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THURSDAY, MAY 26, 1921. BLUE MOON Jl Tale p/ the Flataoods B r DAVID ANDERSON (topruw *>J tb* Bobtx-Mvnu Osapur) He came straight to the honse; the one friend absolutely true to him in all his dangerous world; the one friend who still regarded him as a gentleman. The horse reached out his nose to meet him; nibbed his shoulder with his head. A moment the man gave to the caress, then hurried to the com sack, laid three ears upon the rock, and turned to the hay. Now was the critical instant. If they escaped his glance now—l But he was totally unsuspecting. Without raising his eyes as far as the pocket, he grabbed up a handful or two of the brightest straws and turned back to the horse. “Short rations tonight, Rocket; and I’ll make your toilet while you eat." He took down from near where the saddle hung a curry comb and brush from another of the numerous cran nies of the cave and proceeded, with surprising skill and quickness, to groom the horse. The task completed, he laid hack the brush and curry comb, and, lifting the feet of the horse, examined them one by one, nail by nail, afterward running his hands down the horse’s limbs and lingering over each joint, finally summing up the inspection by listening with no little care to the animal’s breathing. It was the work of a master. The In spection over, he took the saddle down from the wail, threw it on the horse, drew the girths, hung the bridle on the horn, unstrapped his spurs from the back of the saddle and buckled them to his heels. “I wish I knew,” he muttered, half to himself, apparently half to his dumb companion, as he waited for the animal to finish his supper, “whether that Pearlhunter has left. It looks like he had. And yet, that’s not like his breed —to cut out. Still, there's always a chance.” He seemed to meditate; flung up his head with a bitter grimace and a toss of his hand. “Chance!” he growled. “What’s life without its chancel Life! Huhl A game of chance —with the cards stacked, and the devil’s deal! Rocket, you’ll carry double tonight Yellow curls, eyes like bluebells and ankles —! But high headed —she came dev ilish nigh shootin’ me this afternoon! But the harder to tame, the better worth tamin’.” The Pearlhunter was writhing back In the pocket, his face like the rock he crouched against; but the sheriff hadn’t nudged him. The Red Mask looked down at the fast disappearing provender before the horse, walked back and forth across the cave a time or two, turned and stood for a moment or two fum bling behind the oak root where It had been tied. “That sheriff.” He straightened, threw up his head and laughed boister ously. “He couldn’t find a lost ele phant, let alone a wonderful, wee lit tle drop of distilled witchery like this.” From the dry clay and shale back of the oak root he had drawn forth a small plush box. With the word “this" he blew the dust off, and pushed in the catch. The lid flipped up. On the tiny cushion lay the Blue Moon twinkling In the candle-light, not un like the princess that waked up in the cave of the dragon. At last came the sheriff’s nudge. The Pearlhunter quietly passed his re volver over. There couldn’t have been a sound In the act louder than the drawing of a breath, but somehow it must have reached the man by the horse. There came a change over his face —a change so slight as to be as good as imperceptible; to be felt rather than seen. Had he so much as glanced toward the pocket back of the hay, the Pearlhunter would have acted on the instant But he didn’t glance that way. Very leisurely he closed the box, put it In his vest pocket and looked down to see if the horse had finished his supper. The Pearlhunter was In the act of pressing against the knee of the sheriff in sign that the time had come, when, totally without a warning sound, with out the slightest preliminary motion, there came a shot from behind the horse that dashed the candle out. The shot was followed by a scuffle of feet. The Pearlhunter leaped the hay and charged through the dense dark straight at the horse. It wasn’t there. From the passage came the clatter of hoofs. Followed by the stumbling sheriff, he groped his way to the mouth of the passage. He was barely in time to hear a splash, and the click of steel upon the rocks of the pool. CHAPTER XIV. Man to Man and an Even Draw. The candle lingered long that night In the cabin of the three gables. The old man was more than usunlly rest less. The girl hovered ahout his chair constantly. She succeeded at last in foaxing him down in his chair, where he sat groaning: mumbling in his beard; and whetting the knife on the palm of his hand. She had smoothed the cushions behind his head and stood stroking his face with her hand, when, without the least warning, the door flew open, and, sharply outlined against the dark background of the night, a man with a red mask over his face stalked across the threshold. He was, of course quite unaware that the girl already knew his Identity. That probably explained why he had put on the mask. It would be impos sible to describe the startling trans formation it wrought on his sinister face. From out of all its many ter rors the night could not have selected a more appalling one to fling Into the cabin. The girl screamed and clung about the old man in the chair. H# scream seemed to rouse him. He glanced up, rubbed his wide, pitiful eyes, and. with a wild cry—more that of beast than man—sprang from the chair with a strength that sent the girl reeling. His sleeping senses seemed to wake, to recognize the object for which his ghostly eyes had searched the woods for weary years—a bit of red cloth with a certain face behind it. His giant frame seemed to swell with a strength tremendous. He raised the knife and leaped toward the intruder. A giant’s strength, but with the dis ordered unwieldiness of a stricken mind. The knife barely grazed where It was meant to kill. Before the gray The Merciless Arm Struck Again and Again. giant could recover his ponderous strength to strike again, the Red Mask bad him by the wrist, and, seemingly unwilling to risk the sound of a shot, was raining blows upon his head with the butt of his heavy revolver. It was a horrible thing to see. The girl stood with laced fingers, helpless with hor ror. The first blow brought the blood streaming out over the white hair and disabled the old man so frightfully that he Ceased the struggle and stood quivering. But the merciless arm struck again and again until the vast frame drooped, shrank together, the knife fell from his fingers, his knees gave way and he sank groaning to the floor —writhed, straightened and lay still. The revolver was foul with blood and gray hair. The murderer noticed it, hastily wiped it away on a comer of the fallen man’s coat thrust it back into his pock'et and raced the girl. The spell was broken. She started as if from a nightmare and sprang back of the chair. Like a man pressed for time, he dashed after her. With the chair between them, she managed for a bare moment to keep beyond his hands. He kicked the chair out of the way. She darted toward the kitchen door, probably with the hope of escaping to the woods, but he was too close to her. She whirled toward the door of the bedroom. The turn was fatal. His hands reached her and drove her back into the comer of the room at the head of the couch. She fought as only a woman fights —for a stake Infinitely higher than life Itself. Since time began the earth has staged that struggle. Her dress was tom, her body bruised, her hands gradually driven together behind her back; a hot wild face near her own. A step creaked the plank at the door. Her assailant whirled at the sound and she sank panting against the wall. Just inside the door, his body crouched forward, his lips tight drawn, stood the tall form of the Pearlhunt er. ' Things happened so fast in the next instant that words are too slow to keep up with them. It was man to man, and an even draw. The two shots came so close together that the hills out through the open door caught but one echo. But the shot from the door struck first —a scant little mite of an instant first —and Jarred the aim of the other a trifle high. The shot from the comer merely clipped a bandage at the top of the Pearlhunter’s shoul der, drew a little welt on the skin, and whistled harmlessly away Into the night. The bullet from the door evi dently found the core of the target. The Red Mask bent backward. The revolver dropped to his side. He tried to raise It again; seemed-surprised that he couldn’t. He laughed oddly, and swore; stared round toward the girl; gasped and choked. The revolver slipped from his fingers. He groped with his hands, as If searching the air for it; staggered, caught himself, tottered, pitched heavily to the floor. The girl edged out of the corner past his body and threw herself upon the form of the old man. The Pearl hunter eased down the hammer of his revolver, thrust it back Into his pock et, and stooped beside her. At the touch of his hand, she raised her head and knelt stroking the still face and crying softly. The Pearlhunter opened the old man’s coat and felt over his heart. “He’s alive!” She laid her face down close and spoke his name—the only name she knew. There was no response. “Help me lift him to the couch,” the man said. They had the old man on the couch, and the girl had run for water, when the sheriff, who had been far out stripped by the younger man, dashed into the cabin. All three worked over him. The Pearlhunter chafed one wrist, the sheriff the other, while the girl bathed his face, washed the blood out of his hair, and strove to staunch its flow by binding up his head in cold cloths. Suddenly, without any warning signs of returning consciousness, the old man plucked his hand away from the Pearlhunter and rubbed it over his face. His eyes came open, but they were not the some eyes. And his face was free from twitching. The girl stared down upon him in wonder. The Pearlhunter stooped low and marveled at the startling transformation. Nei ther knew, nor even Buspected, until the doctor explained it days later, that the blows of the revolver butt had loosened the tiny bit of skull that had so long shackled his brain —loosened it at the expense of a far worse hurt, but undoubtedly loosened it. They only knew that the eyes were free from the vacant stare; that his face was calm with the light of reason. He felt again over his face, seemed astonished at the beard. His eyes calmly gazed up at the girl and stud ied her a long time. “You couldn’t be Dotty?” His voice was queer, hollow, quaver ing, like some sound from another world, so long had it gone unused. “Oh, Daddy!” She threw her arms around him and dropped her head on his breast. He sat stroking her hair, finally raised her, looked hard at her, rubbed his eyes and looked agnln. “You must be Dotty. But you’ve changed so since morning.” The girl seemed unable to teil him. She strove for words, but none came. The Pearlhunter drew nearer. “You’ve been —sick a long time, sir,” he said. “Seven years. And you’re just getting well again.” The puzzled eyes, suddenly wakened into a world new and strange, turned toward him. “I haven’t the pleasure of your ac quaintance,” he said with the stately politeness of a day loDg gone. “May I ask—?” “I’m —I’m —" He hesitated, flushed. The girl, calm again, came to the rescue. “He’s the Pearlhunter, Daddy. He’s been —good to me—since you’ve been sick.” (Continued next week.) How’s Thisr We offer One Hundred Kollars Reward for any case o' Catarrh that cannot be cured by Kail’s Catarrh Cure. F. J. CHENEY & CO., Toledo. O. TVe. the undersigned, have known F. J. Cheney for the last 15 years, and believe him perfectly honorable in all business transactions and financially able to carry out any obligations made by his firm. NATIONAL BANK OF COMMERCE, Toledo, O. Hall's Ca'arrh Cure Is taaen internally, acting directly upon the blood and mu cous surfaces of the system. Testimonials oent free. Price 76 oents per bottle. Sold by all Druggists. Take Hall's Family Pills tor constipation* WEAK, NERVOUS, ALL RUN-DOWN Missouri Lady Suffered Until She Tried Cardui. —Says u Result Was Surprising.”—Got Along Fine, Became Normal and Healthy. Springfield Mo.—“My back was so weak I could hardly stand up, and 1 would have bearing-down pains and was not well at any time,” says Mrs. D. V. Williams, wife of a well-known farmer on Route 6, this place. “I kept getting headaches and having to go to bed,” continues Mrs. Williams describing the troubles from which she obtained relief through the use of Cardui. “My husband, having heard of Cardui, proposed getting it for me. “I saw after taking some Cardui ~. that I was improving. The result was surprising. I felt like a different person. “Later I suffered from weakness and weak back, and felt all run-down. I did not rest well at night, I was bo nervous and cross. My husband said he would get me some Cardui, which he did. It strengthened me . . . My doctor said I got along fine. I was in good healthy condition. I cannot say too much for it.” Thousands of women have suffered as Mrs. Williams describes, until they found relief from the use of Cardui Since It has helped so many, you should not hesitate to try Cardui tl troubled with womanly ailments. For sale everywhere. E.BJ SUPREME AUTO OIL is very sooth ing to your crankshaft. THE WINDER NEWS BETHABRA Several from here attended the sing ing at Nazareth Sunday afternoon. Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Stephens vis ited Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Clark Sun day. Quite a large crowd attended the singing at Miss Ethel Brock’s Sunday night. Mr. Albert Murphy and little daugh ter, Bernice, of Hoschton, spent Sun day with Mr. and Mrs. E. D. Murpny. Mr. and Mrs. Paul Williams of Ath ens spent one night last week with the former’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. N. Williams. Several from here attended the commencement sermon at Braseltou Sunday. Mrs. J. M. Sims and daughter, Eliz abeth, Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Freeman spent last Tuesday in Jefferson the guests of Mrs. W. J. Webb. Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Clark visited Mr. and Mrs. Henry Puckett Sunday night. Misses Fannie and Elizabeth Sims had as their guests Sunday Misses Florine Rooks and Lourena Elliott. Mr. Will Maxey of Winder visited home folks Sunday. Mr. and Mrs. F. M. Hardy is visit ing their daughter, Mrs. E. D. Murphy. Misses Bertie House and Dell Sims spent Sunday with Miss Annie Clark. Miss Pearl Collins of Rochelle is visiting her sister, Mrs. Brauan Wil liams. ECONOMY Now, as never before, we need to economize. We will help you if you buy your gasoline at the MOTOR INN. We have plenty of distilled water for your batteries absolutely FREE. Air and water is also FREE. We not only furnish you with all this free service, but give you a GASOLINE and OIL that will give you more miles, thereby helping you to economize on your gas bill. Do not accept something else. Demand Thompson Bros. Hi-Test Gasoline, and High Grade Motor Oils. For Sale in Winder at Motor Inn Filling Station and W. F. Bell’s, only Beautiful Hand Paint ed Japanese Cup and Saucer Free! Purchase from us a 2 1-2 pound can Votan Coffee today. You will find a beautiful Jap anese Cup and Saucer in the can. We guarantee Votan to please or your money back. Hargrove Brothers Winder, Ga. County Line * * Mr. and Mrs. Albert Alien spent Sat urday night with Mr. and Mrs. Arthur House. Mr. A. D. Murphy and little daugh ter, Bernice, of Hoschton, visited in this burg Sunday afternoon. Mr. W. K. Attaway spent Sunday afternoon with Mr. G. W. Hardy. Misses Desma and Lucile Murphy visited Miss Bertie Hudgins Tuesday afternoon. Mr. and Mrs. Jewel House visited Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Murphy Sunday night. Miss Eula Hardy spent a few days in Winder last week. Mr. Ruble Cronic of Sharon spent Friday night with Mr. and Friday night with Mr. and Mrs. Mel vin Murphy. Miss Mildred Haynie spent a few days last week with her sister, Mrs. Jewel House. Misses Sybil and Gladys Holland and Miss Birtie House visited Miss Ollie Murphy Tuesday afternoon. Mr. and Mrs. James Everett spent last Tuesday afternoon with Mr. J. T. Vanderford. Mr. and Mrs. F. M. Hardy spent Tuesday with Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Murphy. Buy THAT GOOD GULF GASOLINE SUBSCRIPTION; fI.SO A YEAR 27a GENUINE BULL” DURHAM tobacco makes 50 flood cigarettes for . ioc yip CARD OF THANKS. We wish to express our many thanks to the good people who ministered so faithfully and patiently ditring the sickness and death of our dear baby. We also thank the physician for his untiring efforts to administer to her; needs. May each one have God’s rich- , est blessings in our prayer.—Mr. and Mrs. David Ilnrdigree.