The Little River news., 1920-12-22
His eyes urs>i-..e.. t0 go on.

SC0 him. Up to that time he was the most wonderful father girl ever had. He wasn't gray until then, and he didn't wear beard. Those who knew him then wouldn't know him now. It was seven years ago this June-the twen- tieth. 1 remember 1t because 1t was my birthday-l was twelve. That eve ming l heard . groan at the kitchen 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. I helped him in, washed of the blood and discovered it came from . wound in his head. bound it up the best I could and ran to the villaee for the doctor.
 ~When he came. he said Daddy had been shoG There was . long scar Ike . gr0Rve-that tho doctsP sasd was made by the bullet. rt had caused concussion Of the brain. Since that he has been like-thiA The knife he < .ust have taken from the person that
 sot him, for he had none of his own. It was clutched tight in his hand when found him-the knife, and this"
 She beckoned him across the room to the book case. It was the first car. pet the Pearl Hunter hld ever walked over. He set his feet down like a man crossing thin ice.
 She fumbled out frem behind row of books small packet, with the eau tion:
 You mustn't let Daddy see 1t. He will go wild if you do. used to keep 1t stuck behind the picture, but it worked out into sight one day, and he drove the knife through 1t before I could get 1t 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-to see if he can find him. There, you can see where the knife went through"
 She had been unwrapping a fold of paper as she talked. The sight of its contents surprised a low exclamation from the Pearlhunter. It was a red mask.
 The Pearlhunter fingered the bit of stif 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 Tlatwoods better able to read the story 1t told; ]; none better able to piece together the fragments of that seven-year-old trag- edy.
 Up through the eye holes there seemed to glow pair of eyes-blue, like blue ice: eyes that glow black when reused. He knew what they looked like when the blue turned to black.
 Suddenly, without warning. a deep groan set the silence ashiver. The girl crammed the packet back behind the books; the Pearlhunter whirled.
 The Wild Man had risen from his chair and stood peering toward him with wide, weird eyes. With step that was ghostly noiseless he crossed the floor. Quite close he came, his dulled senses seeming to need the stimulus of close contact His bony hands and long arms were quivering {; his hollow face twitching pitifully.
 "He's never like this," the girl whispered.
 The young man glanced at her and stood still. The thin hands fluttered over his face and head. Even their lightest touch was heavy with a strength that must have been prodig- ious-as if the fires of his malady kim dled force in him more than human. Some impulse of compassion must have reached the heart of the Pearl hunter, for he stretched his long arm forth and laid 1t about the old mans shoulders. Instantly he felt the weight of the gray giant upon him. It might have been the one thing the stricken man craved in his dumb way-the touch of his kind; the prop of mans arm.
 The situation embarrassed the Pearl hunter. It was like winning the con- f1dence of little child, and then not knowing what to do with 1t.
 The girl was quick to see his embar- rassment, and, much as a mother might coax a child away from some one she imagined 1t was annoying, she led the old man back to his chair 1; then. leaving him. she hurried across the room to the book case.
 T never saw him so restless before" [" she said. as she passed by. He seems to like you, though" she continued while finding the book she wanted. Strange, too, for he's cross usually, even to the doctor. Won't you excuse me till quiet him7"
 Before he could reply she had found the book and hurried back to the char Opening it, she laid 1t upon the old mans knees. He bent his head ana felt over the open page with his hand. but the weird eyes could no longer re- solve the frozen magic of the words. He fidgeted in his chair and the book slid to the floor.
 The picture was too distressing, and the Pearlhunter turned his face away. From where he stood he had an almost unObstructed view into the