Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1920-10-12
CHAPTER il-continued.

| A sudden impulse seemed to sweep
the man. Involuntarily his hand felt
for the pistol at his hip; he whlrled
toward the door. The woman clutched
his arm. He caught the appeal In her
eyes; bowed his head; turned back to
the table.
| tense bit Of pantomime it had
been, full enough of meaning, OF hui
man interest, to anyone able to trace
back through the years the snarled
life-threads of the actors: the two
river waits staring down at the mask ;
the hard man striding away up the
river road.
The woman went back to her chair
| and resumed her quick, nervous rock
ing.
"And so he has come to this" she
muttered. "My poor, poor cousin
What must have been her fate!"
| She leant forward and sat still and
thoughtful. her face propped in her
| palm. The man stood by the table,
lingering the bit Of cloth, his eyes,
stern and severe, still irresistibly
drawn in the direction the intruder
| had gone.
| A hail came up from the houseboat.
The sudden cry half startled them
both, coming so close as 1t did on the
heels Of that tense moment barely
gone.
"It's the Boss. 1 promised to go
| spearing with him tonight"
Stepping to the door, he opened it
and answered the hail; came back ;
slid the teakettle off the fire; closed
the damper of the stove; and snuffed
| the candle.
Now, mother, don't attempt to
clear away the dishes. Leave them
till get back. I'll only be gone lit
tie while"
The woman made no answer. The
red mask still lying upon the table
caught his eye. Rolling 1t up. he hid
| 1t under a loosened chink In the cabin
wall. picked up his hat and started
for the door; hesitated; came back to
the rocking chair.
"You won't be--afraid-?-
She looked up at him In quick sur
| prise. A half frown clouded the luster
of her eyes.
"What question !"
| He turned and left the cabin; closed
the door after him and strobe down
| the slope to the houseboat.
| The men who hunted the river mus
| sci along the Wabash before the days
of the button industry hunted 1t for
the pearl sometimes found imbedded
| between its flesh and shell. Struggling
I'D and down the streams, often singly,
sometimes In crews, they were shift
| less, fiery, reckless breed-of feather
with the buccaneers Of other days, and
led on by the same lure; chance
fling at fortune. pearl of great
value was sometimes found-even run
ming well up into the thousands. But
| the chance of finding such pearl was
small. Still there was the chance. and
| 1t is surprising what a certain type
| of men will endure for such chance,
when the same ends might be at
tanned, certain and sure. by patient In
! dustry.
| A grizzled old river man sat with
the nose of his skiff damned up on the
gravel by the bow of the houseboat
when the Pearlhunter came down the
slope. The. Boss they called him, the
| river men, because In his long years in
| the industry he had managed to
scrape together an "outfit" and work
a crew of "clainmers" too poor to hunt
alone. His hands were still upon the
oars. The Pearlhunter pushed the
boat off and sprang in. directing the
Boss to row around by the stern of the
houseboat after the fish spear he had
been filing that afternoon.
"See y'u,ve moved" the Boss OBJ
served as the skiff slipped out into the
stream.
Mothers cough" was the answer.
"She thought 1t would help her to get
M there under the trees"
"That cough-it'll git away with 'er.
| If she hain't keerful. She oughta have
medicine"
| II told her so, but she won't have
It."
| The Boss did not pursue the point.
A woman's will was something he
| never took the trouble to question.
Having rowed out into the current,
after the pearlhunter secured his
spear, he turned the nose of the skiff
down stream and shipped his oars long
enough to light his pipe.
| "Mother hung back little right at
the last" the young man said, his
mind doubtless dwelling on the I'M
usual experience, the first experience
in his life, of actually living upon
land. "She was afraid somebody
might not like US to move into the
cabin. But told her they couldn't do
more than make US move out"
"tfear'd of tn Wild Man. wus sLe?''
| v,l .,o,roor rp~~. looked In.