The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1920-08-17
CHAPTER XVIII.
Shadows Across the Curtain.

the Pearlhunter had not been complete
master of his movements The air out
side was a different air. The cool
trees held out their hands to him like
long lost brothers. The friendly earth
lifted his feet as something alive and
glad. In the serene sky-the wise sky
that hovers over all; sees all! knows
alI-the stars winked down at him and
wagged their heads among themselves.
as if pleased to have him back again
in the free woods.
The aroma of dew upon new leaves
and full sprung flowers carried to him
on the breath of the sleepy night. He
drank deep of it-slowly, that the feel
of it might linger long. Sight. hear
ing, feeling. etaste, smell-there is no
sense to which the woods do not minis
ter; no honest craving they can not
satisfy: shelter from the storm; a
couch for WEAKNESS: food for hunger;
cool springs for thirst Besides satisfy
ing these, they beautifully minister to
cravings infinitely higher than these.
And the woods are all mems. They
mother all who come. Their charity is
boundless. No questions are ever asked.
Be the sojourner prince or pauper, inno-
cent of guilty, his welcome is the same.
1t would probably be quite impossible
for the city-bred to appreciate fully the
feelings of the Pearlhunter at finding
the breath of the open woods once more
upon his face The trees were like COM
rades in arms. The rough bark that
covered their stout hearts actually felt
friendly and good to his hands as he
darted like shadow from one to an
other on his way out of the jail yard
and up the side of the bluff.
On the very brink he paused moment
to look back and down. Under the star
light the river lay gray and motionless
between its black, frayed shore line. Most
of the houses We're in darkness, though
a few dim candles picked out the-rag-
ged outline of the village, struggling
between river and bluff on each side of
the River Road. Almost at his feet
squatted the dark blot of the jail. The
dank reek of it seemed still to stop up
his lungs seemed to cling about him ike
dusty cobwebs. With an involuntary puff
of breath through his nostrils, a back
ward jerk of his hand, he cast the spell
from him as a man might sprun talnt-
ed garment.
Well knowing there would be eyes on
his trail in the morning, he dared not go
directly to where his misgivings urged
him. The sheriff he did not fear. To
the sheriff he was still the notorious
Red Mask To the mob that was sure
| 70 gather he would be the Red Mask.
His escape. with lock and bolt untouca-
| cd would ascribe it to the dread powers
with which popular fancy had invested
his name.
But in the rabble that would curse and
| clamor about the old jail there would De
one pair of eyes that the loosened par
| would not escape; pair OF eyes thaI
would find it as sure as the morning
| came. and read the riddle at a glance.
And they would be eyes capable OF Ilho-
/ ing a trail-and following it. Much as
IT went against him, therefore, ne turned
his steps east instead of west ana
ou,nped in among the dumped under
brush that grew along the top OF the
] cliff.
| The good wives of the village would
No Doubt have been well frightened could
| they have seen the dark figure that Tut
tod from copse to copse, from tree to
tree along the brow of the olutf' Hke
i weird DOSyIudIs dAiiSSS
| very chimney tops. Holding his course
| to where yellow Branch dreams
through the hills from the nortn az 'ie
east end of the village, he climber oo"i
tn the margin of this noisy littie stie'"
i and. leaving a quite obvious trau' "aineo
aoUn its banks and waded along It's eus'
toward the south, as if headed LOT INK
river. After wading in this dlrectioh y
! tho first rifle, he leaped to the liiiuui'
If the stream and turned pach ioi -
,.eenine, to the center, that the curreh
r,;eht wash out all foot marks. De''e'
than half a mile he wadded peiore LINZ
-. chance O make a safe lanoingi
rIaca where the dry bed of a rocky WASH
- ,ad down the hillside from the ives
, into the stream. ~.
with utmost care he sprang from III
, =. dark rock. Some mud ha'
chung to his boot soles. he Wasnu
, off. stepped to another rock oippeu =
a,ater in his hand and washed the Iifs
: rock clean: and picked his way iron
stona "a stone up the dry bed 81 u
vashout some times being conlpeiieu
lean considerable distances pet"ee
stones but always managing soiiieiio'
10 land firm and steady, wlthou'
, ing a scratch upon the tran
4 fallen log lay across the "asno y,
vhsre il gradually disappeared on IN
higher ground. He stepped upon 49,
- ana walked out into the thicket INC
I .ri,ged the woods. Pushing the urAts
sa,a leaves hack from against tne siu
: If the log. he drew off his boots an
poured the water out upon the So -
Inns laid bare. wrung out his SOCKS an
carefully replaced the leaves -
The tran was now covered. even 70 =
somwhat fastidious taste of the -
bunter. Walking on to the Gnu
E log he picked his steps for another , nun
5 . Srsa Yards or more. then, with iohs
e ,aaEy Jog that would have made nun nun.
: formidable, opponent in any ~
2 country relay. trotted away ~ a.snt
woods toward the warbritton pase. -,
Crossing the River Road was the me- =
-s,,. s- choosing a place where u
grass came close TO the track on -