A Bird of Prey

In a little western mining camp a man works day after day at his claim to win riches for his wife, whom he adores. The woman is dissatisfied with her lot in life and regards her husband as an impractical dreamer. Where the wife is young, attractive and discontented, the tempter, sooner or later, appears. And he arrives in the person of a young easterner, who comes to the mining town in search of fortune. The miner welcomes the new arrival and gives him work on his claim. Gold is discovered, and the newcomer is made a partner in the claim, and sent to register it in the name of his benefactor and himself. The miner does not know that the young easterner has paid attentions to the wife, fanning her discontent, and telling her how happy she would be if she would only divorce her husband and go away with him. In the mining town the man from the east registers the claim in his name alone, and sells it at once to the proprietor of a dance hall. This man, with a number of hired thugs, goes to the mining claim and take possession, driving off the indignant husband. When the miner demands by what right he dares to seize the claim, the dance hall owner shows him the registry deed and a receipt from the easterner. Then, for the first time, the truth dawns upon the miner. He runs to his cabin to tell his wife the news, and finds her gone. A note tells him that she has left with the other man and intends to secure a divorce and marry him. Stopping at a near-by town, the fugitives are overtaken by the angry husband. A fierce fight ensues. A blow from the easterner's pistol butt sends him to the ground unconscious. Then the wife and the easterner board a train for the east, while the unconscious miner is carried back to his cabin. In the east the wife secures a divorce from her husband and marries the other man. As the years pass the banker's wife learns her husband's true character. The desire for revenge has become almost an obsession with the miner, and when he is able to dispose of the timber lands he owns he leaves for the east. When he arrives in New York he discovered that his former partner is visiting a friend in the Adirondacks, and there he goes and hires a cabin where he can watch the banker and plan his vengeance. The opportunity comes soon. The banker's host gives a handsome entertainment to his guests. While the gaiety is at its highest, a stern-faced man lurks outside the house. Twice he raises his rifle to fire, and each time stays his hand, for if he pressed the trigger he would have killed his wife. As the banker stands alone, a groom sees the figure with the leveled rifle and springs upon him. The muscular miner easily overpowers the servant and escapes. Several days later the banker's little daughter rides off through the snow-covered mountains. Night is falling when the riderless horse returned to the stable. The miner had found the child, sick and delirious, in the snow, had cared for her and decided to bring her up in ignorance of her real parentage. The former miner prospers. Tempted to recoup his losses by using the funds entrusted to his care, the banker is arrested and sentenced to prison. Several years later, the former banker's wife is sent to a wealthy home where she was told that a housekeeper was wanted. In the owner of the handsome mansion she recognized her first husband. Gradually the heiress becomes attached to the housekeeper. The convicted banker escapes from prison and in his desperation appeals to his wife. She aids him. As he leaves he is seized. In the struggle that follows he is killed. The girl never learns that her father is slain by officers of the law, and the true story of her life is never told to her, for her foster father marries his housekeeper.