Decoding the Vision of Ernst Laemmle: Decoding The Traitor

Colonel Hatfield, in command of Fort Western, an American outpost, receives a call from the chief of the Iroquois Indians, in which the chief states that unless the boundary disagreement is settled he will call out his warriors and attack the fort. John Thornton, the fort's scout, is sent to parley with the Indians and bring the matter to an amicable settlement. While he is on his way to execute his mission he finds Helen, the colonel's daughter, lost in the woods. He takes her with him on to the Indian camp, where she is held a prisoner. Thornton succeeds in getting the agreement signed and a promise from the Indians that as soon as he returns the treaty with the colonel's signature the girl will be liberated. While he is talking with the chief, two members of the tribe steal into the tent in which Helen is a prisoner and take from her a map of the fort. They make their way into the fort and are seen by the guards, who bring them into the colonel's office, where Thornton has just succeeded in getting the official signature. Believing that he betrayed his government by giving the Indians the map, the colonel has Thornton arrested. Not wishing to let her father know that Helen is a captive of the Indians, Thornton refuses to explain the incident and is sentenced by court-martial to die. But he has managed to give the treaty to the Indians, who escape and return to the camp. Helen is freed and rushes back to the fort, arriving just in time to save her lover by explaining how the Indians got the map.