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Her Father's Gold Synopsis

"Beware of the water devil." That was what the editor said to the star reporter as he sent him off to Florida to investigate the mysterious water denizen that was causing a panic among the residents on the shores of Crystal Lake. The reporter laughed; he was not a bit worried about the water devil, for his assignment was taking him to the spot where his sweetheart lived and where he suspected a great treasure in gold bullion that had been stolen from her father was buried. Four crooks had stolen the gold from the mine of his sweetheart's father in Mexico and had carried it by boat to Florida, where one of them had double-crossed his pals, marooned them on an island in a lake, buried the gold and went north, expecting to join his wife and disappear with her, returning to Florida later for the gold, but the other crooks got away sooner than he expected, followed him North and besieged him in his own house. Cut off from all help, he wrote a note to his wife. He also drew a map telling where he had hidden the treasure, painted it over with blue watercolor and hung it on his wall just before the avengers broke in. In the fight that followed he was blinded and mortally wounded and was taken to the hospital. The wife of one of the crooks followed him there, knowing that he was blind, and pretending to be his wife, tried to get the secret of the treasure, but failed. Later he died after saying to his wife, who came at last: "The blue picture; the blue picture." Being out of money and unable to solve the mystery of the blue picture, the wife wrote to the mine owner, offering to divide the gold if he could help her locate it. The owner was away, and before his daughter could answer the letter the crooks managed to do away with the writer of it and carried off the blue picture, which they suspected contained the clue. It is at the scene of the killing that the reporter meets the mine owner's daughter and falls in love with her. It is there, too, that the reporter finds a fragment of the blue picture and suspects its importance, chiefly from the efforts of the wife of the sole surviving crook to steal it from him. He lets her steal it at last, and then follows her and finds the blue picture in the shack in Florida where she lives with her husband. This shack is on the banks of the lake where the water devil moves and has his being. Hesitating to carry off the picture, the reporter photographs it, only to find out later that blue (the picture is blue) is non-actinic and does not photograph. His sweetheart, who develops the film for him, comforts him for his failure. They throw aside the film as useless; they had hoped the pictured scene would give them the location of the gold. The film falls into the hands of the woman who now has the picture, and she finds out that the writing and the plan giving the secret has photographed through the blue and can be read by the aid of a magnifying glass. But before she can take the secret to her husband and with him find and get away with the gold, the daughter of the rightful owner of the gold comes upon her, takes the film from her, locks her up, and gets to the reporter with the glad tidings that at last she knows where the stolen gold is buried. Unluckily, the imprisoned woman's husband is with the reporter when the girl brings the news, and he offers to take the pair to the island where the gold is buried, in his boat, and help them to dig it up. All this he does, and then he calmly tells them that the gold is his and they are going to die and be buried in the hole from which the gold was taken. Just at this moment, when the ruffian, standing in the gold-ladened boat, raises his rifle and is about to shoot, from the water behind the boat rises the water devil, of whom much had been told, but of whose real existence few people had been convinced. It carries off the would-be murderer, and the girl, happy in having restored to her father his lost gold, finds still greater happiness in the life-long love of the young reporter, whose bride she consents to be.

Pamela Congreve Synopsis

Pamela Congreve, the daughter of an old fisherman, is a carefree child of nature, whose heart has been won by Lord Charteris, a treacherous noble, who is the secret leader of a band of smugglers. Charteris tells Pamela's father of the wealth he will win if he joins the smugglers, and the deluded old man finally consents. The smugglers land a cargo on the sea coast, but the suspicions of the revenue officers are aroused and they pursue the smugglers. Lord Charteris and the old fisherman are overtaken, and, to save himself from capture, Charteris tells the coast guards of his rank and claims that he captured his companion, whom he denounces as a smuggler. In spite of Pamela's pleas, Charteris refuses to aid him, and the old man is put to death. Vowing to be revenged upon the treacherous Charteris, Pamela goes out into the world. She obtains employment at a wayside inn, and there once more meets Charteris. She stabs him, and believes that she has killed him, but it is merely a ruse of the wily noble. Pamela joins a troupe of traveling actors, and goes to London, where she soon becomes one of the reigning favorites. Pamela's chief admirer is the Duke of Harlow. He asks her to marry him, but she refuses, and struggles vainly to conceal her deep love for him, feeling that her past makes her unfit to be his wife. The Duke of Harlow's wealth has made Lord and Lady Trevor consider him as a desirable husband for Kitty, their daughter, but that strong-willed person has already selected a future husband who boasts neither wealth nor title. So Kitty and her beloved go to Pamela, whom they know the Duke adores, and beg her to accept him. Then Kitty will not have to wed him. Pamela promises to aid the young couple, and in order to do so, manages to win an invitation to Lord Trevor's ball. At the grand ball at Trevor House the load of guilt is lifted from Pamela's heart for she meets Lord Charteris again, and realizes that he still lives. Charteris is as unscrupulous as ever, and determines to steal the Trevor jewels. An opportunity presents itself when Trevor shows his guests the famous gems, and after they are replaced in the strong box the key falls to the floor, and is found by Charteris. Pamela, however, suspicious of the man she hates, keeps watch during the night and discovers him in the act of stealing the gems, but Charteris adroitly directs the suspicion upon Pamela, playing upon the prejudice of the others for "the stage-woman." Harlow takes her part. The Duke threatens to prove Charteris to be a scoundrel, and the latter, fearing that he will be exposed, plans to silence Harlow forever. The cowardly plot does not succeed, for word is brought to Pamela and she reaches Harlow in time to warn him. Charteris later succeeds in kidnapping Pamela, but they are overtaken by Harlow, and Charteris is killed, while Pamela, now convinced that her "past" is buried, promises to marry the man she loves.