The Holbrook news., 1921-01-07

of it upon his tongue.
 ''The Wild Man" he pOndered. "a harmless or cuss. an pitiful to see. | Seven year he's been in these Flat woods. Hit ain't often q body gifts a l glimpse uv i'm. I did once-a tall Ol' ghost of man-tall as you amost- but face on i'm the pitifulest you ever see. An like q ghost he comes l; and like a ghost he gOes-nobody knows where to. They say he's got a daughter somewhere's up in the hills thar, but never seed her"
 The Boss went back to his pipe. The other sat pondering what he had just | heard.
 "No, it wasn't on account of the Wild Man." he resumed, as if in an- swer to the Boss first question. ''She was afraid somebody might make us leave"
 An that'll be a long while a-Goin'," |" the Boss answered. "They ain't mo- body in this quarter O tn world has got tn right t do that. That Ian b. longs t Colonel Warbritton. Ever hear tell of him?"
 q never did"
 "He owns hundreds and hundreds of acres-five or six sections, I guess layin' in q square right along the river here, tn very heart and flower uv tn FlatwOods. That's his east line back thar where the River road bends north. It'll be many q long day b'fore he orders anybody of. He's got so much b'sides I don't s'pose he hardly knows he's got this. doubt if he ever seen it."
 The Boss let the oars drift while he turned his head and sat a moment sweeping his eyes up and down the dim, forest-bOund shore line.
 "Them Warbrittons is a remarkable race" he resumed. Fire eaters every one. Soldiers an fighters sence tn Lord knows when. In times long ago they wus clan. They had flag with gray wolf on it, an they called their selves the Gray Wolf clan. They say every man in the clan wus brave. an every woman virtuous. An that's what they prided theirseIves on spe- cial partic'lar. They wus all big men. They wus five of 'em in the Revolution two with Clark an four in the war of '12."
 The Pearlhunter bent forward and hung upon the words Somehow they strangely stirred him.
 'I fit tn Injuns under this Colonel Warbritton. Tn soldiers use t talk about i'm a lot around tn campfire. That's how I come t know s much about i'm. Hit wus me that saved his scalp at Horseshoe Bend" A tang of pride crept into the hard tones of the grizzled old river man. His hOss got shot through tn brains an fell s quick he caught tn colonels foot, an I stood over i'm with tn bayOnet whilst he got loose. We sent seven screechin' heathens t hell that day b'fore hep come That's how I got t be a sergeant. Hit wuS tn best he could do fer man that hadn't no learnin' No. No. You needn't be afeard of gittin' driv' out O tn cabin. If the colonel wus here, he wouldn't"
 He clutched the oars in earnest. A few lusty strokes drove the boat down to where the glare from the campfire of the Boss crew of "clammers'' flared out across the water. There he turned in to get the jack light.
 dirtier bunch of men than the five Iounging about that campfire couldn't be found anywhere else in the world except in another "clammer's" camp. The practice of the early pearl fishers was to put the clans in vats and al- low them to die there and rot. This muck was afterward carefully ''han- died" for whatever pearls it might con- tain.
 The ordinary jack light is simply an oil burner-in early days a candle, or fire of pine knots-arranged with a re- fiector-on the bow of the boat in such way as to throw the full brilliancy of the light down upon the water, leaving the fisherman himself in dark ness. Such a light, if the night be dark and the water quiet and clear, renders objects beneath the surface perfectly plain to considerable depth.
 While the Boss was fastening the jack light to the bow of the boat the Pearlhunter stepped ashore to blacken
 
 spear in the blaze of the campfire, for all fishermen know it is never advis- able to strike with a spear that gilt ters. He knew every man of them around the fire. But a toss of his hand, a toss of five hands in response, was all that passed between them men that would have carried com rade for miles at need; that would | share the last bite with him; that | would knife him just as readily at a | fancied grievance. Such were the | river men; a law unto themselves | simple code, warped fantastically- with knife and pistol for judge and | jury; leftover product of other days | when clansmen followed their chief and asked no questions; a bi-product of the border who found it hard to disarm when civilization came in-
 The Boss slipped an oar into the water and laid the boat more toward the south shore, over the deepest part of the bar Hardly had he done so when the Pearlhunter lowered the point of his spear. The outline of an immense black bass took shape under the glare of the jack light, half hidden among the swaying verdure, as if ly- ing in wait for his prey, which in all likelihood he was, scaly tiger of the