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Show A TASp OI THE FIJll-WOOT COPYaiGrtT ' BV"" THE BO&BS-TY THE BLUE MOON. Synopsis. Xcvor having known his father, and living with his rmH her on a houseWoat on the Wabash Wa-bash river, Pearlhunter the only name he lias learns from her a part of the story of her sad life. The rertlal is interrupted by a fearful fear-ful tit of coi;v;hinff and he harries ashore to seek a root fliat affords relief. He meets a pirl whom he mentally christens the Wild Rose. She eludes him before he can make her acquaintance. A vacant cabin on the shore has attracted the attention at-tention of the ailing woman, and they move into It. Their first meal Is Interrupted by a stranger who resents their presence. : . CHAPTER II Continued. 3 A sudden impulse seemed to sweep the man. Involuntarily his liand f-.'lt for the pistol at liis hip; lie wliir'ed toward the door. The woman clutched his nrm. He caught the appeal in her eyes; bowed his head ; turned back to the table. A tense bit of pantomime it had been, full enough of meaning, of human hu-man interest, to anyone able to trace back through the years the snarled life-threads of the actors: (he two river waifs staring down at the mask; the hard man striding away up the river road. The woman went hack to her chair and resumed her quick, nervous rocking. rock-ing. "And so he has come to this !" she muttered. "My poor, poor cousin! What must have been her fate!" She leant forward and sat still and thoughtful, her face propped in her palm. The man stood by the table. v fingering the bit of cloth, his eyes, stern and severe, still Irresistibly drawn in the direction the intruder had gone. A hail came up from the houseboat. The sudden cry half startled them both, coming so close as it did on the heels of that tense moment barely gone. "Tt's the Boss. I promised to go spearing with him tonight." Stepping to the door, he opened it and answered the hail: came back; slid the teakettle off the fire; closed the damper of the stove; and snuffed the candle. "Now, mother, don't attempt to clear away the dishes. Leave them till I get back. I'll only be gone a little lit-tle while." The woman made no answer. The red mask still lying upon the table caught his eye. Rolling It up, he hid it under a loosened chink in the cabin wall, picketl np his hat and started for the door; hesitated; came back to the rocking chair. "You won't he afraid ?" She looked up at him in quick surprise. sur-prise. A half frown clouded the luster of her eyes. "What a question !" He turned and left the cabin ; closed the door after him and strode down the slope to the houseboat. The men who hunted the river mussel mus-sel along the Wabash before the days of the button industry hunted It for the pearl sometimes found imbedded between its flesh and shell. Straggling tip and down the streams, oflen singly, sometimes in crews, they were a shiftless, shift-less, fiery, reckless breed of a feather with the buccaneers of other days, and led on by the same lure; a chance fling at fortune. A pearl of great value was sometimes found even running run-ning well up into the thousands. lint the chance of finding such a pearl was small. Still there was the chance, nnd It Is surprising what a certain type of men will endure for such a chance, when Ihe same ends might he attained, at-tained, certain and sure, by patient industry. in-dustry. A grizzled old river man sat with the nose of his skiff jammed up on the gravel by the how of the houseboat v. hen the IVnrlhunter came down tin; slope. The I'.oss they culled him, the river men, because in his long years in the Industry he laid managed to scrape together an "outfit" and work a crew of "Hammers" too poor to hunt alone. His hand- were still upon Ihe oars. The I'oarihuntiT pushed the boat off and sprang In. directing the 7:o-s I" ro'.v around by tliesiernof lh ?,r.f.-. ! ...it af:er the li-h spear he bad !.!: ii.iu-r "bat aitcnieon. 'Sit' y'ifve moved." the Boss observed ob-served as Ihe skiff slipped out into the stream. "Mother's cough," was the answer. "She thought It woidd help her to get u;' there under th" trees." "That (niiLh it'll git away with 'or. If she hain't keeiTul. She oughlii have niedieil.e." "I told her so, but slit; won't have it." The I'.oss did not pursue the point. A won. an's " 111 was s'.unel hing he ;never tool; the trouble to question. Havb g r.c.'od out into the current, after the l'earlliunter secured his spear, be turned the nose of the skiff down slream and shipped his oars long enough to light his pipe. "Mother hung back a little right at tlie last," the young man said, Ills mind doubtless dwelling on the unusual un-usual experience, the first experience in ids life, of actually living upon land. "She was afraid somebody might not like us to move into the cabin. Cut I told her they couldn't do more than make us move out." "Afear'd of th' Wild Man. wus she?" The younger man looked up. "Say, tell me about that Wild Mnn. She did mention him this afternoon." The Boss took the pipe from his lips and blew away the smoke in a slow cloud, as if wishing to prolong the feel of it upon his tongue. "The Wild Man," he pondered, "a harmless ol' cuss, an' pitiful to see. Seven year he's been in these Flat-woods. Flat-woods. Hit ain't often a body gits a glimpse uv 'iin. I did once a tall ol' ghost of a man tall as you' a'most but a face on 'im the pitifulest you ever see. An' like a ghost he comes; and like a ghost he goes nobody knows where to. They say he's got a daughter somewhere's up in the hills thar, but I never see d her." The Boss went back to his pipe. The other sat pondering what he had just heard. "No, It wasn't on account of the Wild Man," he resumed, as if in answer an-swer to the Boss' first question. "She was afraid somebody might make us leave." "An' that'll be a long while a-doln'," the Boss answered. "They ain't nobody no-body in this quarter o' th' world has got th' right t' do that. That bin' b'-iongs b'-iongs t' Colonel Warbritton. Ever hear tell of him?" "I never did." "He owns hundreds and hundreds of acres five or six sections, I guess layin' in a square right along the river here, th' very heart and flower uv th' Flntwoods. That's his east line back thar where the River road bends north. It'll be many a long day b'fore he orders anybody off. He's got so much b'sides I don't s'pose be hardly knows he's got this. I doubt If he ever seen It." The Boss let the oars drift while he turned his head and sat a moment sweeping his eyes up and down the dim, forest-bound shore line. "Them Warbrittons is a remarkable race," he resumed. "Fire eaters every one. Soldiers an' fighters sence th' Lord knows when. In times long ago they wus a clan. They had a flag with a gray wolf on it. an' they called their-selves their-selves tlte Gray Wolf clan. They say every man in the cian wus brave, an' every woman virtuous. An' that's what they prided theirselves on special spe-cial partie'lar. They wus all hig men. They wus five of 'em In the Revolution; two with Clark; an' four in the war of '12." The l'earlliunter bent forward nnd hung upon the words. Somehow they strangely stirred him. "I fit th' Injuns under this Colonel Warbritton. Th' soldiers use' f talk about dm a lot around th' cnmpliro. That's how I come t' know s' much about Mm. Hit wus me that saved his scalp at Horseshoe Bend." A tang of pride crept into the hard tones of the grizzled old river mnn. "His boss got shot through III" brains an' fell s' quick he caught th' colonel's foot, an' I stood over 'Im with th' bayonet whilst he got loose. We sent seven sereechin' heathens t' hell that 'tiny b'fore lie'p come. That's how 1 got t' be a sergeant. Hit wus th' best he could do fer a man that hadn't no lenrnin'. No. No. You needn't be afear'd of gittin' driv' out o' th' cabin. If tlie colonel wus here, he wouldn't." He clutched the oars in earnest. A few lusty strokes drove the boat down to where the glare from the enmplire of the Boss' crew of "ehimmers" Mared nut across the water. There lie turned in to get Ihe Jack light. A dirtier hunch of men than the five lounging about that camplire couldn't be found anywhere else in the world except in another "cla!iin;er's" camp. The practice of the early pearl Ushers was to put lb" clams in vats and allow al-low them to die there and rot. This ninel: was .afterward carefully "linn-tl'ed" "linn-tl'ed" I'.ir whatever pearls It might con tain. The ordinary Jack light is simply an oil burner in early days a candle, or lire of pine knots arranged with a re-lleetnr re-lleetnr on the bow of tlie boat In such a way as to throw the full brilliancy of the light down upon Ihe water, leaving the fisherman himself In darkness. dark-ness. Sueh a llgbl, If Ihe night be dark and the water quiet and clear, renders objects' beneath the surface perfectly plain to a considerable depth. While the Boss was 1'aslohlhg Ihe Jack light lo Ihe bow of the boat the I'eiH'lhunter steppeil ashore lo blacken the poinls of the freshly sharpened spear In the blaze of the campfire. for all fishermen know it is never advisable advis-able to strike with a spear that glitters. glit-ters. He knew every man of them around the fire. But a toss of his hand, a toss of five hands in response, was all that passed between them men that would have carried a comrade com-rade for miles at need ; that would share the last bite with him; that would knife him just as readily at a fancied grievance. Such were the river men ; a law unto themselves a simple code, warped fantastically wirh knife and pistol for judge and jury; a leftover product of other days when clansmen followed their chief and asked no questions; a bi-product of the border who found it hard to disarm when civilization came in. The Ross slipped an oar into the water and laid the boat more toward the south shore, over the deepest part of the bar. Hardly had he done so when the rearlhunteiv lowered the point of his spear. Tile outline of an immense black bass took shape under the glare of tlie jack light, half hidden among the swaying verdure, as if lying ly-ing in wait for his prey, which in all likelihood he was, a scaly tiger of the stream in ambush. Tlie spear slid into the water and stole toward, him. All unnlarmed be lay, his fins idly fanning tlie fern-like moss in which lie lurked, little suspecting tlie five-pronged death creeping upon him. The points were within three feet of the glossing scales when the l'earlliunter struck. There followed a moment of fierce flurry among tlie waving ferns ; a little shower of spray broke the surface of tlie water, and all was over. A fish does not struggle long when the spear goes home. "Six-pounder, If he's an ounce," chuckled the Boss w hen the fish lay in the bottom of the boat. The I'earl-hunter I'earl-hunter rested his spear upon the gunwale gun-wale and bent above the jack light. Tlie boat drifted on. It was perhaps half an hour later when, in the leisurely manner of men returning from a season of successful sport, the two fishermen, with the pick of all they had floated over In the "You Needn't Be Afear'd of Gittin' Driv" Out o th' Cabin." bottom of the boat, rowed np the stream. The glare of tlie camplire was beginning to slither upon thedri-ping thedri-ping oar blades and tlie ripples they raised when the Boss laid the boat nearer the south shore with the remark re-mark : "Here's where we're expectin' t' h'ist th' shiners tomorrow all along here, ,71st look at th' tracks. Make a right smart track, don't they, fer a beast without no feet?" The l'earlliunter made no answer. Crouched down by the jack "ght well toward the bow of the boat, he had been for some time watching the unusually un-usually thick tangle of winding marks upon the slimy bottom, plowed there by tlie mussels or (dams while feeding, feed-ing, dozens ami hundreds of the creeping creep-ing bivalves, half burled In the ooze, at that very moment dotting the river bed. The Boss was In the very act of lurnlng the boat across the river to the camp when he was startled by an excited exclamation from his companion, compan-ion, who bad suddenly leant low ami dangerously far out over the water. Mi! was up on the Instant and had Hashed the Jack light around the boat. In his dripping hand there was an im-rnensi; im-rnensi; river mussel. The old I'.oss hail no sooner caught. Ihe bluish-purple gliller shedding from the hinge knobs of the giant bivalve than he uttered a shout that waked the echoes up and down the river shore, and brought Ihe live men at the camp running down to the water's "A Blue Moon!" he yelled. "By the gods, a Blue Moon !" lie snatched II from the hand of bis companion and bold It under the full glare of Ihe jack light. Next moment he bad handed II back and was driving driv-ing the bout to shore, where the tirsl glance at Ihe peculiar markings of the mussel inslantly threw the whole camp into the wildest cxcllcmcul. They spread down by the light of the lire the whitest cloth the camp afforded, af-forded, and the Boss cut the mussel open. One pearl, large, lustrous, dropped out upon Ihe cloth and lay twinkling up Into their laces' like a fallen star. It passed from hand lo hand, Ihe pearl fishers struggling wilh each other for the privilege of holding It. "I never see'd a one b'fore." cried the oldest "Hammer" present, "hut I knowed hit were a Blue Moon th' minute min-ute I lamped th' shell." - The pearl, passing from hand to band, had come round to the Boss again, who, stooping close to tlie firelight, fire-light, examined it through a smalt hand lens such as most pearl fishers carry. "Bearlhunter," he satd, turning to the young man, "you shorely air lucky! You've found y'ur pearl an' a fortune it were !" "Then It's you that's lucky," was the slow answer. "It's not mine." Had the others not been too excited, they might have noticed that his lips were drawn; his voice strained. j The grizzled old river Boss gripped his calloused hand shut vpon the . pearl; his seamy old face hardened, I and there sprang up in his deep-set eyes an expression not unlik-i the ex-, pression in tlie eyes of a haivk whin title to the prey in his claws is disputed. dis-puted. But the expression passed. He thrust the pearl back into tlie young man's hand as though half afraid of it. "Say," he growled, "what do you think I am?" "It was taken from your boat, in waters you expected to fish tomorrow. You'd have found it anyway." Tlie hawkish glower left the blue eves of the older man. leaving him the frank-faced old Boss again. He studied his young friend curiously. "Well, I'll be damn'd !" he chuckled good-naturedly to himself, still studying study-ing the other from under the edges of his eyes. "Say," he continued, looking look-ing up frankly, "I hain't got a dem bit more claim to it than I got to the Bank of Ingland. If you fancy 1 have got claims, I hereby gives nn' conveys 'em t' you an' if that hain't good law, it's square deaiin' b'twixt man an' man ; an' that's better'n law any day." "You mean It?" The younger man fingered the pearl as if it had suddenly assumed a new value. "If you wan' f Insult me, jist let on like y'u think I don't." Hero-worshipers all, after the manner man-ner of their kind, the other pearl fishers, fish-ers, as if by common Impulse, turned their attention from the pearl to the man that found it. He had become an object of wonder and curious admiration. admira-tion. No other achievement in the world could possibly have so distinguished distin-guished him in their eyes. Suddenly one of their number snatched off his battered hat nnd yelled: "Hooray fer th' Fearlhunter !" The bluffs caught up the cheer that followed and flung It back in multiplied multi-plied echoes, cleat- and far up and down the night-bound shore. The Boss, still hungry for the feel of the jewel, reached forth a grimy finger and meditatively stirred the pearl where It lay in the finder's palm. "This one's rounder than them other two. An' It's got a shinier sheen. Course I cayn't say p'lntedly, but I putt It at not less'n five thou-san'." thou-san'." The Pearlhunter was restless. There was n frail woman back In the cabin at Fallen Rock to whom tlie finding find-ing of the penrl would mean more than to anybody else In the world. It would mean the man's heart wanned with the thought, as his mind reverted revert-ed to the story of the afternoon hack to the house on a hill that overlooked over-looked the river and good-by to the cough forever. But It was some time before the first flush of excitement died down. It is not one camp In a thousand that ever sees a Blue Moon. The value of it was still under discussion when the I'.oss happened to remember the fish still lying in the boat. "Th' fish!" he exclaimed. "Th' llies'll be at 'em." "And I must be getting home." The l'earlliunter was quick to seize the chance. Followed by the others, the Boss went down to the boat not. however, until the l'earlliunter had torn a corner cor-ner out of the cloth spread down by the fire, wrapped the pearl up In It, and put It carefully away In his pocket. Insisting on relieving the Boss from rowing on the way back, he took his place at the oars and waited for the boat to be pushed off Into the stream. Hut the Boss, with his hand upon the bow, stood hesitatingly before giving the final shove. "Shorty," he called to the man who had danced the hornpipe, nnd who was now gone back to the fire, "bring me my ol' shotgun an' coat. I reckon I'll camp at Fallen Rock t'nlght." The l'earlliunter protested against his going to such trouble; but the Boss had his way. |
