The Syracuse and Lake Wawasee Journal, Volume 13, Number 52, Syracuse, Kosciusko County, 28 April 1921 — Page 2

jCrkvit OF THE FLATWOODS COl^rtlGHT ‘by cvnop-sis Pearlhunter stepped ashore to blacken

CHAPTER I.—Never having known his father, and living with his mothef on a houseboat on the Wabash river, “The Pearlhunter”—the only name he has—learns from her a part of the story 'Of her sad life. The recital is interrupted by a fearful fit of coughing and he hurries ashore to ■ seek a root that affords relief. Returning with the root, he meets a young girl whom ha mentally christens the “Wild Rose." Sh* eludes him before he can make her acquaintance. —"I lit th’ Injuns under this Colonel Warbritton. Th’ soldiers use’ t’ talk about ’lm a lot around th’ campfire. That’s how I come t’ know s’ much about ’lm. 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 boss got shot through th’ brains an’ fell s’ quick he caught th’ colonel’s foot, an’ I stood over ’in} with th’ bayonet whilst he got loose. We sent seven •screechin’ heathens t’ hell that day b’fore he’p come. That’s how I got t’ be a sergeant. Hit wus th’ best he could do fer a man that hadn’t no learnin’. No. No. You needn’t be afear’d of giftin’ driv’ out o’ th’ cabin. If the colonel wus here, he wouldn’t.” He clutched the pars 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. , A dirtier bunch of men than the five loiinging 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 clams in vats and allow them to die there and rot. This muck was afterward carefully “handled” for whatever pearls it might contain. The ordinary jack light is simply an oil burner —in early days a candle, or fire of pine knots—arranged with a re- • Hector —on the bow of the boat In such away as to throw the full brilliancy of the light down upon the water,leaving the fisherman himself in darkness. Such a light, if the night be dark and the water quiet and clear, renders objects beneath the surface perfectly plain to a considerable depth. ' While the Boss was fastening the Jack light to the bow of the boat the

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the points of the freshly sharpened spear in the blaze of the campfire, for all fishermen know It is never advisable to strike with a spear that glitters. 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 a comrade 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 —a simple code, warped fantastically—with knife and pistol for judge and .Jury; a 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

“You Neean-x Be Areara of Glttln' Driv* Out o’ th’ Cabin.”

THE SYRACUSE AND LAltfi \VAWASEE JOURNAL

..*v * water and Laid the boat more toward the south shore, over the deepest.part of the bar. Hardly had he donV 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 it lying In wait for his prey, which in all likelihood be was, a scaly tiger of the stream In ambush. The spear slid into the water and stole toward him. All unalarmed he lay. his fins idly fanning the fern-like moss in which he lurked, little suspecting the five-pronged death creeping upon hint. The points were within three feet of the glossing scales when the Pearlhunter struck. There followed a moment of fierce flurry among the waving ferns; a little 1 shower of spray broke the surface of the water, and all was over. A fish does not struggle long when the spear goes home. “Six-pounder, ff he’s, an ounce,” chuckled the Boss when the fish lay in the bottom of the boat. The Penrlhunter rested his spear upon the gunwale and bent above the jack light. The boat drifted on. It was perhaps half an hour later when, in the leisurely manner of men returning from a season of successful sport, the two fishermen, with the pick of all they had floated over In the bottom of the boat, rowed up the streain. The glare of the campfire was beginning to slither upon the dripping oar blades and the ripples they raised when the Boss laid the boat nearer the south shore with the remark: “Here’s where we’re expectin’ t’ h’ist th’ shiners tomorrow —all along fiere. Jlst look at Xh’ tracks. Make a right smart track, don’t they, fer a beast without no feet?” The Pearlhunter made no answer. Crouched down by the jack light well toward the bow of the boat, he had been for some time watching the unusually thick tangle of winding marks upon the slimy bottom, plowed there by the mussels or clams while feeding, dozens and hundreds of the creeping bivalves, half buried in the ooze, at that very moment dotting the river bed. The Boss was in the very act of turning the boat across the river to the camp when he was startled by an excited exclamation from his companion. who had suddenly leant low and dangerously far out over the water. He was up on the instant and had flashed the jack light around the boat. In his dripping hand there was an immense river mussel.

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The old Boss had no sooner caught the bluish-pnrple glitter shedding from the hinge knobs of the giant bivalve he uttered a shout that waked 4he echoes up and • down the river shore, ami brought the five then at the camp running down to the water’s ®dge. “A Bine Moon!” he yelled. “By the gods, a Blue Moon!" He snatched It from the hand of his companion and held It under the full glare of the jack light. Next moment he had handed It back and was drivI Ing the boat to shore, where the first glance at the peculiar markings of the “mussel Instantly threw the whole camp Into the wildest excitement. They spread down by the light of the fire the whitest cloth the camp afforded, and the Boss cut the mussel open. One pearl, large, lustrous, dropped out upon the cloth and lay twinkling up into their faces like a fallen star. It passed from hand to hand, the pearl fishers struggling with each other for the privilege of holding it. “1 never see’d a one h’fore.” cried the oldest “clammer” present, “but 1 knowed hit were a Blue Moon th’ minute 1 lamped th’ shell.” The pearl, . passing from hand to hand, had come round to the Boss again, who, stooping close to the firelight. examined it through a small hand lens such as most pear) fishers carry. “Pearlhunter,” he said, turning to the young man, “you shorely air lucky! You’ve found y’ur pearl—an’ a fortune It were!” “Then it’s you that’s lucky," was the slow answer. “It’s not mine." Had the others not been too excited, they might have noticed that his lips were drawn; his voice strained. The grizzled old river Boss gripped his calloused hand shut upon the pearl; his seamy old face hardened, and there sprang up In his deep-set eyes an expression not unlike the expression In the eyes of a hawk when title to the prey In his claws is disputed. But the expression passed. He thrust the pearl back Into the young man’s hand as though half afraid ot it. "Say," he growled, “what do you think I am?” “It was taken from your boat, in waters you expected to fish tomorrow. You’d have found it anyway.” The hawkish glower left the blue eyes of the older man, leaving him the frank-faced ohl Boss again. He studied his young friend curiously. “Well, I’ll be damn’d !” he chuckled good-naturedly to himself, still studying the other from under the edges of

his eyes. “Say,” he continued. looking up frankly. “1 hain’t got a dem bit more claim to it than I got to the Bank of Ingland. If you fancy I have got claims. I hereby gives an’ conveys ’em t’ you—an’ If that hain’t good law, it’s square dealin’ b’twixt man an’ man; an’ that’s better’n law any day.” “You mean it?” The younger man fingered the pearl as if It had suddenly assumed a new value. “If you wan’ t’ Insult me, jlst let on like y’u think I don’t.” Hero-worshipers ail, after the manner of their kind, the v>ther pearl fishers, as If by common impulse, turned their attention from the pearl to the man that found it. He had become an object of wonder and curious admiration. No other achievement in the world could possibly have so distinguished him in their eyes. Suddenly one of their number snatched off his battered hat and yelled: “Hooray fer th’ Pearlhunter!" (TO BE CONTINUED) O Solomon's Creek & Benton Mr. and Mrs. Frank Shaffer and daughter Elizabeth spent Sunday afternoon with Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rex. Mr. and ..Mrs. Emmett Walburn spent Sunday afternoon at the Henry Butt home. Mr. and Mrs. Will Juday called on John C. Juday Tuesday evening. Mr. aijd Mrs. Clint Rookstool spent Saturday with their son, Ernest and wife in Elkhart. Crist Mousher and family moved laSt Friday into the Nathan Long tent house for the summer. Mr. and Mrs. Merle Darr and son Marion and his uncle, Jesse Darr, Mr. and Mrs. Bird Darr and Saylor Darr and family spent Sunday with Mr. and Mrs. Stanton Darr near Churubusco. Rev. Mast and family attended

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| the funeral of a relative, Simon • Plank, who met his death with an accident in Goshen last week. He was taken to the Goshen hospital where he died a few days later. Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Rookstool of Elkhart were Sunday guests of his parents, Mr and Mrs. Clinton Rookstool. Will Sheline and Mr. Clark have 2 very sick horses. I Mrs. Louisa Hapner spent Sunday with Mr. and Mrs. Stanton Darr near Churubusco. Mr. and Mrs. Levi Pearman called Sunday afternoon at the home of Mr. and Mrs. William Wortinger on Silver street. Mr and Mrs. Lewis Holtzinger called on Mr. and Mrs. David

■ 13 Your Spring Needs ■ ■ ,■ f | HM| : Now that spring is here it is time to look over ™ |Q your home and see what is needed. The wardrobe 95 no doubt will need to be replenished, and we carry many items that will help you solve the problem ® irj economically. Several items needed at house cleanB ing time can be found in our store. And we invite lZ i —l M gg you to supply your kitchen needs from our assorti Q meats. S " — :: — h MILLINERY— H S We carry a full line of stylishly trimmed hats LJ | g for women, misses and children. q (□ HOSIERY— B B A full line of hosiery for men, women and children. Men’s work socks at 15c. Hose in El black, white and colors at 2 pairs for 25c, up to SI.OO a pair. Ladies’ cotton hose from 15c to £J SI.OO, in black, white and brown; silk hose from O 75c to $3.00. A good assortment of children's B hose. . ’ ■ gg DRESS GOODS— We carry ginghams and percales. B CURTAIN MATERIALS— g A good line of curtain materials ranging in price ■ from 15c up. g K MISCELLANEOUS— Crochet cottons, handkerchiefs, stationery, toilet articles, dishes.in open stock from which jou may buy as many as you wish, glassware, houseB hold utensils, men’s shirts and overals, ladies’ light weight underwear, children’s waists and hose supporters, paper nappies and doilies, shelf papers, school supplies, toys, a beautiful assortB ment of fancy work, etc. ; Q ■ THE VARIETY STORE m Syracuse - Indiana □ s B

Holtzinger Sunday evening. o FIVE BIG SALES Five big sales in one will be held in the New Paris Sale Pavilion beginning at 9:30 o’clock next Tuesday morning, May 8. The big list includes mules, horses, 43 head of cattle, 133 head of shoats, 11 sows, 9 automobiles, 2 Deering binders, 2 Black Hawk corn planters, hay, corn, oats, potatoes, apple ter, 3 hog feeders, lot of Oliver plow points, household godds, farming implements, merchandise, etc. You can not afford to rAiss this sale. (521) Martin Fisher, Mgr.