Cleveland County herald., 1920-10-28

5OBBS-ME.RRILL COMPANY after the Pearlhunter secured his spear, he turned the nose of the skiff down stream and shipped his oars long enough to light his pipe.
 Mother hung back little right at the last" the young man said his mind doubtless dwelling on the un- usual experience, the first experience in his life of actually living upon land. "She was afraid somebody might not like us to move into the cabin. But told her they couldn't do more than make us move out"
 "Afear'd of tn Wild Man, wus she?'
 The younger man looked up.
 "Say, tell me about that Wild Man. 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. Hit ain't often body gifts glimpse uv i'm. l did once-a tall ol ghost of a man-tall as you almost but a face on i'm the pitifulest you ever see. An like a ghost he comes; and like ghost he goes-nobody knows where to. They say he's got daughter somewheres up in the hills thar, but 1 never seed 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 an swer to the Boss first question. "She was afraid somebody might make us leave"
 An that'll be long while a-doin'," the Boss answered. 'sThey ain't no- body in this quarter O tn world has got tn right t do that. That Ian b. longs t Colonel Warbritton. Ever hear tell of him?"
 II never did,
 'He owns hundreds and hundreds of acres-five or six sections, I guess layin' in square right along the river here, tn very heart and flower uy tn Flatwoods. That's his east line back thar where the River road bends north. It'll be many long day b'fore he orders anybody off. He's got so much b,sides 1 don't s'pose he 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 sv vaeping 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 tn 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 the Gray Wolf clan. They say every man in the clan wus brave. an every woman virtuous. An that's what they prided theirselves on spe- cial partic'lar. They wus all big men. They wus five of 'em in the Revolution; two with Clark; an four in the war of '12."
 The Pearlhunter bent forward and hung upon the words. Somehow they 1 strangely stirred him.
 'I fit tn Injuns under this Colonel Warbritton. Tn soldiers use t talk about i'm lot around tn campfire. | That's how I come t know S much about i'm. Hit wus me that saved his scalp at Horseshoe Bend" A tang of | pride crept into the hard tones of the | griZZled old river man. His hOSs got shot through tn brains an fell S | quick he caught tn colOnefs foot, an I stood over i'm with tn bayonet | whilst he got loose. We sent seven | screechin' heathens t hell that day | b'fore hep come. That's how I got t | be sergeant. Hit wus tn best he | could do fer a man that hadn't no | learnin'. No. No. You needn't be afear'd of gittin' driv' out O tn cabin If the colonel wus here, he wouldn't" He clutehed the oars in earnest. A few lusty strokes drove the boat down to where the glare from the campfire of the Boss crew of "clammers' fiared out across the water. There he turned in to get the jack light.
 A dirtier bunch of men than the five lounging about that campfire couldn't be found anywhere else in the world except in another "clammers" camp. The practice of the early pearl fishers was to put the clans in vats and al- low them to die there and rot This muck was afterward carefully han dled" for whatever pearls it might con- tain.
 The ordinary jack light is simply an oil burner-in early days candle, or fire of pine knots-arranged with a re- flector-on the bow of the boat in such a way as to throw the full brilliancy of the light down upon the water, leaving the fisherman himself in dark ness. Such light, if the night be dark and the water quiet and clear, renders objects beneath the surface perfectly plain to considerable depth. While the Boss was fastening the iacL Iight to the bow of the boat the