CHAPTER XXXVII
Colonel Pennington's discovery at San Francisco that Bryce Cardigan hadstolen his thunder and turned the bolt upon him, was the hardest blowSeth Pennington could remember having received throughout thirty-oddyears of give and take. He was too old and experienced a campaigner,however, to permit a futile rage to cloud his reason; he prided himselfupon being a foeman worthy of any man's steel.
On Tuesday he returned to Sequoia. Sexton related to him in detail theevents which had transpired since his departure, but elicited nothingmore than a noncommittal grunt.
"There is one more matter, sir, which will doubtless be of interest toyou," Sexton continued apologetically. "Miss Sumner called me on thetelephone yesterday and instructed me formally to notify the boardof directors of the Laguna Grande Company of a special meeting of theboard, to be held here at two o'clock this afternoon. In view of theimpossibility of communicating with you while you were en route, Iconformed to her wishes. Our by-laws, as you know, stipulate that nomeeting of the board shall be called without formal written notice toeach director mailed twenty-four hours previously."
"What the devil do you mean, Sexton, by conforming to her wishes? MissSumner is not a director of this company." Pennington's voice was harshand trembled with apprehension.
"Miss Sumner controls forty per cent. of the Laguna Grande stock, sir. Itook that into consideration."
"You lie!" Pennington all but screamed. "You took into considerationyour job as secretary and general manager. Damnation!"
He rose and commenced pacing up and down his office. Suddenly he paused.Sexton still stood beside his desk, watching him respectfully. "Youfool!" he snarled. "Get out of here and leave me alone."
Sexton departed promptly, glancing at his watch as he did so. It lackedfive minutes of two. He passed Shirley Sumner in the general office.
"Shirley," Pennington began in a hoarse voice as she entered his office,"what is the meaning of this directors' meeting you have requested?"
"Be seated, Uncle Seth," the girl answered quietly. "If you will onlybe quiet and reasonable, perhaps we can dispense with this directors'meeting which appears to frighten you so."
He sat down promptly, a look of relief on his face.
"I scarcely know how to begin, Uncle Seth," Shirley commenced sadly. "Ithurts me terribly to be forced to hurt you, but there doesn't appear tobe any other way out of it. I cannot trust you to manage my financialaffairs in the future--this for a number of reasons, the principal onebeing--"
"Young Cardigan," he interrupted in a low voice.
"I suppose so," she answered, "although I did think until very recentlythat it was those sixteen townships of red cedar--that crown grant inBritish Columbia in which you induced me to invest four hundred thousanddollars. You will remember that you purchased that timber for me fromthe Caribou Timber Company, Limited. You said it was an unparalleledinvestment. Quite recently I learned--no matter how--that you were theprincipal owner of the Caribou Timber Company, Limited! Smart as youare, somebody swindled you with that red cedar. It was a wonderful standof timber--so read the cruiser's report--but fifty per cent. of it,despite its green and flourishing appearance, is hollow-butted! And theremaining fifty per cent. of sound timber cannot be logged unless therotten timber is logged also and gotten out of the way also. And I aminformed that logging it spells bankruptcy."
She gazed upon him steadily, but without malice; his face crimsoned andthen paled; presently his glance sought the carpet. While he struggledto formulate a verbal defense against her accusation Shirley continued:
"You had erected a huge sawmill and built and equipped a logging-roadbefore you discovered you had been swindled. So, in order to saveas much as possible from the wreck, you decided to unload your whiteelephant on somebody else. I was the readiest victim. You were theexecutor of my father's estate--you were my guardian and financialadviser, and so you found it very, very easy to swindle me!"
"I had my back to the wall," he quavered. "I was desperate--and itwasn't at all the bad investment you have been told it is. You had themoney--more money than you knew what to do with--and with the proceedsof the sale of those cedar lands, I knew I could make an investment inCalifornia redwood and more than retrieve my fortunes--make big moneyfor both of us."
"You might have borrowed the money from me. You know I have neverhesitated to join in your enterprises."
"This was too big a deal for you, Shirley. I had vision. I could seeincalculable riches in this redwood empire, but it was a tremendousgamble and required twenty millions to swing it at the very start. Idreamed of the control of California redwood; and if you will stand byme, Shirley, I shall yet make my dream come true--and half of it shallbe yours. It has always been my intention to buy back from you secretlyand at a nice profit to you that Caribou red cedar, and with theacquisition of the Cardigan properties I would have been in position todo so. Why, that Cardigan tract in the San Hedrin which we will buy inwithin a year for half a million is worth five millions at least. Andby that time, I feel certain--in fact, I know--the Northern Pacific willcommence building in from the south, from Willits."
She silenced him with a disdainful gesture. "You shall not smash theCardigans," she declared firmly.
"I shall--" he began, but he paused abruptly, as if he had suddenlyremembered that tact and not pugnacity was the requirement for thehandling of this ticklish situation.
"You are devoid of mercy, of a sense of sportsmanship. Now, then, UncleSeth, listen to me: You have twenty-four hours in which to make up yourmind whether to accept my ultimatum or refuse it. If you refuse, I shallprosecute you for fraud and a betrayal of trust as my father's executoron that red-cedar timber deal."
He brightened a trifle. "I'm afraid that would be a long, hard row tohoe, my dear, and of course, I shall have to defend myself."
"In addition," the girl went on quietly, "the county grand jury shallbe furnished with a stenographic report of your conversation of Thursdaynight with Mayor Poundstone. That will not be a long, hard row to hoe,Uncle Seth, for in addition to the stenographer, I have another veryreliable witness, Judge Moore. Your casual disposal of my sedan as abribe to the Mayor will be hard to explain and rather amusing, in viewof the fact that Bryce Cardigan managed to frighten Mr. Poundstone intoreturning the sedan while you were away. And if that is not sufficientfor my purposes, I have the sworn confession of the Black Minorcathat you gave him five hundred dollars to kill Bryce Cardigan. Yourwoods-boss, Rondeau, will also swear that you approached him with aproposition to do away with Bryce Cardigan. I think, therefore, that youwill readily see how impossible a situation you have managed to createand will not disagree with me when I suggest that it would be better foryou to leave this county."
His face had gone gray and haggard. "I can't," he murmured, "I can'tleave this great business now. Your own interests in the company rendersuch a course unthinkable. Without my hand at the helms, things will goto smash."
"I'll risk that. I want to get rid of that worthless red-cedar timber;so I think you had better buy it back from me at the same figure atwhich, you sold it to me."
"But I haven't the money and I can't borrow it. I--I---"
"I will have the equivalent in stock of the Laguna Grande LumberCompany. You will call on Judge Moore to complete the transaction andleave with him your resignation as president of the Laguna Grande LumberCompany."
The Colonel raised his glance and bent it upon her in cold appraisal.She met it with firmness, and the thought came to him: "She is aPennington!" And hope died out in his heart. He began pleading inmaudlin fashion for mercy, for compromise. But the girl was obdurate.
"I am showing you more mercy than you deserve--you to whom mercy wasever a sign of weakness, of vacillation. There is a gulf between us,Uncle Seth--a gulf which for a long time I have dimly sensed and which,because of my recent discoveries, has widened until it can no longer bebridged."
He wrung his hands in desperation and suddenly slid to his knees befor
eher; with hypocritical endearments he strove to take her hand, butshe drew away from him. "Don't touch me," she cried sharply and with abreaking note in her voice. "You planned to kill Bryce Cardigan! And forthat--and that alone--I shall never forgive you."
She fled from the office, leaving him cringing and grovelling on thefloor. "There will be no directors' meeting, Mr. Sexton," she informedthe manager as she passed through the general office. "It is postponed."
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