American Fork citizen. [volume] (American Fork, Utah) 1912-1979, 1920-11-27
CHAPTER 4.
The Iron. 0ray.Woma

deck Of a small and very dingy house
boat filing fish spear. Riding at the
end Of a storm-black rope strung
from cleat at the bow to tree on
shore, the boat rose and fell with the
pulse OF the river. lazy and languid
under the beat Of the hot afternoon
sun.
He was so tall. with such q spread
Of shoulder. that he seemed out Of
place upon SO small q deck. Wind.
season aud weather wear had worked
their will upon him. But there are
forces that grave deeper than wind
and weather. Youth can hold wind
and weather at bay. It IL powerless
against those other forces--those In
ner forces that grave the soul. Under
the chafe OF them his face had become
the face Of man who had looked
upon life and found It not to his lik-
Ing. His eyes held the keen, quick
hardness that comes to eyes that see
only life's sterner side.
The Pearlhunter, they called him,
the river men, not that he had found
his pearl, possibly because he had not
found II. Failure names men. as well
as success, In the wilderness.
The space between the fore and
after decks Of the houseboat was occu.
pied by n kind Of cabin, with q cur
tanned entrance fore and aft and q
single small window on each side. The
man suddenly stopped filing the hsh
spear and glanced with quick anxiety
toward this cabin. A woman was
coughing, He crossed the narrow deck
at q stride, showed aside the soiled and
rumpled curtain and entered. A dark,
iron.gray woman sat bumped forward
In a rickety old rockingham by the
window on the shore side. As II con-
scious Of his inability to help. possibly
calloused by long familiarity with SIM
liar scenes, he stood looking down
upon her, with no expression Of sym
patty other than q Vince OF pity In
his eyes.
She Strengthened after time, and
lay back against the bed quilt spread
In the chair. spent and quivering, the
trembling shell Of what had once been
n very beautiful woman. The man
crossed the cabin, dipped up tinful
| Of water out Of n bucket by the cook
stove and offered II to her. She
waved II away.
"It's so warm--and fiat! 1t has
been long from the spring."
Without word he set the cup back
on the bench. picked up the bucket
passed out to the front deck, crossed
the narrow gangplnnk. and hurried
away up the slope toward the cliffs
that rose above the trees a few rods
back from the river shore.
The spot was known the length Of
the Wabash, for who has not heard Of
Fallen Rock, with the broad, thin wa
terfail pitching over the shnrp-edget
shelf between Its two breasts and lap
ping the stone-strewn pool at its base
And the spring breaking out from un
| der the shale lodges of the cliff neal
the west end of the old cabin ant
trickIing its waters down little sui
phur-stained gutter into the pool--wh'
has not heard Of III Not TO hav'
drunk of Its waters was considered
misfortune In the FlatwOods, Just a
In ancient Greece II was considered
calamity to die without having seei
the statue OF OlympIan Zeus.
Fallen Rock Is the highest front o
naked stone along the Wabash. A
the present day seven towns can b.
seen from Its summit In the late for
ties, two: Buckeye, mile up the river
and the City twenty miles farther OF
When the man returned to tn
houseboat the Iron-Gray-Woman Still
lay back In the shaky rocking chail
Dipping the battered cup full OF fres
water. the man stepped to her SIDE
"your cool drink. mother"
The thin lids raised. The eyes sh
turned toward him must have bee
wonderfully beautiful In her day
large and deep and lustrous. tn
cough that wasted her breast SCENE
pOwerless to dim their ulster.
The man crossed the cabin and iai
his hand on the rumpled curtain owe
| tue uuoTWuy, uDout W 'S'o'" '" vs.
task OF sharpening the fish spear.
III looks cool--and calm-up there.
He paused; glanced back over hl
shoulder at her. and waited for he
TO go on.
us that log house see up iher
under the cliffs?
The floor OF the houseboat creake
under the weight Of him rs he eau
% the window. He had 10 sioop To-
to bring his eyes level with the opeI
Ing.
"a log house old and empty"
The Iron,Gray. Woman sat muslng
moment, her eyes aslray among n
trees nodding lnnguldly 10 the serer
June nfternoon.
~ wish | might live again upon N
shore. The sun beats down 80 b,
upon the househ0at, AMI grow veal