The Little River news., 1921-01-05

the pistols point and galloped away. Why had he changed his methods now? He had laid his plans we'll, though they hadn't worked out quite as he ex- pected. The killing of Louie Solomon had been an accident, forced on him by the fact that the little Jew, in his struggles, had chanced to claw the mask of and had recognized him. 9th erwise he would have merely choked him into uncOnsciousness, taken the pearl and left the mask behind to com plete the tangle he was weaving around another man. He had probably
 intended taking the pearl somesstime' that. night, leaving his mash behind,
 and safterward. when the hue and cry
 was raised; suggest search of the
 cabin. Ills chance had come sooner
 than he had expected. Of course, he
 could not have foreseen that the man
 he wished to fix the crime upon would be the first to find the body.
 It was not lost on the Pearlhunter
 that he had undoubtedly crowded the
 murderer close, else why had he left
 the knife? Bur why all these elaborate plans against him? Was 1t some an
 cient grudge he bore his Blood? Did he wish somebody to die in his place to deceive an outraged world into thinking the Red Mask was settled for
 good and all, and so give him 8 chance tQ start 2yer againa Was it because he was not yet ready to leave the Flat woods7 It was probably for all these reasons. But with the last, there flashed across the young mans mind
 that scene at the fence. It stung him
 like lash. Even though the evidence secreted in the cabin was now in ashes, by that dead body was the most dangerous place in the world for him just then.
 Hardly five seconds had passed since the last gasp of Louie Solomon, so fast does man think under such a stress,
 when the Pearlhunter threw the mask down by the body and turned to steal
 back up the hill.
 "Up with 'emi''
 He whirled; stared slowly raised
 his hands. It's one thing to face odds; quite another to face certain death. Behind the three black muzzles poking
 out through the bushes glowered the
 truculent, bearded faces of Louie Solo
 mons three rowers.
 Grim as the three Fates, they stalked
 toward him. - Two of them kept him covered, while the third plucked the revolver from his pocket and dropped 1t into his own After thst he bent
 over the body of his master; touched
 his face; lifted hand; laid it across
 his breast. He picked up the red mask
 and snarled around at the others. The
 others growIed; swore; and the Pearl hunter fancied the revolvers pointed at him little straighter, little more
 vindictively. It was not the first time
 these three had faced the Red Mask. He had long been their particular nightmare. It was the first time they
 had seen him with his mask oil, and with empty hands. The one kneeling by the body seemed to be the leader. He felt care fully inside the pocket where the pearl had been pinned; searched the other pockets; felt carefully over the cloth- ing. He rose after the fruitless search and faced the Pearlhunter.
 "Where iss ftf' kaeTs 's'
 The Pearlhunter shook his head. With a snarled word of Yiddish, doubtless a curse, and flourish of his clenched hand that came uncom- fortably close to the young mans face. the Jew began to search him: pockets; hems; wafst-band; socks :; even his hatband, ears and hair. Of course the search again proved fruit less. The Jew drew his revolver. cooked 1t, and thrust 1t into the Pearl hunters face. Il ses.a !a ; gEE sia. ::'Where, iss it?''
 The bearded lips were drawn 90 tense that the yellow teeth were bare. The Pearlhunter knew the yellow teeth meants.exactly what they seemed to mean. Louie, Solomon's three guardsmen had reputation along the Wabash. The reward for the Red Mask was the same whether dead or alive. Stlll, ms Oeatn WOulu not pTIne them any nearer finding the pearl. He pinned his hope there, and shook his head.
 "rm not the Red Mask. l didn't kill Louie Solomon. .' And T don't know where the Blue Moon is." '~s s24 The answer was not convincing. Nothing heecoduld have said just then would have been. Whether the Jew believed -it, or any part of 1t, his face gave no isign. He backed away two
 steps and leveled his revolver full at
 the Pearlhunter's breast. like a man about to pistol another and deliberate yaplanning to make clean job of 1t. 1 The ainstants came when the Pearl hunter believed the grimy finger was about to press the trigger and he was almost in the act of diving beneath the muzzle when the Jew motioned to one of the others and said something l in Yiddish.
 The man spoken to darted away
 through the bushes toward the boat
 landing. The Pearlhunter breathed AOotn