Cavalier County farmers press. (Langdon, N.D.) 1920-1921, 1920-11-25

Had you never noticed that he
comes down this way every nights" he
concluded.
Eyes. but I understood it was to see
a girl"
The Pearlhunter WINGED. His jaw
frightened. He was thinking of the talk
that had probably been banded back
and forth over the bar Of the Mud
Hen.
HE came to feed his horse. There's
no girl down here his mouths DIT to
mention. He'll come tonight
minute now. Quick! Out on that fiat
rock"
Without a word, the sheriff bounded
over the two intervening stones to the
fiat rock. The Pearlhunter waited just
long enough to sound the woods. The
noise of the falls made it impossible.
With a searching look back up the bluff
as far as his eyes would carry in the
gloom, he joined the sheriff. .
Jump. I told you how"
A prod of the siX-shooter empha-
sized the. command. The sheriff
jumped. There was nothing else to
do. He was still floundering about
on n inner margin of the pool be-
hind the falls when the Pearlhunter
landed lightly beside him, almost up
on him. The passage was dark-dark
as the inside of a pistol barrel. 1t
was a very reassuring fact. 1t meant
that there was no candle burning far
Their ahead in the ave. He was in
time. Making sure of that very i'm
portant fact, he thrust the revolver
into the holster pocket at his hip,
grasped the sheriff by the collar and
hurried up the passage.
By the same subtle instinct that had
served him the night before, he knew
when he reached the point at which
the passage widened into the cave.
There he loosed the sheriff's collar and
struck a match. The sheriff caught
his breath and stared. The horse, the
candle in the Granny, the saddle and
spurs, the feed-all just as it. had
been described to him.
II never knew there was anything
like this under Fallen Rock"
"You're probably the third man that
ever did know it. Pick your steps
across those slivers Of shale there and
get into that pocket behind the hay.
Hurry! We mustn't show much light.
He's due any minute"
The one match served. So urgently
did the Pearlhunter consider the need
Of haste that before it was gone they
were crowded well back In the pocket
behind the hay.
"The instant you're convinced I'm
not the Red Mask, nudge me, and I'll
give your revolver back. And I
needn't tell you that when the time
comes to act, we've got to act quick"
The two men had stood in the pock-
ct for what must have been half an
hour, and the throb Of the Pearlhunt-
er's wound was becoming almost un-
bearable, when the horse grew Sud
denly quiet. The Pearlhunter sank
low in the and pulled the sheriff
down beside him. A match scraped
a suffering flame hunted the candle
in the Granny; the cave, the horse,
the jaunty form of the man they await
ed sprang out of the dark.
He came straight to the horse; the
one friend absolutely true to him in
all his dangerous world; the one
friend who still regarded him as a
gentleman. The horse reached out his
nose to meet him I; rubbed his shoulder
with his head. A moment the man
gave to the caress, her hurried to
the corn sack, laid three ears upon
the rock, and turned to the hay.
Now was the critical instant. If they
escaped his glance now! But he
was totally u~nsuspecting. Without
raising his eyes as far as the pocket,
he grabbed up a handful or two of the
brightest straws and turned back to
the horse.
"Short rations tonight, Rocket; and
I'll make your toilet while you eat
He took down from neal where the
saddle hung a curry comb and brush
from another of the numerous cram
MES Of the cave and proceeded, with
surprising skill and quickness. to
groom the horse. The task completed,
he laid back the brush and curry
comb, and, lifting the feet of the horse,
examined them one by one, nail by
nail, afterward running his hands
down the horses limbs and lingering
over each joint, finally summing UP
the inspection by listening with no
little car to the animals breathing.
1t was the work of a master. The in
spection over, he took the saddle down
from the wall, threw it on the horse,
drew the girths, hung the bride on the
horn, unstrapped his spurs from the
back of the saddle and buckled them
to his heels.
Il wish | knew" he muttered, half
to himself. apparently half to his
dumb companion, as he waited for the
animal to finish his supper. whether
that Pearlhunter has left. 1t looks
like he had. And yet, that's not like
his breed-to cut out. Still, there's
always a chance" He seemed to
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