An Enemy's Aid (1913)
Tom Richards is a well-liked young miner, who is, however, the subject of much ridicule because of his patient and fruitless search for a "lost lode." believed by everyone to be a myth. Tom is shown favor by Jess King, the daughter of the local rich man, and thereby incurs the bitter enmity of Dan Larsen, a handsome and superficial rascal who has marked the girl for his own. Tom proves Larsen a cowardly bully, and Larsen determines to find some secret method of revenge. Previous to her meeting with Tom, Jess had been quite willing to listen to Larsen. Her father has no objection to Tom, except on the score of his poverty. By secretly watching, Larsen discovers that Tom is most regular in his habits, returning to his cabin exactly at noon each day. Larsen attaches a long fuse to Tom's store of blasting powder, which is in a shed built against the cabin, leads it to a concealed spot, and arranges a candle so that the fuse will be ignited at a carefully calculated moment. The candle, lighted at ten o'clock, will bum exactly two hours, and Larsen plans to prevent any suspicion attaching to himself by being at a public place miles away when the explosion occurs. Larsen lights his candle and rides rapidly away, but is thrown by his horse, his leg is broken and he is rendered unconscious. Tom finds him, carries him to his cabin, and goes for a doctor. When Larsen regains consciousness he realizes with horror that he is in Tom's cabin, that it is almost noon, and that he is unable to escape. Jess, passing along the cliff above the cabin, slips over the edge, but saves herself by clinging to a bush and finds a footing, though unable to climb up again. At this moment Tom returns with the doctor. Tom is attracted by the falling of stones dislodged by Jess, and goes to investigate, while the doctor enters the cabin, Jess, looking down at Tom, chances to see the fuse, which is now burning within a few inches of the powder shed. She perceives the peril to Tom and herself, sees that Tom could not reach the fuse in time to pinch it out, and realizes that their only hope rests in her ability to cut the fuse with a bullet. She opens fire, and after several shots cuts the fuse when but an inch is left exposed. The doctor finds Larsen dead from sheer terror. Tom and the doctor get a rope and prepare to rescue Jess. As they are about to draw her up, she observes the quartz exposed by the dislodgment of surface material occasioned by her struggles, and when she reaches the top of the cliff is able to tell Tom that his claim is the richest in the region, she has rediscovered the outcropping of the lost lode. As a rich man Tom is in no wise objected to by King, and the love affair ends happily.
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| Filmmakers | Role |
|---|---|
| Siegmund Lubin | Producer |
| Cast | Role |
|---|---|
| Edgar Jones | |
| Louise Huff | |
| John Halliday | |
| James Daly |
