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The Masked Rider Synopsis

Bruce Edmunds takes a place in the revenue service to help rout the moonshiners in the hills of North Carolina and to avenge the murder of his brother, George Edmunds. George, who was a landscape painter, had selected the picturesque locale in the south for his work, and while there became infatuated with Jill Jamison, a mountain girl, and daughter of Jimmy Jamison, owner of the Bat Cave Hotel. The friendship between the girl and George aroused the enmity of Squid Archer, boss of the moonshining gang. On two occasions Squid and George quarrel over the girl. George is found dead with a bullet wound in his head and his body buried in the mountains. Bruce arrives at Bat Cave disguised as a parson. Jill's father is away, when Bruce arrives and the mountaineers headed by Squid are taking advantage of his absence. Bruce quells a disturbance they have started and immediately wins the respect and favor of Jill. After that Jill and Bruce are often seen together. Squid only hides his anger at this situation because of Bruce's ministerial garb. The following day Jill takes Bruce for a walk, during which he learns much of his brother's life there. He does not disclose his identity and has difficulty in controlling his emotions. One night, soon afterwards, the moonshiners are startled by the appearance of a mysterious masked rider, dressed in a white buckskin suit and riding a white horse. By his actions the moonshiners know he is not a bandit. They fire at him and give chase, but he eludes them. While Jill is riding near a mountain stream she surprises the masked rider who is watering his horse. The masked rider is so startled that he covers her with his revolver before he realizes who she is. Recovering quickly he bows and profusely begs her pardon. Jill's fears are allayed, and she smiles when she finds the terrible masked rider so gallant. Touching her golden curls Bruce tells her she can have her freedom for one curl. The next day Jill learns the parson and masked rider are the same person, when she finds her lock of hair in the parson's room behind his mother's picture. That night Bruce leads a group of government agents in the moonshining district. The illicit distillers take refuge under ground through secret passages. They are driven out when Bruce explodes a heavy charge of dynamite, blowing up their catacomb. Squid manages to escape. He hurries to the Jamison Hotel, the proprietor and attempts to force Jill to accompany him in his escape. Bruce arrives in time to prevent him and a terrific struggle between Bruce and Squid follows. They roll down a flight of stairs and Bruce loses his revolver. Squid, retreating toward the door, fires at Bruce, who is prostrated upon the floor. The bullet enters his right shoulder and disables him. As Squid starts to fire a second time Jill crashes a chair over his head and sends him unconscious to the floor. The moonshiners are made prisoners and Jill nurses Bruce until he recovers sufficiently to accompany her to a real parson.

Pidgin Island Synopsis

John Cranford, a secret agent of the United States Customs service, has succeeded in unearthing a gigantic smuggling plot. The operations of the smugglers range from contraband opium to diamonds. Opium is found and confiscated, and burned in the street as a warning against future law-breaking. The men who have been handling it are apprehended, but the "man higher up" remains shrouded in mystery, free to pursue his schemes, and it becomes the purpose of Cranford's life to bring him to justice. To recuperate before entering upon his pursuit, John goes to the St. Lawrence River for a fishing trip. Expecting to hire his old friend and guide, "Uncle Billy," he is greatly disappointed at finding that worthy man's time engaged by a charming, mysterious young woman, who insists on fishing in the neighborhood of Pidgin Island. Diana Wynne, the girl in question, comes to Billy's boathouse while John is there, and Billy introduces them. They meet often, and John finds himself falling in love with Diana, but his curiosity is aroused by the air of mystery surrounding her, and he cannot understand her strange interest in the launches plying around the island. To this region comes "the man higher up," Michael Smead, his son Donald and two accomplices, to operate a great smuggling deal on the Canadian border. John recognizes Smead, having previously blocked him in an attempt to smuggle many thousands of dollars' worth of diamonds. Donald is a stranger to him, for he is new to the game. John, finding that his "vacation" has furnished him with the biggest job of his life, watches Smead closely. Complications arise from the fact that Diana also is a secret service agent, and she too is watching Smead's hand. In so doing her actions arouse John's suspicion that she is in league with the band, and the two agents suspect each other. One stormy evening Diana intercepts a telegram to Smead which reads: "Pidgin tonight at 8 without fail." She hastens to Uncle Billy, asking him to take her over to the island at once. They set out in the storm, much against the wishes of "Mr. Billy." John, coming directly afterwards, is told of their destination, and fearing for Diana's safety in the gathering storm forces young Lester, a guide, to take him in pursuit. The storm rages in fury about both boats, and the waves run high. Smead's Canadian agents are in an aeroplane coming toward Pidgin. They are smuggling the gems, which are concealed in the hollow butts of two fishing poles, but the aeroplane is lost in the storm near Pidgin Lighthouse. Billy's boat is dashed to pieces on the reef and Billy and Diana are thrown into the water. They manage to reach an isolated rock, wreckage-washed, to which they cling in momentary fear of being washed shorewards, where the waves are smashing against the reef. Finally Diana is swept from the rock, and Cranford swims to her assistance. Lester, after a struggle, rescues Uncle Billy, and the keeper of the light on Pidgin Reef gives them all a shelter. Next morning Cranford finds the Smead telegram in Diana's coat pocket, and with it a letter from the customs department establishing her identity. Diana surprises him going through her effects, but he convinces her that he too is a government agent. Uncle Billy finds the fishing rods on the island and brings them to the lighthouse, where Cranford discovers their contents to be a fortune in pearls. He hastens to the village and arrests Smead, Donald and their accomplices almost before they know they are suspected. When John proposes to Diana she refuses him, telling him she is the daughter of a criminal and the sister of a criminal. Smead is her father, and she has engaged in the service and come to Pidgin to try to prevent her brother from engaging in his father's scheme. But John Cranford refuses to take "No" as an answer, and the sincerity of his wooing wins him Diana's consent to become his wife.