Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1920-06-01
THE BLUE MOON
= A TALE OF THE FLATWOODS .
BY DAVID ANDERSON
{ the thing. had. been a red-hot coal.
Eyes, an, you heard what l said.n
BY DAVID ANDERSON

If the thing had. been a red-hot coal.
Yes, an you heard what l said
Ills eyes roved everywhere but to-
ward his companion.
But les putt it in tn bank-an'
tn sooner TIL quicker" His eyes fell
to the floor. "Notkin' that can putt
tn devil in a Teller like that amt rot
river men,"
The Boss was ill at ease, smarting
under the shame Of the evil spell that
had mastered him.
The .Pearlhunter was a man who
seldom took the trouble to hunt for a
word if an act would do as well.
Quietly rolling the pearl up. in the
cloth again, he left thu cabin and,
followed by the Boss, STROBE down
boat, and together they rowed away
toward the village.
The fame of the Pearlhunter had
preceded him. AS he came up from
the wharf into the town., the Mud
Hen, he one saloon of the place; dis
gorged a staggering, swearing popu-
lation that gathered round him. The
Boss's crew, eamped half a mile be,
low. Fallen Rock and the crew Of
Bull Masterson, camped three miles
above, were both there. Besides
these, the Obenchain. a small steam
er plying between the ports Of the
Wabash, had come in that morning
bringing other river men.
Caught in the swirl Of the crowd,
the P~earlhunter apd his companion
We're swept into the Mud Hen. A
pearl laid upon the bar where all
could file by and see it. There fell
a few minutes of comparative quiet
while the hungry Eyes of the river
men We're devouring it. Then fol-
lowed drinks all round-at the ex-
pense Of the finder: and-what fol-
lowed is not a pleasant task to de
scribe.
The Pearlhunter, remembering
that mound of fresh earth at Fallen
Rock, kept his head and drank bur
little. The Boss, on the other hand,
"cut tn dog loose" as the river men
say. BY noon he was singing snatch
es of half-forgotten songs and fight
ing the Indian Wars all over again.
Coming up to where his young friend
leaned against the bar, in easy reach
of cloth. he threw an arm about his
peck and leant hard upon him, ONE
thing he couldn't have been hired to
do when sober.
II didn't mean nothin' this mornin'
thar in tn cabin. did -"
Not a thing, Boss"
I wus only funnin', wusn't I,
Pearlhunter? 1 wouldn'tN hurt you
for all tn Blue Moons this side o.
hell, would II"
That you wouldn't, Boss"
The Boss pondereAk the words as if
they had been someS weighty procla-
nation that every citizen was requir-
ed duly 10 consider. finally lurched
.around,/ ands with his back to the
bar. waved his hand.
Come. ere, you fellers. This'n's
on me, an it's to tn Pearlhunter, tn
whitest mar along tn Wabash-an'
be damned t tn nan what avs e
anti"
The rabble swarmed about. the bar
all that were able. Bottle necks
gurgled: glasses clinked; red whisky
sizzled down hot Threats; "a few
shouted; some swore: Others merely
laughed foolishly. 4
That last drink was the Boss's An
ish. He wilted down into the near
est chair; lurched heavily owe upon
a table and lay there mumbling, or
laughing in high. shrill key; oeca-
.sionally shouting out a note or two of
a boating song that had beer old on
the river for a quarter of a century.
1t was early afternoon before the
Pearlhunter dared to think seriously
of depositing the pearl-before river
etiquette permitted him to remove it