The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1920-08-26
CHAPTE I.
The iron. GraY.Moman.


A young man stood ON the after
deck of n small and very dingy house
boat filing u fish spear Riding ut the
end of storm-blackened rope strung
from cleat Mt the bow to u tree on
shore, the boat rose and fell with the
pulse of the river, lazy and languld
under the beat Of the hot afternoon
sun
He was so tail, with such spread
OF shoulder, that he seemed out OF
place upon so small deck. Wind
season and 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. II Is 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 II not to his llk-
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. ms well
as success. In the Wilderness.
The space between the fore ana
after decks of the houseboat was occu-
pied by kind of cabin. with a cur
tanned entrance fore and Nft and q
single small window on each side. The
man suddenly stopped filing the fish
spear and glanced with quick anxiety
toward this cabin. A woman was
coughing. He crossed the narrow deck
at n stride, showed aside the soiled and
rumpled curtain and entered. A dark,
lron-grny woman sat bumped forward
I'm n rlckety old rockingham by the
window on the shore side. As If con
scious of his inability to help, possibly
calioused by long familiarity with sim
liar scenes, he stood looking down
upon her, with no expression OF sym
patty other than vince of pity In
his eyes.
She Strengthened after a time, and
lay back ngninst the bed quilt spread
In the chair, spent and qulvering. the
trembling shell Of what had once been
a very beautiful woman. The man
crossed the cabin. dipped up tinfu
of water out Of a bucket by the cook
stove and offered It to her. She
waved It away.
"It's so warm-nnd 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 gangplank, and hurried
away up the slope toward the cliff,
that rose above the trees few rods
back from the river shore.
The spot was known the length o.
the Wabash. for who has not heard o.
Fallen Rock. with the broad. thin wa
terfall pitching over the sharp-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 nea
the west end OF the old cabin an,
trIckling Its waters down n 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 1t was consldere'
calamity to die without having seei
the statue Of Olymplan 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 on
When the man returned to III
bousebont the Iron-Gray-woman still
lay back In the shaky rocking chaiI
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 iustrous. TIL
cough that wasted her breast SCENE
powerless to dim their iuster.
The man crossed the cabin and Iai
his hand on the rumpled curtain owe
the doorway, shout TO return to hi
task OF sharpening the fish spear.
1T looks cool--and calm-up there.
He paused; glanced back over hi
shoulder at her, and waited for he
to 60 on.
as that n Iop t,.use I see nm thor