University of South Carolina Libraries
I ' . SYNOPSIS. V APER I-John Valiant, a rich no favorite, suddenly discovers that the 0nt ororation, which his father ied a which was the prIncipal Of his wealth, han faled. olt!HAPTER I--He voluntarily turns . or his private fortuni to the receiver ae' the corporation, CHAPTER III-His entire remaining 611 aIona consist of an old motor car, 'white bull dog and Damory court, a L ee0ted estate In Virginia. -4, rIV--He learns that thin es came into the family by royal grant And has breun in the possession of the Valiata ever since, CHAPTER V-On the way to Damory pow he meets Shirley Dandridge, an au bum-haired beauty, and decides that ho is going to like Virginia inuensely. CHAPTER VI-An old negro tells Shir W' fortune and predicts great trouble 20i her on account of a man. CRAPTER VII-Unclo Jefferson, an old ngro, takes Valiant to Damory court. CHAPTER VITI-Shirley's mother, Mrs. Dandridge, and Major Bristow exchange rem iniscences during whichi It Is revealodt Ithat the major, Valiant's father, and a man named Sassoon. were rivals for tho hand of Mrs. Dandridgp in her youth. Saveoon and Valiant fought a duel on her oteunt in which the former was killed. CHAPTER TX-Valiant finds Damory court overgrown with weeds and creep er and the buildings in a vary much neglected condition. Uncle Jeff-rson and his wife. Aunt Daphne. are engaged as Iservants. CHAPTER X-Valiant explores his an cestral home. He is surprised by a fox hunting party which invades ills estate. He recognizes Shirley at the head of the iparty, - CHAPTER XT-le gives sanctuary to 'the cornered fox. Gossips uilscuss the ad Ivent of the new owner and recall tho tr-dy in which tho elder Valiant took QHAPTER XIT-Valinnt decides3 to re abilitato Damory court and mako the land produce a living for him. CHAPTER XITI-Ile meets Shirley. who ba been gathering ilowers on the Valiant estate, and reveals his identity to her. CHAPTER XIV-Vallant saves Shirley ifrom the bite of a snake, which hites Wim. Knbwing the deadliness of the bite, Shir .ley sucks the poison from the wound and waves his life. CHAPTIER XV--Shirley tells her mother .of the incident and the latter is stratgely moved at hearing that a Valiant is again Uiving at Damory court. CHAPTER XVI-Valiant learns romo of the history of his family froin Doctor Southall and Major Bristow. . CHAPTER XVII-Ile learns for tho first time that li father left Virginia or. account of a duel in which Doctor South .all and Major Bristow acted Is liS flath .er's seconds. . CHAPTE0R XVIII-Valiant ad Shirley 'become good friends. Mrs. I andraidgo ftaints when sho irst neets Valiant. "And to think," ho continued, whim sically releasing him, "that I might lhave gone on, one of the little-neck. clam crowd I've always trained with, at the same old pace, till tho Ver mouth-cocktail-Palm-Deacli career got a double Nelson on me and the umpire counted me out. At this moment I wouldn't swap this old house and land, and the sunshine and that 'gyarden' Sand Unc' Jefferson and Aunt Daph and the chickens and tho birds and all the rest of it, for a mile of Mil lionaires' Row." He went into the houso and to the library. The breeze through the wide flung bow-window was fluttering the papers on the desk and the map on the wall was flapping sidewise. i~e went to straighten it, and then saw what he had not noticed before-tha't lit covered something that had been let into the plaster. lIe swung it aside and made an exclamation, He was looking at a square, ulncomi promising wail-safe, with a round flg ured disk of white metal on its face. He knelt before it and tried it, knob. tAfter a moment it tturned easi 1'. But Ire th NmbrsCaelly,~I1 F1rs tat caeit i id "No -s, the'rig he Numbers rful, is Riht henedhsfte frame--9andO oniT hea Doo h aOp hrtne ugh theresout steel bankrt widt alpeth, ft-ghear triedhevery finron Shadt me inon hi iner tray anda' mad asiget nuberase" a' oe h Ars lock h fed this fretd!" aen Hmoe his upriy hands toneder "rogh ordroy" hacet sad wih ahr lug. ergs.m "W'r goangrut, wlimthe alhisl hadedy, Chm," on annouedra, "and nom Hnoe mraustis nedonnedply." g In the lower' hall, however, ho sud denly stopped stock-still. "The slip of iBa~erthat was in the china dogi" ho IALt RIVI:RO7TR-E AUREN STOUT exclaimed. "What a chfin T ii not to have thought of it!" Hie found it in its pigeonhole and, kneeling down before the safe, tried the numbers carefully, first right, then left: 17 28-94-0. The heavy door opened. "I was right!" he exulted. "It's the plate." He drew it out, piece by piece. Each was bagged in dark-red Canton flannel. le broke the tape of one bag and exposed a - great silver pitcher, tarnished purple-blue like a raven's wing-then a tea-service. Each pieco, large and small. was marked with the greyhound rampant and the motto. "And to think." he said, "that my great-gieat-grandfather burled you with his own hands under the stables when Tarleton's raiders swept the val ley before the surrender at Yorktown! Only walt till Aunt Daphne gets you polished up, and on tho sideboard! 'ou're the one thing the place has neded!" With the dog for comrade he tra versed the garden and plunged across the valley below, hummning as he went. The place was patlhless and over grown with paw-paw bushes and sassa fras.' Great trees stood so thickly In places as to make a twilight and the sunnier spots were masses of pink laurel, poison-ivy, flaming purple rho dodendron and wine-red tendrils of in terbraided briers. This was the for est land of whose possibilities he had thought. In the heart of the woods he came upon a great limb that had been wrenched off by storm. The broken ,wood was of a deep rich brown, shading to black. Ile broke off his song, snap ped a twig and smelled it. Its shar) acrid odor was unmistakable. eli sud denly remembered the walnut tree at Rosewood and what Shirley had said: "I know a girl who had two in her yard, and she went to Europe on them." Ho looked about him; as far as he could see the trees reared, liardy and perfect, untouched for a generation. 11o selected one of mediiuin size and pulling a creeper, ineasured its cir eumiferenco and gaging this measure with his eye, made a penliled calcula tion on the hack of an envelupe. "Great Scott!" he said jubilantly to the dog; "that would cut enough to waluscot the Damory Court library and build twenty sideboards!" lie sat down on a iossed boulder, breathless, his eyes sparkling. lie had thought himself almost a beggar, and .here in his hand was a small fortune! "Talk about engagement rings!" he muttered. "Why, a dozen of these ,ought to buy a whole tiara!" At length he rose and climbed on, presently turning at a right-angle 'o Nsect. the strip to its boundary beforo no paused to rest. "i'm no timber crilisvr," he said to himself as ho wiped his brow, '"biut I calculate there are 1 of three hundired trees big eneigh to cut. Why, suppose they ire wovIrthl en an avecrage only a hundriedl .491eCe. 'That would make-Good lord !"' he muttered, '"and I'veo been mniniig about poverty!" 'Thle growth was smaller and sparser now andl before long ho camne, on the hill's v'ery crest, to the edge of a ragged clearing. It held a squalid set tienment, perhaps a score of dlirt-daubed cabins little better than hovels, some of them mer-o mud-walled lean-tea, with sad1 roofs and1( window-panes of flour-sacking. Fences and outhouses thero wa~s none. Littered paths ram bled aimlessly hither and thither from chip-strewn yards to starved patches of corn, under-cultivated andl blighted. Over the whole place hung an Inde scribable atmosphere of disconsolate filth, of unredleemed squalor and vilo With one hand on the dog's collar, hushing him to silence, Valiant, un seen, looked at the wretched place with a shiver. I Ie had gliimpsedi many wretched purlicus in the slums of great cities, but this, in tihe open sun light, with the clean wvoods about it andi the sweet cleai' blue above, stood out with an unrelieved boldness and contrast that was dloubly sinister and forbidding. Hio knew instantly that tile tawdr-y corner was the community known as llell's-Half-Acre, the place to which Shirley had made her night ridlo to rescue Rickey Snyder. A quick glad realization of her cours age rushed through him. On its heelo came aL feeling of shame that a spot' like this could exist, a foul blot on such a landscape. It was on his own landl! Its dienizens held place by squatter' sovereignty, but ho was, nevertheless, their landlord. The thought bred a new sense of responsi bility. Something should ho done for them, too. As ho gazed, an uproar in a cabin reached a clImax. A red-boarded fig tire in nondescript garments shot from the door and collap~sod in a heap in the dirt, lie got up with a dreadful oath--a jug thrown\ at him grazing' his temple as ho did so--and shaking his flst behind him, staggered into a, near-by lean-to. Valiant turned away with a feeling almnost of nausea, and plunged back down the forest hillside. (Continued Next Week.) I. We aro showing a conmplete 1l1ne of Water C!oolers, any size you want. S. 1. & E. HI. WIJOIS & CO. Special ANOTHER A J. C. Burns Co.'s B Red Iron Racket Specials Come and Buy--Smile 1OPTIERS! BRUNG TIE 13OYS IN. 1,000 B1oy's wanted at Red I ron Racket, to buy one0 Suit ('clh. Now's your time to dress up lBoys for l'Ess money 'nd get In"'Mit free. Save you' cash register cheeks. 4 packages Starch. .... .... ......... ........ .....15 500 Alexican lBamboo Sun Iilnts. going at .... .... .. .10 .\ll sizes Tennis, rubber sole Shoes .... .... .. .... .49 50h. hoile Do dson 's Liver Tonl ..... .... .... ...... . 42 Spe4ial lot IjO(lmies glnze Vest ..... ........05,..08 and .10 Il iery for Ihe whole aii Ill ily .......... .... .08, .10, .15 Silk in black, white and all colors .... .... .25 and .45 Special values going now ill Children's Dresses and Ladies' Skirts and Shi rtwai.Sts. 1)ress up (lhe whole family lul nlits soft sole Shoes .... .... ... .... .... .... .10 Chihh e 's Slippers .... .... ... .. 48 , p 148 25' b otl Chamberlain's Diarrheoa Renedy (cures) . . .22 2 pit Plates. sale .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .05 10v h lby Elite Shoe Po'lish .... .... .... .... .... .08 2 eards Safety Pins .... .... .... .... .... .... .. .05 2 hoxes Shoe Tacks .... .... .... .... .... .... .. .05 2 Hood llandkerclhiet's .... .... .... .... .... .. .05 2 good Lead Pencils .... .... .... .... .... .... .. .05 :1 "ticks G(4ood Luck l 1neing .................... .05 2 eakes (ood Lam dry Soap .... .... .... .... .... .05 2 spools Thread (good) ........................ .05 1441 Shirt Bliutto s .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .05 2 dozen Colh l l ions .... .... .... .... .... .... .05 F ine Ca aly (1 5v and 20e quality) sale pri.e .... .... .10 N'edles, Pils, lead Pellcils, 1 hair lPills, each .... .... .01 $1-00 witlev Wampoles Cod Liver Oil .... .... .... .84 $1.00 bottle Thr-ee S. S. 8. or Three 11. It. 11 ..... .... .84 Special lot Window S reens fit anly size Window . . .29 and .39 Serve oult the flies and m(osquitos. $1L00 bottle W ine of Cm-dui .... .... .... .... .... .84 $1 .0(f bottle Lydia Pinkhain's V-Compomal .... .... .. .84 1 11b Sllp ilur' (Ph.) sale .... .... .... ......... .... .05 1 lb Epsoi Salts (10e) sale .... .... .... .... .... .04 1 ('arden I Ioe (25v) sale .... ...................10 Don't Iniss seeing tile barga ills ill the basemnn'i t. 23 lbs (lramiulated Sugar ........................ 1.00 1 lbs good Pal4hled Col' .................... .95 10 yd, best Ileaching .... .... .... .... .... .... .89 10 y(Is Calli o .................................. .39 1t yds Faney La\wnI . . .. .... .... .... . . .1) I eIs4IA' bleached I dervest .. ...... .... .... ..... ....05 Speial lot Ladie14s' white Drless Skirts .59, .98, 1.25, and 1.48 Some: Sihirtwa.Iist 1vulnecs t his week. Kae wais, all-over ntet woirthi $1.50 all going now at ................... ....98 lIig Ii ne of ChIi ldrenl's Driesses goinug at 48, .09, .98 and 1.39 Special val ues la little boys Wash Suits .48, .75, .98 anad 1.25 Speciau~l all t he week, Embroidery Sale .05, .10, .25, .48, to .98 Thliis lot of1 Embroider(('1v is ai (tne lot -ext ra valunes this week. 1,.000) yards1 best. qual iy yar'd-wide lBleaching, worth 12 1-2c', this week ............................. ....09 75 qua 1111liy Silk Blroeade Dress Goods ............... .49 $1.00) (jnality Silk this wee(k ..........................84 Spec'4ial lot fine Simmer Druess Goods, this week .10, .2 1-2, to .... ......... ......... ......... .......25 S00 yald ine oy's Goode ~~ is, Ripltte.59,t 148e, tow$.6 'lmg ilrn' at...... .... .... .... .... .......8.121-26 .98hiS uptos.... .... .... .... ......... ........ 3o .97 prgaleiume' dung this month,9 u of May. S Special BnbysK a r gigain25 .39a.4su t h 6 SPEI LT WOE EKI.ILIEY Wepreu lctdringlethis mot of they. Next to Bra Sale BIG WEEK T ig Department Store This Week. Everybody and Go Home Smiling! 35c large Agate Bucket .... .... .... .... .... .... .25 35e large Agate Dish Pan .... .... .... .... .... .. .25 Chicken Pi P an Ill".... ............ ....... .05 and .10 Special lot Men 's Work Panits, Union Made, sale price .98 Best Unr1ionl Made Work Shirts, sale price .......... .45 25w hottle Goose Grease Liniment, eures aill aehes and pai s .... - -.. .. .... .... .... .... .... .... .22 Best Union Made Overalls (all sizes) special .... .... .98 Special lot men's aid boy 's Sinday Shirts .25, .39, .48 up to .98 for Ihe *1.25 kinid. Big line of Eilbroidery, extra wide goo(s, worth 20e to 25e, special sale piee this week .... .... .... .. .121-2 Speeial lot fine Embroidery for Summer Dresses .25, .39 .48, .69 to .89 a yard, good values. *1.00 bottle 1oo'( Sa p arril .... .... .. ...... .84 Special Clothing Sale this week. Come and get your suit now and save $2.00 to $4.00 on a suit. Big stock of Men's Fiir 1ats, Stiff aind Soft, Hats; also straw 1Hats and P1an1a11mas. All slyles of Hats and Caps are here from .10, .25, .48, .75. .98 up to 2.98 for a John B. Stetson 1It. You know what they Ire(! worth. 25e bottle lothers JoY (1oo-e Grpease Salve (best thing m ade) .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .22 :3 eakes (5c) Toilet Soap, sale .... .... .... .... .... .10 1ill lini.. of Standard 31edicilles. All $1.00 boil e Is now .... ... ..........84 All 5Oe hot tles iow .... .... .... .... .... .... .. .42 Call or send f'or what you need and save about 20 per cent in this line. We e(-nn save you from 15 to 35 per cent on your bill bought here from oiu binn iy (lepartients. Big lot Flower Pots .... .... .... .... .. .....05 and .10 Also a lot of Clhurn1its. fill sizes. This is a fine lot of ware. See our Special in Men's Suits inis week for ..... .... 5.00 These suits are worth $7.00. Finer Suits for dress, special values .... 9.90, 12.50 to 15.00 Big line of Boy's Suits, some special good things for the boys, dandy suits .... .... ..1.48, 1.98, 2.25 up to 5.39 Special lot $1.50 Rugs, sale price this week ............98 1 lot Japanese Rugs this week ......... ........ ...19 I lot large Japanese Rugs, this week .... .... .... .. .29 Japanese Art Squares, sale price this week .... .... 2.49 We handle very near everything. Ask for what you want if you don't see it. 1 set tall lee Tea Tumblers .... .... .... .... .... .30 i i0-qt. Tin Bucket .... .... .... .... .... .... .. .10 1 large D ish Pan .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .10 1 lot Mexican Sun hints .... ......... .... ............10 I lot Jewelry, 25e values, special .. ..... .... . ..... ...10 $1.00 Watch, sp~ecial .... .... .... ......... .... ....68 $1.0(0 Alarm Clock, sale price .... .... ......... .......49 15ec plug Sullivan's No. 1 Tobacco, fipecial t his week . . .10 Big values in Cigars, Cigaretts, Chewing and1( Smoking Tobaceos. Special this week, Candy sale all fine candies, per~ lb . . .10 Ever'ybody in the Piedmont section)1 knows J. C. Burns & Co. Red I ron Racket Stores sell sanme goods for' less money. Even the little children know~ they can buy the same goodls for less money here. Big v'alues in Summer Dress Goods andl Silks, Dress Em broideries, Millinery, Ribbons, Laces, all over Laces, Notions andl Racket Goods. Buy your goods at the Big Busy Store. You can get what you want here and save from 15 to 35 per cent. 25cts package Thedfords Black Drat'ght, sale 15c Special to introduce cork tip Cigaretts, 2 packs, while this lot last, for ..........5cts 100 Garden Hoes Free--- With each $5.00 pur chase we give you a heo. D)OWN IN THlE BASEMElNT. Specials this week .05, .10, .15, .25 tables laden with Tin ware, Glassware, Crockery andl Enamieled Ware. ch $5.00 purcht se we will give a valuable When you buy a bill call for a check.' is Week at Red Iron Racket OMPANY'S lVIENT STORE FOI LFSS MONEY. gh-priced district 210 West Laurens St. mlett's Shop.