The Crittenden press., 1920-08-27

! 10 tell me not 10 fail them, Must my
| father have wrought all this in vain?
And must stand by and see all this
OF strangerY" His big hands clench'
ed. mo" he growled savagely. "Give
me your last five annual statements,
Mr.. Sinclair, please"
The old servitor brought forth the
documents In question. Bryce stuffed
them into his pocket and left the office,
Three quarters of an hour later he en-
tered the little amphitheater In the
Valley Of the Giants and paused with
an expression of dlsmay. one OF the
giants had fallen and lay stretched
across the little clearing, In It's de
scent II had demolished the little
white stone over his mothers grave
and had driven the fragments OF the
stone deep into the earth.
The fact that the tree was down.
however, was secondary % the fact
that neither wind nor lightning had
brought II low. but rather the impiouS
hand of man; for the great Jagged
stump showed all too plainly the
marks of cross.cut saw and axe u
pile Of chips four feet deep Uttered the
ground.
For fully a minute Bryce stood
dumbly gazing upon the Sacrilcge be-
fore his rage and horror found vent In
words. "An enemy has done this
thing he cried aloud 10 the wood
gohlins. And over her gravel"
II was burl tree. Al the point
where Bryce paused malignant
growth had developed on the trunk
Of the tree, for all the world like n
tremendous wart. This was the burl,
SO priced for tahle-tops and panelling
because OF the fact that the twisted,
wnvy. heterskelter grain lends TO the
wood an extraordinary beauty when
polished. Bryce noted that the work
Of remoN ing this eXcrescence had been
accomplished very neatly. With Il
cross-cut saw the growth, perhaps ten
feet In diameter. had been neatly
sliced of much as a housewife cuts
slice after slice from loaf of bread.
He guessed that these slices, pract-
cally circular in shape, had been rolled
out OF the woods 10 some conveyance
waiting to receive them.
What Bryce could not understand,
however, was the stupid brutality OF
the raiders In telling the tree merely
for that section OF burl. BY permit
ting the tree to stand and merely
building staging up TO the burl, the
latter could have been removed with
out vital injury TO the tree-whereas
by destroying the tree the wretches
had evidenced all too clearly 10 Bryce
n wanton desire to add insult TO In
jury.
Poor old Dadw he murmured.
I'm glad now he has been unable 10
get up here and see this. II would
have broken his heart. III have this
tree made into fence posts and the
stump dynamited and removed this
summer. After he is operated on ard
gets back his sight. he will come up
here-nnd he must never know. Per.
haps he will have forgotten how many
trees stood IN this circle"
He paused. reepIng out from un.
der a chip among the litter NJ his feet
was the moldy corner OF white
envelope. In an instant Bryce Ind II
In his hand. The envelope was dirty
and wea,herbeaten. but 10 certain
extent the redwood chips under which
It had lain hidden had served 10 pro-
tect II, md the writing on the face
was still leglhlc. The envelope was
empty and addressed 10 Jules Ron.
deau. care of the l.nguna Grande
Lumber company, SequoIa, California.
Bryce rend and reread that address.
"Rondenu" he muttered. "Jules
Rnndcau! I've heard that name he.
forc-ah. yes Dad spoke Of him last
night. He's Pennlngton's woods.boss
and"
An enemy had done this thlng-nnd
In all the world John Cardigan had
hut one eneiny--Coonel Seth Penning.
ton. Had Pennington sent his woods
boss to do this dirty work out of
sheer spitcI Hardly. The section OF
hurl was gone. and this argued that
the question of spite had been purely
matter of secondary consideration.
Evidently. Bryce reasoned. someone
had desired that hurl redwood greatly.
and that someone had not been Jules
Rondcnu. since n woods.boSS would not
be likely To spend five minutes ~ his
leisure time In consideration Of the
beauties Of n hurl tabletop or panel.
Hence. II Rondeau had superintendent
the task of Telling the tree, II must
have been at the hchest Of n superior:
and since n woOds.hoSs acknowledges
no superior save the creator NJ the
payroll. the recipient of that stolen
hurl must have been Colonel pennlng.
ton.
suddenly he thrilled. . II Jules Ron.
dcnu had stolen that hurl to present
II 10 Colonel Pennington his employer,
then the finished article must be In
rennlnrton's home And bryce had
been invited TO that home for dinner
the following Thursday by the Colonel's
niece.
"I'll 20, after ALL" he told himself.
ETH go--and III see what I shall see"
CHAPTER VI