Cleveland County herald., 1920-12-16

tiE sHllc: Iui WHY ul lHeSe tfdDolaAt plans against him? Was if some aa- cient grudge he bore his blood? Did Ire wish somebody to die in his place n deceive an outraged world into thinking the Red Mask was settled for good and all, and so give him chance to start over again? Was it because he was not yet ready to leave the Flat woods? It was probably for all these reasons But with the last there flashed across the young mans mind that scene at the fence. It stung him like lash. Even though the evidence secreted In the cabin was now in ashes, by that dead body was the most dangerous place in the world for him just then. Hardly five seconds had passed since the last gasp of Louie Solomon, so fast does a man think under such a stress, when the Pearlhunter threw the mask down by the body and turned to steal back up the hill.
 Up with 'eml''
 He whirled; stared; slowly raised his hands. It's one thing to face odds; quite another to face certain death. Behind the three black muzzles poking out through the bushes gloWered the truculent. bearded faces of Louie Solo mons three roWers.
 Grim as the three Eates, they stalked toward him. Two of them kept him covered. while the third plucked the revolver from his pocket and dropped it into his own. After that he bent over the body of his master; touched his face; lifted a hand laid it across his breast. He picked up the red mask and snarled around at the others. The others growIed; swore; and the Pearl hunter faneied the revolvers pointed at him a little straighter, little more vindictively. It was not the first time these three had faced the Red Mask. He had long been their particular nightmare. It was the first time they had seen him with his mask off, and with empty hands.
 The one kneeling by the body seemed to be the leader. He felt care fully inside the pocket where the pearl had been pinned; searched the other pockets felt carefully over the cloth ing. He rose after the fruitless search and faced the Pearlhunter.
 "Where iss it?"
 The Pearlhunter shook his head.
 With snarled word of Yiddish, doubtless a curse and flourish Of his clenched hand that came uncom- fortablv close to the young mans face. the Jew began to search him pockets; hens; waist-band; socks :; even his hatband, ears and hair. Of course the search again proved fruit less. The Jew drew his revolver, cooked ii. and thrust it into tue Pearl hunters face.
 "Where iss it?"
 The bearded lips were drawn so tense that the yellow teeth were bare. The Pearlhunter knew the yellow teeth meant exactly what they seemed to mean. Louie S0lomon's three guardsmen had reputation along the Wabash. The reward for the Red Mask was the same whether dead or alive. Still, his death would not bring them any nearer finding the pearl. He pinned his hope there. and shook his head.
 I'm not the Red Mask. 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 leyeled his revolver full at the Pearlhunter's breast, like a man about to pistol another and deliberate Iy planning to make clean job of it. The instant came when the Pearl hunter believed the grimy finger was about to press the trigger and he wa 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 a piece of rope. One at a 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 De, that one of them constantly held a 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 vinage-the second time that day; the same trip; the same boat; the same five men. Then, a 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 be!
 What a difference in the crowd that met them at the wharf Again driv- ing their prisoner before them. the three grim henchmen carried the dead