Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1920-11-30
CHAPTER vlI-continued.


Tn not the Red Mask. l didn't kill
Louie Solomon. And / don't know
where the Blue Moon is"
The answer was not convincing.
Nothing he could have said Just then
would have been. Whether the Jew
believed it. or any part of it, his face
gave no sign. He backed away two
steps and leveled his revolver full at
the Pearlhunter's breast, like man
about to pistol another and deliberate
~ planning to make a clean job of it.
The instant came when the Pearl
hunter believed the grimy finger was
about to press the trigger and he was
almost in the act of diving beneath
the muZZle when the Jew motioned to
one of the others and said something
in Yiddish.
The man spoken to darted away
through the bushes toward the boat
landing. The Pearlhunter breathed
again.
The man soon reappeared, carrying
piece of rope. One at q time. he
took the Pearlhunter's hands, drew
them behind his back, and bound
them securely together. Even then,
so great was their dread of the man
he was supposed to be. that one of
them constantly held gun on him.
With the knife still sticking in the
dead mans breast. they carried him
down to the boat, driving the Pearl
hunter before them. There they load
ed them in. the dead and the living.
and rowed back up the river to the
village-the second time that day; the
same trip; the same boat; the same
five men. Then, great day opening
the greatest trade ever made among
pearl fishers along the Wabash in
prospect; now, the day nearly done;
the pearl lost; one of the men dead,
another likely soon TO bel
What difference in the crowd that
met them at the wharf! Again driv-
ing their prisoner before them. the
three grim henchmen carried the dead
man up the hill to q small plot Of
open ground west of the Mud Hen and
laid him down upon the grass.
For the second time that day the
village emptied its houses to meet
them. Women came this time-old
women with scared faces; girls with
blooming cheeks; and children. Hard
men that had drunk to the Pearlhunt.
err barely two hours ago came out of
the Mud Hen and stood staring at him
in sullen silence. Men from the stores
and shops came running. Men that
had neither stores nor shops strag-
lage and jostlcd about in the ever
growing. ominously muttering circle.
Suddenly. and unexpectedly, two Of
the henchmen caught the Pearlhunter
and held him while the third tied the
red mask over his eyes. Bound as he
was. he had flung them loose in an in
slant and raked the mask off against
his shoulder. But that one brief mo-
ment was enough. The mischief was
done. Women screamed; men NUT
tered and swore but all shrank back,
widening the circle.
Who started it, who said 1t first,
will never be known. Nobody knows
how the mob forms-a low humble
quick flare into frenzy: mild eyes
grown wild; stolid faces afire; rab-
BILE; clamor; reason down, blood
iust up.
'TIang i'm. Hang 'imi''
Even the women took up the cry, so
great was the terror of his name-the
Fed Mask--a name that might have
stampeded the village. The mob
charged him. Bound as he was, he
dashed at them. A butt OF his Shout
der caught the foremost man. a bury
blacksmith, on the Jaw. He went
down like beef under the mallet. A
drive of his head to the pit of the
stomach crumpled up another. A we'll
directed kick laid out a third.
He fought as the men of his blood
had always fought Bnt what cen
one mah, with his hands tied. do
against many? They had his blouse
ripped off. his shirt in shFeds. and a