



Produced by Al Haines









[Frontispiece: With Eyes Wide and Staring She Looked About Her]





THE SON OF HIS FATHER


BY

RIDGWELL CULLUM


AUTHOR OF

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



Illustrations by

DOUGLAS DUER



PHILADELPHIA

GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY

PUBLISHERS




Copyright, 1915, by

George W. Jacobs & Company

_Published March, 1917_


All rights reserved

_Printed in U. S. A._




TO

G. RALPH HALL-CAINE

WHOSE SYMPATHY WITH MY WORK HAS NEVER

FAILED TO CHEER ME THROUGHOUT

OUR LONG AND VALUED

FRIENDSHIP




CONTENTS


CHAP.

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




ILLUSTRATIONS


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

Hazel was waiting for that sign

He drew her gently towards his father




CHAPTER I

UNREPENTANT

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

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

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

"Well?"

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

"I'm waiting."

Gordon stirred.  The millionaire carefully lit his cigar.

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

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

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

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

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

"Dad," he exclaimed, "I'm--sorry."

The other shook his head.

"Don't say that.  It's not true.  I'd hate it to be true