Show T 1 TOIL cafici oly L 14 T Q ll 11 S fa copyright 1915 by pathe paths exchange inc all moving picture fights and all for eign copyrights strictly reserved f Y TWELFTH STORY u PROLOGUE with wildly shrieking g horn disturb ing the very solitudes of the distant hills and with pale and terror stricken chauffeur bending over the wheel the limousine of david pow ere millionaire lumber king tore through the granite gateway of his beautiful residence and dashed madly along the shrub bordered dr driven iveRay ay toward the marble perch powers himself tyrant boss of a thousand underfed w erkmen was on an the steps anxiety was betrayed by every line of his working features perry travis 1 hie his legal adviser was with him land as the machine came to a sudden stop before them its grinding wheels sending tending up a shower of fine stone and gravel powers was ras een seen to pause and turn an instant toward the younger man as if for support he had heard the piercing clank ing notes of the horn long before the machine was in sight eight he ile knew the temper of his men he ile realized that IN his hi affairs were approaching a crisis and be he was afraid afraid with the pitiful tear fear which comes over strong men when they realize that the con fronting danger Is of their own crea tion with trembling limbs the chaiffe chai fleur ur climbed from his seat and averted his fear ear diet distended eyes as with unsteady hand hy her pointed to the broken window R pane n u the door of the handsome ma chine chino the small round hole with mith its pattern of radiating cracks like a ferried en led and shattered mirror told its own story nothing but a bullet could have made a break like that mastering his own emotion w with ith su sit preme effort powers stepped toward the machine and with firm hand for his was a awill will of iron be he opened the door from out of the luxurious in perlor be he lifted the inert body of his beautiful daughter and pressed her to his bosom a bosom that was racked and torn with tartly partly stifled sobs gently gently as when she had been an infant some twenty years ago go he carried her into the hous and tenderly oh so tenderly he placed her on a divan david powers sank on one knee beside the cot and then slowly his body seemed to shrivel and sag much like a halt half filled bag of meal as with a complete surrender to grief he threw throw himself prone upon the floor and utter ed the single word I 1 dead travis stood silently beside the stricken icken tr father unable to think or move the young woman who rho lay there a victim to the wiel edness that the tyranny of her father had stirred in the breasts of his workmen had been fiancee and his sorrow was but little less than that of the was ago g died lifted parent I 1 david powers was known as the man who never smiled during busi ness hours he ile was known as the man whose employees all feared him he was ras known too as oneff the most successful lumbermen in the business on the pacific coast and all who knew him envied him stern domi and with a genius for za tion he could get more work out of less men for smaller wages than any man in the state of Call torn forn a that Is more than any man e except one and the man who excelled him as a driver of men the man who could extract one more ounce of labor tor for one tithe less of R ages was jake snyder the chief foreman pugnacious hard as nails flinty hearted and en without sentiment jake made an ideal driver tor for so exacting a boss bogs as powers watch him now low on this morning several weeks before the shooting of laura powers watch him as he talks among the men there on the dock and on the boat note the feverish anxiety with which the men bend to their tasks when he glowers in their direction powers had just driven up to his office in his high powered elx six and had sent to jake the millionaire was looking over the market column of the morning paper when his foreman entered and he never lifted bis his eyes from the absorbing sheet until the field commander bad had drawn his chair up close to bis his employers desk there was no word of greeting be tween the men pointing a pudgy finger first at the newspaper and then at the nose of his foreman the millionaire spoke tersely and harshly lumbers lumber s high in the east jake drive your men to the limit and get that shipment east while prices hold up I 1 there was a grim cruelty in jake a eyes ye and lust just a tinge of a smile on his hi fina km thin lips as be he answered rIlO pretty near the limit now but I 1 guer guess we can speed em up a at ahl j j na the ugly mile was still on jake a face ace when he left the private office and on the steps of the building he paused for a moment spat on his bands hands and squared his shoulders as it if enjoying the prospect of trouble that je e scented and like most of those who rho loori for e sn der found it he had hardly left the docks to answer pow era ers summons when karl hurd dell cate of face and hardly strong enough for the work he had been forced to accept staggered back dropped the piece cf lumber he was handling and almost ank to the ground from sheer weariness too much work and not enough food was ras slowly killing him a and nd only the thou thought glit of his wife and daughter gave him strength enough to keep up several of his fellow laborers came towards him and offered to help him they talked with discontent over con dillons that forced them to submit to the treatment that jake and powers meted out at a low warning shout from one of their number all jumped to their places and were busy at work rork when rhen jake came around the corner of the nearest lumber pile that is all but hurd t here you get to work and cut out that soldiering t yelled snyder as he bounded across the low pile in hurd a direction get to work i now not next week reek ho he added emphasizing emphis as I 1 burd urd was slow in re sp spending emphasizing izing the words with a vicious kick sudden swift passion seized hurd and careless of all consequences thoughtless as to what the future might hold for him he lunged fierce ly at his foreman and struck him squarely between the eyes his was ras the strength of desperation and had the blow sent jake reeling against the lumber pile the startled shout half of amazement and half of approval which greeted hurd s action as much as the sudden impact of doubled fist against human flesh brought him quickly to his senses and he stood for a moment staring at his dazed persecutor as the realization of what he lie had done was slowly impressing itself upon him and then fear seized him and turn ing on his heel he fled fled as if a thousand demons were after him fled blindly up one lumber bard alley and down the other with the enraged snyder who rho had quickly recovered dashing madly after him stop or I 1 fire yelled jake and then his revolver spoke not once but three times in rapid succession the vicious fire and the snipping bul lets adding to the pandemonium that reigned in the lumber yard but hurd fled blindly on stumbling plunging tailing falling and rising again he raced they re pretty near the limit now 14 I 1 said jake but we 11 II speed em lp tip a bit rough uneven ground and reached tho the railroad tracks just as the inter urban trolley bound for san pedro into view with his last re ounce of strength he made a desperate spurt and flung himself headlong on to the front platform of the rushing trolley that he escaped death beneath the wheels was ras a mir acle for just an instant hurd lay prone upon the platform and then slowly drew himself up to a standing tion he ile was too relieved at bis his escape from immediate danger to give muc i thought to the tact fact that his job was probably gone that he was out of employment that a realization ot of his full plight would have come to him soon Is possible had not a sudden commotion in tha tho interior of the car attracted his attention glancing through the glass door ha he noticed jake the smoking revolve still in his band hand advancing along the center aisle of the car his face was working angrily and every line of his ugly countenance cried out for revenge he lie had been close upon hurd s heels in the mad race and a duplicate of the wild lunge that landed hurd on the front platform had catapulted him on to the back one the powers lumber yard lay in low ground just east of the trolley right of way and at the instant that hurd glancing into the interior of the car saw his pursuer advancing upon him the car a ras swiftly moving onto a ii I 1 bretle that carried the trolley into the air over the lumber yard and on toward the city it was a time tor for quick action and hurd was equal to the emergency with a new strength born of his mo i respite karl gathered him i self together tor for a spring and mur a prayer for safety he hurled himself fiercely from the swiftly moving trolley and landed on top ot of a to towering lumber pile As he lay winded and panting on top of the rude skyscraper he saw jake car ried swiftly past him on the dashing trolley shaking his fist at his escaped quarry in impotent rage slowly his fengers gripping des pera tely at the projecting boards his feet unsteady and his head swim ming hurd climbed down the side of the lumber pile that had been his temporary haven it seemed agea ages before he reached the ground and then he came face to face with snyder like wild beasts the men glared at each other Is y slowly cautiously they approached snyder s attitude m was as eager expect ant hurd s was desperate snyder his rude weapon easily hold ing it ready hurds fists were doubled the two men closed snyder his intended blow blocked for the moment found himself borne backward by the fierce rush of the other he struggled with a de det ermma tion worthy of a better cause and his superior strength soon told straining and panting he slowly forced hurd to release his grip and shoving hia his opponent from him he suddenly with the swiftness of a man trained to such warfare raised his club and sent it crashing down upon the skull of the underfed and poorly nourished stevedore hurd dropped like a stone he was done i II 11 I 1 wait until my birthday perry it s only tour four months and then per naps haps j laura powers had gently withdrawn her soft white hand from the more masculine ones of perry travis and had gazed dreamily out across tha tho well trimmed lawns and beautiful gar dens she was ras happy and pampered and indulged she had bad reveled ina in a father fathers s love a love that amounted almost to worship and now she knew that she had gained another main mans love the love of a man who was worthy and had her fathers approval small wonder that the days had flown swiftly small wonder that tima time had taken unto itself wings and now her birthday was vms here already the guests were assembling aas embling already per ry was at the house eager and ampa tient for his answer and even yet laura sometimes wondered lust just what that answer would be and laura while entering into the gayety about her yet found her mind frequently wandering away from her surroundings found herself constant ly trying to concentrate on the answer she was so soon to give perry and then he came to greet her long and fondly he gazed into her eyes and unconscious of her surroundings she let lot him hold her hand longer than was strictly necessary quietly her father stepped up to where they stood friends he said I 1 R ish to an nonnee the engagement of my daugh ter laura to perry travis the confused contused laugh and the pretty clashes blushes that mantled her cheek chas ing themselves la in telltale profusion up to the very roots of her wavy hair were enough to tell those present that her father s words had not displeased her perry had his answer just then as it if the fates were loth that happiness should reign supreme there came an interruption while the guests were cr crowding up and about laura laura the women kissing her and the men showering congratulations upon her the servants were trying to keep a committee of workmen from ent enter er ing at the gate tim shand was at their head tim the fiery flery tim the eloquent for weeks now the men had been on strike for weeks there bad had been tur moll and strife for weeks there had been starvation in the homes of the strikers and destitution among the children of the workingmen ever since the trouble between snyder and hurd the discontent of the men had grown and then had come the last straw the order given by powers and enforced by snyder an order work ing the men an hour longer each day and all day Sunday without extra pay even snyder tyrannical as he was known to be had protested slightly at the latest outrage the men 11 never stand it he had eald said times are hard and it must b be done powers had answered the men will strike snyder had ventured then we will get others the mil leonaire lio had answered and so going from group to group snyder had driven them harder bad had shouted the new orders at them had sought to coerce them into submission by a volley of filthy oaths even the worm will tarn tam they say and hungry underpaid stevedores are less patient than the earth grubbing insect there were murmurs at say der ders s orders and open rebellion at bis his language just how it started nobody seemed to know just who began it t matter suffice to nay may that leaderless as the men were impelled by a common instinct they had sud denly rushed the rough tongued fore man and had thrown him oft off the dock into the water then had come the march to the office the demand for pay the clanging of the gate L ii ithe the call for the police and the strike of all this not a word had reached laura of all this not a whisper not a tug suggestion had found its way be hind the beautiful vine covered stone wall ahat surrounded the powers es tate anft a syllable dad had been per bitted to disturb the peace and seren ity of the millionaires palatial res idenie and probably never would have it if the men at an open air meet ing on the afternoon of laura jaura a party had not appointed tim shand the head of a committee to place their grievances before the million millionaire alre we can never get to him a at t his I 1 office we e R will III see him at bis his home tim biad ad shouted tim and the angry powers came face to face a moment the tro tn men glared tt tach each other and then shand with rith the self command and eloquence that had made him a leader among the workmen quickly made his plea for justice i awa we come to you mr powers toe be cause we realize that you do not inow what the men have suffered we 1 knew that if you had realized the awful tyranny ot of your underling conditions mould have been improved long ago we ask you to take the men back under proper working N 0 t s fiance throwing her fathers tenants out of their homes conditions and this firmly we ask the removal of snyder not for ourselves alone but for our wives and children e appear they are stary ing let them starve was powers an ewer laura was ras a surprised and startled witness to this stirring scene she had never realized before that there was ras such a thing as starvation A great compassion was bora born with in her her features showed the dawn of a wondrous pity putting her arms about her father a neck she asked him to tell her all about the strikers and their hungry families laughingly he put her from him those problems are not for little girls like you he told her go and join your guests they will miss you III mina hurd was a frail and delicate woman of twenty five A constant battle with poverty had left its marks far into each night she toiled with needle in a desperate endeavor to eke out cut the little family s slender in come bent dent over some hand sewing arg ing her weary fingers to unceasing en deavors to add to the slowly increase ing pile of finished garments beside her she hardly dared to raise her eyes from |