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- David Quixans. a young Jewish violinist living in the town of Kishineff, Russia, is left an orphan through the massacre of the orthodox Jews upon the "Black Easter" of Russia, when under the leadership of Baron Revandel, Governor of Kishineff, who has been commissioned by the Czar to baptize one-third and massacre one-third of all the Jews in Russia, he is left orphaned in his ruined home. The sympathy of Vera, the daughter of the Baron, is aroused in connection with the Jewish outrage of which she is a witness. While upon an errand of mercy, she attracts the attention of the Czar's spies and is subsequently made a prisoner, where her father refuses to recognize her and she is sentenced to Siberia. A Jewish woman who wishes to join her husband in Siberia induces Vera to change places with her and Vera successfully makes her escape upon a trading vessel bound for America. David is exiled with the Jews to America. He joins his uncle in "The Music Master" and "Grandmother" in New York. Vera in America finds employment in a Russian Mission upon the East Side, where she attracts the attention, by her beauty and culture, of Quincy Davenport, a patron of music in search of genius upon the East Side. Vera interests Davenport in David, whom she has met, and Davenport offers to send him abroad to study, realizing the possibilities of his music. David refuses to be patronized by a man who had no greater aim in life than amusement. Instead, he interests a German music master in a wonderful symphony symbolic of the amalgamation of all the foreign races in the great "melting pot" of America. David and Vera through a bond of music find themselves in love with each other to the horror of David's uncle, who considers David false to his race in loving a Christian. Davenport cables Vera's father of her presence in America and her engagement to a common Jew peddler. The Baron hastens to America, where meeting Vera he reproaches her for forgetting her country and birth. Vera finally induces him to meet David. Throughout the year the memory of the man who ordered the massacre that left him an orphan has been an obsession with David, and when he sees and recognizes in Vera's father the specter of the past, he is overcome with horror, declaring that a river of blood separates them forever. Overcome with sorrow, the Baron offers to let David take his life, but at the crucial moment David discovers a broken string upon his violin and realizes that rage had for the moment swept aside the brotherhood of the great land of the free. He controls himself and leaves the Baron. The great symphony finished, David appears before a brilliant audience and is proclaimed a genius. The audience is swept to its feet with enthusiasm as the music vividly portrays the saving of all the races in the great crucible of the "melting pot" of America. Overpowered by his success, David leaves the theater seeking refuge in the solemn quiet of the night, where he is followed by Vera, who convinces him that here in the new land all race prejudice has been swept aside and love and liberty can walk unmolested together.
- In the ancient philosophies and religions the idea of reincarnation and transmigration of the soul played a large part. This photoplay is founded on the assumption that in the immortality of the soul many cycles must be re-lived to round out its perfection, and when one defiles the divine law he must go back to first principle, and even into the animal form, to work up again to his former estate. The story involves two epochs. It begins in the old Grecian time and revolves around one Theron, a Grecian Senator who has grown old, and to whom honor has come, but not love. Nadia, the innocent young daughter of a Greek nobleman, inspires passion in his breast, and he sells his soul to the evil of hatred and revenge when she scorns his advances and gives her heart to the poetic Lucian. The father of Nadia is ambitious and connives with the Senator to crush youth and love. "Love laughs at locksmiths" and the young people elope. Then the Senator sets loose the dogs of hatred and has them brought by his slaves to a burning crater, into which he throws them. For this sin the unseen arbiter of souls condemns him to enter the body of a lion and to roam the earth even unto the end of time, unless he shall save youth and love even as he has killed them. The story then switches to events of a century later. Youth and love have been reincarnated into a lovely young daughter of an American millionaire and into the soul of a young broker on Wall Street. The young broker has, as trophy of his African travels, a magnificent lion, which he installs in his mansion. When he and the young girl meet they seem to live over a dream of some olden time. Love draws them together and they are married, but the rival of the young broker allows hatred to possess him and sets about to ruin him. In the meantime, the young wife has a profound influence over the magnificent beast. At the crisis of her husband's fortune a vision of a terrible abyss comes to her as a warning, and she persuades her husband to change his order for stock. This vision is the unseen message of the Senator, speaking through the lion. The other young broker, thinking to triumph over his helpless victim goes to the house and tells her that her husband is ruined. The husband returns and chastises him for an insult to his wife. Leaving the room, the villain enters the room where the lion is caged. A hideous revenge forms itself in his mind. He lets the lion loose, but instead of killing the young people the lion seems to have elected himself their protector, for he leaves the room at the young wife's command and returns to the other room and kills the rival, apparently stamping out evil and saving youth and love. His crime of centuries ago is thus atoned and the spirit rises for a moment triumphant, but the endless cycle of justice goes on and the modern man must work out his destiny even as has the ancient.
- Old Weatherby, a broken down tramp, finds a friend in a passerby. With money given him by the good Samaritan, Weatherby starts off to satisfy his hunger. He is attracted by some theater posters announcing the performance of the drama, "Youth." The pangs of hunger urge him to buy food, but the play of "Youth" calls him and he spends his money to witness the play. It is the story of his own youth, of the years he wasted. Harry and June were child sweethearts in an orphanage at Cedarville. They grow up together, Harry becoming a machinist in a village factory and June a milliner's apprentice. As they grew older they planned to marry, but the young man was summoned to a big city where he was informed that he had inherited a vast amount of money, left him by his uncle. The fortune is turned over to the young man and he lingers among the white lights. The village physician is also in love with June, but she does not encourage his attentions and openly makes known that she is betrothed to Harry. A desire to see a little of life takes a hold on Harry and be visits one of the roof gardens where Bohemians gather. "Billie," a woman of the world, and Robert Leslie, her friend, are attracted by the strange actions of the country boy. The woman plans to catch him in her net and Leslie helps to pave the way by bidding her a hasty good-night, to leave her to fascinate Harry. Her charms set Harry's brain in a whirl. One night at the roof garden, Leslie "dares" Harry to marry "Billie," for such is the trap set by the two schemers. Hypnotized by the woman and his brain dull from wine, Harry consents and the party hurries to a Justice of the Peace and the ceremony takes place. Not until the next day does Harry realize what he has done. In the meantime June's heart has wilted and she wonders for her lover. She goes to the city to seek him and there confronts Harry with the woman. June is heartbroken at the news of the wedding. June returns to the country and the young physician, still pleading his love for her, she marries him and they establish a happy home. Gradually "Billie" extracts the wealth of her husband and so great is his love for her that he is blind to her sham love for him. Suddenly his eyes are opened when he finds his wife and Leslie scheming against him in his own home. A scene follows, Harry ordering Leslie from the house with a demand never to return and the woman then betrays her real attitude toward Harry. As Harry broods, his wife gathers her belongings together and elopes with Leslie, although it is the eve of her motherhood. Through a detective agency Harry tries to trace his wife and her would-be lover. Four years have passed and Harry has used every means to find his wife and child without result. Leslie has sunken to the level of a common crook, deserted "Billie," who, heartbroken at her folly, passes to another world. The little daughter is left in a wretched condition in a dirty tenement room. The child goes out into the open in a drenching rain and looking for shelter climbs into an unoccupied automobile. Soon Harry enters the machine, discovers the child, and takes her home. That night, Leslie and some of his associates go out on a burglarizing expedition. Masked, Leslie climbs into the living room of Harry's apartment, a struggle follows and the mask is torn from his face. The little child is aroused by the noise and as she appears, Leslie makes known that it is Harry's own daughter. As the father clings to the child, Leslie steals away. The following day Harry resolves to return to Cedarville. As he and his little "Pal" near the town, Harry sees the scenes of his happy childhood. The swimming pool appeals to him and he attires himself in a bathing suit and plunges into the water. A gypsy and his family come across the automobile belonging to Harry and likewise the man's clothes. These the gypsy appropriates to his own use and leaving his wagon behind rides away with his family in style. When "Little Pal" and her father are ready to go they are forced to use the abandoned wagon and Harry attires himself in the clothes left by the gypsy. Reaching the town of Cedarville, the child has taken sick and Harry goes to the town doctor. He learns of the marriage of June and the physician and after getting medicine, starts off to lead the life of a gypsy. For months he and his daughter travel near the outskirts of the village until the child is suddenly taken very ill and dies. He takes the body back to the scene of his younger days and there makes a little grave. The play of "Youth" is ended. The crowd leaves the theater and "Old Weatherby" remains unmoved. An usher shakes him and then draws back, realizing that the old man has passed away.
- A settler, accompanied by his wife and little girl, who are making their way through the wild western country in search of a spot in which to build their home, are attacked by marauding Indians. After a brave fight the father and mother are killed and their wagon burned. Fortunately the child had been sent with a bucket for water, and so escaped death. The Indians are frightened away by a trio of cowboys who have been attracted to the spot by the shooting. Big Jim and his two companions find the child weeping over the bodies of her dead parents and Jim, moved by the pitiful situation of the little orphan, declares that he will take care of her. Fifteen years pass, and Nell has grown up into a beautiful woman, courted by many, admired by all. Jim is about to go on a journey, and he writes a letter to Nell telling her that folks think she ought to be married. Will she marry him? He enters to find Nell embraced and being kissed by Dick, the favored suitor. He tears the letter. Nell, turning quickly, sees him. Jim places the torn letter into the pocket of his old coat. The noble-hearted fellow conceals his great disappointment and blesses the young couple. While Jim is away a strange woman denounces Dick as the husband who had deserted her. A month later we find Nell sewing up a tear in Jim's old coat. Jim's letter to her, written months before, falls upon the floor. Nell reads it. Jim enters, and Nell answers his proposal with a loving embrace and kiss.
- Crossing the veldt in Africa, "ticket of leave" man Dick Caulder comes across a prairie wagon and sees a lion about to enter. He kills the lion and finds within a dead woman and a little girl of about seven years, crying beside her. Taking the child, he finds her father further on, lying dead. He had been on his way to a doctor for his wife when he encountered a lion. Dick Caulder takes the child to a lonely cabin. Being a criminal of long career, he pursues his dark ways. He takes as partner another evil fellow by the name of Tom. The girl grows up in a dark and menacing atmosphere. The two men are diamond '"fences," getting the diamonds from a kaffir and passing them to smugglers. Sid Rolfe is sent from a London office to discover the source of leakage. It is a month before he finds any duo. He then discovers Caulder in a low saloon, and comparing him to an old photograph taken from the Rogues' Gallery, he spots him as a desperate character. Following the men, he sees the meeting with the kaffir and calls the halt. They, shooting wildly, escape him, but he marks their vicinity and later is saved from a lion by Marta, who gets him to the cabin. He finds a hand-bill of reward and suspicions that he is in the den of thieves. He questions the girl, learns her story, and is persuaded by her to hide in the room above when she hears the men coming. They discover his presence, know he is the man that is after them, and trap him, inasmuch as he cannot come down without being attacked. After many ruses, he comes down and bravely enters a battle with them. In his encounter with the lion, his horse has escaped and returned to headquarters. Suspicion is aroused and a searching party sent for him. The party arrives at the crucial moment. Caulder is killed and Marta, the poor little victim, is freed at last from her dark surroundings. She goes into the sunlight with Sid.
- Captain Delmar resumes command of Tower Post, India, after an absence of twenty years. In his commission is an order to make a secret investigation of some famous jewels, which are indemnity to the English crown and have mysteriously disappeared. The Rajah selim, an Indian prince, while reading the official communication that he is to pay his allegiance to Captain Delmar, relives the past, a past or hatred for the captain who, when a young man, was successful in winning of the heart of Tara, a Harem favorite of the prince. Captain Delmar really loved the Indian girl, and upon being called back to England, resolves to marry her. When he returns to the garden to get the girl, he finds her dead body. Her death is clothed in mystery and the young captain believes that she has been murdered by Hindoo slaves for the wonderful jewels she wears. He proceeds in England broken-hearted, but eventually marries an English girl. It is his daughter, Dorothy, now grown to young womanhood, whom he brings to India with him upon being ordered to the Post. The Rajah has carried out a secret, but hideous revenge upon the girl Tara. It was he who had her stolen from the garden and stabbed her to death. Only the departure of the young English officer at that time had saved him from a similar fate and now that he has returned, as commanding officer of the Post, his revenge again burns deeply. With Hindoo subtlety he covers up his deep designs, giving the usual audience to the captain and his daughter. He places at the disposal of the young English girl some of his own court servants. These servants are headed by Sahan, spy, through whom the Rajah is to carry out his plot. There is a secret passage from the palace to the Post, the trap door entering to the library of the Captain. Through this secret passage the spy carries messages, and at the Rajah's command he cuts the telephone wires, intending that night to steal the Captain and his daughter and bring them to the palace. By burning the bungalow he thinks to deflect suspicion, leaving the impression that they have been burned to death. The Captain, finding the telephone wires cut, has sent Lieutenant Grey, who is the fiancé of Dorothy, to a nearby post to investigate conditions. When the lieutenant returns he finds the bungalow burned and believes, as the Rajah has intended, that the Captain and his daughter have met their fate within it. In the meantime the Rajah has the Captain and the girl in his power. He tells the Captain that he will throw him into a cell and keep Dorothy for himself. The girl, as she sees her father dragged away, almost goes mad. Soma, the present favorite, but who has never won the love of the Rajah, as his heart is with the past, realizes the awful fate that is about to overtake the English girl, but can do little to help her. Fate steps in when the girl loses her mind under the strain, and the superstition of the Rajah places her beyond the earthly pale. The lieutenant has discovered the secret passage. His suspicion aroused, he makes his way to the palace and comes upon his sweetheart and the Hindoo girl. Dorothy regains her mind when she sees her lover. When the Rajah is about to enter, Soma, now the guardian angel of Dorothy tells the lieutenant that if he is to save the Captain and his daughter he must bring help. The lieutenant escapes through the secret passage and sends to a neighboring Post for a small company of cavalry. Meanwhile the Rajah has discovered that Dorothy has regained her mind. He brings forth the jewels that once bedecked Tara. He adorns her with the jewels, has the Captain brought before him and shows him his daughter dressed as a harem favorite. He gives orders to have the beasts, lions of the royal menagerie, starved. Soma has secreted herself in Dorothy's room, with the intention of stabbing the Rajah when he comes. The Captain is dragged forth to the jungle. The Rajah goes to bring Dorothy before he shall give the final order. The young Lieutenant arrives with his company and a battle ensues, as they are denied admittance to the palace. When the Captain is freed through this timely interference, he rushes to save his daughter and arrives just in time, as the arm of the brave Soma is not strong enough to deliver the death she intends. They find upon Dorothy the jewels that are sought by the English government.
- Who ate the possum pie? is the problem, and the evidence is so strong that any jury in the world would bring in a verdict of guilty, thereby convicting an innocent man and allowing the guilty to escape. Old Uncle Mose Jackson is seen entering his cabin with a very fine 'possum which he has captured, and he proceeds to make a 'possum pie and puts it in the oven to cook, and while it is cooking he falls asleep. A young darkey, passing the cabin detects the odor of 'possum pie, so dear to the colored race, and pushing the door open he discovers Uncle Mose asleep, and further search reveals the pie in the oven, which is now cooked, and Mister Darkey proceeds to cat it. After finishing the pie, he proceeds to start a false trail, and using the scraps that are left he greases the old man's face and hands. In due course the old fellow wakes up, and of course he goes straight to the oven, only to find that the pie is not there; he finds the soiled dishes and scraps on the table and he is sure somebody has robbed him while he slept until he discovers the greasy condition of his hands and face, which convinces him that he must have eaten the pie, but he is like "the man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still."
- Mrs. Pensonby Smythe is the frivolous young wife of an elderly millionaire whom she does not love. Mrs. Smythe's younger sister, Grace, is a member of the family. Mrs. Smythe secretly accompanies "Billie" Carrington, a social adventurer, to "The House of the Mask," a notorious gambling palace where the rich play in secret with masked faces. Belmont Blair, a gentleman gambler, sees and recognizes Mrs. Smythe when her mask accidentally falls from her face. Later in the evening Blair comes to her defense when Carrington makes a drunken attack upon her in a private lounging room in the gambling house. In the ensuing struggle Carrington is accidentally killed. Blair gets Mrs. Smythe out of the house before the body is discovered and with his aid she reaches home without detection. Captain Radcliffe, a noted criminal investigator, takes the case and in a pocket of the dead man's coat he finds a curious fan, the property of Mrs. Smythe. When Mrs. Smythe misses the fan, she is distraught and again turns to Blair for help. A costume ball is given at the Smythe country home in honor of the "coming out" of Grace, the younger sister, and Radcliffe and Blair are both present. Beside the fan, Radcliffe has evidence in his possession which convinces him Blair is the guilty man. Blair meets Grace and the two fall in love. That night he cleverly steals the fan from Radcliffe's room but is seen by Radcliffe himself. To escape Radcliffe, Blair is forced to take refuge in a room which proves to be Grace's sleeping-room and rather than compromise the girl by being discovered there he leaps from a window to the ground many feet below. The next morning Radcliffe discovers Blair in the act of burning the fan in a fireplace grate. He attempts to rescue it from the fire but Blair holds him back until the sole evidence against Mrs. Smythe has been destroyed. Radcliffe then produces his evidence against Blair and accuses him of killing Carrington. Blair is forced to admit his guilt, and although it would save him to divulge the woman's name, he remains silent. His love for the woman's sister and his own heart prompt him to sacrifice himself for a woman's reputation.
- Mary Harding and Frank Manley love each other and the old folks agree that they shall marry. A week later a mining expert, accompanied by Devoe, a stockholder, while prospecting, finds a rich vein of silver ore on the Harding farm. Frank witnesses this discovery and follows the two men to the farm house just in time to prevent the Hardings from selling their farm with its hidden treasures for a paltry sum of money. After a fierce fight Frank destroys the bill of sale and the Hardings are the possessors of a fortune. Devoe has been attracted by the beauty of Mary and he determines to win her and the wealth that will be hers. The next day Devoe calls and so turns the mother's head with his attention to herself and Mary that when Frank calls the scheming mother tells him that now they are rich "Mary can marry a better man." Poor Mary surrenders to her scheming mother and becomes betrothed to Devoe. The wedding day finds Mary bedecked in bridal finery, but most unhappy. Meanwhile, Frank has come for an explanation from his sweetheart. The English butler who orders him away is thrown down the stairway and Frank enters to find Devoe, who insolently bids him leave the house. Frenzied by such treatment, Frank knocks Devoe down and the two men have a terrific fight, which is interrupted by the entrance of the father with Mary's note. Frank dashes out to find her. The old man follows. Back in the old home once more. Mary in her old gingham dress needs only one thing to make her perfectly happy, that is Frank, who enters, and then, Old Father enters with the minister, who marries the couple.
- John Carlton is a writer and genius. After superhuman effort against the obstacles of poverty, he finishes his play. Being too poor to copyright it, he submits it to a producer, and in the stress of the moment, accepts as payment $100. The play is the talk of the hour and Carlton, knowing of its immense drawing powers, and being discouraged by the return of his book from the publisher with the usual note of no commercial value, he goes to the play's producer and demands a royalty. The producer taunts him with the lack of copyright and considers the episode closed. Carlton grasps a roll of bills from the table and attacks the manager. He is arrested and sentenced to six months in jail. When he emerges from his imprisonment his genius has died within him and in its place is a hatred of mankind. He makes his way to remote wilds. Here he comes upon a tragedy, the death of a woman, far from a doctor's service, and the death of her husband, who has been going for a doctor and has encountered wild animals. Carlton finds that he cannot desert a little seven-year-old girl that is left, and taking her and the squaw who is her only companion, ,he presses on to be farther away from the haunts of men, but not alone. Ten years later, the girl has grown to womanhood. Carlton has built a hut and has brought from civilization many evidences of his taste and culture. With a sort of insanity he guards his paradise from the invasion of men and breaks the law of man ruthlessly. While away on one of his mysterious journeys a young aristocrat, who has been hunting big game, is wounded by a stray shot and saved from death by the young princess of the mountains who comes upon him just as a puma is about to attack him. With the squaw she gets him to retreat. The friends of the hunter give him up for dead and leave the district. Carlton has now to return and find in the girl a love for the youth which he himself has begun to covet. With the added hatred of mankind to the jealousy of love, he determines to shoot the man but comes upon a tryst, and in the face of the girl he reads the story of her heart. He discloses his career to the young man, who, finding himself unable to overcome his love for her, exacts a promise that he, Carlton, will never see the girl again after he, the young hunter, makes the girl his wife. The girl, horrified to find the man she has idolized as her father, a bandit and a thief, turns with relief to her lover to be taken away from his neighborhood. And so after seeing them married he turns back to the retreat and the light goes out of his life. There seems nothing but death left but the hidden law is working even for him, as it has exacted toll from him. He reads in an old newspaper the story of an unwritten genius, whose book has set the world aflame and the royalties of which await the author, should he ever be found. This strange trick of fate is due to the fact that his old landlady, of former years, has picked up the book he supposed that he had left burning, and has herself submitted it, not claiming to be the author. Thus through the years he has been in his proper status in society without knowing it. Love conquers the heart of the girl and she insists upon returning to bid her foster father a more loving farewell. So in his darkest hour he learns the lesson of truth and allows himself to be persuaded to go back to the world he has deserted.
- The first scene shows the house of Mr. Leonard, a well-to-do lawyer. The father is seated, posed by his little son, a boy of ten years, whose talent and love for drawing leads him to sketch members of the household. The portrait of the father is finished, father and mother are delighted with this latest evidence of their son's artistic talent. A servant brings in a letter for the father. It is from the wife's brother, telling Mr. Leonard that he is sick and in trouble in New York. He begs his brother-in-law to come at once to his assistance, and to say nothing to his sister, Mr. Leonard's wife. Leonard bids good-bye to his wife without telling her where he is going. We next see the father on a ferryboat approaching New York City. A splendid view of vessels on the river and the wonderful skyscrapers in New York is shown in this picture. Reaching the city, Leonard goes to the address given by his brother-in-law, which is in the worst part of the great city. A thug volunteers to show Mr. Leonard to the street he is looking for; followed by two other thugs, Leonard is taken into a vacant room, in a tenement house, the thugs attack him, and after a terrific tight, Leonard is knocked senseless by a blow from a blackjack. The thugs steal his pocketbook, watch and even his clothes, and cover him up for dead in the deserted room. Two days pass. The wife is in anguish at having heard no word from her husband. She has appealed to the police to find Leonard and their report is that they can find no trace of him. Meanwhile, two boys looking for rags, in the tenement, uncover the body of Leonard. They run out and inform the police, who enter expecting to find the body of a murdered man. Leonard is alive, but his manner when the police question him, satisfies them that the blow he received has destroyed the unfortunate man's memory, since he cannot tell them who he is or how he came there. Twenty years pass. The son has become a well-known portrait painter. He is at work painting from life, an old man, a professional model. The model succumbs to the effect of the whiskey he has taken during the sitting, and is dismissed. The artist goes out on the street to find another old man for a model, and here we show one of the most pathetic scenes that has ever been thrown on the screen. Leonard, now a gray haired, worn out old ragpicker, comes along the street, followed and annoyed by a group of children, who almost pull the poor old beggar's clothes from his body. The artist drives the children away, and engages the old man as a model. We next see the father seated in the son's studio, posing for the painting, at which the son works industriously. The picture is complete. The son gives the old man more than his wages and bids him good-bye. After the old man has gone his mother enters. Proud of her son, and interested in everything he does, she is happy when he offers to show her his latest masterpiece. The mother looks at the picture of the old man; she staggers back and exclaims, "This is your father." The son dashes from the house, overtakes his father on the street and brings him back. The mother recognizes her husband, but she and all other happy recollections of the years past are lost to him. Our last scene shows the father in his son's home being questioned by a brain specialist. The doctor gets an idea. He has the mother bring him a portrait that the son drew the day the father disappeared. The old man gazes at the portrait and the mist lifts from his brain. He turns to his wife with a cry of joy and' embraces her. He has come back into his own.
- Stanley Clark seduces innocent young Marion in a hotel room, then tears out the incriminating page from the hotel register to use for blackmailing. Years later, Marion marries Governor John Loring whose brother, Richard, overhears Clark extorting money from Marion. Richard follows Marion to Clark's room where she begs for more time to raise the required money. As Richard fights with Clark, Marion picks up a gun and accidentally shoots and kills the blackmailer. Richard takes the blame for the murder, is convicted and sentenced to be executed. Out of guilt and fear, Marion remains silent during the trial, but eventually tells her husband the truth. In order to save his brother, John sacrifices the governorship and moves his family to another city.
- Professor Tompkins, of Boston, is in Egypt, looking for specimens of ancient pottery. His Egyptian servant unearths a peculiar looking casket, and breaks it open. A cloud of smoke arises and from it the enormous figure of a Geni appears. In gratitude for his release the Geni presents to the professor a silver charm, saying: "Who holds this charm shall have every wish granted." A puff of smoke and the Geni is gone. Tompkins wishes that he were home. He and his wife each believe the other to be ghosts. The Irish maid enters, sees the professor, drops her tray of dishes and collapses on a sofa. Later. The maid in dusting smashes a costly vase. The professor wishes the vase whole, and the maid, to show her gratitude, hugs him. Wifey comes in, sees this, and there is a picnic. The professor is explaining to his wife the wonder of the charm. A tramp comes up begging. A touch of the charm and Weary Will holds a sandwich and a bottle of beer. The tramp figures that anything that will bring beer and food so easily is too good for anybody else. He grabs the charm and dashes off with it, and now the fun begins. The professor and his wife, after chasing the tramp, are made to do a funny run backward. Perry, the dude, offended by the tramp's offer of a drink of beer from his "growler," is made to exchange clothes with the tramp. A driver beating a small mule is made to take the mule's place, and the mule is seen seated on the wagon enjoying his first ride. A man and his wife quarrel and fight over the mysterious disappearance of a growler of beer brought about by the tramp and his charm. They suddenly stop fighting, hug and kiss each other. A man and his girl drive up in an auto and the man goes into a house, The tramp flirts with the girl; he touches the charm; the automobile jumps across the street, the tramp enters and rides off with the girl. The girl's beau comes running up with a policeman, who is about to arrest the tramp. The policeman arrests the real owner of the auto and pulls him off to the station. The girl is made to kiss and hug the tramp. She sees the charm, asks about it, and the tramp explains. The girl seizes the charm and says to the tramp, "Go to the devil." His Satanic Majesty comes up out of the ground, seizes the tramp and pulls him down below.
- Kindheart is a shepherd employed by Infirmity. He woos Devotion, the daughter of his employer. Valor, the girl's brother, discountenances Kindheart's presumption, and strikes the simple shepherd in the face, but the humble lad refuses to retaliate, explaining that he cannot harm anyone. Valor brands him a coward before a gathering throng. Later Valor, while hunting in the mountains, falls to the bottom of a ravine, and is badly wounded. Kindheart finds him and carries him to his home. Valor begs forgiveness for his former hostility and the two swear eternal friendship. Ewes straying from the herd are devoured by a panther, Finding the trail of blood, Kindheart follows it to the panther's lair, and kills the beast. Valor witnesses the deed and proclaims Kindheart's fearlessness to the villagers. Valor removes all his objections to Kindheart's marriage to his sister. The lovers' troth is plighted and Devotion becomes the promised wife of Kindheart. Later, while the wedding is being celebrated, Braggart, a recruiting sergeant, with a company of soldiers, makes his appearance and announces that war involving their country has been declared. All the able-bodied men of the village enlist, except Kindheart, who exclaims: "I cannot shed the blood of my brothers." Everybody turns against him except his wife, Devotion, and Infirmity. The months pass. A baby is born to Devotion and Kindheart. Near the village is the camp of a company of renegade soldiers, who raid the community, killing many helpless women and children, among them being Devotion, her baby and Infirmity. Returning from the hills Kindheart is horrified at the sight that greets his eyes. On the walls of his home he discovers a picture with a bloody hand imprint clearly defined, and he swears to find its owner. With his violin and the bloody imprint he starts on his mission. Time passes. Kindheart's face becomes haggard and his hair unkempt. He wanders from camp to camp within the enemy's lines, a wandering musician, telling fortunes. By means of a smoked glass, a method of his telling fortunes, he obtains fingerprints. These he scans at night in the hope of finding the replica of that on the bloody picture which he always carries. His wanderings lead him to a wayside inn. Here Lust and Loot, the soldiers who killed his family, and their companions, are making merry. Kindheart enters and Lust commands him to tell his fortune. As he looks at the sooty imprint on the paper before him Kindheart recognizes the impression and knows he has come upon his family's murderer. The soldiers fall asleep. Kindheart withdraws the bloody print and compares it with the sooty paper. The marks are the same. Lust awakens and sees Kindheart making the comparison. He is about to kill Kindheart when the shepherd springs upon him, and avenges the death of his loved ones. Kindheart dashes off on a horse belonging to one of the soldiers, and days later he comes upon a detachment of the enemy's troops. In his madness to kill Kindheart seizes the rifle of a fallen soldier. In fiendish glee his rifle sends missiles of death for his own brothers. The directing officer raising his sword to call a charge falls with a bullet in his brain. Kindheart assumes his place. The battle is a hand-to-hand conflict. In the foreground Kindheart meets Valor. Not recognizing each other the two engage in a furious fight. Valor falls wounded and as Kindheart bends over him, he recognizes Valor. Night finds him still beside Valor's body. A party of soldiers, gathering the dead, come and take the body away and Kindheart is left alone. At last he is in his native mountains again. An untended flock of sheep is scattered about. A lamb lies in the foreground with a broken leg. Kindheart looks about him. He tenderly picks up the lamb and soothes it like a child as the picture fades.
- When sober, a better father than John Claton could not be found, but, alas! both Grace and Frank knew to their sorrow that when under the influence of liquor their father was quite a different man. This he fully illustrated as he came in to-day, and when Frank attempted to shield his sister from the old man's abuse, he was savagely ordered from the house. Jain Buckstone, who had come in during the quarrel, was greatly elated because Frank was out of the way. He had but to supply Claton with liquor and pretty Grace would soon be forced to listen to him. The old man, all unconscious of the other's thoughts, demanded his companion's flask. No, not one drop should he have. With an oath, Claton sprang upon him, but, being no match for the younger man, was mercilessly hurled over the cliff. Now, at last, Grace should be his be determined, as he stumped hurriedly along, and, upon reaching their cottage, opened the door and stepped boldly inside. Frank who, during his year's absence in the West, had struck it rich, and hastening home to bring the glad tidings to his father and sister, reached the garden just as Buckstone entered the house. He was, therefore, in time to administer a thorough thrashing to the drunkard, while Claton, who had almost marvelously escaped with only a sprained ankle, and now came limping in, wished to have it repeated. Fully realizing the dreadful havoc which liquor had almost wrought, John Claton swore never again to touch the poisonous fluid, and from that day to this, he has kept his word.
- David McCare, the love liar, is a musical genius, the idol of society, hated by men and worshiped by women. He casts off his mistress, Margie Gay, for a new love, Diana Strongwell, an heiress. Margie pleads with him to take her back, but McCare gets rid of her through the services of Ludwig, his valet, and a broken-down musician. Ludwig is also in love with Margie. McCare marries Diana, much to the chagrin of Edna Carewe, a friend of Diana's, who is also attracted by the musician. They live happily for a short tune until McCare becomes discontented and makes advances to Edna. Meanwhile Margie finds the narrow path a stony one. A woman of the streets suggests the easiest way. Margie shrinks but finally consents. The first man she accosts is Ludwig, who leads her to her home and offers marriage. She is reluctant at first, but eventually agrees, and they are married. At a dinner dance given by Diana, she catches McCare making love to Edna. Diana denounces Edna and demands that she leave her home. McCare answers that if Edna goes he, too, will leave. And so husband and wife are parted. In time Diana divorces the "love liar" and he marries Edna. Diana advises Edna later that McCare is an overgrown child, and that in order to keep his love he must be pampered. A year passes. Edna, with the aid of Diana's advice, has made the "love liar" happy. One night in a café he sees Arlene Allaire, a hall-room dancer. At home Edna has given birth to a baby and though it will live, it is evident that its birth will bring death to the mother. Diana, who is at the side of Edna, rushes out to find McCare, and locates him in the café, where he has assumed the leadership of the orchestra and is directing Arlene's dance music. At the news of his wife's illness McCare is stricken with dumb surprise and hurries home. Edna dies in his arms. For days McCare lived in an abstracted mood, watched over by Ludwig and Diana. One day as he plays his violin a vision of Arlene passes before his eyes. He throws off hid brooding mood and goes back to the café and to Arlene. Her bills have been paid by McCare's checks until one day a number of them come back stamped "No Funds," and from that moment on Van Allen, who had been previously paying for everything for the dancer, finds himself again welcome at her apartments. It is here that McCare finds him one evening. The men fight; the police are called and McCare is arrested, but Arlene refuses to make any charge and McCare is simply put out into the street. Ludwig takes McCare home, and there Margie and he care for the wrecked man. But McCare cannot blot the image of Arlene from his mind and he returns to the café where Arlene is dancing, securing employment as a musician. Here Diana finds him. She begs him to tell her his troubles. He breaks down and confesses his love for Arlene. In time drink claimed him, too, and McCare sank lower. Time passed and McCare became desperate with love and jealousy. One night while Arlene is dancing a madness overcomes him. He dashes his violin to the floor, takes Arlene up in his arms and starts with her up the grand stairway to the café. The attendants attempt to overpower him, but he throws them off, and drawing a revolver, compels Arlene, who has scurried away, to come to the foot of the stairs. Covering the startled crowd, he speaks to Arlene, "You've taken all my heart, my honor, my manhood. At your feet I fling the dregs." He shoots himself and falls down the stairway to Arlene's feet. Diana took him home and the "love liar" lived another day, forever calling upon the name of she who had shown him Hell. Diana, ever his friend, went to Arlene's apartment and pleaded with her to come to McCare's bedside. She refuses at first, so Diana poured the contents of her purse at her feet. Thus bribed, Arlene consented to go, and in her arms the soul of the "love liar" passed. When all are gone and Diana is left alone with her dead, she takes him in her arms, for at last he belongs to her, to her alone.
- Hope Hathaway, motherless and fatherless, has been afflicted with a spinal disease that has prevented the use of her limbs since childhood, confining her to an invalid's chair. On his deathbed Hope's father, a prosperous New England farmer, had left his daughter and her inheritance to the guardianship of his legal adviser, Rufus Flint, and had expressed a wish that she would one day marry Rufus' son, Abner. Thus he aroused the selfish ambitions of Rufus Flint and his son, who possessed the prosperous Hathaway farm. Hope is protected from their constant persecution and efforts to force her into a distasteful marriage with Abner by her faithful old colored nurse, Susie. In the nearby village a moving picture company is working, producing a romantic drama that is to feature the famous moving picture star, Neil Stuart. While the company is lunching, Neil goes for a canter over the country roads, attired in his King's costume and riding the beautiful white charger that he uses in the picture play, in search of water to quench his thirst, he comes upon Hope as she sits in a wooded grove near the Hathaway farm, dreaming over her latest romantic novel. The hero of her novel, as he is pictured in the book, is identical with the character of the King, for which Neil is costumed and to Hope it seems as if her hero lover had stepped in the flesh from the covers of her book to confront her. Discovering Neil's presence on the farm Rufus and Abner attempt to expel him, but they meet with unexpected resistance and are driven away themselves. The next afternoon the moving picture company start for the city and Neil decides to pay a farewell call to the little dreamer in the invalid chair. Finding a ready sympathizer in her hero, Hope tells him of Rufus and Abner Flint's persecution and he gives the old colored nurse his telephone number with instructions that she should call him in case of her mistress' need. Soon after, Rufus decides to bring matters to a speedy climax. He is a Justice of the Peace himself, so he plans to marry Hope to his son by force. They lock Susie in the barn by a clever ruse and after procuring a license proceed to perform the ceremony, but Susie escapes, phones Neil that Hope is in trouble, and he, true to his word, burns the road in his car to the Hathaway place. He arrives too late to prevent the ceremony and Susie tells him that Abner has already started off with Hope on their wedding journey. Incensed at the outrage, Neil gives chase in his car and overtakes Abner and his unwilling bride. Abner's horses run away and the coward jumps to save his own life, leaving the crippled girl to her fate. Entrusting the steering wheel to his chauffeur, Neil leaps to the running board of his car and succeeds in stopping the runaway horses. Abner's leap for life results fatally to him, for his father finds him dead at the edge of the road. Neil takes Hope to his mother's home and soon by the magic of love and science a wonderful change is wrought. A famous specialist restores to Hope the use of her limbs and in the arms of Neil she finds her Land of Heart's Desire.
- Young English engineer Richard Mann has been commissioned to make a preliminary survey for a new railroad in South Africa. At a farewell luncheon at his club, the charm of the ultra-fashionable young ladies of the metropolis is the topic of discussion. The subject does not interest young Mann, who assures his friends that his work will always be his bride. In the Transvaal, the Boer population is resentful towards all modern improvements and particularly against the proposed encroachment of their lands for railroad purposes. Jan Kruger, a prosperous farmer and leader among his neighbors, was particularly bitter against any and all changes in the general conditions of their country. His daughter, Hilda, a sweet and lovable young miss, quite naturally was a partisan to her father's views. These were the conditions that Richard was obliged to contend with upon his arrival at the field of his activities, in addition to the hardships of his work and the dangers of the wild beast-infested jungle through which he was to blaze the way. Hontas, a half-breed, was Kruger's foreman and had long cherished a wild desire to win Hilda's love. While the old Burgher was away from home one day, Hontas, after being repulsed by the girl, attempts to use force, for which he receives a beating from her father, and is summarily discharged. Kruger is a man of violent temper and given to beating any lazy blacks who worked for him and has thus earned their hatred, which fact the discharged foreman uses for his purpose later on. The surveying party pitch their camp near Kruger's land and in the course of events, Richard calls upon Kruger with his credentials, but is ordered away at the point of a rifle. Hilda joins her father in berating the intruders. A few days later Richard rescues Hilda from the violence of the half-breed and wins her gratitude and also the knowledge that she is a most adorable young lady, and proceeds to mentally compare her with the fashion plates of his country. The appearance of the surveying party causes the Burghers to hold a meeting at the trading post, and Richard plans to attend this meeting to plead his cause. Hontas learns of the proposed all night absence of Hilda's father and plans to seize this opportunity to carry her off, enlisting the help of several of Kruger's resentful blacks to accomplish his purpose. Richard proceeds alone upon his mission, but is beset by lions in the dense jungle and forced to return to camp and in doing so is obliged to pass through Kruger's land. Hilda hears the approach of the vengeful half-breed and his followers and makes a brave resistance, but outnumbered, she is surprised from behind by one of the crafty blacks. Richard arrives upon the scene in time to save the girl from her captors, whom he puts to flight. The cowardly half-breed, knowing that quick justice awaits him if caught, seeks the darkness of the jungle for safety. The lions which blocked Richard's path, have been driven from their haunts by hunger and have invaded the outskirts of the settlement, surprising Hontas in his flight. A short pursuit, a vain struggle and Hilda was avenged by lions.
- Robert Jordan, a young lawyer, is the happy husband of a charming young wife, and the father of a beautiful little girl. Ralph Deland, a good looking scoundrel, pretends friendship for the husband, although caring only for the wife. The child, playing in the garden with her father, runs back into the parlor for her Teddy bear. She sees the villain embracing her mother, and runs out into the garden to tell her father that the bad man is hurting her mother. The infuriated husband enters the room just as the wife is releasing herself from the embraces of Deland. Jordan restrains himself until Deland has left the room, then he demands an explanation. The wife protests her innocence and Jordan is convinced that she has been blameless. But one thought now possesses his mind: he must kill the scoundrel who so wronged his good wife. He takes a revolver from his desk, but his little girl comes in, and the sight of her sweet face makes him give up all thought of revenge. Later in the evening Deland calls, and by bribing the butler, secures an interview with the woman he has insulted. He assures her that he has only come to apologize. A door is heard to open. The husband has entered the house. The wife realizes that if Deland is found there, her husband will kill him. She persuades Deland to hide in the pantry. Jordan enters and sits at the desk, at work over legal papers. Hours pass. Jordan hears a noise in the adjoining room. Thinking it is a burglar, he takes his revolver and hides behind the portière. Deland opens the pantry door slowly and goes toward the hall entrance. Jordan calls to him to stop, and as Deland starts to run, Jordan fires, killing him. Jordan telephones to police headquarters that he has shot a burglar. The police arrive and an ambulance surgeon finds in Deland's coat the note in which Jordan has threatened to kill Deland. Jordan is arrested and, taken away by the police, despite his protestations of innocence. We next see Jordan in a prison cell; a warden brings him a letter from his wife telling him that the Governor has commuted his death sentence to imprisonment. Twelve years pass. The child, now a beautiful woman of nineteen, is at the Convent of the Sacred Heart; accompanied by a nun, she walks out with her mother to the railway station. Convicts are repairing the road. The mother recognizes in one of the striped unfortunates her husband. The poor father bids the mother not to let their child know. The trio pass on. Jordan stands looking sadly after the two beings he loves so well. The convicts fight the guards and Jordan runs away. He is followed by two guards, and after thrilling fights and a unique ride, he climbs the wall of the very convent in which his daughter is a pupil. Father and child meet, and a pathetic scene is interrupted by one of the nuns. The guards are seen coming up. The father hides behind a shrine, and the daughter pleads with the nun to save her father, an innocent man. The guards question the nun. A pause. Will the good sister break her vow? She feels a despairing child's hand touch hers, and she tells a white lie, the lie that is sometimes more benevolent than truth. The guards pass on and Jordan is saved. After a few days, in the disguise of a gardener. Jordan, accompanied by his wife and child, sails for England. Our closing scene shows a happy, reunited family, as they sit down to their evening meal, and as they voice their gratitude to the Father of all, a vision of the nun is seen, her hands spread in benediction over the man whom she saved with a white lie.
- A cowboy challenges a magician to catch a bullet in his teeth. Things go awry and the cowboy winds up in jail.
- Frank Howard, a young mining engineer, is in love with Marion Stockbridge, a New York society girl, who is likewise a coquette. Frank comes accidentally upon a little scene in the garden of the Stockbridge mansion, in which he sees his sweetheart being embraced and kissed by one of his friends. Frank writes a note to Marion telling her that he is about to start for Mexico and that he leaves her to his successful rival. Our next scene shows the courtyard of the home of President Alvarez of the Conchita Silver Mining Company in northern Mexico. Frank has just begun his work as an engineer in the company's mine, and is making a report to the president when Anita, the daughter of Alvarez, enters, is introduced to Frank and proceeds promptly to fall in love with him. Her affection is requited; but Alvarez, the father of the girl, has planned to have her marry Valdez, a wealthy Mexican. A week or two later, Frank is seen enjoying the company of the beautiful Mexican girl, Anita, who is singing a love song, accompanying herself on the guitar. Valdez enters. He draws a knife and is about to stab Frank in the back, but the girl turning quickly causes Valdez to forego his plan of revenge until Anita has left the two men alone. Then Valdez denounces Frank and strikes him. A fight ensues. Valdez draws a knife, with which he attempts to kill Frank. Frank seizes the knife and contents himself by turning Valdez over his knee and spanking him. Alvarez and Anita have entered and seen this performance. Alvarez, furiously angry, orders Frank from the house, and informs him that he is dismissed from the service of the company. Later in the day, Frank, on horseback, is met by Anita, who has come to bid him goodbye. He tells her of his love and persuades her to elope with him. A wild gallop carries them on Frank's horse across the border, and the old Justice of the Peace at Rattlesnake Pass makes them man and wife. He also misdirects Valdez, who has ridden up in pursuit. We now see Frank and Anita happy in their little home. Frank finds a rich deposit of silver ore and makes preparations to go to Galveston to interest capitalists in his find. Meanwhile, he receives a photograph from Marion, his first sweetheart. On it she has written: "I was mistaken; I love only you. Come back to me. Marion." Frank puts this photograph into the pocket of his working jacket, and later, Anita, in hanging his coat upon a nail, drops the photograph and picks it up. She reads the message, and seeing Frank packing his valise is prompted by jealousy to believe that he is about to leave her for the other woman. In her frenzy she determines to kill her husband rather than permit him to leave her. She takes from Frank's cabinet of chemicals a bottle of poison and puts some of it into the coffee. Here follows a most dramatic scene: a devoted wife, crazed by jealousy, awaiting the death of the man she loves, and determined to kill herself after he has taken the poison. Luckily Frank notices Anita's peculiar movements; he questions her, and, unable to restrain herself, she shows the portrait and accuses him of infidelity. Frank makes fun of her jealousy and deliberately tears up the photograph. Convinced by this action that Frank does not love the other woman, Anita embraces and kisses Frank. He suggests they finish their supper, and is about to lift the fatal cup to his lips when Anita seizes it and dashes the contents on the floor, and Frank is left to wonder at the queer action of his Mexican bride.
- Symbolisms: "The Trap." Scene 1: A bear trap on the ground; a man's hand enters the picture from above, presses down the jaws, shows how they work, and as they spring back into place his hand begins to scatter the leaves over the trap. Scene 2: Close-up of a saloon doorway, showing the swing doors opening in and springing back to place. The movement is the same as the bear trap. "The Bait." Scene 3: A bear trap is shown on the ground covered with leaves. A man's hand enters from above with a leg of meat. He holds it above the trap for a moment then lays it gently on the trap. Scene 4: The saloon swing doors are again drawn back by unseen bands and as they open just wide enough to make a panel in center of picture "Margot, the bait," is shown sitting on the edge of a table, and talking and laughing to unseen people. "The Game." Scene 5: Close-up is shown of rocky background. A puma is shown coming from behind the rocks with a snarl. Scene 6: Close-up of exterior of barroom doors. Camera shows Ed Mitchell, the stranger, halt intoxicated and a man's hand on his shoulder trying to lead him into the barroom. He registers disinclination, laughs in maudlin manner. Man's hand urges him in. Camera then shows Tom, the gambler, with his arms reaching out toward Mitchell; he opens doors and gently pushes Mitchell through. The story opens in a symbolic vein: the bait, the game, the trap. The analogy is drawn between the catching of big game with the usual bait in the trap, and the luring of big game with the bait of lovely but pathetic Margot, victim of a low man whom she believes to be her husband, and who has her in his power through a hold upon her father. The bait is sent into the saloon to fleece "the stranger" with the big roll. He discovers the game, the trap and the bait and a shooting tray takes place. Tom, the gambler, is badly wounded, and his partner in the game, "Old Bill," is slightly injured. Margot, believing Tom dead, escapes with her father. The scene then switches to the big trapping vicinity of which Bruce Powell, the trapper is the big man. He is shown trapping pumas. "Old Bill" and Margot make their way across country. A trap has been laid for game and "Old Bill," stumbling with exhaustion and illness, falls into it. Margot's screams attract Powell, who hurries to the scene. He carries the old man to his cabin where he expires after confessing to Margot that Tom was not her husband. The trapper soon learns to love the girl. Four months later they are happily married when the vultures, headed by Tom, arrive in the community, having exhausted the old fields. The wages have been dissipated and the next check being belated the trappers mutter and rebel against Powell, the paymaster, holding him responsible. Powell draws his own earnings from the bank and by announcing that the money is forthcoming stems the tide of rebellion. The father of Greta, the child of a neighbor, cared for by Margot, spends his hours in the saloon gambling and drinking. Margot, with Greta, goes to the saloon to get the derelict and is discovered by Tom. He follows her to her cabin. Powell has placed his money in his home for safekeeping. Tom makes Margot give him the money while Powell is absent. Arriving home he discovers his loss and attributes the crime to some outsider. The men, hearing of it, are calmed by the arrival of the belated payroll. Meantime, Tom fleeces the trappers of their remaining wages. Powell comes to the saloon and announces that the men are to be paid. Tom recognizes the purse of Margot, which Powell carries, and makes reflections upon Margot's character. Powell threatens to kill him if he finds he lies. In the meantime the trappers have left the bunk house for the paying station. Tom steals the money which the trappers have pooled from their earnings, leaving the big knife of Powell to deflect the blame. Tom then goes to Powell's cabin and demands that Margot turn over the money to him. She promises to meet him later with the money. Mitchell, the stranger, who also comes to the community, overhears the conversation. Margot meets Tom. The scene is witnessed by Powell from the distance. Margot leads Tom to a trap, killing him. The trappers, receiving no money and finding their fund stolen, suspect Powell through finding his knife. They hurry to string him up and find him lifting the dead Tom from the trap. Mitchell suggests that they search the body of Tom. The stolen money is found. Mitchell then looks at the fainting Margot and the stricken trapper. He leads the mob away from the scene, saying that the settlement is between these two souls. Powell's arm goes around Margot in love and protection and they go toward their cabin.
- This particular Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed were the happiest couple on earth, because they had just bidden good-bye to their guests of the summer. They were now alone to enjoy their rest and quiet and also to resume their long-interrupted honeymoon. To their great horror and dismay when returning from the depot they received news that an old crabbed uncle of Mr. Newlywed's was on his way to visit them and if, when having met his nephew's wife, he finds her the sweet and amiable character he has been told she is, he will make his home with them permanently. They are in despair until Suzanne, the maid, passes through the room. Like a flash, the idea come to Mrs. Newlywed to have Suzanne impersonate the wife and meet the uncle in her stead. Mr. Newlywed falls in with his wife's scheme and hurries to the depot to meet the uncle. In the meantime, Mrs. Newlywed tells Suzanne what she is to do and coaches her in her part. Upon arriving at the house, old Uncle Skyndike grudgingly compliments Mr. Newlywed on the good taste shown in their new home, and also shows great impatience to meet the young wife. The husband in fear and trembling calls Suzanne and awaits developments. Suzanne enters carelessly dressed in a discarded evening gown of her mistress. Instead of meeting a woman of culture, refinement and gentility, Uncle Skyndike is horrified beyond measure to meet with vulgarity, ill-temper and utter coarseness. Acting her part to such perfection, Suzanne finally causes the old man to renounce all kinship and acquaintance with the Newlyweds and runs from the house in fear of his very life. Thanks to Suzanne the young couple are left in freedom to enjoy their long expected and much desired honeymoon.
- A laboring man returns to the wretched attic room that shelters himself and his sick wife after a fruitless search for any work that will save them from starvation. The sick wife's pitiful pleadings for food drive the despairing husband to resolve that he will get money regardless of the means. We see the poor fellow begging from a well-to-do gentleman and his richly clad wife in front of their mansion. The rich man refuses the poor laborer's plea, and the latter, hardened by despair, snatches the silver purse from the hand of the lady and runs away with it, pursued by the rich man and a policeman. A thrilling man hunt follows. The laborer jumps over a fence and thinking he is safe he goes into a grocery store and buys some food, wine, and firewood. As he comes out full of the happy thought that he can bring food and warmth to his suffering wife, the policeman seizes him. A struggle, short but exciting, follows. The laborer knocks the policeman down and escapes. The laborer enters his attic room and forgets his dangerous position at sight of his wife's smiling face when he shows her the food and wine, and explains that he has "found some money." Footsteps are heard. The husband hides the purse just as the policeman enters the room. Deaf to the agonizing appeals of the sick wife to release her husband, the policeman drags the poor wretch toward the door. At this moment the rich man enters. At a glance he realizes the awful situation of the poor laborer. A generous tip to the police secures the release of the laborer: the purse is given back and the benevolent rich man offers his hand of friendship to the laborer, then exits. When the man has gone, the dumbfounded victim of a terrible temptation finds in his hand a hundred dollar bill. With a cry of joy the poor laborer clasps his wife in his arms and hope shines in their faces.
- Having conquered the Bungangetas and destroyed their village, Stanley and his party move onward to find Ada, who has been kidnapped by Andrea and taken through the jungle to reach Andrea's home. Jack, Ada's sweetheart, becomes impatient at the slow progress, and hurries ahead. In the jungle a tiger separates Andrea and Ada. She takes refuge in the hollow of a giant tree trunk where she finds some lion cubs. As she fondles them the lioness approaches and plunges at Ada, who drops prone to the ground. Her presence of mind has saved her for the animal, mystified, stands over her for a moment and then returns to her cubs. Ada silently rolls into a creek running close by. Ada unsuspectingly walks into the camp of the Babusosses, a band of crocodile worshipers, while they are making the religious sacrifice of throwing their girl-babies to the crocodiles. She denounces the ceremony and as the headman tosses an infant form into the water. Ada swims after and rescues it. A giant monster of the deep makes its way toward Ada but Jack, who has just arrived on the scene, takes in the situation at a glance, and swimming to her aid brings her to the shore unharmed. The incident is witnessed from the distance by Andrea who, realizing in it an opportunity to gain possession of Ada. explains to the headman that the act is a desecration to the Babusosses idol, and incites them to punish the malefactors. Andrea holds a peculiar authority over the Babusosses. At his command they tie Jack to a stake and send for a witch-doctor to marry Andrea and Ada. Preparations for the ceremony are well underway when native scouts report the approach of Stanley. The active force is divided into sections to meet the invaders. A pitched battle follows. Stanley's party is compelled to retreat and Stanley is captured. Ada and Jack escape, however. Not to be thwarted Andrea, now the spokesman for the victors, sends word to Ada that he will release Stanley if she will surrender herself to him. reminding her that Stanley has done so much to help her that she should not deny him. He adds unless she consents he will kill Stanley. The party is at its wits end at this news. Proceeding further in order to be out of the range of the Babusosses and to formulate plans for regaining Stanley, they meet Livingston. The forces of the two parties united, an attack is made upon Andrea with the result that the Babusosses are overwhelmingly Stanley and Livingston and Jack are united, and all the expedition turned into success.
- John Wilson is the owner of a ranch in Wyoming. He goes out to his work, leaving his devoted wife and the beautiful little boy, five years old, his son Willie. Grey Eagle, a peaceful but hungry Indian, who has been kicked out of the ranch-house several times, comes again to beg for food. The child, fascinated by the Indian's beadwork, gets him food and permits the Indian to take a bottle of whiskey. As the mother enters, the Indian goes out, followed a few minutes later by the child. We next see the Indian in the woods, enjoying a drink of whiskey, and the child approaches. Little Willie gives to the Indian a silver charm that one of the cowboys had presented to him that morning. The Indian and child are met by a cowboy from the ranch, who sends the child back towards home, and the Indian in another direction. As soon as the cowboy is out of sight the child again follows the Indian, is lost in the woods, and in a very pretty scene, after saying his prayer, the child lies down and goes to sleep. Meanwhile, the Indian, in trying to remove the cork from the bottle, has cut his finger and blood from the cut runs on his garments. Grey Eagle finishes his whiskey and falls asleep in the bushes. The mother of the child, alarmed by his absence, goes in search of him, and meeting the father, tells him of the child's prolonged absence. Cowboy Dick rides up and tells of having seen the child with the Indian. The mother is crazed with fearful foreboding, and the father starts off with a number of his cowboys to find the Indian and the child. The Indian is found asleep and dead drunk. One of the cowboys notices the silver charm hanging to the Indian's coat, and recognizes it as the one he had given to the child that morning. Then the bloodstains on the Indian's sleeve satisfy the distracted father and the enraged cowboys that the Indian has, in a drunken fury, killed the child. They seize Grey Eagle, tie him to a tree, and with threats of death, try to compel the poor Indian to tell them where the child is. The Indian's only answer to their demand is a shake of the head, indicating that he does not know. Wilson orders the Indian to be tortured by fire to compel him to tell where the child is. The cowboys bring dry brushwood and pile it around the Indian. One of them lights a match and sets fire to the wood. Meanwhile, shorty, a cowboy, returning to the ranch, stumbles across little Willie, fast asleep in the hushes. He picks the child up and dashes upon horseback toward the ranch house. The flames are creeping nearer the Indian, Grey Eagle. The father begs the Indian to tell where the child is. The Indian shakes his head; he does not know. The flames are just reaching the Indian's feet when a cry is heard. Up dashes Shorty with the child in front of him. The father grasps his beloved little boy, the cowboys scatter the fire and release Grey Eagle, none the worse for his terrible close call. Our last scene shows the mother praying to God to restore her child, As if in answer to her prayer, the father appease, carrying little Willie in his arms. With a cry of joy the mother seizes and kisses her little darling.
- Hallett, a stock speculator, urgently needs $10,000, and he borrows that sum from his friend Bradford, giving as security for the loan the famous Hallett diamond necklace, valued at $50,000. The necklace is placed in Bradford's safe. A week passes. Hallett calls, prepared to pay the loan, and demands his diamond necklace. Bradford goes to the safe, takes out the case, and Hallett opens it. The necklace is not there. Bradford and his wife are astonished and Hallett, furious, tells Bradford that unless the necklace is in his hands by the following day he will turn the matter over to the police. Bradford sends to New York for a detective. The detective sees the butler place a note under a vase. The detective reads the note, which is to the French maid, asking her to meet the butler in the woods. On the trail! We see the detective following the butler through the woods; the butler with a mysterious air hands the maid a package. The detective draws his handcuffs, creeps nearer. The maid opens the box and takes from it some candy. Midnight. Bradford is in despair. To-morrow will bring disgrace. The detective is baffled. Suddenly footsteps are heard. The two men hide. A figure in white enters the library. It is Bradford's wife. She is walking in her sleep. The two men see her go to the library safe, then, as if remembering something, she goes out into the garden. She searches about the roots of a large plant, and placing something in the bosom of her robe, she goes back into the house, followed by her husband and the detective. The sleeping woman opens the safe, places the diamond necklace into the case, locks the safe and goes out. Bradford runs to the safe, opens it, takes out the case, sees the necklace, and he and the detective collapse in surprise.
- Lem Hardon swore to make Jack Thorne answer with his life for coining between Beth Stivers and himself. The mountain man invariably regards the valley man with suspicion and distrust, and Jack Thorne was a valley man, while he and Beth were mountain folk. God had intended this woman for him and he meant to hold his own. He had watched their many meetings with gathering wrath, but today Jack had dared kiss Beth. Lem took careful aim at his rival's head, when, all unconscious of the dancer that threatened her sweetheart. Beth stepped between Jack and the gun. Perhaps it was better so, although undeserving he would challenge Jack, but Beth would have none of it, and sternly commanded Lem to depart. With happy eyes, Beth stood watching her lover until he disappeared, when suddenly she beheld Lem making his way down the mountain side. Instantly she knew what it meant; it was useless to call him now, but with the blind hope that she might overtake him, she ran wildly down the mountain. Lem had overtaken his rival and bound his feet to a tree, then tying his head to a boulder, he poised it in the air to dash over the precipice, when Beth reached them. Quick as a flash, she cut the rope with her knife. Lem, not having heard her approach, rushed up the mountain. A year later Lem enters Jack's home to be revenged, but the sight that met his eyes no man could withstand and harbor murder in his heart, the happy, innocent face of a tiny babe, it was her baby. Jack Thorne had made her his wife, and he, Lem, had been wrong. God had lawfully given her to another. Lem fled to the rock where Beth and Jack had plighted their troth, and there, humble and repentant, asked forgiveness and guidance of his Maker.
- Johnny Jones, a typical novel-reading lad, tries to beat his way into the tent of Texas Bill's Wild West Show. Our first scene shows the show tent, with Indians, cowboys and Western girl. Johnny is caught and fired out. He knocks over Big Chief, who is about to kill him, when Arizona Nell takes a hand and saves Johnny from the mad Indian. The Chief contents himself with kicking Johnny out of sight. Johnny gets even by bending his baseball bat over the Chief's rear end. The Chief draws a huge knife and goes after Johnny's scalp. Johnny reaches home late and his old maid aunt sends him supperless to bed. But hunger and a desire to finish the thrilling story, "The Boy Scout," impel Johnny to come back to the dining room to enjoy some cake and his novel. A noise startles him. He goes to the window, and sees the four Indians. Seizing a revolver, Johnny lies in wait. The Indians enter. Johnny shoots the Chief and the other Indians seize him. Aunt enters while the Indians are eating and drinking, she is seized, and the Indians grab her hair to scalp her. But her wig flies off at the first pull, and the Indians after a tussle, kill her. Johnny, who has crawled out during the scrimmage, sees all this through the window. He runs off, followed by the Indians. Now follow exciting scenes, Arizona Nell finds Johnny in the woods almost exhausted. She gives him a knife, and they run off as the Indians approach. Nell is captured and tied to a tree. Johnny comes up, and after a terrific fight with Lone Wolf kills him and releases Nell. Johnny is captured, The Indians hang him by the feet from a tree and build a fire under him. Left alone, Johnny struggles, raises himself up and bites through the rope, just as the flames are reaching him. With a shriek of terror he falls into the fire. And then Johnny wakes up. He has been asleep and has fallen from the chair. His face is one eager, happy grin at finding that it was all a dream. But his smile vanishes when auntie comes in and gives him a good spanking.
- When Jessie Allen ran up the steps to ask Mary Manners to go shopping Mary eagerly accepted. Before they left the house, however, an old college friend and pointed to a paragraph stating that his object in calling up at the house that evening was purely to become acquainted with the charming sister of whom he had heard so much but had never met. Will exacted a promise of Mary not to make any appointments for that evening in order to meet his friend Jack. The girls then left gaily talking over the expected visit. In the course of their shopping Jessie met Willard Newell and at his invitation excuse herself to Mary and went to a matinée with Willard. Mary, at first angered, smiled and turned about, deciding to continue her shopping along, and found herself looking into the eyes of a young man who had been staring at her for some time. She blushed furiously under his ardent gaze and hurried away. After some hesitation and inward argument he followed, and when she by pure accident dropped a package he was there to pick it up and return it, thereby opening up a channel for conversation. She rather unwillingly consented to what she thought was a harmless flirtation. Both, however, before leaving the park felt a deep interest in each other, and though she would not tell him her name she did promise to meet him in the same place on the following day. Her lesson lay in that her brother's friend, who came to the house that evening, proved to be the man she had flirted with that afternoon. He, man-like, resented the fact that she allowed him to meet her without the proper introduction. He could not associate the sister of his friend with the girl he had flirted with in the streets and treated her so coldly as to cause consternation in the home he had entered for the first time. He left the mother perturbed, the brother chagrined, and the girl, well she formed a grim resolution to never flirt again as long as she lived.
- Tom Barry is the right-hand man to Frank Hadley, owner of the Half Moon Ranch in New Mexico. A bad Mexican, Valdez, has been cheating the other cowboys at poker by using six ace cards when the laws of the game allow only four. Tom catches Valdez at his trick, and he exposes Valdez, then kicks the Mexican out of sight. Valdez determines to kill Tom, and he conceals himself in the ranch house, awaiting a favorable opportunity to plunge his dagger into Tom's back. Tom enters with the Boss and a cattle buyer, who pays the Boss two thousand dollars for a lot of cattle. The Boss puts the money into his wallet, and places the wallet into a cupboard drawer. Valdez, who has hidden behind a sofa, sees this, and when the three men leave the room the Mexican steals the wallet and escapes unobserved through a window. At a quiet spot in the woods Valdez counts out a hundred dollars to "blow in" on a good time, and he conceals the remainder of the money in the wallet in his clothing. He hears someone approach, and runs off, leaving some of the money on the ground. Tom has ridden up and, finding the money, he pockets it. Valdez, running along the river bank, misses his footing, falls into the river, and is drowned. Tom, riding along, is met by the ranch mail carrier, who gives Tom a letter. It is from Tom's wife, telling him that on her way to him she had been compelled by illness to remain at the station forty miles distant. The letter was completed by the keeper of the hotel at which the wife stopped, and he informs Tom that his wife gave birth to a boy baby, and that she calls continually for him. Tom spurs on his horse, determined to go at once to his wife and child. Meanwhile the Boss has discovered the loss of the money. Accompanied by some of his cowboys, he overtakes Tom, searches him, and finds the money that Valdez had dropped and, placing a pistol at Tom's head, he threatens to shoot Tom unless he tells where the remainder of the money is. Tom protests his innocence, and the cowboys stand by Tom. The Sheriff comes on the scene, and when Tom acknowledges that he alone knew where the money was placed, the Sheriff arrests Tom and they ride off. Poor Tom, crazed by thoughts of his wife alone at such a time, shows the letter to the Sheriff and begs to be allowed to see his wife and baby. The good-hearted Sheriff agrees to let Tom visit his wife for one hour before going to jail, but the river gives up the dead Valdez, and a ranchman, finding the wallet, returns it to the owner, whose name is lettered in it. The Boss immediately dashes off to secure the release of Tom, whose innocence is now established. Tom is with his wife and babe, his happiness clouded by the thought that another's crime will tear him from his loved ones. The Sheriff is pacing the floor of the hotel sitting-room. He looks at his watch. The hour is up. But the Sheriff can hardly bring himself to perform his hard duty. While he hesitates, the Boss enters, to get a drink after his hard ride. He explains to the Sheriff that Tom is innocent. Poor Tom is kissing his son for the last time when he hears footsteps on the stairs. In despair he goes slowly toward the door. He cannot bring himself to open it. But it is the friendly hand of the Boss that opens the door and grasps Tom's hand as he says: ''Forgive me, Tom." Come back to your job." And Tom is the happiest man in New Mexico as he kisses his wife and then dances about with joy.
- Peyton Carothers and Margaret Grayton fancy themselves in love. Through reverses in fortune both are penniless and to these two, marriage without money is hopeless. The millionaire, Robert Van Allen, is deeply in love with Margaret and has asked her several times to become his wife. She and Carothers plan to attain their ends by making a fool of Van Allen. When he proposes marriage again, Margaret makes a cold-blooded proposition to marry him for the sum of one million dollars. Thinking he can gain her love after marriage, Van Allen agrees and gives her a promissory note to be paid following the ceremony. They are married, and Carothers, Van Allen's false friend, officiates at the wedding as best man. Van Allen takes his bride to a beautiful country home he has had built for her reception and there, too, Carothers goes as a guest. He and Margaret plot to betray Van Allen. A few months pass with nothing serious happening except the bitter disappointment and heartache of Van Allen, he realizes that his bargain was indeed a cold-blooded proposition. He is called away to the city on a business appointment. He accidentally misses his train and he returns to his home to find Carothers and his wife in a love scene. From Margaret's lips he overhears the bitter truth. Van Allen decides to teach the couple a lesson and acting on the theory that enforced familiarity breeds contempt, locks the two together with handcuffs and drives them before him under the lash of a whip to his lodge in a secluded and desolate spot in the mountains. The guilty pair are locked in a cabin, which is well stocked with food and there he leaves them to the consequences of their own wrong doing, while he sets up a camp outside to watch developments. The weeks pass none too pleasantly for the would-be lovers who find their love a bitter delusion and each other's company a curse. With his wrist locked to that of the woman he has sworn to love, the caddishness of Carothers turns to savagery and he treats her brutally. One night Van Allen leaves the cabin door open and Carothers forces Margaret to steal away with him. Van Allen trails them. After an all-night walk they find themselves lost in the desert. Margaret is exhausted and unable to continue and drops to the baked earth. Van Allen is moved at the plight of the woman he loved and unlocks the handcuffs and gives her water. Carothers steals upon the millionaire, tears the revolver from his side and snatches Van Allen's rifle. He tossed the revolver to Margaret and tells her to cover Van Allen with it. Then denouncing the millionaire as a fool and vowing he will kill him, Carothers aims the rifle but is shot himself by the woman he stole away. Unable to endure it any longer Margaret pleads to regain the love of her husband and there is a happy ending.
- Our hero, John Gray, is seen leaving his old mother and starting off to make a fortune in the gold mines in Colorado. We next see him and his companion digging for gold and finding nuggets. Craving amusement, John Gray drifts into a Western dance hall and gambling saloon. He sees other men win, and stakes his entire bag of nuggets in an exciting gambling scene. A turn of the card sweeps away the hard earned savings of weeks of toil. John goes bravely back to work, ashamed of his folly and determined never to gamble again. His companion brings him a telegram from the old family doctor at home telling him that his aged mother is very sick, perhaps dying, and keeps calling for him. John tries to borrow money from his companion, who is dead broke, then trudges off to the town of Red Dog. He tries to borrow money from the gambling house keeper, who spurns him. A stage coach comes up. Seated on front, with the driver, is the armed messenger of the Wells Fargo Express Company, guarding a small safe full of money. John pleads with the driver, and shows him the telegram. The stage driver will not help him. In despair John places the muzzle of his revolver to his forehead, determined to end his life. Before he can pull the trigger, he sees, in a vision, his sick old mother, rising from her bed, and pleading with him to come back to her. Deeply moved. John puts his revolver away. He sees the Wells Fargo's safe, and makes a desperate resolve. He will get some of the money from that safe and go back to his mother, at any cost. The passengers come out of the hotel and are driven away in the stage. John jumps on behind the stage, and ties a handkerchief over his face, and when the stage reaches a lonely spot, John climbs on top, seizes the gun of the messenger, compels the messenger and driver to jump from the stage, and John drives the stage off. John drives the stage into the woods. At the point of a revolver he compels the two men passengers, one a dignified English tourist, and the other a very comical Hebrew drummer, to lift the safe from the stage and carry it into the woods. The third passenger, the young daughter of the Englishman, is compelled to go back into the stage. John is now seen carrying the express messenger's gun behind the Hebrew and the Englishman, who are staggering alone under the weight of the safe. The poor Hebrew is exhausted, and much comedy is shown in his attempts to lose his job. Meanwhile the brave girl left in the stage coach has unharnessed one of the stage horses, and riding him bareback, dashes off in search of her father. She finds the cap that her father has dropped, and goes bravely into the woods after him. John has driven off the Hebrew and Englishman. Taking a shell from the gun, he pours the powder from same into the safe lock and explodes it. He puts one package of money into his shirt and drags the safe off to bury it. It is made clear that he resolves to return every dollar to the express company. The girl comes through the bushes, seizes John's gun and pointing it at John, compels him to give up the money he has taken. John pleads with her and shows her the telegram that lead him to steal the safe. The girl, touched by the message and John's evident repentance, gives him the money to go home, and lets him escape just as a party of cowboys dashes up to her rescue. John is seen stopping a fast moving train and the next scene shows John's mother on a sick bed. John enters. With a cry of joy the mother embraces her son. Back of them appears a face that John can never forget, the girl who saved him. She stretches out her hands in benediction over the mother and son, once more united and happy.
- S. Claus, a celebrated doll maker, becomes possessed of the idea that he can make a large-sized doll that he can bring to life, and we see him putting the finishing touches to the doll in his workshop, assisted by his clumsy apprentice boy, who finds it a very difficult thing to get out of his own way without getting in someone else's way. We next see Minnie, the doll maker's daughter, "making a date" with her steady beau to go to the mask ball of the Volunteer Firemen that night, and as they are standing at the front gate a mask parade comes along advertising the ball, furnishing another opportunity for the apprentice to get into hot water, which he takes advantage of. We next see Minnie going through her voluminous stock of clothes trying to find a suitable costume for the ball, but, like all the ladies, she has "nothing to wear." Just then her beau, Hi Henry, comes on the scene, dressed in a Mephisto costume, and endeavors to help in the selection, but without success, when a happy thought strikes Minnie and they proceed to the workshop, where they rob the doll of its dress and slippers, which Minnie dons, to the delight of Hi, and they proceed to the dance, where we see the high jinks of the merrymakers. Hi and Minnie are seen returning home just as a thunderstorm breaks, and as they are drying themselves at the open fireplace they hear the old man descending the stairs, as this is the physiological moment for him to bring the doll to life, while the air is charged with electrical energy from the storm. Hi and Minnie are panic-stricken and rush to the workshop to replace the dress on the doll, but hearing the approach of someone they realize that there isn't time to make the change, so Hi conceals himself behind the work bench and Minnie stands in front of the doll, trusting to the semi-darkness to deceive the apprentice, who enters at that moment to get the doll and is frightened half to death at the appearance of the "devil," or Hi, who is making his escape to the chimney in the other room, which he succeeds in doing, and the apprentice, getting over his fright, picks up the supposed doll and carries it into the parlor, where the old man applies a galvanic battery, which has the desired effect and the doll comes to life, to the old man's great delight, and as he dances around with the doll the "devil," finding the chimney too hot a place for his "satanic majesty," drops down into the scene, to the great consternation of the old man, but at that moment Hi removes his mask and pleads forgiveness for their pranks and for Minnie's hand in marriage, which the old man grants with his blessing and the wish that "the devil take the first one that goes between yon," when the apprentice, alive to another opportunity, stumbles against the old man, pushing him through between them.
- A home is shown and the love which exists among father, mother and little girl. The landlord (a 'heavy') is cruel to the child, and attempts familiarities with the mother during the husband's absence. The husband is shown in argument with another fellow over the boundary line. In the fight which follows the husband is thought to have been killed. The fugitive unwittingly applies to the wife for protection, and she aids him in evading his pursuers. After permitting him to escape, the wife is told that she has protected the murderer of her husband. The fugitive, in his dash for liberty, notices a sign advertising holiday goods, and enters a crossroads store. He reappears made up as Santa, and with presents galore. Returning to the miner's home, he brings Christmas cheer without allowing his identity to be known. The husband returns. At first he refuses to forgive the man who has attempted his life, but the good fellowship of Christmas time prevails, especially as his little girl makes an appeal, and all ends happily.
- In the year 1756, the slaves of a certain Rajah of India unearth a remarkable diamond, which, on account of its enormous size, is christened "The Star of India." The gem is handed down as an heirloom to the Rajah's descendants. In the year 1912 the gem is mysteriously stolen and the blame is shifted onto the shoulders of one Sir Lionel West, a wealthy collector of jewels. Previous to the theft, Lord Ashdown, an English nobleman, to escape the numerous traps of the many fond mothers who are desirous of marrying their daughters to him, takes up his residence in India, where he falls in love with Grace Radnor, a niece of Sir Lionel West. Arthur Fitzallen, Sir Lionel's nephew, desires to marry his cousin. Sir Lionel has observed the reckless and dissolute habits of Arthur, but does not openly show his displeasure until his nephew announces the fact that he seeks the hand of Grace. Sir Lionel states his objections frankly and to the point and to avoid any possibility of Grace being annoyed by his unwelcome attentions, drives Arthur from his home with a demand never to return. Thrown upon his own resources, Arthur subsequently accepts a proposition from a crafty and unscrupulous Indian Prince to secure for him the celebrated diamond, "The Star of India." Success in this and his mission accomplished, Arthur now plans to abduct Grace, so by means of a decoy letter she is lured to an unoccupied cabin which was formerly the headquarters of the conspirators who aided in the theft of the diamond. Con Magee, Lord Ashdown's valet, witnesses the abduction, hides on the trunk rack of the auto and rides off with the party to the cabin in the jungle. Arriving at the journey's end, Con appropriates the car and drives off to spread the alarm. At the cabin, Grace and Arthur are attacked by a lion. Grace flees to an adjoining room and Arthur, with a chair as his only weapon, attempts to defend himself. In the struggle with the beast the lamp is overturned, the cabin catches fire, and the sparks ignite the surrounding jungle. Lord Ashdown and his friends, guided by Con Magee, have considerable difficulty in reaching the burning hut. Grace has escaped from the cabin, only to be met with a wall of fire. As she turns back to escape the fire she is confronted by the lion, which has also escaped from the cabin. Lord Ashdown arrives in time to snatch the girl from the ferocious beast. Trapped by the fire, the conspirators flee for their lives, but are intercepted by the rescue party, who overpower them and recover "The Star of India."
- Steve Martin, a sheep-herder, has been living happily in the love of his daughter, Beulah, when a shadow of his past looms up before him. Years before he had become involved in a counterfeiting scheme with Tom Walsh, who remained to expiate the crime, Steve escaping. Walsh, who alone shares Steve's secret, is now a nefarious character engaged in rounding up sheep which he steals and drives over the government lines. When he finds that he is in Steve's neighborhood his mind reverts to their common past. Cunning and revenge combined prompts him to go to Steve's house and by menacing him with the past makes him a tool in his criminal undertaking. Steve, to shield his daughter, weakly consents. In the meantime, Jim Thorne, a government ranger, in love with Beulah, senses something wrong and instructs his assistant to be on the lookout, promising to meet him at a certain time. Steve and Tom are rounding up sheep when the assistant appears. Tom kills the assistant, and Steve also fires but believes it was his shot that went true. The dying man manages to slash Tom on the arm in the death struggle. The assailants escape. Jim, according to arrangements, arrives at the spot and finds his dying comrade, who tells him that he has slashed his murderer on the arm and to look for him. He then dies and Jim, putting the body on his horse, takes him to Steve's house. A frightful storm comes up and Tom decides to take refuge in Steve's house. Looking through the window he sees Jim examining the arm of Steve and then knows that he is a marked man. The next day, overheard by Beulah, he threatens Steve and also the life of Jim. He has conceived a cunning revenge for the ranger. From the cave of a puma he takes several cubs to Jim's cabin knowing that the mother will follow. In the meantime Beulah goes to warn Jim of the criminal's design. Jim laughs at her fears but is on his guard when he happens to meet Tom. He is quicker with the gun than Tom, however. He fires and fearing that he has killed him Jim carries the unconscious form to his cabin and places it upon a couch under which the puma cubs are lying. He goes to a stream to get water to revive him, but while absent the revenge Tom so cunningly planned proves a boomerang, for the puma enters and finding Tom helpless draws his life. Beulah has heard the shots exchanged and she and her father, coming to the cabin, finds the two terrors of the fold have passed and the slash on the arm proves that the murderer of the ranger has been found.
- Third in the "Stanley's Adventures in Africa" series, about the adventures of an exploration party on the way to find the Hidden City in Africa.
- Daisy Crane, the village good-for-nothin' and town charge, is farmed out for her keep to Mrs. Gray. Mischievous and eternally at war with the rest of the children, Daisy is a burden to the townspeople and particularly to the schoolmarm. After a stormy episode at school, the board decides to employ a male teacher and engages Robert Manning, a man of deep understanding. He is instructed not to spare the rod, and special attention is directed to Daisy, His handling of the good-for-nothin' seems to awaken a new spirit in the girl and soon she realizes that Manning is a friend. In his determination to develop what good there is in the girl, he gives her his undivided attention outside of school hours, all of which affords the busy-bodies of the community food for scandal. The gradual taming of Daisy becomes obvious and a deep friendship springs up between the child and the school master. One day Daisy sees Manning walking with two other girl pupils of the class and she becomes jealous. Her childish attitude at viewing the situation causes her to run away and brood. In the meantime, Mrs. Gray institutes a search for her and the scandal mongers of the town and the school board suggest that Daisy could be found at Manning's home. Unable to control her jealousy, Daisy at last decides that she will return a little book of poems that the schoolmaster gave her as a present. She goes to his home and as she is about to enter she sees the school board coming toward the house. Fearing them she secludes herself close by. Manning receives the members of the school board and invites them to enter his home. While they are inside, Daisy gains an entrance to the place and hides in a closet in another room. The board members tell of Daisy's disappearance and almost openly accuse the schoolmaster of having her in hiding in his place. He therefore invites them to make a search. This startles Daisy and she runs for the window to escape, but in doing so attracts attention by the noise she makes. Manning is astonished. The deductions are inevitable. Manning cannot explain and Daisy will not. Realizing he must act quickly, Manning announces Daisy as his future wife stating he will marry her on the morrow. The members of the board leave the house and stand gossiping outside, one urging that Manning be informed of the origin of the child. Manning escorts Daisy to her home and as he arrives he is confronted by Silas Hodges and others who tell him of the Brat's life. Daisy steals away and Manning finds only traces of her at the lake.
- The husband, a middle-aged and prosperous businessman, is burdened and worried with the care of his enterprises and so deeply engrossed is he in his affairs that he does not show his wife the consideration she expects. Many dinners at home are not graced with his presence and the wife dines alone. As she does not understand business or appreciate its demands upon her husband's time, she attributes his seeming neglect to waning love. On a shopping expedition with a female friend, her companion suggests luncheon at a tango tea garden. Here the young wife is introduced to The Flirt and she enjoys her first sensation of being flattered by a strange man. The first experience leads to other visits to the garden by the young wife and she is soon on friendly terms with the flirt, but of course, without taking her husband into her confidence. A day arrives when the husband is unexpectedly called out of town and as he plans to leave that same night, he calls up his home and notifies his wife to have his bag packed and ready. They planned to attend the theater that evening and the wife reminds the husband of this fact, suggesting that he postpone his departure until the next day, arguing that the theater engagement is more important. The husband, worried, and his mind upon a possible big loss of business, is rather curt in his treatment of his wife's attitude, an act which she can only assume is a further demonstration of his neglect. Her association with The Flirt has been merely foolish up to this time. He made attempts to have the young wife permit him to visit her at her home during the absence of her husband, but without success. Piqued, the wife resolves that she will not miss the theater and decides to ask The Flirt to act as her escort. She does not phone the invitation on account of the servants in the house, but dispatched it in writing by a telegraph messenger. After an early dinner, the husband prepares to leave for his trip, but the young wife becomes conscience-stricken and pleads with him to take her along. He assures her that it is impossible under the circumstances. The husband is about to enter his auto on the way to the depot when he witnesses an auto accident only a short distance from the house and orders the chauffeur to drive to the assistance of the victim with all possible speed. Arriving at the scene they remove an unconscious, bleeding man, from under the wreck and take him to the husband's home. The wife, more determined than ever to accompany The Flirt to the theater, descends to the lower floor of her home to await his arrival. She reaches the reception hall just as her husband and the chauffeur carry in their burden and place the body upon a divan. The husband orders the butler to phone for an ambulance and he searches the unconscious man for papers which might lead to his identity, while the wife and maid try to do what they can for the victim. The wife bathes and washes the blood-smeared face and is horrified to recognize the features of The Flirt. Suppressing a wild scream, she falls fainting into the arms of her husband, who has witnessed her agitation. The husband carries his wife to her room, while the ambulance surgeon enters, examines the body of The Flirt and pronounces it lifeless. In the bedroom, while the maid is attending the wife, the husband again reads the letters he removed from the body of The Flirt, the letter written by his wife inviting a strange man to escort her to the theater. Looking pityingly at his wife; realizing why she wanted to accompany him on his trip at the last moment; and awakening to the fact that he has been leaving her too much along, he sets fire to the letter. When it is consumed by the flame, he gently takes his wife into his arms.
- H.M. Stanley exploring Darkest Africa, struggles on through the jungle with his dissatisfied native followers. With the assistance of Bonavita, who has joined him, and the exercise of the strictest discipline, he manages to keep his load bearers on the move. But when his alert eye relaxes for a moment there are desertions. Food is scarce and complaints are so numerous that Stanley, coming upon a small village, decides to pitch his camp. Subsequently, when death from lack of provisions is imminent, Stanley names this resting place "Starvation Camp." The fast disappearing rations are measured out in small quantities and close guard is kept over the scant supplies. Ada, Nina and Jack, with the Old Hag as a guide, decide to keep near Stanley. The White King, being more determined than ever to regain possession of Ada and force her to become his wife, formulates a plot to lead the little party astray. He sends a trusted lieutenant to intercept them. The lieutenant declares that he has forsaken allegiance to the White King and wishes to help Ada. Promising to lead them to a place where great quantities of food is hidden, they unsuspectingly follow. As night falls they prepare their camp and light a fire to keep the animals away. This serves as a beacon for the White King. In the middle of the night a powerful hand is placed over Ada's mouth, her cries are stifled and she is abducted without abducting Jack, Nina or any of the others. Ada is conveyed to the edge of a remote village. The White King arranges that a missionary perform the marriage ceremony. While the White King is gloating over Ada's helplessness a hue and cry arises from the village. The Raiding King has entered the village to sack it and make slaves of its inhabitants. Being rivals in the practice of cruelty, the White King dashes away to gather his shattered forces and to offer battle. While they are away Ada escapes and rides into the jungle, where she meets Bonavita, Jack and Nina with their followers who have organized a searching party for her. They witness the fight between the two kings. The Raiding King wins the battle and the White King's escaping natives. Ada, with her companions, is captured and brought back to camp. The guiding party from Stanley's camp being too small to effect a rescue, hurries back to Stanley for enforcements. Stanley and his entire party start on a rescue trip. Meanwhile Ada is obliged to undergo the torments of the White King and the Raiding King, both of whom curry her friendship. The Old Hermit is impatient and hurries ahead of Stanley's party. Through a ruse he effects the release of his friends and they have started to escape when an alarm is sounded. In the blackest of the night another battle follows. Stanley's party arrives on the scene, and pitching into the natives, conquer them. The slaves are released and a search instituted for Ada, Jack, Nina and their party. They have disappeared, however, as if swallowed up by the earth. Disconsolately, Stanley retraces his steps. His next move is to locate the missing party.
- Three failures in one morning's mail was more than Mrs. Manly could endure. Taking the telegrams from the hand of her husband she flaunted them in his face and derided him on his lack of business ability, claiming that were she the man she would meet with no failures. He answered her defy with a proposition that for a moment staggered her, but which she accepted in the same spirit as it was given. The proposition from her husband was that as she felt herself so capable a businessman that she be the man in the family and he would take her place, even to the exchange of wearing apparel. Dressed as the man she at once proceeded to put into action her methods of business. Her great difficulty in her man's garb was that when having an interview with a business man, that man seemed to not be able to concentrate his mind on business but wanted to take her out to lunch instead, with the result that she was obliged to order him out of the house, which action necessarily terminated the business deal with him. And so with every man she met in the course of her business, she either met with admiration, consternation or ridicule according to the temperament of the man. In the meantime the husband in his female attire was having as difficult a time with the house domestics, canvassers, peddlers, etc., and when his wife came to him meek and humiliated, and asked him to change back again, as she didn't want to be a business man, he threw his arms about her and agreed that the return was as acceptable to him as it was necessary for her.
- Expert photographer Paul Grainy receives an assignment from a society of Natural History to go to Africa to gather specimens and photographs of the beasts of the jungle. He is accompanied by his wife, Margaret, and Thelma, their daughter, and Al Morse, his chemist. Arriving at their destination they make camp at the edge of the jungle. A band of natives have established a settlement on the other side of the jungle near a stream. Among the number is the water-carrier, the drudge of the tribe, whose only friend is Ena, a big elephant. Because of his love for the beast, the carrier arouses the enmity of the Chief and he is ordered thrashed. Ena comes to the rescue of the defenseless man. Paul engages guides and starts off into the jungle. He leaves his wife and child behind in the care of Al, his chemist. Al is satisfied with the manner in which events have turned out, for alone with the young wife, his cherished opportunity for love scenes with the little woman has come. The following day the chemist accidentally cuts his finger. He succeeds in arousing the sympathy of the wife, who volunteers to bandage the wound. The two enter the living tent and as Margaret binds the injured finger, Al embraces her. While she struggles with him Thelma is heard outside the tent. Al departs, leaving the wife in fear. Paul, in the thick of the jungle, is successful in his photographic work and with all of his plates and film exhausted he starts for the camp. He is greeted by his wife and baby but notices a change in Margaret. He questions her, but she fears to tell him the truth. The following day Paul and his party start out again. Some hours after the party has departed, Thelma wanders away from the camp and when nightfall comes she has not returned. Margaret is frantic, and she appeals to Al to help her find her child. With Thelma out of the way, the chemist believes he can gain his end, and Margaret's wishes fall on deaf ears. Paul comes in contact with the leopards and lions and the guides telling him that they are close to a nest of the beasts, he rigs up his flashlight apparatus, spreading out wires which cause an explosion when coming in contact with anything. Thelma has wandered into the jungle. Soon she hears the howling of a lion and she runs down a steep embankment, spraining her ankle. She crawls along. The lion is in pursuit. Thelma reaches a water hole where, not far away, Ena, the elephant, is waiting for the water-carrier. The youngster's screams are heard by Ena and the big beast answers the call. Ena picks Thelma up in her trunk and carries her to safety. The child and beast are found by the water-carrier and guided back to the natives' camp. A runner comes to the Grainy camp with plates which have been used and Al receives them. Margaret writes a letter to her husband and tells him of the disappearance of Thelma. The letter is delivered by the runner. Al develops the plates and is astonished when he comes across one showing Thelma and the elephant. He goes to Margaret and displays the plate and tells her that she is probably in the jungle with her father. With no one about, the chemist makes efforts to cause Margaret to be unfaithful to her husband with the result that the wife faints. When Margaret regains herself he proposes that they start out to find the party in the jungle. Margaret agrees. Paul receives his wife's letter and orders a hurried trip back to the camp. While riding fast he is thrown from his horse and forced to discontinue. The party is close to the native village and Paul is taken there and cared for. There he meets his daughter. While Al and Margaret are driving in the jungle, the chemist suddenly forces his obnoxious attentions upon her. She manages to get away, and providentially she walks into the native camp where she meets her husband and tells him of her predicament. Al, believing that Margaret is near, accidentally approaches the camp, Margaret sees him and informs her husband, who thrashes him. As he is backing away he fires at Paul. The bullet misses its mark. The chemist runs into Ena, who happens to be standing at the back of him. The beast throws the chemist upon the ground and crushes his brains out with his foot.