The Republican journal., 1920-04-01

she did not appear at all amused.
Bryce Cardigan is a man with the
heart and soul Of boy, and l think
1t was mighty sweet of him to share
his pie with me. If he had sent roses,
should have suspected him Of trying
to rush me, but the fact that he sent
blackberry pie proves that he's just
natural, simple, sane original citi-
zen-just the kind of person a girl
can have for dear friend without
mourning the risk Of having to marry
him."
The Colonel noticed calm little
smile fringing her generous mouth.
He wished he could tell, by intuition,
what she was thinking about-and
what effect hot wild-blackberry pie
was ultimately 10 have upon the value
of his minority holding in the Laguna
Grande Lumber company.
= : : = >
Not until dinner was finished and
father and son had repaired to the
library for their coffee and cigars did
Bryce Cardigan advert to the subject
of his fathers business affairs.
well, John Cardigan" he declared
comfortably. Suppose you start at
the. beginning and tell me everything
right to the end. George Sea Otter
Informed me that you've been having
trouble with this Johnny-come-la lately,
Colonel Pennington. Is he the man
who has us where the hair is short?"
The old man nodded.
"The Squaw creek timber deal, eh?"
Bryce suggested.
Again the old man nodded. you
wrote me all about that" Bryce con-
tinued. you had him blocked which
ever way he turned-so efectually
blocked, in fact, that the only pleas
ure he has derived from his invest
ment since is the knowledge that he
owns two thousand acres Of timber
with the exclusive right to pay taxes
on 1t, walk in it, look at it and admire
tin fact, do everything except log
it, mill it, and realize on his invest
ment. 1t must make him feel like q
bally jackass."
ION the other hand" his father re-
minded him, mo matter what the
Oolonel's feeling on that score may De,
misery loves company, and not until
had pulled out of the Squaw creek
country and started logging in the San
Hedrin watershed, did realize that
had been considerable of Jackass
myself"
"Yes," Bryce admitted, "there can
be no doubt but that you cut OF your
nose to spite your face"
His thoughts harked back to that
first season of logging in the San
Hedrin, when the cloud-burst hao
caught the river filled with Cardigan
logs and whirled them down to the
bay to crash through the log-boom at
tidewater and continue out to the
open sea.
The old man appeared to divine the
trend of his sons thoughts. es
Bryce, that was disastrous year,
he declared. 1.-THE mere loss qf the
logs was a severe blow, but III adol
ton l had to pay out quite NIUE
money to settle with my customers,
was loaded up with low-priced order
that year. although didn't expect t.
make any money. The orders wer
merely to keep the men employed
You understand. Bryce! had
good crew, the finest in the country
and if had shut down, my men woul
have scattered and-well, you kno'
how hard it is to get that kind OF
crew together again. Besides, l ha
never failed my boys before, and
couldn't bear the thought Of failin
them then. Half the mills In II
country were shut down at the tim
and there was lot of distress amor
the unemployed. couldn't do
Bryce"
Bryce nodded. "And when you 10
the logs, you couldn't fill those lo'
priced orders. Then the market col
menced to jump and advanced thr
collars In three months"
"Exactly, my son. And my Gu
toners began to crowd me to fill tho
old orders. I couldn't expect them
suffer with me; my failure to perfol
my contracts. while unavoidable, new