The Son of his Father   By: Ridgwell Cullum (1867-1943)

THE SON OF HIS FATHER

BY

RIDGWELL CULLUM

AUTHOR OF

"THE MEN WHO WROUGHT," "THE WAY OF THE STRONG," "THE NIGHT RIDERS," "THE WATCHERS OF THE PLAINS," ETC.

Illustrations by

DOUGLAS DUER

PHILADELPHIA

GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY

PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1915, by

George W. Jacobs & Company

Published March, 1917

All rights reserved

Printed in U. S. A.

TO

G. RALPH HALL CAINE

WHOSE SYMPATHY WITH MY WORK HAS NEVER

FAILED TO CHEER ME THROUGHOUT

OUR LONG AND VALUED

FRIENDSHIP

CONTENTS

CHAP.

I Unrepentant II In Chastened Mood III Gordon Arrives IV Gordon Lands at Snake's Fall V A Letter Home VI Gordon Prospects Snake's Fall VII "Miss Hazel" VIII At Buffalo Point IX The First Check X Gordon Makes His Bid for Fortune XI Hazel Mallinsbee's Campaign XII Thinking Hard XIII Slosson Snatches at Opportunity XIV The Reward of Victory XV In Council XVI Something Doing XVII The Code Book XVIII Ways that are Dark XIX James Carbhoy Arrives XX The Boom in Earnest XXI A Trifle XXII On the Trail XXIII In New York XXIV Preparing for the Finale XXV The Rescue XXVI Cashing In

ILLUSTRATIONS

With eyes wide and staring she looked about her . . . Frontispiece

Hazel was waiting for that sign

He drew her gently towards his father

CHAPTER I

UNREPENTANT

"To wine, women and gambling, at the age of twenty four one hundred thousand dollars. That's your bill, my boy, and I've got to pay it."

James Carbhoy leaned back smiling, his half humorous eyes squarely challenging his son, who was lounging in a luxurious morocco chair at the other side of the desk.

As the moments passed without producing any reply, he reached towards the cabinet at his elbow and helped himself to a large cigar. Without any scruple he tore the end off it with his strong teeth and struck a match.

"Well?"

Gordon Carbhoy cleared his throat and looked serious. In spite of his father's easy, smiling manner he knew that a crisis in his affairs had been reached. He understood the iron will lying behind the pleasant steel gray eyes of his parent. It was a will that flinched at nothing, a will that had carved for its owner a great fortune in America's most strenuous financial arena, the railroad world. He also knew the only way in which to meet his father's challenge with any hope of success. Above everything else the millionaire demanded courage and manhood manhood as he understood it from those whom he regarded well.

"I'm waiting."

Gordon stirred. The millionaire carefully lit his cigar.

"Put that way it sounds rotten, Dad, doesn't it?" Gordon's mobile lips twisted humorously, and he also reached towards the cigar cabinet.

But the older man intercepted him. He held out a box of lesser cigars.

"Try one of these, Gordon. One of the others would add two dollars to your bill. These are half the price."

The two men smiled into each other's eyes. A great devotion lay between them. But their regard was not likely to interfere with the business in hand.

Gordon helped himself. Then he rose from his chair. He moved across the handsome room, towering enormously. His six feet three inches were well matched by a great pair of athletic shoulders. His handsome face bore no traces of the fast living implied by the enormous total of his debts. The wholesome tan of outdoor sports left him a fine specimen of the more brilliant youth of America. Then, too, in his humorous blue eyes lay an extra dash of recklessness, which was probably due to his superlative physical advantages. He came back to his chair and propped his vast body on the back of it. His father was watching him affectionately.