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- You have undoubtedly heard of the Abernathy boys, Louis, nine, and Temple, six years of age, respectively. There is not a newspaper in the country which did not give accounts of their daring ride on horseback from Oklahoma City, Okla., and their arrival in New York in time to take part in the great reception in honor of the homecoming of Col. Theodore Roosevelt. They traveled no less than 2,500 miles on horseback; a feat which older men have not been able to excel. They have taken leading parts in a story of the real wild and woolly western type which will arouse your enthusiasm, which will bubble with excitement and interest. It will undoubtedly be considered the greatest sensation of the year and the best tonic for box-office receipts. The opening scene shows Frank's ranch house, where many cowboys are "killing time," indulging in their sports. Soon one of the boys arrives from the post office with a letter for Frank from his sweetheart, Grace, informing him that he should meet her at the station, as she is coming to spend her vacation at the ranch. Frank leaves the ranch and arrives at the station in time to see his sweetheart insulted by a Mexican. The western blood boils within him. He has a fight with the Mexican, but finally leaves with his fiancée in a buggy for the ranch, tying his own horse to the back of the vehicle. The Mexican swears vengeance. He secures the co-operation of another Mexican and both pursue Frank and his sweetheart. They shoot Frank in the arm, and snatching the girl from the buggy, they escape with her. Poor Frank would have bled to death had not the Abernathy kids made their timely appearance. He is unconscious when he is found, but he is revived sufficiently to tell his story. Immediately little Temple starts to the ranch for aid, while Louis vows to pursue and capture the Mexicans. Quickly does Temple find his way to the Three Forks post office, where more than a dozen cowboys are lounging around. He utters only a few words and they take in the situation in a moment. They mount their bucking bronchos and with Temple in the lead they are off in pursuit of the culprits. The scene now changes. The girl is trying to gain her freedom from her captors. It is like a thunderbolt from heaven when the Mexican hears, "Throw up your hands." The desperate Mexican is about to draw his gun and shoot at Louis, but the kid is too quick for him, and shoots the gun out of the Mexican's hand. Singe-handed does the young lad overcome the burly and contemptible Mexicans. Suddenly, at a distance, during this commotion, little Temple in the lead, is seen approaching at daring speed with the cowboys. They lasso both Mexicans and drag them from the scene. Grace is soon restored to her lover, and the cheers and congratulations showered upon the two young lads will make your heart feel good. You are so much enthused that you would like to go over to the boys and, slapping them on the shoulder, say, "Congratulate you, boys, for your heroism." This picture finishes by showing Louis and Temple with their mammoth Teddy bear, which was presented to them by Col. Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders at their reception.
- A will provides that Grace marry young Carson, so that they both inherit great riches. Should she refuse, he is cut off; but should she die without being married, he gets the estate. He sets out to treacherously bring about her demise. He bribes a blacksmith's helper to meddle with the shoe of her saddle horse, then causes the horse to run away. Not only is he unsuccessful, but the hired man goes back on him, as is usual. Seeing that the helper cannot be driven from a course of blackmail, he murders him and tries to lay the crime on the blacksmith; and he would succeed, too, had it not been for a little girl who was picking flowers near the scene of Carson's crime, and now comes forward to tell what she saw. Needless to say Carson gets his deserts, while Grace and the "brawny young smithy" are started on their world of happiness.
- The temper of Lucy Jennings had become so notorious in the village that she was almost always called the "Spitfire." Her parents could not cure her temper by kindness, so the father thought to cure her be sterner methods. He caught her in the street after she had disobeyed her mother and broken the dishes that she should have dried. Fastening her hands together, he hauled her through the village and tied her to the public hitching post. At that time the young pastor was coming down the street, and seeing an unusual commotion, hastened to discover the cause. Finding the "Spitfire" fastened to the post, he unfastened her at once and harangued the villagers, who disappeared shamefacedly. He then took the girl home to her parents, and after telling them that kindness, not force, was needed, arranged to send her to a boarding school for two years. After the two years had elapsed she returned a beautiful young lady. Of course the inevitable happened. The parson loses his heart to the much accomplished Lucy.
- Mary, fearing that mayhap her lover might follow in the footsteps of her father and become a drunkard, exacts a pledge from him that he will not touch liquor as long as he lives. The father cannot appreciate the seriousness of the pledge and during the festivities of the betrothal coaxes the cowboy into taking just one drink in honor of the occasion while Mary's back is turned. Mary, however, unexpectedly sees the man she is to marry drain the glass. She shudders with fear as she realizes that her lover, not strong enough to resist temptation and weak enough to break his pledge, might take to the path of her father. Her forebodings come true. Her sweetheart and father become constant habitués of "Pete's Saloon." Day after day, night after night, both can be found drinking or drunk. She determines to break off her engagement and signals her state of mind then she snubs her fiancé when he and her father stagger from the barroom while she and her younger sister are passing on horseback. The old man and the cowboy, after a moment's pause of stupefied consternation, link arms and seek consolation at the bar. It does not take the young fellow long to become a drunken sot. Indian Joe carries the news of the father's debauch to Mary and her mother. The women mount their horses and gallop to the saloon to save the father and husband and punish the lover. The wife arrives in time to support the head of her dying husband, who has fallen to the floor, and Mary to stare with accusing wrath at the man she was to marry. In an instant she grips her whip, and with well-directed blows, smashes bottle after bottle to atoms, until the place reeks with the odor of spilled liquor. The cowboy at last attempts to stop the frenzied girl in her destruction, but she recoils from him, and before he realizes what she is doing, brings the whip down upon his head, face and shoulders. After the funeral of the old man, Jack goes to see Mary for the purpose of effecting a reconciliation, but she will not listen to his pleadings and he decides to go away and try to atone. She tells him that if in two years he becomes a man and finds he still loves her to come back. And now the two years are passed and she wonders, as she leans against the tree where they parted, whether he will come back to her. Scarcely has the thought been formed when she hears his steps upon the gravel, and with bursting heart, throws herself into the arms of her cowboy lover, come back a parson.
- Dan Moore, the sheriff's son, interferes in vain when his father orders his lazy uncle out of the house. They glare at each other, these two brothers, the one, stern with rage, and the other, scowling with hate. The next day the sheriff is informed by a couple of neighboring cowboys, of a horse-thief in the vicinity. He at once prepares to catch him and issues orders for the assembling of a posse. His daughter tells him he'll find Dan over at the widow's, and with a wink and a smile goes over himself to get his son and warn the widow to keep her eyes open. He finds Dan with an arm about Kate, the widow's daughter. It takes him but a second to interrupt their billing and cooing, although he does it with a smile and good-natured banter, for he approves of his son's choice; but there is business to attend to and he takes the young fellow away. When they return they find the posse ready and waiting, and they are about to start when Dan sees the vindictive face of his uncle peering in at them. He scents mischief and refuses to join the posse, to the disappointment and rage of his father. He still refuses, but will give no reason even when his dad calls him a coward. He turns his back and walks away. His one desire is to save his father the disgrace he feels his uncle will bring upon him. With a shout of derision at the son who failed him, the old sheriff heads the posse as they dash off in search of the horse thief. Dan catches up with his uncle just as he reenters the widow's farm after a second horse, the first being hitched up just inside the door. Before he can interfere, however, a shot is fired. The uncle falls, then rises to his feet and staggers away. Dan, to save his uncle, hurries into the barn, just as the widow and her daughter Kate dash up, close and bar the door, the widow still holding a smoking gun in her hand. The mother stands guard while Kate mounts the horse and hurries for the sheriff. The widow learns the identity of the prisoner, and when she is rejoined by Kate they determine that he must not be arrested, guilty or not. Kate forces the man she loves to bind both herself and her mother to the stall-posts, mount a horse and escape. Meanwhile the sheriff's daughter has gone after the father, and all returning, find the women bound and the prisoner gone. The wounded brother manages to drag himself as far as the widow's kitchen, falling unconscious across the sill, where the women find him. When revived, he confesses his guilt and his nephew's innocence. The women then bind his wound and fasten him to a saddle. Then begins another chase after the sheriff and the posse who are again hunting the escaped horse thief. They meet the returning band with Dan bound in their midst. Explanations are offered, and the old sheriff, before them all, asks forgiveness of his son, while the tears roll down his cheeks.
- When the Widow Melrose opened the letter from her brother, who has one of the finest ranches in the middle west, and read his invitation to come out for a couple of months and bring her daughter along she was overjoyed. The daughter, too is delighted, and impulsively asks her sweetheart a young New Yorker, to come along with them. He eagerly accepts and a few days after the receipt of the letter they are on their way west. Sam Stout has all the available cowboys on the place, with an Indian or two, to meet the party from the east, and they sure do give them a rousing welcome. Loaded with grips and bags the party starts for the buckboard to carry them to the ranch, when Mabel, the widow's daughter catches her first and sudden view of on Indian. She promptly screams and throws her arms about the neck of the most available man, who happens to be George Matthews, her uncle's favorite cowboy. He assures her there is no danger and offers his escort, which is gladly accepted by the interested girl; all this to the discomfiture of the youth from the East. It doesn't take many days before Mabel and George are almost constant companions and when the Easterner complains of the girl's neglect of him the widow concludes that the cowboy must stop calling on her daughter. She insists upon Matthews going away, and when she appeals strongly to his honor he has no other alternative but to go. Uncle Stout, anticipating the result of the widow's talk, makes other arrangements and asks George not to go until the following day. He then prepares and executes a plan that not only succeeds in showing the caliber of both the cowboy and the Easterner, but actually forces the young fellow to go back east on the first train, and also causes the widow to remove all obstacles in the path of the affairs of her daughter and the Westerner, and it did not take George very long to decorate the littlest finger in the world with a diamond. And this is the scheme Uncle Stout planned: He invited the Easterner and his niece for an outing in the canyon, and purposely leaving the young folks to spoon, he steals away with his sister. This was the signal for a certain cowboy, disguised as a bear, to appear and the frightened Easterner lost no time in getting away, leaving the fainting girl eaten, as he feared he himself would be. The cunning rancher also bad his cowboy George near the spot. He heard the screams and rescued the fair lady, but failed to see the bear, because that particular bear was by that time disrobing himself with much amusement amidst his companions.
- Harvey Kingston falls in love with and marries a beautiful Indian school teacher, despite the bitter opposition of his family, bringing her to his home in New York. His proud and angry mother plans a mock reception. She invites all her friends and prepares them with knives, hatchets, forks and other kitchen implements; and, at the entrance of the young couple, gives the signal, and they all begin a war dance about the astonished and trembling groom and bride. The father, touched by the cruelty of the situation and the wonderful beauty and innate refinement of his Indian daughter-in-law, interferes in his wife's malicious insult and orders the guests from the house. He then acknowledges the union of his son and the Indian girl and compels his wife and daughter to do likewise. Because of the bitterness of his mother and sister toward his wife, Kingston furnishes an establishment of his own and duly installs his young bride therein. His family visits him at times, and the Indian girl often visits her father-in-law. The worth of the Indian girl is made apparent from the first, and when she jeopardizes her own unsullied reputation to save that of her husband's sister, whom she discovers in an intrigue, she keeps the secret even when, led by circumstances, the husband suspects her. Again when she telegraphs her brother to bring on sufficient money to New York to save the elder Kingston from financial ruin, she is once more suspected by her husband; and still she will not speak. She also forbids the father to tell. She yearns for a love that trusts. Urged on by his mother and sister, he openly accuses his faithful young wife, and she, without a word of accusation against him, nor of vindication for herself, goes back with her brother to her Indian home. Conscience-smitten, his sister confesses her part in the intrigue, and even his mother relents, and they all assist him eagerly when he prepares to go after his wife. A good wife will always open her arms to a penitent husband, especially when that husband kneels before her and kisses the hem of her skirt. That is what Harvey Kingston did, and so would you and any honest man do the same. And his Indian bride took him back.
- Nell Brinkley's mother says she (Nell) shall marry whom she chooses, and Nell's father says she will marry whom he chose. Neil chooses Tom Downey and her mother approves of her selection. But unfortunately her father's choice is William Mason, who Nell dislikes very much. Both young men present her with an engagement ring, but before Bill gets to the house Nell is already wearing the one presented by Tom. Bill makes an awful holler about it to her father and the old man orders Nell to accept Bill's and return Tom's ring, she weepingly returns the one, but positively refuses to accept the other. A violent scene is about to ensue, when Mrs. Brinkley's maiden sister puts in an appearance and for the moment quells the storm. She is accompanied by the parson. Tom and Neil soon corner this reverence and try to persuade him to marry them despite the paternal objections. The parson will not, however, give ear to their protestations. Therefore, through sheer force of necessity, the young couple, aided by the mother, concoct a scheme whereby they hope to outwit the father and the objectionable suitor. Nell writes five letters and with the delivery of them begins a wild goose chase. The parson receives one, asking him to call at the ranch on urgent business. The father gets one, presumably from the parson, requesting his presence at the parsonage at once on an important matter. Bill, the persistent, though unwelcome, lover, also receives a note telling him to hurry to the ranch. Mrs. Brinkley comes in for one, too, telling her to hurry to her husband's aid. The fifth letter reaches the old maid imploring her to come to her sister at once on a very serious matter. The father calls at the parsonage, only to be told by the housekeeper that the parson had been called to the ranch. Bill calls at the ranch in time to see a woman on horseback riding away from the house, thinking it is Nell, he starts after her, fearing she is about to elope. The father, in a furious rage, returns home in time to see a cowboy running after his daughter. He thinks it is Tom and his daughter eloping and he starts in pursuit. In the meantime. Nell, who has loaned her coat to aunty for the occasion, calls in her mother, who has been in hiding, and her brother Jack. Then Tom brings in the parson, who has no alternative but to marry the intrepid young lovers. The runaway trio enter at the finish and glower in helpless fury at the smiling and married youngsters. The poor old maid, seeing how she has been made an unconscious instrument for the accomplishment of the plan, begins to wail about her reputation, and to soothe her and satisfy all concerned, except Bill, the old man makes Bill marry her and the old maid's sadness is changed to joy. This bids fair to be the funniest western comedy ever put forth in the independent market. You must get it so as to fill a long felt want.
- The heart strings may be torn, hearts may burst with wails of agony, but the proud name of the family shall remain unsullied. So thinks Willard Randley as with grim, set features he abandons his sister's child, born out of wedlock. Then, again, deepest sorrow, unspeakable anguish, with almost a breath can be turned to joy. So experiences old Chief Scarbrow and his weeping squaw as they sit apart from the tribe, lamenting the death of their papoose. For, behold! the basket containing the baby of the whites falls at the feet of the Indians. The chief accepts the gift as from the Almighty, with throbbing heart, and his squaw nourishes the living infant. Also for the honor of the family, the brother procures a suitable husband for his sister, and the dower being agreed upon, the ceremony is performed and the party go east. The Indians with their papoose baby traveled westward to join their tribe. After five years elapse, being childless, Mr. and Mrs. Matthews adopt a street urchin as their son, and though a growing contentment exists the young wife cannot forget the motherhood that was hers but had been denied her. Looking wistfully at her adopted son, she yearns with heart and soul for her little baby daughter. Fifteen years later the adopted son, now a man of twenty-one, decides to go west and investigate some land. It is while riding over the prospective ground that he sees an Indian trying to forcibly abduct an Indian girl. He hurries toward them just as the Indian raises a bowie knife above the breast of the girl. A shot rings out, accompanied by a howl of rage and pain from the Indian, who disappears in the forest nursing his wounded hand. The rescued Indian girl, who proves to be the White Princess of the tribe, takes her savior to the camp, where, after she has explained, he is made welcome. He becomes a constant visitor and soon asks the chief for the hand of his white daughter. Old Chief Scarbrow tells him to send for his parents and if they consent he will not object. The boy does so, and one day while the young folks are being entertained by the Indian dances, a crowd of cowboys dash upon them, firing their guns in the air, announcing the coming of the easterners in an automobile. Mr. and Mrs. Matthews follow the cowboys to the Indian village and hurry in toward their adopted son. They were forbidding the marriage when Mrs. Matthews sees the White Princess. Stopping suddenly, they both stare at each other as though fascinated, when the elder woman falls back in the arms of her husband. Instinct had told her mother heart that she had looked into the eyes of her daughter. And it is true, for the chief produced the basket the Princess was found in and also the clothes she wore. He had carefully preserved them. So after many years of anguished yearning the mother was reunited to the daughter she had never thought to see again. And tears shine in her eyes as she looks at her daughter and adopted son as they stand before the marriage altar. But they are tears of joy and thankfulness.
- Bad companions! Alas! They are the ruin of many a fine fellow and incidentally they are the ruin of John Stanley. John is the only son of Sheriff Stanley, and he is worshiped by his old Dad, his doting mother, and is the especial favorite of his sister Bess. It is with many misgivings and those peculiar little tightenings of the heart strings that always sound the alarm, when those we love are in danger, that Bess and he mother notice the hard-looking cowboys who call at the ranch at most unusual hours. Whispered conversations, nervous starts on the young fellow's part, his hasty endeavors to stop his companions and turn the trend of conversation on the approach of any of the family, all these serve to cause deep distress to both mother and sister. Only the father is oblivious to it all. His faith and trust in his only son does not permit him to question his son's actions for even a moment. Bess's sweetheart, Martin Winston, mentioned on several occasions that John is not keeping in the straight road as he has already noticed it. The truth is, that the boy has fallen among horse thieves and led on by them has already been guilty of stealing many horses. He has a violent quarrel over stolen horses with one of them, and worsting his opponent, that wretch, in revenge, hurries to the sheriff's home. Finding only Bess in the house he tells her that her brother is a horse-thief. Her father and the posse are at that moment scouring the vicinity for the daring horse thieves. It takes the girl but a moment to decide that no matter what the cost may be, she must save her brother in the attempt to preserve the honor of the family. Getting into a suit of her brother's clothes she hurries with her informant to where her brother is in hiding. She implores him to save himself by following a circuitous route to join the posse. The boy is terror stricken and jumping on his sister's horse escapes just as the father and the cowboys dash upon the rendezvous. A bitter fight ensues between the cowboys and the horse thieves and in the melee Bess has been struck down and mortally wounded. Whose bullet struck her none can tell. Whether horse thief or cowboy none knew until her father sees her lying face downward, turns her over in order to discover who it is. With a cry of horror he seizes her in his arms, and with her dying breath she tells him why she was there, and implores him to bury her as his son, and to never divulge the truth, for the sake of the family's honor. The broken-hearted father promises and telling the boys that his son had fallen by a horse thief's bullet, he carries the child home and buries her as his son. He had another duty to perform. Drawing the blinds of his ranch so that light could no more enter, he keeps his cowardly and renegade son confined to a room. To those who call, and to Bess's sweetheart, the mother tells that grief for her brother's death had driven Bess insane. Thus is unfolded a tale of a stanch attitude toward family honor at the same time bearing with it a mortal sacrifice. Thus do western folk as well as easterners, for that matter, too, hold life secondary to honor.
- George Monroe and his son and daughter, after settling themselves in the ranch house that they had secured for a couple of months, decide to take a stroll through the little old western town and see the sights. This is what the inhabitants thought and that is what the Monroe family wanted them to think, but their object is to size up, as it were, their prey, for this respectable-looking family of father, son and daughter, was nothing less than a family of card sharks who had come from Denver for the purpose of fleecing the cowboys. The girl, tall and beautiful, acts as the magnet to draw the victims to the ranch. They were successful. The most constant visitor and heaviest loser in their gambling den is Wilson Moore, a handsome young cowpuncher, and the support of his widowed mother and his little sister Aggie. Belle Monroe leads him on until the poor fellow is head over heels in love with her and firmly believes that his love is returned. She plays with his affections while her father and brother rob him of his money. Belle often takes a hand with them and it is while playing opposite him at the table that she is suddenly made aware of the startling fact that she is really in love with the man she has been fooling. The shock of the discovery unnerves her and she wants to leave the game, but a stern glance from her father and an exclamation from her brother brings her to her senses and she, with hysterical laughter, continues the game, winning all of Wilson's money. Meanwhile the widow Moore is grieving over the actions of her adored son. She is unused to his leaving her every evening as he is now doing and his daily drawings from the strong box where their money is kept, alarms her. Being present when her son receives a letter from Belle's Indian maid, she reads the request from the Monroe's to come up for a big game, she decides to put a stop to this ruining of her son. Hurrying to the ranch of the card sharks, she is admitted to the presence of the girl. With tears streaming down her old cheeks she implores the young woman to give her back her son. Her pleadings are not in vain, for the love that is consuming Belle needed only such fuel as this mother's love and the two women unite to save the one man. Lowering her Indian maid from the window she tells her to go for the cowboys if she can't find Wilson before her father and brother get him. At this moment she hears them coming and secretes the old lady just as the three enter the room. With an assumed gaiety she stealthily removes the revolvers from her father and brother and when a prearranged quarrel takes place the brother is about to brain Wilson she stops them at the pistol's point. Ordering them to "hands up" site holds them so until the cowboys arrive and carry them off to jail. Wilson and the widow then take the weeping girl home with them to live in a purer atmosphere as his wife.
- Reckless friends, the inviting bottle and late hours have been the means of ruining many a youth, and especially one who is an only son. Arthur Kane is just such an only son, but fortunately his father turns him out of the house in time to save the boy from further degradation. His mother furnishes him with the means to go out west, trusting in spite of all, in his promise to make a man of himself when away from his evil associates. Dressed in the height of eastern fashion, Arthur affords considerable amusement to the cowpunchers as he alights at a small cattle station out in Montana. He doesn't mind this, though, for with his athletic training he feels quite capable of holding his own amongst them. Learning the location of Judge Lawson's ranch, he at once applies for a job. More in a spirit of fun than because of actual need the Judge places him in the charge of his foreman. The eastern lad soon wins the good-will of his fellow cowboys, and especially does he prove attractive to the Judge's daughter, Ruth. They soon become constant companions, and that fact arouses the ire of the jealous foreman, who goads the easterner until his patience is beyond control. The climax is reached when the surly foreman pours some hot coffee down Kane's back. It takes but an instant to make a wreck of a bunkhouse, and when the Judge hurries in he finds his foreman and new cowpuncher engaged in pummeling each other in the midst of a wrecked room. Roiling with rage, he discharges poor Kane and severely reprimands the foreman. Packing his grip, Kane is soon on his way in search of a new job, and when nearing a crowd in the street he learns that the Sheriff has been held up and robbed by a notorious outlaw, who has bound him to his horse and sent him back to town. The Sheriff resigns his position and returns the star (his badge of office) to the Judge. This is the psychological moment to make good and young Kane embraces it. Hurrying back to the Judge, he demands a chance to earn the Sheriff's star by capturing the outlaw. The Judge agrees and young Kane prepares immediately for the venture. Borrowing a girl's outfit from Ruth, the Judge's daughter, he puts it on and is soon cantering along the lonely road. Sure enough he is held up by the outlaw. Spurring his horse, he leads the bandit a merry chase. The outlaw eventually overtakes him, and reaching out, seizes the supposed girl about the waist and swings him onto the saddle. It doesn't take Arthur long to pull the outlaw's gun from its holster and hold it to his head, and in that position the tenderfoot brings the desperate outlaw into town and thereat wins the Sheriff's star. Of course, incidentally, he captures the Judge's daughter, Ruth. And that is how the tenderfoot made good.
- Although the advent of the railroads tended to bring the far west within the realm of civilization, it was still in a comparatively wild state, and still sparsely inhabited, when Mrs. Hardy with her two boys, John and William, aged eleven and seven years, respectively, accompanied by a neighbor and his wife and child, Grace, sets out from her farm in Vermont in a prairie schooner to journey across the country to the western home already provided by her husband, Peter Hardy. In his letter to his wife, Hardy has taken precautionary measures by dispatching a band of cowboys to take them safely across the Indian infested country. This detachment is now well on its way within the same territory through which the settlers are journeying, when they scent suspicious signs of marauding Indians. Sending a scout ahead they soon ascertain that a band of Indians are trailing the prairie schooner. Dashing forward they are soon upon the hostile Indians who have already surrounded the settlers. They scatter the Indians and find them all unharmed. During the excitement they have failed to notice the children, but now little William comes rushing into camp with the alarming news that his elder brother John, with whom he had gone to fetch water from the spring, had been carried off by the fleeing Indians. A hurried search is instantly made by the cowboys in all directions but all attempts are futile. The heartbroken and frantic family continue their journey westward and arrive eventually at their home. The grief of the parents when they meet is pitiful and when the last of the cowboys return with sorrowful faces, they resign all hope of finding the lad. Twenty years roll by, and west has progressed in population, civilization and industry, and little William, now a tall man of 27 years, is engaged to marry Grace, the daughter of that neighbor who so many years before accompanied them across the prairie. It is while strolling about one balmy evening that they notice the young chief of a group of Indians, who have come to town to form their camp, and it appears rather peculiar in that he is of fair complexion and rather blonde. The brothers, for the young Indian is none other than the stolen boy, gaze at each other and pass on without evincing any signs of recognition. The following day, Grace visits the Indian camp to inspect the different curios and fancy handiwork. Her friends, becoming alarmed at her absence, hurry to the Indian village and find her in the young chief's tepee. The white folks threaten him, and when he bares his right arm, vehemently asserting that he would rather cut it off than harm the girl, his mother notes the birth mark on his wrist, and recognizes, in the Indian her long lost boy. Following the identification he at first hesitates at the thought of leaving his tribesmen, but later, beset with conflicting emotions, he appeals to the old chief who grants him permission to return to his own people. On entering his home and seeing his mother weeping before the fireplace for her lost son, he sinks to his knees, and with a great cry from each, mother and son are clasped in each other's arms.
- Mr. and Mrs. Jack Gordon are prepared to have a great time up the canyon where they are going for a two weeks' camp. But, alas! for the plans laid by men, just as they are about to start off, Wiry Lee brings in a special delivery letter. It is from Jack's mother, apprising him of a visit from his uncle, aunt, cousin and sister. In fact, they would reach the ranch on the heels of the letter. The disappointment and chagrin is too overwhelming for Mrs. Jack and she packs up and goes home to her mother, leaving him to receive and entertain the folks as best he may. Happening in for a friendly call, Ned Lillis, a cowboy chum, finds poor Jack in the depths of despair. Jack tells him of the predicament; his relatives about to call to meet his wife, and she has gone to her mother, and he a prospective heir at that. Was ever anyone in such cussed luck? Ned, not being equal to the task of leading him out of the difficulty, is about to depart, when, like a flash a great inspiration dawns on the perplexed husband. Ned will have to dress up in Maud's clothes and impersonate his wife. Of course, Ned is horrified at the bare idea, but is soon won over to the scheme after Jack has illustrated the amount of fun to be gained from it. They hurry up to his wife's dressing room, and their efforts to get Ned into woman's clothes is screamingly funny, in the midst of the toilet the visitors arrive and Jack leaves Ned to complete his makeup alone. While interrogating him regarding his wife, whom they had never seen before, she (Ned) bounces into their midst arrayed in a most gorgeous ball dress. Her introduction to the family and her acknowledgments constitute a masterpiece of farcical art, as does her behavior at the dinner table, where the jollity runs riot. After dinner, the supposed wife is discovered by her uncle in the smoking room, with her feet perched upon the table and a long black cigar between her teeth, smoking with keen enjoyment. The tide of merriment rolls on under the impetus furnished by the ludicrous old uncle and his inane son, who both, in turn, make love to their relative's wife. The crucial moment is turned when the real wife returns and finds Jack in the arms of another woman. Then begins a merry time tor poor Jack, whom they harass, demanding an explanation, until the cause of the trouble rushes amongst them. This is just what all desire and each makes a wild and determined grab at the offending lady's hair. Lo, and behold! Each draws back with a string of vari-colored puffs. The head of the culprit is that of a man. The older folks take umbrage at the deception and leave the ranch in a huff. However, Jack's sister, who enjoys the joke and besides thinks that Ned is a dandy old boy, decides to stay a while longer, whereupon all four pack up and take the trip up the canyon together.
- Mona Semple refuses Bob Thornby, the ticket agent, as gently a possible, for, though she does not love him, she rather likes him. The same disappointment is accorded John Wilbur, following his proposal in her upon her return to the ranch from the station. With her refusal of John, she tempers encouragement because she likes John more than Bob. Still she doesn't say "yes" to either of them. Bob and John have been chums, until the affair with Mona made them enemies. A natural frequency for two men loving the same girl, despite the strongest bond of friendship existing previously. When the disappointment is keen, it will serve to ignite the latent spark of innate evil smoldering in the breast of the rejected one. Such is the case with Bob Thornby. Ranchman Semple having sold a great number of cattle, sends Mona with the money to the express office to be placed in the safe until sent on to the bank. The station, usually filled with cowboys happens to be empty of all but the agent Bob, who again presses his attentions upon the girl. She refuses him so emphatically this time, that he grows threatening and surly, so much so that she becomes alarmed and endeavors to take up the money and leave the office. But Thornby, anticipating her move, and realizing that he is in for it whichever way the wind blows, seizes her, binds her to a chair, writes a note implicating John Wilbur, pins it to her waist, and then, grabbing up the money, mounts the girl's horse and dashes off toward the canyon. Meanwhile John has seen Mona riding toward the station, and thinking she was going to see the agent, but not knowing her mission, he jealously presumes her visit is a friendly one. He mounts his horse and follows her. Arriving at the depot he sees Thornby riding away on Mona's horse, and hurrying into the office, discovers the bound girl, releases her, and takes her home upon his own horse. Leaving her in the care of her parents he hurries to the outhouse and soon a crowd of cowboys are on the trail of the fleeing agent. They find the horse returning riderless. Dashing on they discover Thornby climbing the rocks of a steep canyon. Firing into the air more to alarm him than to hit him, they endeavor to bring him down. In the frenzy of desperation the agent turns and empties his revolver at the cowboys who return his fire. One of the bullets strikes him on the arm, causing him to relax his hold whereupon he slides down into the arms of the cowboys below who immediately secure him. Upon their arrival at the ranch they learn of the note implicating John in the theft but none give it it credence. They are all for peremptorily finishing Thornby, but the rancher intercedes and gives him one hour to get out of town. Then he gives his daughter to Wilbur with his blessings.
- Horatio Wright, railroad magnate and banker, accompanied by his wife and daughter Olive, is traveling in the west. Incidentally the charm of the open country appeals to the girl. With her brother as companion she goes out strolling on the rocks one fine morning. The nature of the ground being very uneven, she twists her ankle and at the same time drops her pocketbook. Happening along at the instant, Peter Print, an old miser in the locality, picks up the purse, and, unnoticed by the girl, makes off with it. Unfortunately for him, however, his parsimonious nature is rudely jolted by the timely interruption of Fred Mann, son of a neighboring ranchman, who, having been lounging in the vicinity, is a witness to the occurrence, and now prevents the pilfering of the purse and restores it to the young lady. This act wins the gratitude of the Wrights, and being a young fellow of rather prepossessing appearance, they invite him to call at the hotel where they are stopping. He becomes a constant visitor and eventually proposes to the girl and is accepted. Being of poor parentage, however, he deplores the fact to his parents that he hasn't enough money to even buy the girl a ring. The ranchman, his father, in sympathy with his son, resorts to the old miser, to whom he gives a note for a loan of money. The note becomes due and the ranchman cannot meet it, and being pressed by the miser, he becomes desperate. While visiting the Wrights he is attracted by a diamond brooch lying on the table. He is ordinarily an honest man, but the hand of temptation presenting an easy exit from his difficulties, he snatches it up and redeems his note with the old money lender. Subsequently the jewel is missed and Fred is accused of the theft. The welfare of the boy being uppermost in his mind, this object, which has led him to wrongdoing, now decides him to vindicate his son at his own cost. In the interim the miser has become convinced that the jewel is bogus, and working himself into a frenzied fit, goes in search of the ranchman. He finds him in the banker's apartments, where he is about to confess the theft. Clutching the diamond, the old man with distorted features is about to rush at the ranchman when he falls dead of heart failure, and with the recovery of the jewel the guilt settles upon the dead man. The banker, having recovered the jewel, will hear no more about it and apologizes to Fred for the grievous mistake, thereby saving the ranchman's honor and to the son his sweetheart.
- Bess Allen does not know whether she loves Ben Crosby or Joe Darnton, and when they call and propose to her at the same time, she laughingly refuses both of them. The rest of the cowboys, led by Bess's father, give the boys the laugh, and to conceal their mortification, Joe asks Ben and the crowd to adjourn to the bar and wash down their disappointment. Ben returns when he deems it opportune and renewing his offer of proposal to Bess follows it up with impetuous zeal. He will not take no for an answer, but seizes her and kisses her passionately. The girl struggles ineffectually and indignantly strikes him across the mouth. Regaining the mastery of his feelings he humbly accepts his dismissal and takes his leave, unconsciously clasping in his hand a strand of ribbon which he has torn from her throat in the embrace. Returning to the saloon he is charged by Joe of having taken undue advantage by sneaking off to renew his suit. A word test ensues which results in a fistic brawl. Thinking he had killed Joe, Ben decamps to the wigwam of friendly Indians, where he remains in hiding. Bess's father, incensed over the fight about his daughter, informs her of it. Having become aware of the reality that with the blow she had struck Ben, she had actually loved him, Bess now repairs to the saloon filled with alarm. Instead of finding Joe dead, she is confronted with fresh accusations from all the cowboys including Joe, and with disgust, and outraged pride she returns home. In a spirit of revenge Joe entices her to a shack with a decoy note purporting to come from Ben and then compels her to fight for her honor, which she indeed does as only honest, hardy women of the west can. However, she is no match for the man, and at the crucial moment smashes the window with a keg and leaps from the second story into the arms of Ben Crosby, the man she loves. Ben has been warned of the machinations against her by his Indian friend who scented mischief brewing and brought him to the rescue. Fearing the result of his deed and having truly repented, Joe comes out of the shack to give himself up expecting to find Bess dead from the fall, but when he is apprised of the true situation, he humbly begs pardon of both her and Ben which is granted by them, for these big-hearted folk of the west do not harbor a grudge no matter how severe the provocation. Bess's father and the cowboys arrive also and escort the young pair home amid the cheers and firing of guns, and poor, repentant Joe joins them with tears of happiness because of being forgiven by all.
- "Let us give thanks!" It requires all the moral strength he possesses, in face of the bitter Thanksgiving dinner, to say to his wife, the mother of his son, "let us give thanks!" For, after waiting fully three-quarters past the dinner hour for their only son and heir, Andrew Morgan and his weeping wife are greeted with the Thanksgiving salutation from a son so disgustingly intoxicated that he can hardly stand. The outraged but self-contained father orders his degenerate offspring from the house. Nor would he permit a parting embrace. And, when after the son has gone, this stern and broken-hearted father meekly bows his head and quotes "Let us give thanks!" The young fellow manages, as most drunken fellows do, to get into hot water with every move, and Tom's expulsion from his father's house, directs him to that of his sweetheart. His reception at the girl's hands sobers him completely for she orders him from her presence. With scalding tears she shames him and cancels her engagement with him, on this day that should have been one of thankfulness, but which proves to be of despair. Finally, realizing that he must redeem himself, Tom goes west with a resolve to atone and if possible to regain the respect of his parents and the love of his sweetheart. It is difficult to break off a strong habit, and on his first day west, poor Tom loses almost his money in a game with card sharks. He accepts his loss good-naturedly, however, but mentally vows to never gamble again. That vow he positively keeps, for having located a claim, he strikes a rich vein of ore, selling it to a prospector for $10,000, he displays his roll to those same card sharks but refuses their invitations to play. Having become a favorite with the miners and cowboys, they crowd about him eager to shake his hand and in the excitement his money is stolen. In the depths of despair he repairs to the canyon to brood over the inefficacy of following the straight path, and to the same canyon come the looters with the stolen wallet to make merry over their haul and to divvy. Meanwhile, a lonely, loving girl in New York, has coaxed her father into bringing her west to seek the man she loves. They, too, on this eventful day coincidently go to the canyon for its scenic beauty, as they happen to be staying in the town. They meet the poor fellow, in his fit of dejection, and he explains his misfortunes. The girl's father is inclined to doubt the tale when lo! at their very feet falls the lost wallet with the young man's name imprinted on it, and containing the money undisturbed. Its strange appearance is cleared by the presence of the crooks on the cliff above, who in their struggles for proper division of the money, have kicked it over, thus restoring it to its rightful owner. One year later, again at the Thanksgiving table, the families of Tom and his wife are reunited and gathered around the board, and they fervently declare, "Let us give thanks!"
- "Rush the Indian Land Grab Bill through at once if you want to save them." Thus writes the agent of Arthur Smighting, the lobbyist. The Indians are sending a young chief with companion to Washington as representative before the President and cabinet, to secure justice and proper redress for the fraudulent barter of their lands, to which outrages they have been subjected, owing to their helplessness to prevent it. Smighting is very much perturbed at this possible hindrance which threatens to upset his apparently successful land fraud, and he immediately convenes a caucus at the capitol of those legislators of his brand who can be "approached" for the ultimate motive of securing the passage of the bill. To doubly ensure the accomplishment of his desire, he enlists the services of his family, in that he instructs his daughter to exert her charm over the young Indian so as to possibly keep him away from the object of his visit. Their efforts are successful and the young Indian is installed as a guest at the palatial home of the lobbyist. The young chief becomes enthralled at the beauty and charm of the girl and it is no difficult matter to make him dance attendance on her constantly. His task is an important one, however, and he manages to fulfill his mission in presenting his people's grievances at the capitol, and he so forcibly asserts the injustice of the enactment of this bill that the weaker element of the opposing forces are compelled to pause. They, therefore, arrange a conclusive meeting for the following day at one o'clock. The meeting is actually held at 1 a.m., and not at 1 p.m., as the Indian had naturally supposed. By this trick they lost what probably might have been averted had they been present at the essential moment. To clinch the situation, the lobbyist's daughter held a ball at their home in honor of the guests. In the midst of the dancing, however, an attaché at the capitol appears and apprises the Indian of the deception. Spurning the girl who tries to detain him he reaches the rendezvous only to find that the bill has been passed. He argues and denounces, entreats and implores his adversaries, but of no avail. Despondent and humiliated, he returns to his people. It had required this sudden change of affairs to bring as a shock the realization to the girl that she intensely loves the red man. Determined to undo the wrong perpetrated in the part she played, with earnest entreaties for the righting of wrong, she prevails upon them for a signed statement that will leave the Indians their land. Hurrying westward she arrives in time to prevent the summary death sentence being inflicted on the young chief by those whose cause he lost, through her machinations. Leaving the parchment with the tribe, she follows the young red man into the woods, and at his request to return to her people, she refuses. Finally he is overcome by her witchery and womanly love and her promise to become his squaw among his people.
- Dick Cross and another cowboy happen to be watching Alice, the banker's daughter, picking her way among the rocks when they see her jump back and utter a piercing scream. Instantly. Dick has whipped out his six-shooter. A shot flies over the head of the petrified girl and crushes a seven- foot rattler. Naturally, the gratitude of the girl is a sure means of introduction, which grows into acquaintanceship, and lands them both in her father's bank, which is fortunately open through vacancies: Dick, securing the position of teller. The warm acquaintance between Dick and the girl matures into a strong bond of love, and although of poor parentage, the banker's family give their consent to the engagement. With the initial visit of Dick's parents to the home of the banker, the latter are visibly shocked at their plain and homely appearance and they receive the old couple rather coldly. For the first time Dick becomes ashamed of his honest but old-fashioned, shabbily-attired parents and he leaves them unwelcomed in his fiancée's home. Shortly after, a package of money is missed at the bank and Dick is suspected and arrested. The girl appeals to her father, but he is obdurate and will not interfere. Apprising Dick's parents of his plight, the girl accompanies them to the jail, where with tears and words of love, they assure the boy of their absolute faith in his innocence. Meanwhile, alterations are in progress at the bank, and with the removal of desks, partitions, etc., the discovery of the lost package is disclosed. With renewed faith, the banker hastens to the jail, clears the situation, and secures the exoneration and liberation of Dick. The banker and his wife entreat him to return to their home but Dick turns to the love that was unfailing in his bitter hour of trial and he goes back with his parents. Nothing remains then for the rich folks to do nut to ask forgiveness and entreat pardon, in the house of Dick, for his incarceration and for the snub given his parents.
- A continuous series of robberies were baffling the population and the sheriff of Elk Lick, in that they were perpetrated by a bold masked bandit upon travelers on every highway. Coincident with this situation, the arrival into town of Howard Beechwood is viewed with suspicion by the sheriff and with ill favor by the townfolk. Sheriff Smith and Beechwood are antic from the start and the constant sleuthing of the former is regarded as discreditable and accusing to Beechwood, the easterner. Incidentally the lone sympathizer with the easterner is the sheriff's daughter, and her interest becomes so apparent as to cause uneasiness to Arthur Simpson, a young ranchman, who will not brook interference from an outsider. Determined to nip the probable attachment in the bud, he proposes to her and is surprised at her refusal, even when his suit is favorably countenanced by her father, the sheriff. Simpson angrily denounces the easterner as being the masked outlaw, and his sentiments are upheld by the sheriff, but the girl is adamant and in turn shows him the dour. After interviewing the banker, the sheriff engages the services of his daughter as an aide in the capture of the alleged bandit. Beechwood, with the instructions to casually acquaint the easterner of the fact that money is to be sent from the bank in a buckboard accompanied by one man instead of the usual escort. At the deliverance of this remark, she notes with failing heart the sudden pallor depicted on his face. The next morning the buckboard leaves the bank whereupon Beechwood stealthily usurps the driver's place, and escorted by two deputies, for he is a secret detective with orders to bring the desperado to justice, drives furiously off. At the same instant the sheriff, heading a posse is lying in wait for the suspected bandit, who suddenly appears at the approach of the buckboard and fires a hailing shot. He misses his mark and is himself caught by the return lire of the detective. Meanwhile Ruth regretting her share in the entrapment, is riding toward the buckboard with the object of warning young Beechwood, and is just in time to see the easterner shoot the bandit. Realizing that their suspicions were unfounded she hastens to uncover the masked bandit, only to be stopped by the detective who believes that it is no other than her own father, the sheriff. Bill the sheriff and posse, having heard the exchange of shots hurriedly arrive, and the situation being cleared, both men make up with a hearty handshake. But who is the masked robber? With one accord they approach the prone figure in the roadway and turning him over, tear the mask from his features and discover Arthur Simpson. The next day she found herself locked in. However, her coronet braid on the bureau gave the girl an idea. With her clothes she quickly made a dummy for the bed, arranged the hair to peep from under the coverlet and got behind the door. Then, as her father entered carrying her breakfast, she slipped out, ran through the cellar and made for the hollow tree, where she found Lee awaiting her. Laura would not consent to he married at once, but agreed to write her father a note declaring she would commit suicide. Lee, note in hand, hurried off to the house. Here he found Nathan and Roger discussing the young woman's disappearance. Breathlessly they ran to the tree and cut the rope already fastened around her neck; then, while Roger hastened away for water to revive the fainting girl. Lee pierced his heart with a pasteboard knife. But his shout of laughter, as Laura innocently turned the bucket of water over his rival, opened the old man's eyes, and in a twinkling he was chasing the merry rascal. Nothing daunted, however, Lee set about engaging the toughest looking men in the vicinity to waylay Laura, her father and Roger as they started for prayer-meeting. In the midst of the disturbance, Lee, the conquering hero, would rush up, knock each ruffian down (for which they were to get an extra fee), and receive the old man's congratulations with his consent and blessing to their marriage. '['his scheme worked better than even Lee had planned, for just as the father was humbly offering his apology and blessing the happy couple, Bill Allen's dog took a hand, sending Roger up a tree, where he was forced to remain until Bill came home several hours later.
- A drunken husband and an idle son are not very pleasant features of a home, and although such is the sad condition in the home of Mrs. Barton, it does not lessen her love for either of them. It is hard for the poor mother, but a godsend for the boy, who soon makes himself the favorite cowboy of one of the ranch owners in the west, and, incidentally, is brought beneath the gentle influence of the ranchman's daughter. Conditions at home remain the same until the long expected fatality occurs, the husband being brought home dead. Without husband and apparently a lost son, the Widow Barton drinks deeply of the cup of sorrow. This, however, is mitigated by the arrival of a special delivery letter from her son, enclosing money with which she is entreated to come to him, together with the father. The boy makes preparations to receive his parents. The father of Maud is a widower and a drinking man, and although he admires his favorite cowboy, he becomes angered if the boy refuses to drink with him. The day of the arrival of the widow in town, her son is at the saloon with the ranchman, both in a drunken state. Maud, fearing that such is the case, hurries to the home prepared by the boy for his mother, and finds her there, weeping. Learning the whereabouts of her son, the widow hastens to the saloon, in time to dash the glasses from the hands of the ranchman and her son. Realizing his culpability, the boy takes the vow on his knees before his mother to never touch another drop. Affected and surprised, the ranchman follows suit, and in the course of time is assured of her hand.
- Divorced! Separated by the Court's verdict, the mother is allowed the girl and the father is given the boy, both children too young to realize the bitterness of the moment, but each clinging to the allotted parent with childish faith. As tokens of remembrances little Lee is presented with his mother's locket which is hung around his neck, the same being done with the father's ring to Harriet. Shortly after the separation the mother is compelled to entrust the care of her daughter to a neighbor about to join her husband in the west. Towards the arrival at their destination however, the train is wrecked, the sole survivor of the crash being little Harriet. Guided by Providence, she is adopted by a western couple who rename her Mary, to replace their child now dead. Returning to the once happy home we find little Lee, deserted and forlorn amidst bare conditions, his father having sunk to the depths beyond reclamation. Lee purposes to get away from his abode and meeting a bunch of cowpunchers in the street, who are bound westward, following a sight-seeing trip in the eastern city, he prevails on their sympathy for adoption to their crowd and shortly afterward is renamed Jim. Grown big in size and years, Jim is accepted by Jane, the ranchman's daughter, who writes to her school chum, Mary, to spend Christmas week with her and Jim. Thus brother and sister after all these lengthy years, meet and unconsciously a spark of love is flashed between them, which familiarity grows with the passing days, all this being apparent to poor Jane. The outcome is revealed on Christmas day, when Jane returns her engagement ring to Jim, who has embraced Mary. Jim draws his mother's locket from his breast upon Mary's refusal to accept the engagement ring and in a flash the truth that their love was of brother and sister is revealed to them. Of course, the engagement of Jim and Jane is renewed.
- Wending their way across the prairie are Peter Standish and wife, and Enos Stilling with wife and son, and brother Abram, of whom, Joseph Stilling and Mary Standish are newly wed and this trip is as a honeymoon of nowadays. Brother Abram is a stern preacher. Arriving at a desirable location these settlers build a temporary cabin, etc., etc. Their immunity from attack is of short duration, however, for the blood-thirsty redskins are on the warpath, and subsequently bear down upon the settlers, driving them to refuge within the cabin. The little band repels the onslaught to the last ounce of powder, whereat Brother Abram exhorts them to courage with religious prayer. This method of the savior is too trying for young Joseph who inscribes a note hastily on paper, gives it to Shep the collie and sends it off for aid. This infuriates the red warriors who set fire to the cabin with intent to burn them out but our brave defenders prefer incineration to torture by them. The faithful dog dashes into the barroom of the settlement, delivers the note, and leads on the rescuers to the succor of the harassed victims, where they soon scatter the Indians, the settlers rushing from the burning cabin as it is about to fall in on their heads.
- Surcharged with the certainty that Big Bill Jason is a favorable subject for the matrimonial state, the ranch boys, headed by stylish Joe Randall, with the newspaper personal of a marriageable widow, as an exhibit, convince Big Bill that he has a latent talent for the tender stage of life. Whereat, the widow's ad is duly answered by Stylish Joe, Bill himself being unequal to the task. Having accomplished this small feat, their excitement is pitched to the highest key-note of expectancy. Upon receipt of a reply with the news of a quick arrival, a thorough house-cleaning is put in progress in Bill's Bunk House, so much so, that it closely resembles a general store, all this to the quickening heart-beats of poor Bill. Everything being in readiness, not excluding the fact that Bill's excitement is keyed to the proper pitch, our boys now array Joe, the dude, in woman's clothes and foist him upon Bill as the enterprising widow. Poor Bill! No runaway bronco ever tore down a public highway as fast as Bill does in his heroic effort to escape the supposed widow. But they catch him, struggling and resisting, and bring him and the bogus widow back to his ranch. During the procedure of this escapade, the real widow arrives in town, and being a widow of experience and essentially wise, she looks up the parson, and armed with the proposal from Bill, takes him along to tie the knot. Arriving at Bill's home at the time that the boys are executing their farce, and finding it deserted, they enter and await the owner's return. Having brought the couple to the ranch, the boys are in the act of forcing them to embrace, when the real widow suddenly appears on the stoop before them. They certainly are a bunch of surprised cowboys. She has witnessed the apparent usurpment of her position and now demands an explanation. Bill passes off Joe as his sister, and the widow now appeased, embraces him and is about to implant a kiss upon his virtuous lips, when Bill pulls off his wig. The screaming widow disappears within the house at the denouement, followed by Bill, where they are promptly united by the Parson. The din which follows is promptly throttled by an order given by Bill to the saloon proprietor allowing them a free celebration at his expense.
- Franklin Cross cannot conceive that the introduction of his chum, Charles Hoskins to his fiancée, Bertha Walsh, would result in anything more serious than a slight acquaintanceship. With the dawning of Christmas day, Franklin is frozen with horror to discover his fiancée with Hoskins in what is commonly termed a love embrace. Unseen by anyone, he conveys across his card his wishes for a merry X-mas, and packing his belongings, leaves for the west. Installed at Plentiful Ranch, he meets the charming daughter of Squire Tucker, establishes his position as a favorite, and is well liked all-round. It is now Christmas Day, one year later, which rinds him in the midst of a hilarious dinner with the boys in the bunk-house, but heavy recollections of the past restrain him from entering into the jollity. Already in love with him, the squire's daughter now enters with her father to distribute gifts, and Franklin becomes the recipient of her photo, inscribed "with love." Noting, however, the jewels in his hand, and instinctively feeling that his thoughts are of another, she attempts to regain the photo. Despairing of his absence, his erstwhile fiancée institutes a search and succeeds in locating him at the ranch. Her appearance is simultaneous with Mabel's request for the return of her picture, and whilst Franklin conjectures the situation, both women survey each other, with full knowledge of their future at stake, and then earnestly appeal to the man. He chooses the new and younger love however, and broken-hearted with her loss, the unfortunate one embraces her successful rival.
- Judging from his friendly attentions toward her, Josie Harcourt is deceived in the belief that Howard Morgan is in love with her, whereas the true object of his attendance is her elder sister, Judith. This is sadly made known to her when Howard purposes to present a diamond ring to his fiancé. In holding out her finger for the ring, as he shows it to her, Josie receives a severe shock when the young man laughingly informs her that it is meant for Judith. She retires hysterically to her room, beset with bewildered and suffering spirits, which arouse thoughts of vengeance toward her rival. Howard's parents are in full accord with their son's choice and therefore extend a visit to Judith's home, bringing their family jewels along with the object of offering Judith the privilege of a choice in them. This presents an opportunity to Josie, who appropriates one and secretes the jewel in her sister's hat. Shortly after their departure, the loss of the jewel is noted and Howard is dispatched in haste to his sweetheart's home in search of it. Apprising the girls of his errand, he is met with a verbal attack from Josie for his supposed insinuation, but which was far from Howard's mind. Further declaring that she and her sister will go to his parents to denounce them as well for sending him on such an errand, Josie reaches for her hat, at the same time handing Judith's hat to her with sufficient force to dislodge the missing jewel. The astonishment of all at its discovery is intense, Judith instantly denies all knowledge as to how the jewel got into her hat, but realizing her compromising position, and noting the cruel expression of doubt in her lover's eyes, she sadly returns his engagement ring, to the secret delight of Josie. Impatiently awaiting news from Howard, Mr. Morgan calls up the Harcourts. Josie answers the call, and in her unnatural haste, informs him of the discovery, and that Judith had stolen it. On the word, a flash of light breaks from the sky, strikes the telephone wire, and with a terrific explosion, blows it to atoms, showering the guilty girl with flame and fragments. Hastily summoning a physician to aid the suffering child, meanwhile employing all available means for relief, she is pronounced incurably blind. Judged by a Higher Power for her sins against her family, Josie makes a complete confession amid the sobbing of the two families, and replacing the ring on her sister's finger, she gently places Howard's hand in that of Judith's and so, out of her own suffering gives happiness to others.
- Rather unenviable is Peter Foster's existence at the bunkhouse because of the turbulent and aggressive disposition of his elder son, Bob. The possession of an equally meek and obedient son as Charles, might tend to alleviate conditions, but Bob is unbearable, and thus old Peter rejoices in the opportunity to present his two sons to Widow Walker. Strangely enough, the same situation prevails in the household of Widow Walker. The elder of the two daughters is the mistress of a terrible temper which is quite a troublesome factor in the maintenance of a peaceful home, and the presentation of Peter Foster's sons is a Godsend towards the riddance of the girls. It is generally conceded that opposite natures are more likely to meet. Therefore this is upheld when Blossom, the elder and shrew, permits her affections to be gained by Charles, and Bob selects Sally, the younger and compliant sister as a mate. The unions are effected shortly at one and the same time, following which they install themselves at the Foster's, the household having been partitioned in twain. Being now free from cares and quarrels, Peter concludes that the widow is a welcome prize. He pops the question, is delightedly accepted, and his happiness is attained. Three happy couples, but, well, after a year's acquaintance, one isn't extra careful of one's choice of language or line of action in the conjugal state; and the ferocity of a risible temperament cannot be composed by the possessor of a meek or a retiring nature. Bob and Blossom lord it over and predominate in the government of home affairs, and in their endeavors to direct others, ultimately dig their own pitfall. Blossom exhorts Sally to throw off the yoke and assume home control as she, Blossom, does, and her advice is to commence at once. Bob counsels Charley in the same tenor, and the uprising results, in a cyclonic outbreak between husband and wife. Astounded by the surprise and suddenness of the upheaval, the erstwhile aggressive lords of home become humble supplicants for mercy. Forgiveness is extended readily.
- Through a series of trifling mishaps, Katherine Crosby meets three strangers in her far-off western town. Her father being a prosperous ranchman, had entrusted her education to an eastern boarding school, and from which she had new been at home but one week, when the ranch life monotony is broken by this all-important turn of events. In descending the slippery stairs of the general store, she accidentally trips and falls, sliding to the bottom with marked celerity, where she is helped to her feet by Samuel Stuart, a traveling salesman. Thanking him for his assistance, she also tenders her card upon his request for permission to call and ascertain her state of health. He had scarcely left her when up strides I. Rutherford Ford, banker from the east, and picks up her fallen packages and hands them to her. A few verbal courtesies are exchanged and he also receives her card. Turning the corner, she is saved from a snowball attack of an urchin by the timely interference of William Hoadley, cowpuncher and faddist. A third card is then presented with the proverbial invitation. In each instance, the man avails himself of the opportunity, and all three call and present their cards the same evening. Kate is equal to the occasion, however, and at their departure each man considers himself the favored one. A week of calling and receiving serves to embolden the three suitors, and on this particular snowy afternoon, while lounging in her window, Kate becomes the recipient of three proposals of marriage. To each is appended a request for an immediate answer. Smiling and happy, this gay young woman falls asleep crowing over and fondling her proposals as a child does a toy. She dreams, married in turn to each of her admirers, her experiences are harrowing, gay environments in hand with intrigue and tears, a house of squalor with privations, hunger, brutal treatment, and then driven forth homeless, alone and uncared for! She awakes, but so startling are the after-effects, that she destroys the proposals with a solemn vow to ever remain single. Years after, again we look in that window and see her with her only companions, her dog, her cat and her parrot; also the sole connection with the past, which is a box containing the torn-up proposals.
- The "old man" never had much to say excepting to Jim, and Jim was the wildest boy he had. The old man knew and so did everybody in the town, including the lady's own husband, that Jim loved his neighbor's wife. But Jim didn't care, and the old man was so completely wrapped up in him that he closed his eyes to the wildness of the lad. Nine sons, and Jim was the wildest of them all. Then came news of the war that was soon to break forth between North and South. And the inevitable happened. The lady's husband saw Jim attempt to kiss his wife, and she permitted him to try. A row that resulted in a disgraceful fight was precipitated, and while the husband lay stunned and bleeding upon the floor, the news was thrown like a bomb upon the excited crowd in the room. "The war has broken out." The war, that terrible, but necessary slaughter of brave men, was begun, and Jim was the first to go. Some wagging tongues suggested that he had to go to escape the result of his terrible deed. However, "Cap." Bigler soon wrote back that Jim was the bravest man in the whole regiment, white or black. That his fighting is as good as his farming was bad, and he's carried the old flag through the bloodiest fight that ever was. The old man worded a letter to Jim and Jim read it to the boys. It said, "Good-bye, Jim, take care o' yourself." Then came the battle of Petersburg, General Grant commanding. The boys in grey lay behind their entrenchment and literally mowed down the lads in blue. Then the spark leapt into Jim's soul. For he dashed with his own men right up to the enemy's cannon, took them, pointed them the other way, and socked it home to the boys in grey, as they hurried for timber, on, and on, Jim, a lieutenant, with one arm gone. No battle in these terrible times was fiercer. None had deadlier results. Upon a heap of piled up corpses, grey and blue, brothers, dead, as once in life, wounded unto death, with the dear beloved flag held tightly in his hand, lay our hero, Jim. While his life-blood ebbed away, then appeared to him a vision of the first great father of liberty, George Washington, and by his side stood the father of emancipation, Abraham Lincoln, for whom Jim lay there dying, and between those two great fighters for freedom stands Liberty herself, resplendent in her robes of freedom. Blessing the stricken boy, the vision fades, and Jim with an effort rises to his feet, climbs to the top of the dead and, waving the beloved flag he calls to them to awaken and come on to battle. Furiously waving the tattered flag, he falls back into the arms of General Grant, and some of his aides. Think of a private like Jim, who has climbed up to the shoulder straps. Think of him with the war all through and a glorious old red, white and blue, covering him.
- Dora Maxwell sides with her parents on their extensive ranch in the west, and her sweetheart is Milton Logan, the ranch foreman. Returning from a brisk canter, Dora is confronted with a great surprise in the presence from the east of her uncle and a strange young man. Receiving a letter from her aunt, through its presentation by her uncle, Dora discovers that the young stranger is intended to be her future husband, and her aunt also invites her to come east with the two men when they return. In accordance with the wishes of her deceased mother, Dora's aunt is desirous of inviting the girl to visit New York. The attractiveness of the young eastern millionaire is evident, and Dora for the nonce forgets poor Milton and spends her time in the company of Richard Moore. She soon meets with an opportunity to compare the worth of the two men, and that of the westerner is so undoubtedly superior to the other, she dares no longer hesitate in her choice. In aid to her decision to refuse her aunt's kind invitation is a dream she has of supposed eastern civilization. The humiliation suffered through the cowardice of Moore, compared with the bravery of Logan, ends the false infatuation she experienced. Her undesirable suitor returns, chagrined and discomfited, without having remained at the ranch over a day. Writing a courteous letter of refusal to her aunt, Dora placed it in the hands of her astonished uncle, and leaving them, she hurries to her room, gets into her riding habit, and meeting Milton at the front door, they both canter off with laughter and love in the winter's air.
- Pressing creditors and large losses at the gaming table are greatly depressing to Harold Brown, the bank clerk, but none pay any attention to his troubled mien. The great new bank vault had been newly installed and its combination was known only to John, who copies it in ink, blots it, and gives it to the treasurer. Harold notes the blotting of the written combination. At the opportune moment he secretes it, and arriving in his room, easily reads it by holding it before the mirror. That night the safe is opened and a large sum is extracted. The combination, presumable known to none but the treasurer and John, the poor boy is suspected, apprehended and confined in jail to await trial. His mother, believing in John's innocence, accomplishes his escape in a novel manner, and he is soon on his way westward to await proof of his honesty. With the flight of time he becomes a valuable ranch hand and the favorite of all, including Helen, the daughter of Rancher Case. He is about to tell the willing and eager girl of his love, when he suddenly realizes his position as a fugitive from justice. He dare not ask this girl to share his name. Harold Brown, the actual looter of the bank's cash, pays his debts, and resigning his position, boards a train for the west to spend the surplus in having a good time. He rapidly sinks to the lowest strata of existence in the barrooms, and from one of which he is bodily ejected. Staggering along, sick and drunken, he is overcome and is discovered by a returning body of cowpunchers of Case, lying in the road. Some gallop off for a doctor while others carry him to a deserted shack. John arrives from the ranch with the doctor and is surprised to find his old desk-mate in such wretched shape. Bending over the form, he is thrilled with happiness at the stricken man's confession. Then comes the removal of stigma to his name with the necessary explanations to all interested and to that little girl, who, smiling through her tears, looks up into the face of her vindicated lover, John.
- Amy and Helene are sisters. The boys on their father's ranch are about to commence the regular round-up, and are to be gone for almost a half year, for the boundaries of the old ranchman's lands are far between and his cattle number hundreds of thousands. Favorite among the boys is Tom, and this it true with the girls also, who are actually in love with him. However, Tom's love is bestowed on Helene. As the boys, on this day, are bidding all good-bye, Tom is upstairs being secretly wedded to Helene by the parson, who had entered through the window. Not long after the boys had left the ranchman is mortally stricken. Before passing away he confides to Amy that Helene is not her sister. The cowboys return eight months later and preparations are made for a rousing welcome by the girls. Then Amy realizes the love of Tom for Helene. Amy enters the festooned room alone, destroying everything her hands clutch and cursing aloud the sister who had succeeded, and proclaims to the crowd that Helene is not her sister. Tom then acknowledges his secret marriage, whereupon Amy utters a shriek and falls into the arms of the boys. Weeks after, upon recovering from her illness, Amy attempts to leave, but is intercepted by Helene, who imparts a bit of news which turns her sorrow into joy. She will stay and help care for the coming child. Whereupon love is again awakened to her.
- Charles Wilson, on his way back to the ranch with the payroll for the boys, is suddenly stopped by highwaymen. The cowboys of Circle C Ranch, returning from a spree, dash down upon the surprised outlaws. Headed by Wilson, they chase the outwitted bandits into their very home. The wife of the leader of the gang is mortally wounded by a shot fired from Wilson's gun. Feeling that he is indirectly responsible for the death of the mother. Wilson promises to adopt and take care of her baby girl. Wilson's wife also swears to be a mother to the child. Sixteen years later Kate, the adopted girl, starting out for a canter through the woods, is kidnapped. Upon the failure of Kate's return home at her accustomed hour. Wilson goes in search of her. Discovering her horse riderless, he follows the trail that soon leads him to the kidnapper's cabin. Stealing into the place, he is horrified in discovering that the man is Kate's own father. He makes known the truth to both of them, and gives the girl her privilege of choice between himself who has taken care of her, and the man who had deserted her. Without a second's hesitation, the girl leaves the cabin under the protection of Wilson.
- Because her Uncle Peter never embarked in the matrimonial sea, is no argument why she should not do so, opines Mary. So she holds a clandestine meeting with John, a dashing young cowboy, to whom entrance to the house was forbidden. On coming home unexpectedly, Peter surprises the young couple together, and after dismissing John and forewarning him against repeating the offense on pain of being shot, he tries to please and pacify his willful niece, whom he really loves, by giving her an agreement, upon her taunt, that if he only had the chance he'd marry too, that should Mary ever catch him in a love affair, he would grant his consent to her marriage. Soon the minds of the two young folks set to work planning with the following results. John, who resides in an adjoining town, has a maiden aunt, of whom he is very fond, and when he pathetically appeals to her to lend her assistance toward gaining the girl of his heart, the old maid acquiesces. Upon his dictation, she pens a love note to old Peter whom she has never seen, asking him to meet her at a designated hotel, to which John is to take her. Peter receives the note, and becomes all a-flutter in his frantic efforts to dress appropriately and makes off with all speed to the rendezvous. Soon after his arrival, Peter is badly smitten and falls for the Maid's ardent symptoms of love attack. The affair is capped when she manages to get his ring before he leaves, which is in accordance with the lovers' plans. When John espies the ring, he becomes assured of success and he has his aunt taken to Peter's home. Poor Peter is in a dreadful state when the old maid calls and he attempts a denial of having ever seen her before, but she displays the ring he gave her, which she still wears and the proof is conclusive. Therefore, in fulfillment of his agreement, he must five his consent to her engagement to John. This he is finally prevailed on to give, and peace is sovereign once more. The spinster reluctantly returns Peter's ring, but Peter is alive to the occasion and replaces it on her finger with a prayer that she keep it there and become his wife. The youngsters strongly urge her and she accepts. With the full knowledge that a double wedding is en route at the home of one time single blessedness, we now bid them adieu.
- Bitter indeed is existence in a loveless abode. Tortured beyond endurance, Mrs. Morton accepts the alternative left her, and removing the wedding ring form her finger, the erstwhile harbinger of hope and happiness, she places it on the table near the head of her drunken, brutal husband, as he lays in dull stupor. Donning her hat and coat, she steals out of the home of misery to seek rest in the pure, healthy west. Alighting in a small ranch town, she meets a kind heart in the person of Alice, the sheriff's young sister, who takes her home and presents her to her mother and brother. Appealing for aid, Mrs. Morton wins the championship of the sheriff, who promises to secure for her the position of housekeeper in the "Iron Clad" Hotel. Life then begins to present a smoother course for the poor woman, and as for the sheriff, his future assumes a more promising aspect since her arrival. He soon pleads his cause, but she gently refuses to listen, and with the promise of eternal friendship, they part at the division of the roads, one leading to his home and the other twining to her little cottage on the hillside. On leaving the hotel one evening shortly after refusing the sheriff, Mrs. Morton stands face to face with her deserted husband. The horror of the moment seems to lend her superhuman strength, for with a cold stare, she passed him by. He forces himself upon her, however, and at his threatening attitude, following his refusal to depart, she defends herself with a knife, lying on the table. At this moment the sheriff enters and seeing a man leave hurriedly by way of the window, demands the reason. She discloses the bare truth, and helpless and hopeless, he leaves her in sorrow. That morning the hotel safe is robbed, and with the discovery of a watch bearing Mrs. Morton's likeness in it, the cowboys conclude her home the source of mischief and they hurry there to capture the robber. The sheriff arrives first, however, and knowing the culprit to be concealed in the wardrobe, permits the poor woman to believe she had successfully secreted her husband and outwitted his followers, but the cowboys persist in inaugurating a search. With sinking heart, Mrs. Morton's resolutions are overthrown and deciding to assist the sheriff, she betrays the hidden man and drops weeping to the floor. The suspected door is opened and the wretch falls out dead, having expired from suffocation. Two years later, the erstwhile Mrs. Morton, now Mrs. Barton, again enjoys happiness in the possession of a son and heir.
- Charles receives a letter from Robert stating he will stop off for a fortnight on his way east from Montana. Robert soon arrives and is in the thick of a joyous visit, when unhappily Charles gets a letter from the buyer of his cattle to reach New York at once in order to affect a large cattle deal. Charles in introduced to his host's wife and daughter. As he has neglected to mention that he is a married man, the young daughter falls in love with the young westerner. Charles returns home. Shortly after, he again receives a letter from Mr. Coigne wherein he regrets his inability to call in person, and is therefore sending a worthy representative to the ranch. Great is Charles' horror to discover in that worthy representative, Mr. Coigne's daughter, and equally great is the lady's rage and anguish to find the man she loved married. Just when a wordy combat is inevitable between the two, and which is viewed by Robert, the young wife enters. Realizing the importance of quick means to suppressing a scandal, Robert follows Charles to the smoking room right in time to prevent his brother from committing suicide. Learning the sad truth, Robert consoles him and offers to marry the girl rather than besmirch the family name. The girl, at first reluctant, finally consents to become his wife, and together they entrain for his Montana ranch.
- The pride of the Kosgroves of Virginia is indeed gratified beyond measure when General "Stonewall" Jackson and his staff accepts the proffered hospitality so effusively tendered by them. The young and only son of Widow Kosgrove has enlisted and is about to join his company when the General takes a new flag from the hands of his mother, sister and wife, and presents it to the young husband as a memorial of trust. With a light heart and joyous tread, the pride of Kosgrove Manor marches away with the army. Heavy service is encountered and at the terrible slaughter at Henry House, the deafening din of the cannon's roar, the proximity of the bursting shells from the enemy's works, the deadly havoc wrought and the loss of life utterly unnerve and terrify the lad, who deserts the field at the height of battle and skulks home. Against the unavailing protests of his family, the boy will not return, and to preserve the untarnished name of Kosgrove, his beautiful young wife dons a uniform and musket and regains the regiment in time to march with them to Winchester, Va. Desperate fighting ensues, and the Blues capture an important position. Their commander mounts the bulwark and seizes the Confederate colors, but for the instant, and is downed by a bullet from the young wife's musket. She saves the flag, but falls beneath the avenging bullets of the officer's men. Her body is brought home and with a last look at the corpse of his courageous wife, Kosgrove undergoes a complete regeneration, and he re-enters the service with a vow to never return without capturing a Union flag as a trophy. "Stonewall" Jackson was routing the Federals and advancing on Winchester. With Jackson's permission the boy heads a body of brave southerners, and retakes the position lost by the Grays and stoutly maintains it, replacing the Union Stars and Stripes with the Southern Bars that his martyred wife had saved, thereby being commended by Jackson. Then they brought him home too, but the war was over. His life, too, was extinct, and with a smile of reverence he entwines the both colors in his stiffening fingers. With a last glimpse at his country's banners, he departs this world, and his soul flees to join that of his wife before the Bar of Righteousness and the Stars of Love.
- A wild, harum scarum cowgirl is the "Rose" of the ranch. We see her fist shooting the hats off the heads of the lined up boys. Though widely sought, she refuses offers of marriage galore, but when handsome young Wilbur Newbury comes forward, she accepts him and from then on undergoes a complete change. A few months later she develops into a meek, gentle and loving wife to a husband who adores her. Charitable to almost a fault, the entire neighborhood loves her, and when any of the boys get wounded by stray gunshots, they come to Rose for medical aid. In this instance, Mose, the half-breed, is struck through the hand by a stray bullet, and he at once solicits the attendance of the Newburgs, who accept him in their household until the wound is healed. Tearing off the bandage, the half-breed announces himself cured, and is going to return to his shack in the mountains. For the protection of his still-weak hand, Newburg gives him his gauntlets, and Mose, putting one on, tenders promises of grateful service should they ever require it, and then departs. He stops on the way, however, to let Rancher Coigne's little girl play with his braids. They are interrupted by the irate father of the child who provokes a quarrel. A gun is drawn in the scuffle, which explodes and causes the death of Coigne and the disappearance of the half-breed. The boys start in pursuit of the offender and in examining the dead body, espy a glove lying nearby. It is one of Newburg's gauntlets. This renders damaging evidence. Despite the earnest protestation of Newburg and his wife, he is led away by the sheriff. Wild with grief, the little woman bethinks herself of the half-breed, who received the gauntlet, and concludes that he is the slayer. Jumping upon her horse, she dashes to the scene of the crime, and then picking up the trail, rides madly off to seek the real murdered and thus save her husband. Mose strongly dissents against returning to justice, but later succumbs to her womanly and tearful appeal for his gratitude and for her husband, and then consents to go back. Then commences a race against death, for Newburg has been sentenced by his captors to death by rope. The wife and half-breed fairly fly over space and their efforts are not in vain to stop the execution of the innocent, as they arrive not a minute too soon. With the explanations exchanged, the men are satisfied to liberate the one for the other, and thereby preserve the law of justice.
- Virginia Wilson, just before the opening days of "61" was sought after by William Hastings and Frederick Foster, both southern gentlemen. The storm of war broke out. Sumter had been fired upon. It was then that Virginia discovered into whose keeping she would give her hand. While her whole soul was with her native south, she gave her love to Frederick Foster, whose sympathies were with the Union. William Hastings, the rejected suitor, threw his lot with the Confederate Bars. Each day the tide of battle ebbed and flowed; now the Blues on the crest of the wave, and again the Gray. And, one day a party of Federal soldiers, sorely pressed, sought refuge in a house on the hill. The house was the home of Frederick Foster and his wife, Virginia. In a moment the Johnny Rebs surrounded the premises and carnage reigned supreme. However, superiority of numbers won out, and the barricades gave way before the fierce onslaught of the Grays. Young Foster was captured and taken away. 'Mid the hail of steel and bullets, for the battle of Frazier's Farm was raging in all its fury, somewhere in the midst of that torrent of iron and lead, the brave Gen. Meade was directing his gallant Pennsylvania boys. Braving death from exposure to the shrieking messengers of death flying over the field of battle, Virginia reached the General's tent, and as she desperately pleaded, she mentally reminded him of his own mother, awaiting his probably return home, and his big, stern heart yielded to her womanly appeal. A detachment of Blues was quickly assigned to the task of rescuing the civilian Unionist and arriving on the scene, they rapidly dispersed the Grays. Clasped in a deep embrace, the reunited pair vow to ever cherish the name of that stalwart leader, Gen. Meade.
- A new school teacher was to make her home at Rancher Smith's house, so all the cowboys gathered about the veranda to greet her. She arrived in due time, but gave them a cold look of appreciation and passed into the house. Then the boys turned away with the exception of Thornby, who fell in love with her at first sight. He did several favors for her and even saved her from her unmanageable horse. This so enthralled him that he proposed to her. But he was frigidly "turned down," as she wanted a man with brains. Thornby then left the ranch and soon found a position in a lawyer's office. He studied so hard that he was soon made a member of the firm and incidentally marrying his associate's daughter. Thornby was successful in winning the suit for the Smiths, and when he called one day to discuss matters, he met the frigid school teacher, who, after being apprehended of Thornby's uprise, made all endeavors to win him as her husband. But he soon introduced his wife to her, whereupon the Smiths drank to the "Man with Brains."
- Fort Kaskaskia was the first to succumb to George Roger Clark's intrepid dash. The British feared him. He defended the settlers in Kentucky, and shattered the army of the traitor, Arnold. The supercilious English Lord Lounsberry, felt secure in his prize, won through a stern parent's connivance right from the arms of her lover, George Clark. But he is not aware of the prowess of the American trapper. A ball is being given in honor of the bride-to-be. Finely clad ladles of surpassing loveliness, dance on the arms of their splendidly-bedecked cavaliers. Wine is flowing freely and mirth runs high, when like a thunderbolt in their midst, stands the redoubtable Clark. The guard has been overpowered by the stealthy and brave woodman. The trapper's flashing sword finds swift and sure lodgment against his rival's breast. The flag on the fort is pulled down and his own run up in its stead, there to stay for all time to come, and in his arms, once more he holds the lovely girl for whom be would brave the dangers of Hell itself, and whose love is as strong for him as his for his country.
- A cowboy dance at Roaring Canyon was always a gala occasion. Also, it was never free from a row and in this instance Red-Eyed Bob shot the hat off Gambler Joe's head, because the latter tried to force Bob's sweetheart to dance with him. Shortly after the dance, the escaping smoke from the stove so distressed Bob's eyes, that in his rage he kicked it over. Soon the place was in flames and Bob was ejected with the dire threat of being shot should he ever return to Roaring Canyon. While crossing the country, he mounted and gave it the rein. Without being discovered, he found his way to his sweetheart's home and made known his condition. Before the frightened girl could act, her mother entered and ordered both from the home. Gambler Joe was about to call on the widow's daughter when he saw Bob coming out. He is about to fulfill his oath to shoot Bob on sight, when he notes the man's uncertain steps. Leading the lad to the hotel, he leaves him in the office to fetch a visiting doctor. While gone a bunch of cowboys enter, and not knowing his plight, they pitch in and commence to forcibly settle their grudge, until interrupted by Nell, who enlightens them as to his condition. The doctor examined Bob's eyes and announced that five months' rest and treatment under his care with a thousand rest and treatment under his care with a thousand dollar fee would restore his sight. Gambler Joe passes his hat and it is quickly jammed with notes and coins, all prompted by the common feeling for an afflicted fellow-man. Touched by the unadorned generosity of these big-hearted westerners, the doctor returns their offering and given his service free to Bob, who after the allotted time, returns to his little sweetheart, hale and sound, uplifted out of the dark.
- James Thornton loves and is beloved by the beautiful Marjorie Caselton. He has for a rival the young sheriff of the village, George Haskan, who being rejected by the fair Marjorie, is bitterly vindictive towards Thornton, and only awaits an opportunity to visit vengeance upon him. The War of Secession is inflaming the young blood over the entire country and the patriotic fever is disrupting hearts and homes. But Jim Thornton, though loving the National Flag with deep ardor, does not rush to defend its serenity, because he is the sole support of his aged and widowed mother. Tom Devins, a friend of Jim's father, and a participant in the Mexican War, but now a Federal major, brings the news to Jim of the pending strife, and expecting the lad to shoulder a musket, is indignant at his refusal. The sacrificing mother, however, tearful and trembling, gives up her Jim to the Northern cause. Then does Sheriff Haskan renew his advances to Marjorie, and by reason of his constant exploitation of Jim's slim chances of returning, the girl accepts him and exacts his promise to care for Jim's mother as well. Jim is fighting bravely for Old Glory under the valiant ex-Senator, Col. Baker, commanding the 1st California, when he learns the awful news by letter from home. An awful frenzy soars through him, and forgetting all else, deserts his regiment. He is apprehended at home by Sheriff Hasken, who hurries him back to his commandant. Disgrace and death confront him! But the heartrending letter from his mother and his own previous heroic fighting, soften his superiors and Jim is restored to his company. Then follows the terrible engagement at Balls Bluff and wherein Col. Baker is struck down and Jim is seen in the very forefront rescuing the colors. Rapid promotion is given him and a secret commission whereby he is granted leave with his men to tarry a week at home. At this juncture, Haskan has formulated his plans so that Marjorie is at last to become his bride. The fatal "yes" is about to be pronounced when in bursts Jim and his men. Haskan skulks off discomfited and Jim reaps his reward by uniting in wedlock with his fair Marjorie.
- Convinced that his son was padding the payroll of the ranch hands. Col. Baker decides to do a heroic thing. As the boy returns from a ride with his sweetheart, the Colonel confronts him with the evidence of his peculations, and informs him that he will have to take the consequences, if it should even take him to jail. True to his word, his son is arrested and sentenced to five years in the penitentiary. The father takes this course believing it to be the only means of reformation. After a few violent outbursts, in which he displays a healthy portion of his father's force of will, the lad accepts the situation and takes his medicine. While in jail, his cellmate and he become fast friends, and before leaving the prison, he vows an eternal friendship for his new-found comrade, giving his word of honor, that when the other shall have served his term, to look him up and he will help him. At the expiration of his sentence, the boy goes home to his father and requests a reinstatement to his old position, which plea his father unhesitatingly complies with. Assuming charge of the payroll again, he is at once pleased and surprised to find that the money carries no temptations for him now, and putting it aside, he retires for the night. Attracted by his window being opened from the outside, he is delighted to see his old cell-mate enter still in stripes. Having escaped jail, as he tells the boy, he has now come for the promised aid. The lad is taken aback knowing that he is in no position to proffer assistance. The convict, discovering the money for the payroll, pleads and begs for some to help him get away. The colonel's son is steadfast in his refusal, and turns the jailbird away, who muttering curses, leaves by the window. The next morning the boy is in ecstasies to find his father and the convict in friendly conversation. He then learns the truth. The Colonel had obtained the convict's release from the Governor for the motive of testing his son's stability of character, and he was now proudly enjoying his success in making a man of his son.
- In no period of American history was romance in its most imaginative form outdone as in the days of the Revolution, and of all the heroes of that epoch, the name of none stands out in bolder relief than does that of General Francis Marion. The very mention of his name made the stoutest hearts quake and sent consternation into many a camp and bivouac of the British. In a wonderfully realistic manner, some of his many striking performances are reproduced in this most remarkable story of "Marion's Men." The "Swamp Fox," as the cruel and crafty Tarleton dubbed him, is portrayed with a rare fidelity to historical truth. Some of the incidents of his career, graphically depicted, are here interwoven with his startling feats at the fall of Fort Watson, in April 1781, and the great victory won at Eutaw Springs, which was fought in the same year. The companions of this wonderful genius were akin to him in many respects. Here, for instance, his right bower in his dare-deviltries was a bishop of the church, who on occasion donned the purple robes of office to minister its functions, and then doffed them again for "the belted sword and the cocked hat." Then the woman, the loyal, true-hearted women of that period of trial and suffering, are here shown in all their fortitude.
- Ethel Hanna resides in the east. Her Uncle William is a wealthy ranchman living in Arizona. One day a lawyer comes to Ethel and gives her word of her uncle's demise, and the further information that she is his sole legatee. With beating heart she calls her maid and packs her belongings and sets forth on a long journey to the west to claim her inheritance. Her uncle had dies in a wild paroxysm of rage, brought about through the conduct of his foreman, Steve King, and some of the disorderly cowpunchers of the place. Steve, who is an unscrupulous fellow, is quick to take advantage of his employer's sudden death, so he immediately sets about confiscating some valuable documents, including the last will and testament of the old ranchman. The assistant foreman, however, one Harry Newton, a young cowpuncher of sterling worth, frustrates the evil designs of the foreman, and rescues his late employer's property from the hands of the villain. Ethel arrives at the ranch in time to witness a quarrel between Steve and Harry. She interferes. Steve, unaware of her identity, brutally challenges her right to interfere. He does this to his sorrow, for the next minute he is discharged, and driven from the place by the cowpunchers under orders of their new mistress. Harry is now made foreman, having won favor in the eyes of the girl from the east. He, in turn, appoints Jack Wilson his assistant, and Jack straightway falls in love with Hanna, Ethel's maid, who has accompanied her on her trip to the west. In the meantime, the villainous ex-foreman plans to circumvent the new mistress and get her in his power. By a subterfuge he succeeds in getting her away with him on horseback. Then comes a wild ride, with Harry Newton and the rest of the boys in a fierce chase. Subsequently a fight to the death occurs between King and Newton, in which the latter is victor. It is not to be wondered, then, that the fair Ethel bestows her hand and fortune on the dashing Harry.