Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1920-06-07
before striding away, into the woods
the moon picked him out clear as
day. 1t was the CLANCY

o"oS AAlO Lie "OOus
the moon picked him out clear as
day. 1t was the Man-in-the-F'ancy-
Vest.
There was no more sleep for tbs
NPearlhunter. He left the window,
went to the cabin door and felt be-
hind the easement where the hand
had CROPPED. His fingers came in con-
tween the logs and the door frame.
He drew it forth and unrolled it in
the moonlight, deeming it imprudent
to light the candle. Even before the
moonbeams' fell upon the thing he
knew by a certain <disquieting pre-
monition what it would prove to be
a red mask.
above the table and poked his fingers
between it and the logs, where he
had concealed the packet the evening
they moved into the. cabin! It was
still there He drew it North and
compared it with the other. They
were almost identical, and Of a pat
tern with the n he had seer that
afternoon at the three-gabled cabin,
H sat down bx the table and
did 1t mean? What must It mean
this last one: He knew the meaning
Of the f1rst-dropped by chance. He
had a very plausible surmise as to the
story of the other, the one with the
knife thrust through it at the three
gabled cabin. But this one-this last
one.
He raised his eyes to the open
door. Why had the arm slipped in
across the moonlight and felt out
with such car a hiding place behind
the easement? At first blush it look
ed like melodrama. cheap at that
the ,frock coat> fancy vest; soft steps;
the stealthy arm. But no; that
wouldn't do. The man was not that
pretty well what the Red Mask was
and what he was not. There was. a
dash of the dramatic in him, of the
Spectacular, a voluptuous taste for the
picturesque; but-well, a man that
could hold the law at the point of a
six-gun for half a lifetime hid other
stufffain him than that.
cot, right there. But why. The
Pearlhupter raked his brain for the
answer. Why? He must have been
ignorant that the other was hidden
behind the chink, or why should he
have taken sue pains to hide this
one? He was probably ignorant of
the fact that he had dropped the 9TH
er n in the cabin that night; pos
s1bly did not know where he had lost
- 80 SSShA SSt"k LA
loss of it may have occasioned him no
small anxiety. II he did not know
that he had dropped the other mask
in the cabin, he probably was
aware that the Pear41unter knew
him. The young man sat still a long
time over that thought.
readiness supply himself with, an
other mask after. the first was lost
suggested a nearby rendezvous, IN
doubtedly Bomewhefe in the Fiat
woods-a rendezvous, OF a confeder-
ate. But that was unlike him-to
have a confederate. He was known
to work alone. And his hofse-he
would not likely allow himself to get
it into the village. Rocket, the
famous Thoroughbred of the Red
Mask, was we'll known. And d horse
can not be easily disguised.
But always. no matter where his
Thoughts strayed. like a man lost in
the woods and travelling In q circle,
he invartasly came back to the start
hide the mask in the cabin? One
thing was certain. He didn't hide it
without Al purpose. -
He seemed to feel some i~ntanlTb1e,
indefinable force for evil forming
about him-like spider webs across
the face; delicately effective; hideous-
ly efficient. 4 kind OF dread. crept
out Of the silence End the solitude
and gripped his spirit. Danger. death
the Red Mask Juggled with them as
la king juggles empires. Why didnst
he draw there In the saloon; why
fdidn't he draw at the Fence? There
was death In his eyes.
leveninR crossed his mind. when by
chanoe he had learned the secret OF
the mans identity: a secret SHARED by
mo one else in the Tlatwoods; q se-
lcret he dared not reveal for want az
proof. He had often thought OF It.
Tonight freshened It in his mind
compellingly: The strange sections OF
his mother: her daring 1tecofr: how
she had sprd1g from her chair and
beat the intfudAF on with the I'M.
FERROUS dignity of her eyeSl Her
STORY, the one all too brief VOID that
had reached him out Of the sealed
tpAst.. cams 10 htmFAGntn. Lopq ana
liong ne 4 Nth biz Had horSd over
THE table