The Aberdeen weekly., 1920-11-05


the fiowers-the place showed very
sad lack of care.
The underbrush along the bluffs
trembled slightly, but enough TO at
tract the woodsman's eyes. Noiseless-
ly the swaying bushes parted-as
noiseless as the unfolding of a flower
and in the narrow opening, framed
by It's border of quaking leaves, there
grew q face-sad and vacant. with
pitiful eyes unmistakably, though he
had never seen it before, the gaunt,
gray face of the Wild Man.
The Pearlhunter glanced quickly at
the girl, TO find her eyes still fixed
on her basket. and when ne looked
again at the bushes, the face was
gone.
As his gaze searched the under
brush. glimpse of gray shadow
appeared behind the cabin. He
couldn't leave her now-and yet by
what excuse could he stay?
You have a pretty place here" he
| said, probably because he couldn't
think of anything else to say. "A
pretty place-al so natural: the
woods are hardly disturbed a bit-but
aren't you-afraid?"
/ 81 haven't been tfll-today." She
| raised her eyes TO his face. The store
4 keepers story came to her mind -
| the grave at Fallen Rocks; the lonely
! cabin to which he would have to re-
! turn. And he had just rendered her
! a se~vice-the age-old service of man
, n Vnr1ft RI
: the house?"
} The Pearlhunter little knew how
! that simple invitation honored him.
, No other man had ever received 1t.
| I'D like to-"
He said 1t so seriously that the girl
laughed.
| Carrying the light basket between
| them they walked up what might be
! called, for want of better word to
name it. the front yard. There was
not the least necessity that two hands
should be laid to that one light basket.
1t just happened, as do so many other
| pleasant things in this delightfully."- un-
orderly world.
At the door she stopped and faced
him. A deep seriousness had filled
up the dimples.
Mr.-Pearlhunter-"
The slow eyes Of the man found
her face, and she paused
You told me to leave off the Miss
I'm askin' you to leave off the Mr."
The dimples came back, but only
for a moment.
"-Pearlhunter." The name came
strange to her. "You VIII be the first
man, except my father and the doe
tor, that has crossed his doorstep
in seven years" Her voice fell very
| low. "You 1lrst not be surprised at
what you see
From behind the ,3c@Ad door of the
cabin came a groan-not ssf physical
pain, but one that seemed TO kA,atter
up out of q wracked soul TAa gf<1
dropped her side of the basket hanc6s.
"DaddyT' she cried; and dashed the
door open.
The Pearlhunter was hard man
to Jar out Of his habitual calm. but
the sight that met him as he followed.
her across the doorstep struck him
rigid and staring.
A huge iron gray shell of q man
rose slowly in the shadow the late af-
ternoon cast over the room. The
light that fell in at the open door
brought out the pathetic. nervous
culver of his face; the solemn vacancy
of his pitffuI eyes. 1t was the Wild
Man
The girl ran to him and put her
arms about his shoulders. He seemed
not to feel her touch Slowly and
noiselessly he approached the Pearl
hunter. leaf couldn't have drifted
across the floor more silently. or
more invOluntarily. Some extraneous
force seemed TO drive him.
The grI clung 10 him and tried to
coax him, even drag him, back into
his chair. He seemed to be utterly
unaware of her weight. There was a
knife in his hand. His hollow eyes |
Iever left the Pearlhunters face.
With all the girls assurance that !
he. was harmlesa. that there was no /
danger, ii took all the Pearlhunter's 4
resolution to abide the coming of that I
gaunt apparition. His breath came +
fast He set the basket down on the /
floor, dropped his hat beside it, and /
kept his eye on the knife.
A pale fire burned away back in
TIE " III MAN vacant eyes ana MS
beard writhed with the quiver of his
features. He even raised his hands
and ran them over the Pearlhunter's
face. as a blind man might in search
ing for some recognizable feature.
Apparently he did not find it. The
pale fires died out of his eyes; his
face quivered; his breast seemed TO
collapse; the tense silence shivered
with a groan. The inrush of strength
that had seemed to dover his vast
frame with irresistible force fell
from him as a mantle. He tottered
as the girl led him, like tired child,
back TO his chair.
Her fatherl The daughter of the
Wild Man!
He stepped aside out of the open
door and let the sun in. 1t streaked
across the floor and caught her
where she stopped over the old mans
chair.
She seemed for the moment to have
forgotten his presence. He glanced
around the cabin. 1t was really four
rooms-under one roof.
The door by which they had entered
sac cod Soyrfh He zf0Od I'm fhn CENTER ,