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THE BLUE MOON A TALE OF THE FLAT WOODS COPYE.IGHT 5Y THE BOBBS-MER.RJU- COMPANY SYNOPSIS. CHAPTER I.—Never Having known hie rather, and living with hla mother on m houseboat on the Wabash river, "The I'eorlhuncer”—the only name he hae >urna from her a part of the story '*f r.er sail llf«- The recital Is Interrupted by a fearful fit of coughki; and he hum*- ashore to aeek a root that affords rell**' Ueiuniln* with the root, he meets t young Kiri whom he mentally Christ*” « the "Wild Rose." She dudes him before lie can make her acn mintance. CHAPTER II.—A vacant cabin on the «nor« has attracted the attention of the ■ IlinK woman, and they mo\e Into It Their first rn«*al Is interrupted bj n >tranker who resents their presence. The youth drives the man from their home Ills presence has str*t>,*-;y uff..t.-d n.« mother That nlKht th- youth finds with . • el the lan i pe <r i that 1 is found on the river, the "Blue Moon’ urnlng exultant to th** cabin, he ills io.i-ra his mother d**. »he having m.c limbed while endeav orlr.ig to leave a mesaagt reveahriK the •-•-.si of his par entags HAPTRR 111 At I Rock, to which he tak< ihe ohii for eat. keeping. the T’emlh ;cr' mens the straiiK**) who hart <ll . -tied h!s moilie* In their cabin, end Mo him The* part ne hitter enerale* CHAPTBR IV I rhe vllleve rh* I‘earlhunter" m-»« t* *1 who t ■ -t at traded his attention • wools sii. Is annoyed by the - .• ;.-r -*r».l t « "Pearlhunter" rescttf r**v.. welcome attentions 1 nnp-ini.-* to her home CHAPTER V —At tie house La meet* 'tie father of hla “Wl'd Rose," known to the loenlfty as the "\\ •» Man." Irreeponslble as the re*ult of a 'Wy 0 celved from a man wearing a a notorious desperado The jroutff de clares hla Intention of devoting the money he te to net for the pearl to pay ing for a surgical operation which will restore the old man's reason. CHAPTER Vl.—ln the cabin that nt*ht the "Pearlhunter" Is aroused from sleep by the stealthy visit of a man who con ceals a red mask in the wall agd makes his escape The "Pearlhunter," mystified, and suspecting foul play, destroys It Next day Louie Solomon, pearl buyer purchases the gem for 16.000 CHAPTER VII.— Bolomon accompanies the youth to hla cabin and within a few mtnutea of their parting the pearl buyer is stsbbed and robbed of the gem. The "Pearlhunter" le charged with the mur der and robbery and Is saved from lynch ing by the Intervention of the sheriff The mob believes the "Pearlhunter" la the "Red Mask.'* He Is oonflned In the village lockup CHAPTER VIII.—The stranger offers to secure the release of the "Pearlhunter” If he will promise to leave the vicinity. The youth refuses Made desperate by the stranger’s threats of harming the girl, the young man pries the bare from the window- of his cell and escapes .sit unsuspecting, ti e giri «]in other things for him that night besides washing his wounds Nothing can so refine o man us the ministry of a good woman’s hands. It never leaves him quite as It found him. He can never again he quite the same. His life out he will he a grain the finer for It. So great Is the irrace of nature that no man Is denied that touch. Once to every man It comes—to recreate; to make him new; to call him up to his higher «elf. It came that night to the Pearlhunter. The girl seemed to lose all fear of him ; 10 forget that he wus in her bed room In the secret night. She even smiled it contented smile of satisfac tion ns he rose and stretched himself. He fumbled In his tattered blouse and drew forth the draft. “Have you a |»en and Ink?" he asked, hla voice, his manner, again the voice and maimer of the alert, keen woods man. Wondering, she opened the drawer of the small stnnd under the mirror and placed pen and Ink before him. He picked up the pen. awkwardly —a fish spear, an oar. or a six-gun fitted his hanJ better—dipped it In the Ink; laid the draft upon the stand: squared himself; and ufter no ainall pains suc ceeded In writing the word "Pearlhunt* er" across the back. It was quite evi dently a relief when the unaccustomed tnsk was over. He laid the pen down ns If c'ad to ho quit of It and handed the draft to the girl. "It means that I have five thousand dollurb in the lutftk." he suld. "and any body that takes this draft there with my”—he hesitated —"name across the back can get the money. The banker snid so.” Her face showed how little she guessed whut his words were leading up to. Il was some time before he went on. *Tm askin’ you to keep It.** ho said. "And If anything should bnp|**n to me. I’m uskln' you to keep the tnon ey too.” The girl caught his tattered sleeve "No* No’’’ »be sain, "i *uv— mat I** He looked down at the hand >n Ills sleeve; picked it up; held It an in stant; suffered her to take il away. ”1 know who killed Louie Solomon." he said slowly "I know who lift» the Blue Moon —absolute knowledge. b»i» no proof. He’ll be on nty trail tomor row ; and his eye*, are the most danger ous eyes In the Flat wood* He’d ask nothing better than a chance »** kill me. And I run any man's game now." It la marvelous how a woman’s In tuition will drive at the very heart of a matter that puzzles men. She saw ut a flash what had escaped the wits of the whole village. “You mean the—the—timber buyer," ■be said. “I mean the timber buyer,’’ he an swered. with n quick look at her. "His eyes see everything. You must destroy these bloody rsgs. and you must raks the yard In the morning. Bake the east yard first, and then the west. I’m not aiming to leave any tracks, hut It’s so dark I can’t make sure." He was talking rapidly. ’Tin not expectin' to leave the FI at woods, and —you, un less they crowd me hard; not till I’ve run him down and found mjr proof. But the odds are ngainst tne If any thing should happen. I want you to have this money And the minute you hear they’ve got me. you must go straight to the sheriff. Don’t rl«k the woods another hour. Put yourself un der his protection, and tell him why; have the money transferred to von; and—send for that surgeon." The tears beat their way up Into the girl’s eyes In spite of her. and ran down her cheeks. Her head bent low It was the one thing he knew not hot* to face. His hard life hadn’t taught him that. The tears hurt him. What had caused them? Maybe It was Just a woman’s way. Mnyl*e he had done wrong to come to her with his cuts and blood and danger. She rals«.d her face after a time. He drew a long breath; dropped his hand to his side: stared In astonishment. She was smiling—smiling through the tears —and the dimples were back The ways of woman—utterly beyond him. and past finding out' She smoothed the draft out In her hands and was looking at him over It. "I wonder If I one lit to take It.” she mused to herself, ns much as to him. He took the paper on I of her hands folded It and with a masterful all thrust It under a fold of the loose gar inent across her bosom “I haven’t a soul In the world to leave it to 4»ut—you." Hla slow eyes left her fact* and stared hard at the basin of red water. Stepping over to the stand, he stooped and snuffed the candle. The huge shadow of him filled the room. Turn Ing away, after he had the candle again at full flame, his eyes came back to the thoughtful face of his .-orapan lon. "That revolver I saw yesterday on the mantel—ls It loaded?" "I think so." She looked up in curious half sur prise, as If tin* question had brought her thoughts back from afar. “May I see It?” “Why—yes—” He shaded the candle again while she lifted the curtain over the door; paused a moment to listen to the heavy breathing of the sleeper In the west room ; crossed to the mantel over the fireplace and brought him the re volver. Several minutes the man spared to Its Inspection: testing the action of the hammer, cylinder revolution and trigger pull; replacing the somewhat corroded c«ps on the tubes with new ones; even pocking fresh grains of powder Into the tubes where hs thought necessary. "Do you know how It use It?" he asked, looking up from his Inspection. "I’ve shot lots of squirrels with It, sometimes clear In the treetops,” she answered. "And once I killed a hawk that pestered the chickens.” A grin puckered his eyes for a mo ment, then his brows lowered. An other question, a hard one. had to be asked, that set him raking over his : slim stock of words for ways to ask It. "Do girls—l mean—have you got any place about you your dress —to car ry It?" She was looking at him. her eyes frank and wide—eye# that had no need to narrow. "I haven't, she answered; "but I can make one." “I advise you to." He laid the ivv**i - .-r on the stand and turned bn cl; *o her. The time lmd come to go. arid r!*ey '*otb knew It. For n while they -i» -J * I lent. Once Ids hand reached toward her. but he drew it had;. "Will you be ready to raise the blind v* lien I Mow nui ihe candle?" he said at lasi She went i«» the window and the next moment Ho- room was Id dark ness. Two fluttering spots ..f white In the gloom rolled up the blind, found the strings that held ii and whipped them Into a knot Then the girl stepped back The man crawled through the window —will* extreme *are not to scar the ground outside. It Is past all knowing how her hands Happened to ret into his lie bent his head and laid his hue upon them; suffered them to slip oil! of his finger* at Inst: and turned away. He was gone on ihe instant' -gone as a shadow goes--never knowing that for long ami long the dull window framed a white fnoe listening for some sound o’f him to cotue hack out of the night. The woodcraft of the I'earlblipier wus profound. It was about all life had raiighr hint, hut If hud raughi him that. With the logical precision of a schoolmaster passing from one step •»' a problem to another, it led him straight jo the trail of the man he had been following a short time before— which, of course, took him In the di rection of Fallen Rock. The man he followed had doubtless gone hack to the village by this time. Tills prob ability he ha*l already estimated and <et down in hl« reckoning at Its proper value But he hnd another pur pose In fuming his steps toward Fall en Rock. He wag dellheraTelv going hack to the‘cabin. With every caution to leave no trail, he picked his way through the wnotk. to the edge of the bluffs, stole over an*l down toward the rabln. The first glance at the black bulk of It, squat re*! In the deep gloom under the up standing rocks, brought him to in •tant pause. There was a light with in. He crouched down In the bushes to consider what this unexpected cir cumstance meant before venturing an other step. No sound came from the cabin. The night was Intensely still. Not an oar stirred the river. The waterfall alone fretted the sllenca. The Pearlhunter flattened himself In the weeds and bushes and foot by foot worked his way until he was able at last to bring his face level with the tiny opening. With hla eye close, the chink afforded a tolerably clear view of the Interior of the cabin. He barely restrained h cry at what he saw. Stooped over the small, hair-covered trunk, hla hat off. atood the Red Maak. He had pried open the lid and bad laid the contents of the trunk out with seeming care in rather neat heaps upon the floor. In his hand he held the picture of the Irou-Oray- Woman The I'earlhumer’s gorge rose at see lug hla mother’s picture in such hands, and his breast burned to dash Into the cabin and settle his score with the sacrilegious wretch once and for all. Hut It whs not hla to do as he pleased that night. His activities for the mo ment were limited to keeping his eye fast to the chink. The man by the trunk straightened, carried the picture to the caudle and stood looking long upon It. Ha laid It to his Ups. again and again, us If he would drink up the beautiful fact* from the card. He pressed the picture to Ids bosom; held It again to 4he candle ami whispered to It In tones that did not carry to the ear of the amazed listener. He strode up and down the room; and there was **n his fu*-e h look that no man had probably ever seen there before, and probably would never see again. After long moments he roused him self. unbuttoned his vest, and put the A N. PARRISH President J. H THATCHER. VW Preside*. J. F. MAUSER. Coofcier NO. 5749 FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF LAMAR. ESTABLISHED JULY 9. 1887 LAMAK. COIXJRADO CopiLaJ Stock - $50,000. Surplus - - $50,000. DtKECTORB JOHN h MAUKEK JOHN H THATCHER LEWIS UAKNU.V 4. N. PARRiiU G F. TROTTER Stood Looking Long Upon It. picture carefully away In an Inner pocket. The watcher outside the wall winced; his Ups drew together In a tense line. But there was much to be seen just then. The man Inside had risen, crossed the floor, put the things back In the trunk, closed the lid and picked up his hat. Next moment the candle was blown out. The Pearlhunt er barely had time to creep Into the fringe of weeds when the cabin door opened and softly closed. With a brisk step that Indicated he had flung off the spell of the past, the notorious renegade walked around the west end of the cabin, past the spring, and straight to the tiny pool under the waterfall, where the Pearlhunter. who had stolen along the north wall of the cabin had his second astounding sur prise since coming down the bluff. Jumping lightly from rock to rock In the shallow water of the pool, the bandit approached the cataract, the third leap landing him upon the fiat top of a rock almost within the very wash of the falling water. Pausing an Instant to pull bis hal tight and turn up the collnr of his coat, he sprang straight Into the thin blad* of the falls. His leap must have car rled him completely through to th* Other side. It was the first the Pearl hunter knew, or even suspected, thai there was an open space beyond. 8. completely did -the falling water hid* everything back of It that probably the man who had Just leaped and the man who watched him were th* only two who knew there was any thing hack of It. The Pearlhunter stretched himself flat under cover of a clump of sprouts growing about an old white oak stump, and kept his eyes fixed on the waterfall. Time goes slowly to one who watches and walta. It was probably not more than ten minutes, though it seemed far longer, when, without so much as a diverted fleck of spray In warning, the waterfall flung forth up on the flat-topped rock u lithe and ac tlve figure that sprang lightly to shore over the two Intervening stones. Pausing on the brink of the pool barely long enough to shake his coat by the lapels and to knock his bat against his hand, he immediately set out along the bluffs toward the vil lage, as unconcerned us If he had not Juat pulled off about the most sensa tional stunt ever seen by a Flntwoods* man. The Pearlhunter slipped out of the cover and softly followed; trailed him up the bluffs, through the corner of the woods and out to the river road where It angles north through the cut lu the cliffs; listened ut the fence, near where the path crossed It, till the re ceding steps were well on their way to the village. (Continued Next Week » iiimiimiiimiiiiimiiiiiiiiimiiiiiimiiiiii iiiiiiiiiimiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii DR. (J. S. WILSON DENTIST X-RAY Oxer Lunur National Hank Phone, Lamar I l-M l)R. JS O. I). PAXTON VETERIN \KIAN Phone Lamar 91J GOO DALE & HORN Vltorneys and Counselors si l.a** Office in lloodale Block l-A' IAK COLORADO Alfred Todd J. S. Under**cm# I Todd & Underwood Attorneys al Law Practice in ull Courts, ami before U S. I-nml Department Lamar, Colorado J. K. DOUGHTY Attorney and Counselor at l.s«* LAMAR COLORADO Office in Rent Hlk. East Mum H'.itr- GORDON & GORDON Attorneys al Law IAMAK COLORADO Offtee in First National Hunk D1... k WELLINGTON E. FEE Attorney si Law LAMAR. COLORADO GRANBY HILLYER AND D. B. KINKAID Attorneys st Low Offices: Markham Building LAMAR, COLORADO Practices in State and Federal Courts, and before United States I-and Department J. T. KIRKPATRICK Fire. Life. Accident, Liability. Hail Steam Boiler, Surety Bonds Room 3, Huddleston Bldg. LAMAR, COLORADO