The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1920-07-17

her hand, the cool spring within reach,
ne left her and hurried back to the
house-boat.
The sun was dipping low toward the
distant bend in the river when the last
OF the moving was done. A purple
twilight had given place to dark before
he had put the cabin to rights, his
mother In her easy chair, and supper
on the table; a bass, taken from the
nets only that morning; fruit from the
WOODS; baked potatoes; toast, crisp
ana brown; and tea. which she had left
her cnalr long enough to draw.
In the contented silence that often
rails after the evening meal. the man
sat coVertiy studying her face. The fe-
yer mad gone. 1t was a face almost Sc
rene. She appeared, as he watched her.
10 De listening to the sound of the wat
er1ai floating in through the open
WINDOW upon the pulse of the night.
The move had done her good. She had
not had single spell of coughing
since coming up among the trees
since drinking the fresh elecampane
tea ne had stepped the first thing after
the stove was up. The great, dark eyes
were softer than he had ever seen
then. He thought how beautiful she
must have been-how beautiful still.
her Cc%ds that afternoon came back
10 hlm-the only word that had ever
come to him out of the past. The desire
10 learn more grew in him, and yet he
dreaded to speak. The Iron -GrayW"-
man was not one to invite confidenc y
And yet a man ought to know some
thing OF the manner of his coming
into the world
No Answer Found.
He had just mastered his resolution
to the point of venturing a question,
when she turned her chair so as to
bring her face away from the light
and dropped her head YEARLY back
against the cushions. More than willing
to forego his question for the sake of
the quiet doze she might be dropping
into, he moved the teapot between her
and the candle and leaned over upon
the table with his face in his propped
up palm.
The cabin had settled to deep quiet;
the lap of the waterfall had swelled to
full strength upon the silence; when
the cabin door banged open and a man
stormed in. The Pearlhunter whirled
up out of his chair and faced him.
The intruder was a man of forty,
possibly more, lacking somewhat of the |
Pearlhunter's height and massive |
oulld, yet still what would be called |
Dig man-tight and well set up
smooth shaVen, except for an agrees |
slVe mustache family shot with gray. |
lie wore a SLOUGH hat. top boots, frock |
coat, and very fancy and much be-
lowered vest. His blue eyes-the kind |
OF blue that turns black when roused-i
had an uncomfortable knack of SEEM
ing to see everything in sight. They |
were just now fitting furtively, a bit
over the tall figure of
the young man facing him
you're the fellow they call the
Pearlhunter?"
The gray eyes of the man addressed
were blazing; his fingers manifesting
an almost uncontrolled BILE inclination to
tuck themselves into his palms; but he
held himself and answered civilly:
They do call me that"
What are you doing in this cabin ?"
"Is it yours 2"
NO difference whether it is or
whether it isn't. It's no place for river
scum to wash ashore"
A stranger ought to be pretty sure
of himself before he says a thing like
that, especially when he says it the
way the Man in the Fancy-Vest said
not as the river men knew him-or he
would have considered a long time
first. Almost any river man along the
Wabash could have told him that
things would happen. Still, it would
nave probably been just the same any
now. A wildcat couldn't have lodged
the toll-calloused fist that stabbed
across the candle light. 1t caught the
flat in the mouth and pitched II
him back against the door, which slam
med to the wall. and thus saved Rim
from going clear to the floor
He was up in a flash. His hand
toward his hip. That is al
ways dangerous motion to make in
the t1atWoodS; never more so than
just then and there. The Pearlhunter
mad anticipated such a move. His own
hand reached his hip the flash of a
second ahead. The two stood cycling
each other, crouched and tense
Ihere came scream from the Iron
Gray Woman. She had risen from her,
chair. The Pearlhunter dared not look.
but he saw the eyes of the man he
faced turning irresistibly toward the
sound. With the first glance a start
ing change came over him; his eyes
strained; stared; his hand left his hip }
and went to his face. He Strengthened
md shrank back against the cabin
1oor. The Pearlhunter dared not look 1
around, yet he knew his mother was
coming. With step he would not '
nave believed it possible for her to c
axe she was between them, her face '
Continued tomorrow