The Republican journal., 1920-04-29

From whom? No bank in Sequoia
will lend us penny
Of CommerceY
"Certainly not. Pennington owns
the controlling interest in that bank.
and I was never a man to waste my
time"
Bryce chuckled. IT don't care where
the money comes from so long as
get it. partner. Desperate circum-
stances require desperate measures.
you know. and the day before yester
day. when I was quite ignorant of the
fact that Colonel Pennington controls
the Sequoia Bank of Commerce.
drifted in on the president and casual
ly struck him for loan of one hun
dred thousand dollars"
swell. ri be shot, Bryce! What
did he say?"
Said he'd take the matter under
consideration and give me an answer
this morning. He asked me, of course,
what I wanted that much money for.
and told HIM I was going to run
night shift. double my force of men in
the woods, and buy some more logging
trucks. which I can get rather cheap.
Well. this morning I called for my
answer-and got it. The Sequoia
Bank of Commerce will loan me up
to hundred thousand. but it won't
give me the cash in lump sum. l
can have enough to buy the logging
trucks now, and on the first Of each
month, when l present my pay roll,
the bank will advance me the money
to meet it"
Bruce, l am amazed"
81 am not-since you tell me Colo
mel Pennington controls that bank.
That the bank should accommodate
us is the most natural procedure i'm
aginable. Pennington is only playing
safe-which is why the bank declined
to give me the money in lump sum.
If we run a night shift, Pennington
knows that we can't dispose of our
excess output un Ter present market
conditions. It's a safe bet our lum-
Der is going to p.io up on the mill
dock; hence. when the smash comes
and the Sequoia Bank of Commerce
calls our loan and we cannot possibly
meet it, the lumber on hand will prove
security for the loan, will it not? In
fact, it will be worth two or three dol
lars per thousand more then than 1t
is now, because it will be air-dried."
But what idea have you got back
of such procedure, Bryce?"
Merely forlorn hope, dad. Some
thing might turn up. The market may
take sudden squirt and go up three
or four dollars. And whether the mar
ket goes up or comes down, it costs us
nothing to make the experiment"
"Quite true" his father agreed.
Then, if you'll come down to the
office tomorrow morning, dad, We'll
hold a meeting of our board of direc-
tors and authorize me as president of
the company to sign the note to the
bank. We're borrowing this without
collateral, you know"
John Cardigan entered no further
objection. and the following day the
agreement was entered into with the
bank Bryce closed by wire for the
extra logging equipment and imme-
diately set about rounding up a crew
for the woods and for the night shift
in the mill.
Fnr q month Prrpn huSV
the proverbial one-armed paper-hanger
with the itch, and during all that time
he did not see Shirley Sumner or hear
of her, directly or indirectly.
Mora McTavish, in the meantime,
had come down from the woods and
entered upon her duties in the mill of
fee The change from her dull, drab
life, giving her, as it did, an opportun-
ity for companionship with people of
greater mentality and refinement than
she had been used to, quickly brought
about a swift transition in the girls
nature. With the passing of the
coarse shoes and calico dresses and
the substitution of the kind of cloth
ing all women of Moira's instructive
refinement and natural beauty long
for, the girl became cheerful, animat-
ed, and imbued with the optimism of
her years.
MORA worked in the general office,
and except upon occasions when
Bryce desired to look at the books or
MORA brought some document into the
private office for his perusal, there
were days during which his pleasant
Good morning, Moira," constituted
the extent of their conversation.
Bryce had been absent in San Fran
cisco for ten days. He had planned to
stay three weeks, but finding his bust
ness contaminated in less time, he re-
turned to Sequoia unexpectedly MORA
was standing at the tall bookkeeping
desk, her beautiful dark head bent
over the ledger, when he entered the
office and set his suitcase in the
corner.
"Is that you, Mr.. Bryce?" she
queried.
''The identical individual, MORA
How did you guess it was II"
She looked up at him then, and her
wonderful dark eyes lighted with
flame Bryce had not seen in them
heretofore. IT knew you were COM
ing" she replied simply.
'You had a, bunch, Mora. Do you
<r1N 4l,s