Cavalier County farmers press. (Langdon, N.D.) 1920-1921, 1920-09-23
now his glance came back to the ruin

now his glance came back to the ruin
In the chair.
The Wild Man was whetting his
knife against his palm, mumbling and
muttering. He seemed to gloat over
the glitter of it-and the girl within
easy reach of his hand. The Pearl
hunter stiffened: gathered himself to
spring. She happened to look up,
caught his eye, and shook her head.
Seemingly unconscious of any danger,
she came to the door. picked up her
basket and his hat and put them on
the table beside the vase of Wild roses.
You're not afraid?' asked the Pearl
hunter.
HE wouldn't harm a fly"
But the knife?"
He plays with it by the hour.
That knife" as if weighing the
thought it raised. "He keeps if with
him night and day. fear death will
sometime come of that knifew
His eyes urged her to go On.
Seven years he's been as YOU see
him. Up to that time he was the most
wonderful father a girl ever had. He
wasn't gray until then, and he didn't
wear a beard. Those who knew him
then wouldn't know him now. 1t was
seven years ago this June-the TWEEN
leth. | remember it because it was
my Birthday was twelve. That e
n1nU hoo nj ~ ,N, - ~ .Ly-
door. | ran out. and there was Dad
dy. holding to the door post to keep
from falling, his hands covered with
blood, and blood all over his face and
hair. helped him in. washed off the
blood and discovered # came from a
wound in his head. l bound it up the
best | could and ran to the village for
the doctor.
when he came, he said Daddy had
been shot. There was a long scar
like a groove-that the doctor said
was made by the bullet. 1t had caused
conclusion of the brain. Since that
he has been like-this. The knife he
must have taken from the person that
shot him. for he had none of his own.
L WAS clutched tight in mis- hand when
J found him-the knife, and this"
she beckOned him across the room
t" the book case. 1t was the first car
pet the Pearl Hunter had ever walked
over. He set his feet down like a man
"rossin@ thin ice.
She fumbled out from behind a row
If books a small packet, with the eau
ton:
You mustn't let Daddy see it. He
will go wild if you do. | used to keep
It stuck behind the picture. but it
worked out into sight II day, and he
drove the knife through it before 1
could get it away from him. If he
ever finds the man it belongs to he'll
serve him the same way, I'm afraid.
Sometimes l think that's why he
haunts the Woods-lo see if he can find
him. There, yo" can see where the
knife went through"
She had been ~unwrapping Il fold of
paper as she talked. The sight of its
contents surprised Il low exclamation
liiC L ilIill1tCi. IL W us ii req
mask.
The Pearlhuntes fingered the bit
Of stiff cloth lying across the girls
palm with such quick eagerneSS that
her eyes sought his face curiously. The
red mask. The slit of the knife near
an eye hole-no man in the Flatwoods
better able to read the story it told
none better able to piece together the
fragments OF that seven-year-oId trag-
edy.
Up through the eye holes there
seemed TO glow n pair of eyes-blue,
like blue ice; eyes that glow black
when reused. He knew what they
looked like when tie blue turned to
black.
Suddenly. without warming. a deer
groan set the silence ashiver. The
girl crammeG the packet back behind
the books; the Prarllrunter whirled.
The Wild Man had risen from hi>
chair and stood peering toward him
with wide, weird eyes. With a ster
that was ghostly n~oiseless he crossed
the floor. Quite close he came, his
dulled senses seeming to need the
stimulus of close contact. His bOnN
hands and long arms We're q%uivering
his hollow face twitching pitifully.
He's never like this" the cir
whispered.
The young mar glanced at her ant
stood still. The thin hands fluttere(
over his face and head. Even thei,
lightest touch was heavy With /;
strength that must have been prodig
ious-as if the fires of his malady kin
died a force in him more than human
Some impulse of compassion mus
have reached the heart of the Pearl
hunter, for he stretched his long arm
forth and laid it about the old man,
shoulders. Instantly he felt the weight
of the gray giant upon him. 1t nigh,
have been the one thing the stricken
mar craved in his dumb way-the
touch Of his kind the prop of a mans
arm.
The situation embarrassed,the Pearl
hunter. 1t was like winning the con.
f6anra of q littla child opd tho, no,