisco thnt Dryco Cardigan had stolen his thunder and turned the bolt upon hi in, wns the hardest blow Seth Pennington could remember bnv-Ing bnv-Ing received throughout his thirty-odd years of give and tnke. He wns too old and experienced n campaigner, however, to permit n futile rngo to cloud his reason; he prided himself upon being a foeman worthy of any man's steel. On Tuesday he returned to Sequoln. Sexton related to hi in In detail the events which had transpired since his departure, but elicited nothing moro than n noncommittal grunt. "There Is one more matter, sir, which will doubtless bo of Interest to you," Sexton continued npologetlcnlly. "Miss Sumner called me on the telephono yesterday nnd Instructed mo formally tp notify the hoard of directors of the L'ogunn Ornnde company of n special meeting of the board, to bo held hero at two o'clock this afternoon. In view of the Impossibility of communicating with you while you were en route, I conformed to her wishes. Our by-laws, ns you know, stipulate that no meeting meet-ing of the board shall be called without with-out formal written notice to each director di-rector moiled twenty-four hours previously." previ-ously." "What tho devil do you mean, Sexton, Sex-ton, by conforming to her wishes? Miss Sumner Is not n director of this company." Pennington's volco wns harsh mid trembled npprehenslvely. "Miss Sumner controls forty per cent of the Lngunn Grande stock, sir. I took that Into consideration." "You llol" Pennington all but screamed. "You took Into consideration considera-tion your Job ns sccrctnry and general manager. Damnation 1" He rose nnd commenced pnclng up nnd down his otllce. Suddenly ho paused. Sexton still stood besldo his desk, watching hlin respectfully. "You fooll" ho snnrled. "Get out of hero and leave mo nlone." Sexton depnrted promptly, glancing nt his watcli as he did so. It lacked five minutes of two. Ho passed Shirley Shir-ley Sumner In tho general otllce. "Shirley," Pennington began In a hoarse volco as sho entered Ids oHlcc, "what Is the meaning of this directors' direct-ors' meeting you hnvo requested?" "Do sented, Uncle Seth," tho girl answered quietly. "If you will only bo quiet and reasonable, perhaps we can dlspenso with this directors' meeting which appears to frighten you so." He sat down promptly, u look of ro lief on his fnce. "I scarcely know how to begin, Uncle Seth," Shirley commenced sadly. "It "I Cannot Trust You to Manage My Financial Affairs In the Future." hurts mo terribly to be forced to hurt you, but there doesn't appear to be any other way out of It. I cunnot trust you to mamigo my flimnclnl affairs In tho future this for a number of rca-sons, rca-sons, tho principal ono being" "Young Cardigan," he Interrupted In a low voice. (TO III-; CONTINUED.) |