The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1920-04-15

pany, acquire it at fifty per cent of
its value and merge its assets with your
Laguna Grande Lumber company. You
are an ambitious man. You want to
be the greatest redwood manufacturer
in California, and in order to achieve
your ambitions, you are willing to ruin
competitor: you decline to play the
game like a thoroughbred"
II play the game of business accord
ing to the rules Of the game; 1 do
nothing illegal, SIR"
"And nothing generous or chivalrous.
Colonel, you know your plea of
shortage of rolling-stock is that the
contract for hauling our logs has been
very profitable and will be more profit
able in the future if you will accept
a observation-disclosures increase on
the freight rate and renew the con-
tract for ten years.
Nothing doing, young man. Re
member, you are not in a position to
ask favors"
"Then I suppose Wen have to so
down fghting?"
81 do not anticipate much of
fight"
"And I'll begin by running your
woods-boss out of the country"
"Ah-h!"
"You know why, of course-those
burl panels in your dining room. Ron
deau felled a tree in our Valley of the
Giants to get that burl for you, Colonel
Pennington"
Pennington flushed. 81 defy you to
prove that" he almost shouted.
every well. I'll make Rondeau con
fess; perhaps he'll even tell me who
sent him after the burl. Upon my
word, I think you inspired that
dastardly raid At any rate, l know
Rondeau is guilty, and you, as his
employer and the beneficiary of his
crime, must accept the odium"
The Colonel's face went white. 81
do not admit anything except that you
appear to have lost your head, young
man. However, for the sake of argu-
ment: granting that Rondeau felled
that tree, he did it under the apDre-
hension that your Valley Of the Giants
is part of my Squaw creek timber
adjoining"
II do not believe that. There was
malice in the act-brutality, even; for
my mothers grave identified the land
PiN1a.,I ha
on her tombstone"
IF that is so, and Rondeau felled
that tree-I do not believe he did
I am sincerely sorry, Cardigan. Name
your price and will pay you for the
tree"
"You can't pay for that tree" Bryce
burst forth. mo pitiful human being
can pay in dollars and cents for the
wanton destruction Of Gods handi-
work. You wanted that burl, and
when my father was blind and could
no longer make his Sunday pilgrimage
up to that grove, your woods-boss
went up and stole that which you
knew you could not buy"
"That will be about all from you,
young man. Get out of my office
And, by the way, forget that you have
met my niece"
Its your office-so I'll get out As
for your second command"-he snapped
his fingers in Pennington's face
"fooey!"
When Bryce had gone, the Colonel
hurriedly called his logging on
the telephone and asked for Jules
Rondeau, only to be informed by the
timekeeper who answered the tele-
phone, that Rondeau was up in the
green timber with the choppers and
could not be gotten to the telephone
in less than two hours.
do not send for him, then" Pen
nington commanded. 'Im coming up
on the eleven-fifteen train and will
talk to him when he comes in for his
lunch"
AT eleven O'clock and just as the
Colonel was leaving to board the
eleven-tifteen logging-train bound
empty for the woods, Shirley Sumner
made her appearance in his office.
Uncle Seth" she complained, "Pm
lonesome. The bookkeeper tells me
you're going up to the logging camp.
May I go with your"
by all means. Usually I ride in
the cab with the engineer and fireman !;
but if you're coming, FL have them
hook on the caboose. Step lively, my
dear, or they'll be holding the train
for us and upsetting our schedule"
Il e
By virtue of their logging-contract
with Pennington, the Cardigans and
their employees were transported free
over Pennlngton's logging railroad ;
hence, when Bryce Cardigan resolved
to wait upon Jules Rondeau in the mat
ter of that murdered Giant, it was
characteristic Of him to choose the
shortest and most direct route to his
quarry, and as the long string Of empty
logging-trucks came crawling off the
Laguna Grande Lumber company's log
DUMP he swung over the side quite