The Mena weekly star., 1921-03-31
task of Sharpening the tish spear.

 task of sharpening the fish spear.
 Tt looks cool--and cam--up there. z He paused; glanced back over his shoulder at her, and waited for her to go on
 "Is that a log house see up there under the cliffs?"
 The floor of the houseboat creaked under the weight of him as he came to the window He had to stoop low to bring his eyes level with the open ing.
 "A log house; old and empty"
 The IroD-Grav- Woman sat musing & moment her eyes astray among the trees nodding Ianguldly in the serene June afternoon
 "l wish might live again upon the shore. The sun beats down so hoi upon the houseboat, and grow weary Of the eternal throb of the river. If could only live little while up there I should grow strong"
 And why notf It's empty, and no- body would care. In these deep woods there's nobody to care.'
 A flicker of light crossed her face.
 "Td get we'll Ep there, under the strong cliffs, with the cool spring so near. And I've lived so iong-since you were a child in arms--on the river -the Ohio; the White: the Wabash i''
 Always. mother Always the house bcat--drifting drifting-and you so frail, so beautiful r
 The man left the window and knelt by the rocking chair The Iron-Gray- " oman saw the question m his eyes a hunger for some word out of the past a word that had never come. All his life she had kept 1t from him whatever 1t had been that happened back there behind the veil of her si- lence that left him nameless river waif q nomad in an orderly world; a fisher of pearls; a pesrlhuntsr. Her eyes came back and faltered over him. Ne longer a child boy-the refiec- ton startled her. man knelt at her side-the question written big upon his face. And it was h!s right tc know. Her head dropped back against the quilt that cushioned the chair. It's a solemn thing to be the mother of a man-glorious but solemn
 The lustrous eyes-brighter for the fever wasting them--came back to him after a time. He saw & far-hung thoughtfulness in them; knew they had strayed into that past from which he was barred The thin lips parted. The mans fingers curled tense upon the chair arm.
 '@To a city on the Wabash, in early days. came three families of Virginia'e uurest bIood-my family. your fathers family and the family of--of--another man."
 The Cray Woman shuddered and wis silent for moment The man picked up wasted hand stroked it softly between his own. and she went on. stra-ned and slow, like one desperately nerved to long-dreaded task
 ~My parents both died when l was so small that I can barely remember them, leaving me. their oniy child, 10 the care of a distant relative, great uncle of my fathers. This great-great- uneie--well, as I Look back npon my life I cannot remember that he ever gave me pleasant word.
 My aunt was as different as dawn to dark. She was everything that he was not. A thousand times she loved my hurt away.
 -They had daughter, an only child, almost my age, and of the same name surname and all When uncle was away on business trips, as he often was for weeks. 1t was like sunshine after rain. Such happy times They are high among the few pleasant memories of my life"
 The Iron-Gray- Woman paused. her dark, deep eyes seeming to search back into the dead past. like traveller straining his gaze across stretch of desert to where the oasis lies The man shifted to his other knee and she went on
 -My aunt died when we were In our Kfriho0d. After that-the gray uays were ever more than the bright A petulance settled deep upon my uncle Ills best word was growl. The serv- ants moved about the house like silent shadows.
 -In this same city upon the Wabash lived two other families, as have told you--your fathers family and the { family of--of--another man. Your father and this other man were both my suitors. But my uncle tried every means in his power to turn your fa- ther away from me to my cousin. while he secretly encouraged the af- tentions of the other man to me.
 Your fathers blood was of the best in Virginia. A soldier. as the men of his family had always been. he had already won. by conspicuous gnllantry. Al. -.xH rf eo}nr<j fin fhn fndIHo