Cavalier County farmers press. (Langdon, N.D.) 1920-1921, 1920-11-11
SYNOPSIS.

Never having known his
Gather, and living with his mother on a
tlouseboat on the Wabash river, 1.-THE
Pearlhunter"-the only name he has
learns from her a part Of the story of
her sad life. The recital is interrupted by
"a fearful At Of coughing and he hurries
ashore to seek a root that affords relief.
Returning with the root, he meets q
young girl whom he mentally christens
the wild Rose" She eludes him before
ne can make her acquaintance.
CHAPTER ia vacant cabin on the
shore has attracted the attention of the
Their first meal is interrupted by a
stranger who resents their presence. The
youth drives the man from their home.
His presence has strangely affected the
9nother. That night the youth finds with
In a mussel the largest pearl that has
been found on the river, the ''Blue Moon"
Returning eXultant to the cabin, he dis
covers his mother dead, she having sue
cumbed while ~endeavoring to leave a
message revealing the secret of his par
nsntage.
CHAPTER III.-At the village Of Fallen
Rock, to which he takes the gem for safe
keeping, the "~Pearlhunter'' meets the
stranger who had disturbed his mother
fn their cabin. n insults him.. They
part as bitter enemies
Nv. - In the village the
"Pearlhunter'' sees the girl who had at
Etracted his attention in the woods. She
Is annoyed BY the stranger, and the
"Pearlhunter' rescues her from his I'M
welcome attentions. He accompanies her
to her home.
CHAPTER Vat the house he mee.-
the, father Of his ''Wild Rose" known to
rlhe locality as the ''Wild Man." mentally
irresponsible as the result Of a wound re-
"ceived from a man wearing a red mask,
"a notorious desperate. The youth de-
"clares his intention Of devoting the
money he is to get for the pearl to pay
ling for a surgical operation which will
restore the old mans reason.
CHAPTER Win the cabin that night
the "Pearlhunter" is aroused from sleep
by the stealthy visit of a man who con-
.hceals a red mask in the wall and makes
land suspecting foul play. destroys it.
Next day Louie Solomon. pearl buyer,
purchases the gem for $3.50.
CHAPTER V1I.-solomon accompanies
1.-The youth to his cabin and within a few
minutes of their parting the pearl buyer
as stabbed and robbed of the gem. The
~"Pearlhunter" is charged with the muir
der and robbery and is saved from lynch
ing by the Intervention of the sheriff.
The mob believes the "P~earlhunter' is
the RED Mask" He is confined in the
village lookup.
CHAPTER VI1I.-The stranger offers to
secure the release Of the 'Pearlhunter" if
he will promise to leave the vicinity. The
youth refuses. Made desperate by the
strangers threats of harming the girl,
the young man prizes the bars from the
window Of his cell and escapes.
CHAPTER IX.-Going at once to the
home of his wild Rose" ne tells .as
girl the whole story of the selling of the
= gen., the murder of Louie Solomon, and
ais accusation Of being the Red Mask
The girl believes him innocent, and he
leaves the draft he had received for the
gem with her. Returning to his cabin,
the "Pearlhunter" finds the murderer
there, and the latter unwittingly discloses
to the youth his hiding place, a cave un-
der a waterfall.
Jumping lightly from rock to rock
in the shallow water of the pool, the
bandit approached the cataract, the
third leap landing him upon the fiat
top Of a rock almost within the very
wash of the falling water. Pausing
a n instant to pull his hat tight and
turn up the collar of his coat, he
sprang straight into the thin blade
sof the falls. His leap must have car
rled him completely through to the
other side. 1t was the first the Pearl
hunter knew, or even suspected, that
there was an open space beyond. So
completely did the falling water hide
everything back of it that probably
the man who had just leaDed and
the man who watched him were the
only two who knew there was any,
thing back Of it.
The ~Pearlhunter stretched himself
fiat under cover of a clump of sprouts.
growing about an old white oak
stump, and kept his eyes fixed on the
waterfall.
Time goes slowly to one who
watches and waits. 1t was probably
not more than ten minutes, though it
seemed far longer, when, without so
much as a diverted feck of spray in
warning, the waterfall flung forth up-
on the f%iat-topped rock a 1.-THE and ac-
tive figure that sprang lightly to shore
over the two intervening stones.
Pausing on the brink of the pool
barely long enough to shake his coat
by the lapels and to knock his hat
against his hand, he Immediately set
out along the bluffs toward the vii
iage, as unconcerned as if he had not
just pulled off about the most sensa-
tlonal stunt V seer by a Flatwoods-
man.
The P%earlhunter slipped out of the
cover n softly followed; trailed him
up the bluffs, through the corner of the
woods n out to the river road where
1t angles north through the cut in the
cliffs; listened at the fence, neal
where the path crossed it, till the re-
ceding steps We're well on their way
to the village.