Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1920-11-20
CHAPTER l-Continued.
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him with feverish quickness.
ave lived twenty years without the
world. III not go back to 1t now"
But, mother, if we just keep on this
way youll--youTr"-he hesitated at
the next word finally let 1t fall-"die."
"DieP' she seemed to fondle the
word. "a small thlng-to diet"
She sat musing as If she found a
melancholy comfort in the thought.
But I shan't die" she continued,
with a hasty glance up at his face.
"My cough is worse today because my
medicine is gone"
"a The young man started.
"Your elecampane gone!"
" took the last of it yesterday"
Z 'Motherw
MI He went to the cook stove and lifted
the saucer from small jar in which
the roots were usually STEPPED. 1t was
empty and dry. There was a great ten
derness IN his voice as he came back
and bent over her chair.
you shall have your elecampane
tea" he said, "if the roots are to be
found In the Flatwoods; and you shall
sleep tonight in the old cabin up there
under the cool trees"
A ripple Of pleased expectation, of
hslf-awakened interest, broke the
drear surface of the weary face-like
faint glow back of a curtain that
never raises.
He reflled the cup with cool water,
rummaged a spade out of the locker
under the forward deck, and was just
on the point Of leaping to the bank
when he heard her speaking. He
poked his head back inside the cur
tains, and she repeated what she had
iugt said
" isn't the Flatwoods where the Wild
& Man lives? Seems to me once heard
that there is such a man in these
woods"
He felt carelessly along the rusty bit
At the spade with his thumb.
Il believe this is the woods"
M Maybe he's-I mean-he's not dam
gerousY'
"Dangerousl A gray ghost Of a
man with pitiful face. They say he
goes through the woods as still as
smoke, and leaves as little trail"
III A minute later he had leaped ashore
climbed the bluffs and plunged into
the deep woods.
The root Of the elecampane was
e much esteemed as a remedy for
coughs, but it was by no means abun-
III dant. No one knew this fact better
than the Pearlhunter.
The small stream that feeds the wa
81 terfau at Fallen Rock is known as
81 Won run. Following up along its
n course the Pearlhunter presently came
u Ony thread Of water that Joined 1t
from the west-probably the outlet of
rome small pond tucked away among
b 'ae mis-. 1t Is along the open margins
Ri q sWamps and ponds. and never in
| we mick woods, that the elecampane
Grows Believing from the warmth
ana guinness Of its water that the tiny
81 s"eaIn came from a pond, rather than
y lowed It. - ''' 'e' Aoi-
Ii II mad grown so small that the
safihunter began to fear it would
Fl ,appeaf altogether. when there came
Nh o'eaA ID The forest line Just ahead.
Nj aIainoie tb.Ough a dense fringe of
- - ana here 1t lay-a little pond
-. s mast of a narrow glade In
soe3ef 81 the hills, a delicate inlay in
Tie forest. may ="
8 ~. ne man glanced at the sun
Ri .e,1ea and hurriedly looked about for
M :, e'eeampane. Along the east edge
E 49,. NE glade, not far out from the
6. -, y. 81 hazel, he found ia clump
no. 's uozen stalks. three or four Of
81 .ea1y to bloom. The rusty spade
A.. aooa at their roots-probablv the
Il gin - s'oIfa ever broken on the mar
d. that pond. Three plants he
b e7o9-1 c1t their stems close to the
s. ts-s ~ . SHOOK the dirt from their clus-
81 ae +I-. '''Sny roots, and hurried down
81 T. - oouet back to Wolf run.
~. upon the gravelly margin of
II ~, 1'41 the Pearlhunter STONED to
III - elecampane roots, and cut
HI from the clusters in which
M ME. 'eeh carrying them. He had
n ts.-- NE task and vas storing
re = ay In the pockets of his blonse
81 rss-a -s OF q thrush from some
..a.+ ~ The stream graduaIIv worried
tbs a'oSN bis Consciousness
tsss.--s puzzled him. There were
eee.-, ran y. little foreign flights, a
1sra t-.. hery--that he could not
IT,. eyed possible 10 thrrs 4Gs
" "a =. The Pearlhunter had me-
a.s.s .4e sounds Of the woods ~ Ne
hses =. -..-o4s'y up the bank Tho
1sa 10 had drawn quite near