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Show 1 I 1 !5he Br david I $ TV ANDERSON $ ! l&ikse Moon I . y $ c4 Tale of the Flat woods c0HrtbTth. f J' ' Bobb-Merrill Company V 1 CHAPTER XII Continued. 15 "Huh! That wusn't nothln'." IPs voire was thin and sharp like his face high like the peaked crown of lib rusty hut. "Did your grandpa send you?" "L'h-huh ! I brung y'n n letter. Oran'pu tends t' th' prst ollloo now. The ol' postmaster had a stroke night h'fore last, an' hain't knowed nothin' since. So gran'pn fends to It." He unhuttoned the hnsoni of his waist, drew out a letter and handed It over. "Air you i:ox 2.'!?" "I yes I guess so," was the startled answer as she took the letter. "Huh! That's a funny name fer a girl." I'. ut she was too husy with the letter let-ter to notice the remark. It was addressed ad-dressed in a very hold and legible hand : Box 2", Buckeye, Ind. The postmark she could not he sure of. It appeared to he VIncennes, hut some of the letters were too dull to read with certainty. "Is that your r'volver?" There was not much chanre to read letters or do anything else with a youngster like that In the house. "Yes. Have they found that man that escaped from jail last night?" "Naw ! An' I hope they don't. I met "that timber huyin' feller on the way down here." He ratne near the girl's chair. "If they's anybody I hate. It's him. Gran'pa says" he leant nearer, and spoke low "he kills people peo-ple ! (lee ! but I wus skeered when I saw him n-comin' down th' road! He wus awful mad, an' a-swearin' to his-self. his-self. He slashed at me with a switch. I'.ut I ducked, an' out dirt, an' shinned over th' fence. When I looked back . he was a-goin' on toward town, an' I streaked it through th' woods liekety-split." liekety-split." The very Information she had been about to venture forth into the woods to acquire. "How is your grandma today?" "Oh, she's well ag'in. She cooks lots of things now. She fried me some screw-cakes yisterd'y." He was gone "liekety-split." The girl closed the door, laughing softly, and turued toward the, curtains. The rearlhunter was just coming through them. "It couldn't have turned out better." he said. "The dark, one stroke more, and things will take a turn." "That stroke !" She was very thoughtful, her eyes searching the side . of his face toward her. "You speak J nf it lightly; but so you spoke of that dreadful fight with the mob." " He sat stUl a long time. "I don't know why I shouldn't tell you," he said at last. "The only reason rea-son I didn't was to save you the thought of It. But n girl like you I'd ask no better backin' in a tight place." Her face lighted. "Then why not take me with you?" He started, turned his slow eyes toward her. A moment he studirr? I her. and then shook his head. "No" the word seemed final. "It won't do for a girl a lady to heiir what will have to be heard tonight; and see what will have to be seen." Her eyes dropped ; so did his. They both met at the same focus the letter tr. her hand. She passed it to him. He turned it over and over, looked at the address, the postscript, and handed it back. "I Dever got a letter in my life," he said, "nor wrote one." "Neither did I." She turned the letter let-ter over and over, studying it. "Box 2"." she mused. "It's for Daddy! He couldn't read it, even if he were here. Io you think I should open it?" "Yes, I think you should, " he advised. ad-vised. She tore open the end of the envelope envel-ope and drew out a folded sheet of legal cap. As she unfolded it. a bill a greenback fell out upon her lap. She pounced upon it. "Fifty dollars! Why why !" "The letter will tell," he said, loaning loan-ing eagerly tosvard her. She unfolded the stiff sheet, the inner in-ner side of it covered with the letter, written in a clear, readable hand: .. "Vineennes. Ind., June 1.1, 1S4 . "My Dear Colonel : "Enclosed I am sending the usual monthly remittance, as per your order when you left. "Why haven't you answered any of my letters? I have ent the remittance remit-tance regularly but have not heard a word from you for nearly sevo:; years. As I have ropeate'.Uy told you. your estate has inereasrl till I hardly know hew to Invest it fur1 her. If I don'; hear from you I shall have to coiao , ;:; to Buckeye for a consultation. "The little girl little Hesper Dawn must be quite a woman now. As I have written you, her grandfather, old Codfrey Dawn, died last year. He repented re-pented In his last hours and left her Hole heir to his fortune, which, as you know, is even more considerable than 7, our own. The estate is in my hands reaily to convey to her. The legal age 4f a woman In this' state is eighteen. If old Godfrey has not misinformed mo, sha will be twenty the twentieth .of this vresent month. So. she has 1"'i'ti for some time legally competent to come Into her estate. If, under the terms of your will, she should fall heir to your fortune as well, which slit? bids fair to do. as no word has come and none likely to come at this late day, she will be quite the richest heiress in my knowing. "Now. my dear Colonel, let me hear from you. Why should a famous soldier, sol-dier, and the greatest cellist of his time, longer isolate himself from the world to nurse his sorrow? For the sake of the little girl, if not for your own anil ours leave your Flatwoods hernrtage and come hack to ns. "Awaiting urging an early reply to this letter. I beg to remain, as ever, "Y'our obedient serv't, "OEO. ESKItlDGE." A voice out of the big world she had visited only In dreams. She glanced again at the letter, looked hard at the opening of the . third paragraph, dropped her hands in her lap nnd turned to her companion. He had bent forward and sat staring at the floor. "What does it mean?" ' "It means," he said slowly after a time, with his eyes still on the floor, "that you are a rich heiress; and you've got a name," "A name !" she repeated, her woman's wom-an's intuition instantly catching the minor note. "So have you, and" she reached in her bosom and drew out the draft "a fortune. And you made them both yourself." He glanced at the draft; waved It away without lifting his head. "Keep it, please, for me till after tonight." She put it back in her bosom, picked up the letter and sat pondering, stealing steal-ing an occasional glance at his glum face. ' "Seven years the letters came," the man mused, half aloud, "and you never received them. The postmaster has a stroke you receive the very next letter let-ter that comes " "You don't reckon ?" "Reckon ! It's a plain case. Let's see every month six hundred a year seven years seven times six hundred hun-dred no wonder he could build that new house " "Oh, w ell ! I'oor old man ! He's paying for it." "And do you think that's the way a man pays?" "Sometimes maybe." The man raised his eyes after a time to the bright spots of metal In the gathering gloom above the mantel. "The letter called him a famous soldier. sol-dier. Maybe that's his sword, and spurs ?" "They are." "And you keep them shining bright like that?" "Always." The man was silent a long time. One other question had come to him, but he dreaded to ask it. He twisted himself him-self around so as to look into the face of his companion. It was deeply thoughtful. Things had recently happened hap-pened in his own life that had brought I the question to his mind. Finally very softly, reverently, he ventured it forth. "And your mother?" The girl caught her breath ; dropped one hand, doubtless unconsciously, upon up-on his shoulder. Ker lashes drooped low. "I never saw Her!" she said, after a time. "And she never saw me!" There was a pause. "Her grave is "Fifty Dollars! Why Why " on a hill that overlooks the river. Daddy Dad-dy took me ami came up here in the I'huwoods to forget. I guess he couldn't forget, for he never went back." , The rearlhunter was sorry he had asked the question. The grave that overlooked the river! Was there not another such grave not three days old; the orchids upon It still alive! The gray eyes followed the blue into the pensive shadows. "I wonder what It means," he meditated medi-tated half aloud. "You are to fall hetr to his fortune, If no word comes. What word, do you suppose? And why should any word prevent you falling heir to his fortune, your father's?" "I wondered about that. I guess It's just lawyer talk. Do you think I should answer that letter?" "I think you should." "But what would I say? As I said a while ago, I never wrote a letter." "Neither did I." He saw the answer did not relieve the perplexity on the thoughtful face, and went on. "But I'd tell him about your life here, and about your father's accident, and that this is the first letter you've received re-ceived for seven years." He hesitated, seemed to study his next word, finally added: "And I believe I'd ask him to come; yes, I believe I would ask him to come." "Why, of course; why couldn't I think of that? Now you'd better lie down while I get you a mite of supper." sup-per." In an Instant he was on his feet, protesting. "I shall have to get supper for Daddy, anyhow," she emphasized. "And I wouldn't think of letting you go without." When a woman talks like that, It's no use to argue. The Pearlhunter didn't which shows that he was learning fast "Will you eat with me again?" She swept him a deep courtesy. "If the famous finder of the Blue Moon is not ashamed to eat with his cook " He bowed low. It cost him a pang in his side, but It didn't get to his face. "If the rich heiress, Miss Hesper Dawn, is not above eating with the the Pearlhunter " Wonderful is the resilience of youth. With a gay laugh she danced away to the kitchen. He tramped after her. His two old friends, the Boss and dour-faced Bull Masterson, would have been astonished at the sounds that came through that kitchen door. The ' slow, deliberate, serious-faced Pearlhunter 1 He was dancing about the cook stove, carrying dishes, and laughing as lightly as if half the neighborhood was not out hunting him with every sort of weapon the Flat-woods Flat-woods could furnish. That supper! Bacon and .eggs, brown toast, and coffee! And the hands that poured that coffee and put the sugar in, and spread the toast! It had to be eaten in semidarkness, for it wouldn't do to risk a candle seml-darkndfes, seml-darkndfes, but not in silence. He forgot for-got that the girl just around the corner cor-ner of the table had turned out to be a rich heiress the "princess" of his fairy story while he was only the Pearlhunter a man without a name. Twilight at the windows warned him that the dark was hovering like a night raven over the woods. His time had come. The business of a man was afoot. She closed the st6ve hearth to hide the fire light. He opened the east door of the kitchen, once more the grave, cautious woodsman. She held out her hand ; he laid it upon the arni in the sling; covered it with his own. "Wild Rose!" he said. "You'll always al-ways be that, no matter what they call you." ' The fancy .went through him that her hand thrilled, ever so slightly, upon up-on his arm. He closed his great palm over it. "The woods shall be safe tomorrow for you and me," he said, and followed fol-lowed the words with the boldest act of his life picked up the hand from his arm and laid It to his lips. The p.ext instant he had slipped away into the gathering night. Buried in the bushes, he spared a second to look back. She was still in the dark frame of the door. A sound like the passing of a whimper, whim-per, like the breeze playing with soft leaves, caught his quick ear. A gray ghost the Wild Man of the Flatwoods tlitted along under the cliffs and, entered en-tered the cabin. CHAPTER XIII. The Sheriff's Nudge. ' The sheriff's barn stood against the' hillside.: the distance of half a block back of his housed He had been in the saddle most of the day. It was dark when he rode Into his barti lot to put up his tired horse. So intent was he upon his task, so eager to hurry it over and get hack to the house to supper, that he failed to notice a dark form stealing down off the bluff, through the bushes, and along the barn wall. The task finished, the sheriff closed the barn door and turned toward the house. "Sh-h!" lie whirled, nnd found himself gazing gaz-ing down the wrong end of a steady six-gun in the hand of he very man he had been hunting all day. The sheriff was a brave man. but he knew where bravery ends and foolbardiness begins. Ilis hands went up as quickly quick-ly as he could get them up. The man with the six-gun carried bis arm in a sling. It must have cost him torture to take It out, but he did it; reached over and plucked the sheriff's revolver out of his holster, thrust it Lnto his blouse and put hlg arm bart Into the Bllnj. "Listen!" There was no misunderstanding misunder-standing that whisper. "I'll not hurt you If you do as I say. Creep up the hill to the top of the bluff. Keep out of sight as much as possible. I'll be right behind you." The sheriff was not a brilliant man, but he did have a saving grain oi horse sense. He crept along the barn wall, up the hill through the bushes and into the thick woods at the top of the bluff. The shadow behind be-hind htm, was noiseless, but he knew that it was thera. "To Fallen Rock." came a low, Incisive In-cisive command. "You know the way." He knew the way. He took it. He never liked to. remember that Journey. It brought the sweat out on his head to recall it. Not even a sheriff a Flatwoods sheriff, to boot has a stomach stom-ach for a tramp through the dark at the point of a six-gun in the hands of such a man. At the spring around back of the west end of the old cabin, he hesitated, hesi-tated, undecided whether that was the final destination, and yet dreading to make the mistake, if It wasn't The "The Timber Buyer Is Your Mar:." gun muzzle prodded him onto the brink of the pool under the falls. Barely out of reach of the spray, the shadow came around and faced him. "You think I'm the Red Mask. The whole town thinks I am. Like a pack of hounds you've hunted me today, but you hunted the wrone man. The real Red Mask was otie of the pack. That timber buyer is your man." The sheriff started. The cold voice went on. "Did you ever know him to buy a timber option? Did you ever hear of any that he bought?" "No!" The sheriff was surprised to find his mouth dry, his tongue stiff. "And you never will. He deliberately deliberate-ly planned to lay the murder of Louie Solomon on me. He's the real murderer, mur-derer, and has the Blue Moon at this minute. I knew it all along, but I had no proof. Tonight I expect to get my proof and I brought you along to help me get it." The Pearlhunter briefly explained what he had chanced to learn the evening eve-ning before after escaping from the jail. ' "Had- you never noticed that he comes down this way every night?" he concluded. "Yes, but I understood it was to see a girl." The Pearlhunter winced. His Jaw tightened. He was thinking of the talk that had probably been bandied back and forth over the bar of the Mud Hen. "He came to feed his horse. There's no girl down here his mouth's fit to mention. He'll come tonight any minute now. Quick 1 Out on that flat rock." Without a word, the sheriff bounded over the two intervening stones to the fiat rock. The Pearlhunter waited Just long enough to sound the woods. The noise of the falls made it impossible. With a searching look back up the bluff as far as his eyes would carry in the gloom, he joined the sheriff. "Jump. ( toltl you how." (TO BE CONTINUED.) |