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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10886-0.txt b/10886-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b4226d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/10886-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10078 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10886 *** + +THE UNTAMED + +BY MAX BRAND + + +1919 + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + +I. Pan of the Desert + +II. The Panther + +III. Silent Shoots + +IV. Something Yellow + +V. Four in the Air + +VI. Laughter + +VII. The Mute Messenger + +VIII. Red Writing + +IX. The Phantom Rider + +X. The Strength of Women + +XI. Silent Bluffs + +XII. Partners + +XIII. The Lone Riders Entertain + +XIV. Delilah + +XV. The Cross Roads + +XVI. The Three of us + +XVII. The Panther's Paw + +XVIII. Cain + +XIX. Real Men + +XX. One Trail Ends + +XXI. One Way Out + +XXII. The Woman's Way + +XXIII. Hell Starts + +XXIV. The Rescue + +XXV. The Long Ride + +XXVI. Black Bart Turns Nurse + +XXVII. Nobody Laughs + +XXVIII. Whistling Dan, Desperado + +XXIX. "Werewolf" + +XXX. "The Manhandling" + +XXXI. "Laugh, Damn it!" + +XXXII. Those who See in the Dark + +XXXIII. The Song of the Untamed + +XXXIV. The Coward + +XXXV. Close in! + +XXXVI. Fear + +XXXVII. Death + +XXXVIII. The Wild Geese + + + + +THE UNTAMED + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +PAN OF THE DESERT + +Even to a high-flying bird this was a country to be passed over +quickly. It was burned and brown, littered with fragments of rock, +whether vast or small, as if the refuse were tossed here after the +making of the world. A passing shower drenched the bald knobs of a +range of granite hills and the slant morning sun set the wet rocks +aflame with light. In a short time the hills lost their halo and +resumed their brown. The moisture evaporated. The sun rose higher and +looked sternly across the desert as if he searched for any remaining +life which still struggled for existence under his burning course. + +And he found life. Hardy cattle moved singly or in small groups and +browsed on the withered bunch grass. Summer scorched them, winter +humped their backs with cold and arched up their bellies with famine, +but they were a breed schooled through generations for this fight +against nature. In this junk-shop of the world, rattlesnakes were +rulers of the soil. Overhead the buzzards, ominous black specks +pendant against the white-hot sky, ruled the air. + +It seemed impossible that human beings could live in this +rock-wilderness. If so, they must be to other men what the lean, hardy +cattle of the hills are to the corn-fed stabled beeves of the States. + +Over the shoulder of a hill came a whistling which might have been +attributed to the wind, had not this day been deathly calm. It was fit +music for such a scene, for it seemed neither of heaven nor earth, +but the soul of the great god Pan come back to earth to charm those +nameless rocks with his wild, sweet piping. It changed to harmonious +phrases loosely connected. Such might be the exultant improvisations +of a master violinist. + +A great wolf, or a dog as tall and rough coated as a wolf, trotted +around the hillside. He paused with one foot lifted and lolling, +crimson tongue, as he scanned the distance and then turned to look +back in the direction from which he had come. The weird music changed +to whistled notes as liquid as a flute. The sound drew closer. A +horseman rode out on the shoulder and checked his mount. One could not +choose him at first glance as a type of those who fight nature in a +region where the thermometer moves through a scale of a hundred and +sixty degrees in the year to an accompaniment of cold-stabbing winds +and sweltering suns. A thin, handsome face with large brown eyes and +black hair, a body tall but rather slenderly made--he might have been +a descendant of some ancient family of Norman nobility; but could such +proud gentry be found riding the desert in a tall-crowned sombrero +with chaps on his legs and a red bandana handkerchief knotted around +his throat? That first glance made the rider seem strangely out of +place in such surroundings. One might even smile at the contrast, but +at the second glance the smile would fade, and at the third, it would +be replaced with a stare of interest. It was impossible to tell why +one respected this man, but after a time there grew a suspicion of +unknown strength in this lone rider, strength like that of a machine +which is stopped but only needs a spark of fire to plunge it into +irresistible action. Strangely enough, the youthful figure seemed in +tune with that region of mighty distances, with that white, cruel sun, +with that bird of prey hovering high, high in the air. + +It required some study to guess at these qualities of the rider, for +they were such things as a child feels more readily than a grown man; +but it needed no expert to admire the horse he bestrode. It was a +statue in black marble, a steed fit for a Shah of Persia! The stallion +stood barely fifteen hands, but to see him was to forget his size. His +flanks shimmered like satin in the sun. What promise of power in the +smooth, broad hips! Only an Arab poet could run his hand over that +shoulder and then speak properly of the matchless curve. Only an Arab +could appreciate legs like thin and carefully drawn steel below the +knees; or that flow of tail and windy mane; that generous breast with +promise of the mighty heart within; that arched neck; that proud head +with the pricking ears, wide forehead, and muzzle, as the Sheik said, +which might drink from a pint-pot. + +A rustling like dried leaves came from among the rocks and the hair +rose bristling around the neck of the wolflike dog. With outstretched +head he approached the rocks, sniffing, then stopped and turned +shining eyes upon his master, who nodded and swung from the saddle. It +was a little uncanny, this silent interchange of glances between the +beast and the man. The cause of the dog's anxiety was a long rattler +which now slid out from beneath a boulder, and giving its harsh +warning, coiled, ready to strike. The dog backed away, but instead of +growling he looked to the man. + +Cowboys frequently practise with their revolvers at snakes, but one of +the peculiarities of this rider was that he carried no gun, neither +six-shooter nor rifle. He drew out a short knife which might be used +to skin a beef or carve meat, though certainly no human being had ever +used such a weapon against a five-foot rattler. He stooped and rested +both hands on his thighs. His feet were not two paces from the poised +head of the snake. As if marvelling at this temerity, the big rattler +tucked back his head and sounded the alarm again. In response the +cowboy flashed his knife in the sun. Instantly the snake struck but +the deadly fangs fell a few inches short of the riding boots. At the +same second the man moved. No eye could follow the leap of his hand as +it darted down and fastened around the snake just behind the head. The +long brown body writhed about his wrist, with rattles clashing. He +severed the head deftly and tossed the twisting mass back on the +rocks. + +Then, as if he had performed the most ordinary act, he rubbed his +gloves in the sand, cleansed his knife in a similar manner, and +stepped back to his horse. Contrary to the rules of horse-nature, the +stallion had not flinched at sight of the snake, but actually advanced +a high-headed pace or two with his short ears laid flat on his +neck, and a sudden red fury in his eyes. He seemed to watch for an +opportunity to help his master. As the man approached after killing +the snake the stallion let his ears go forward again and touched his +nose against his master's shoulder. When the latter swung into the +saddle, the wolf-dog came to his side, reared, and resting his +forefeet on the stirrup stared up into the rider's face. The man +nodded to him, whereat, as if he understood a spoken word, the dog +dropped back and trotted ahead. The rider touched the reins and +galloped down the easy slope. The little episode had given the effect +of a three-cornered conversation. Yet the man had been as silent as +the animals. + +In a moment he was lost among the hills, but still his whistling came +back, fainter and fainter, until it was merely a thrilling whisper +that dwelt in the air but came from no certain direction. + +His course lay towards a road which looped whitely across the hills. +The road twisted over a low ridge where a house stood among a grove of +cottonwoods dense enough and tall enough to break the main force of +any wind. On the same road, a thousand yards closer to the rider of +the black stallion, was Morgan's place. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +THE PANTHER + +In the ranch house old Joseph Cumberland frowned on the floor as he +heard his daughter say: "It isn't right, Dad. I never noticed it +before I went away to school, but since I've come back I begin to feel +that it's shameful to treat Dan in this way." + +Her eyes brightened and she shook her golden head for emphasis. Her +father watched her with a faintly quizzical smile and made no reply. +The dignity of ownership of many thousand cattle kept the old +rancher's shoulders square, and there was an antique gentility about +his thin face with its white goatee. He was more like a quaint +figure of the seventeenth century than a successful cattleman of the +twentieth. + +"It _is_ shameful, Dad," she went on, encouraged by his silence, "or +you could tell me some reason." + +"Some reason for not letting him have a gun?" asked the rancher, still +with the quizzical smile. + +"Yes, yes!" she said eagerly, "and some reason for treating him in a +thousand ways as if he were an irresponsible boy." + +"Why, Kate, gal, you have tears in your eyes!" + +He drew her onto a stool beside him, holding both her hands, and +searched her face with eyes as blue and almost as bright as her own. +"How does it come that you're so interested in Dan?" + +"Why, Dad, dear," and she avoided his gaze, "I've always been +interested in him. Haven't we grown up together?" + +"Part ways you have." + +"And haven't we been always just like brother and sister?" + +"You're talkin' a little more'n sisterly, Kate." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Ay, ay! What do I mean! And now you're all red. Kate, I got an idea +it's nigh onto time to let Dan start on his way." + +He could not have found a surer way to drive the crimson from her face +and turn it white to the lips. + +"Dad!" + +"Well, Kate?" + +"You wouldn't send Dan away!" + +Before he could answer she dropped her head against his shoulder +and broke into great sobs. He stroked her head with his calloused, +sunburned hand and his eyes filmed with a distant gaze. + +"I might have knowed it!" he said over and over again; "I might have +knowed it! Hush, my silly gal." + +Her sobbing ceased with magic suddenness. + +"Then you won't send him away?" + +"Listen to me while I talk to you straight," said Joe Cumberland, +"and accordin' to the way you take it will depend whether Dan goes or +stays. Will you listen?" + +"Dear Dad, with all my heart!" + +"Humph!" he grunted, "that's just what I don't want. This what I'm +goin' to tell you is a queer thing--a mighty lot like a fairy tale, +maybe. I've kept it back from you years an' years thinkin' you'd find +out the truth about Dan for yourself. But bein' so close to him has +made you sort of blind, maybe! No man will criticize his own hoss." + +"Go on, tell me what you mean. I won't interrupt." + +He was silent for a moment, frowning to gather his thoughts. + +"Have you ever seen a mule, Kate?" + +"Of course!" + +"Maybe you've noticed that a mule is just as strong as a horse--" + +"Yes." + +"--but their muscles ain't a third as big?" + +"Yes, but what on earth--" + +"Well, Kate, Dan is built light an' yet he's stronger than the biggest +men around here." + +"Are you going to send him away simply because he's strong?" + +"It doesn't show nothin'," said the old man gently, "savin' that he's +different from the regular run of men--an' I've seen a considerable +pile of men, honey. There's other funny things about Dan maybe you +ain't noticed. Take the way he has with hosses an' other animals. The +wildest man-killin', spur-hatin' bronchos don't put up no fight when +them long legs of Dan settle round 'em." + +"Because they know fighting won't help them!" + +"Maybe so, maybe so," he said quietly, "but it's kind of queer, Kate, +that after most a hundred men on the best hosses in these parts had +ridden in relays after Satan an' couldn't lay a rope on him, Dan could +jest go out on foot with a halter an' come back in ten days leadin' +the wildest devil of a mustang that ever hated men." + +"It was a glorious thing to do!" she said. + +Old Cumberland sighed and then shook his head. + +"It shows more'n that, honey. There ain't any man but Dan that can sit +the saddle on Satan. If Dan should die, Satan wouldn't be no more use +to other men than a piece of haltered lightnin'. An' then tell me how +Dan got hold of that wolf, Black Bart, as he calls him." + +"It isn't a wolf, Dad," said Kate, "it's a dog. Dan says so himself." + +"Sure he says so," answered her father, "but there was a lone wolf +prowlin' round these parts for a considerable time an' raisin' Cain +with the calves an' the colts. An' Black Bart comes pretty close to a +description of the lone wolf. Maybe you remember Dan found his 'dog' +lyin' in a gully with a bullet through his shoulder. If he was a dog +how'd he come to be shot--" + +"Some brute of a sheep herder may have done it. What could it prove?" + +"It only proves that Dan is queer--powerful queer! Satan an' Black +Bart are still as wild as they ever was, except that they got one +master. An' they ain't got a thing to do with other people. Black +Bart'd tear the heart out of a man that so much as patted his head." + +"Why," she cried, "he'll let me do anything with him!" + +"Humph!" said Cumberland, a little baffled; "maybe that's because Dan +is kind of fond of you, gal, an' he has sort of introduced you to +his pets, damn 'em! That's just the pint! How is he able to make his +man-killers act sweet with you an' play the devil with everybody +else." + +"It wasn't Dan at all!" she said stoutly, "and he _isn't_ queer. Satan +and Black Bart let me do what I want with them because they know I +love them for their beauty and their strength." + +"Let it go at that," growled her father. "Kate, you're jest like your +mother when it comes to arguin'. If you wasn't my little gal I'd say +you was plain pig-headed. But look here, ain't you ever felt that Dan +is what I call him--different? Ain't you ever seen him get mad--jest +for a minute--an' watched them big brown eyes of his get all packed +full of yellow light that chases a chill up and down your back like a +wrigglin' snake?" + +She considered this statement in a little silence. + +"I saw him kill a rattler once," she said in a low voice. "Dan caught +him behind the head after he had struck. He did it with his bare hand! +I almost fainted. When I looked again he had cut off the head of the +snake. It was--it was terrible!" + +She turned to her father and caught him firmly by the shoulders. + +"Look me straight in the eye, Dad, and tell me just what you mean." + +"Why, Kate," said the wise old man, "you're beginnin' to see for +yourself what I'm drivin' at! Haven't you got somethin' else right on +the tip of your tongue?" + +"There was one day that I've never told you about," she said in a low +voice, looking away, "because I was afraid that if I told you, you'd +shoot Black Bart. He was gnawing a big beef bone and just for fun I +tried to take it away from him. He'd been out on a long trail with Dan +and he was very hungry. When I put my hand on the bone he snapped. +Luckily I had a thick glove on and he merely pinched my wrist. Also +I think he realized what he was doing for otherwise he'd have cut +through the glove as if it had been paper. He snarled fearfully and I +sprang back with a cry. Dan hadn't seen what happened, but he +heard the snarl and saw Black Bart's bared teeth. Then--oh, it was +terrible!" + +She covered her face. + +"Take your time, Kate," said Cumberland softly. + +"'Bart,' called Dan," she went on, "and there was such anger in his +face that I think I was more afraid of him than of the big dog. + +"Bart turned to him with a snarl and bared his teeth. When Dan saw +that his face turned--I don't know how to say it!" + +She stopped a moment and her hands tightened. + +"Back in his throat there came a sound that was almost like the snarl +of Black Bart. The wolf-dog watched him with a terror that was uncanny +to see, the hair around his neck fairly on end, his teeth still bared, +and his growl horrible. + +"'Dan!' I called, 'don't go near him!' + +"I might as well have called out to a whirlwind. He leaped. Black Bart +sprang to meet him with eyes green with fear. I heard the loud click +of his teeth as he snapped--and missed. Dan swerved to one side and +caught Black Bart by the throat and drove him into the dust, falling +with him. + +"I couldn't move. I was weak with horror. It wasn't a struggle between +a man and a beast. It was like a fight between a panther and a wolf. +Black Bart was fighting hard but fighting hopelessly. Those hands were +settling tighter on his throat. His big red tongue lolled out; his +struggles almost ceased. Then Dan happened to glance at me. What he +saw in my face sobered him. He got up, lifting the dog with him, and +flung away the lifeless weight of Bart. He began to brush the dust +from his clothes, looking down as if he were ashamed. He asked me if +the dog had hurt me when he snapped. I could not speak for a moment. +Then came the most horrible part. Black Bart, who must have been +nearly killed, dragged himself to Dan on his belly, choking and +whining, and licked the boots of his master!" + +"Then you _do_ know what I mean when I say Dan is--different?" + +She hesitated and blinked, as if she were shutting her eyes on a fact. +"I _don't_ know. I know that he's gentle and kind and loves you more +than you love him." Her voice broke a little. "Oh, Dad, you forget the +time he sat up with you for five days and nights when you got sick out +in the hills, and how he barely managed to get you back to the house +alive!" + +The old man frowned to conceal how greatly he was moved. + +"I haven't forgot nothin', Kate," he said, "an' everything is for his +own good. Do you know what I've been tryin' to do all these years?" + +"What?" + +"I've been tryin' to hide him from himself! Kate, do you remember how I found him?" + +"I was too little to know. I've heard you tell a little about it. He +was lost on the range. You found him twenty miles south of the house." + +"Lost on the range?" repeated her father softly. "I don't think he +could ever have been lost. To a hoss the corral is a home. To us our +ranch is a home. To Dan Barry the whole mountain-desert is a home! +This is how I found him. It was in the spring of the year when the +wild geese was honkin' as they flew north. I was ridin' down a gulley +about sunset and wishin' that I was closer to the ranch when I heard a +funny, wild sort of whistlin' that didn't have any tune to it that +I recognized. It gave me a queer feelin'. It made me think of fairy +stories--an' things like that! Pretty soon I seen a figure on the +crest of the hill. There was a triangle of geese away up overhead an' +the boy was walkin' along lookin' up as if he was followin' the trail +of the wild geese. + +"He was up there walkin' between the sunset an' the stars with his +head bent back, and his hands stuffed into his pockets, whistlin' as +if he was goin' home from school. An' such whistlin'." + +"Nobody could ever whistle like Dan," she said, and smiled. + +"I rode up to him, wonderin'," went on Cumberland. + +"'What're you doin' round here?' I says. + +"Says he, lookin' at me casual like over his shoulder: 'I'm jest +takin' a stroll an' whistlin'. Does it bother you, mister?' + +"'It doesn't bother me none,' says I. 'Where do you belong, sonny?' + +"'Me?' says he, lookin' sort of surprised, 'why, I belong around over +there!' An' he waved his hand careless over to the settin' sun. + +"There was somethin' about him that made my heart swell up inside of +me. I looked down into them big brown eyes and wondered--well, I don't +know what I wondered; but I remembered all at once that I didn't have +no son. + +"'Who's your folks?' says I, gettin' more an' more curious. + +"He jest looked at me sort of bored. + +"'Where does your folks live at?' says I. + +"'Oh, they live around here,' says he, an' he waved his hand again, +an' this time over towards the east. + +"Says I: 'When do you figure on reachin' home?' + +"'Oh, most any day,' says he. + +"An' I looked around at them brown, naked hills with the night comin' +down over them. Then I stared back at the boy an' there was something +that come up in me like hunger. You see, he was lost; he was alone; +the queer ring of his whistlin' was still in my ears; an' I couldn't +help rememberin' that I didn't have no son. + +"'Then supposin' you come along with me,' says I, 'an' I'll send you +home in a buckboard tomorrow?' + +"So the end of it was me ridin' home with the little kid sittin' up +before me, whistlin' his heart out! When I got him home I tried to +talk to him again. He couldn't tell me, or he wouldn't tell me where +his folks lived, but jest kept wavin' his hand liberal to half the +points of the compass. An' that's all I know of where he come from. I +done all I could to find his parents. I inquired and sent letters to +every rancher within a hundred miles. I advertised it through the +railroads, but they said nobody'd yet been reported lost. He was still +mine, at least for a while, an' I was terrible glad. + +"I give the kid a spare room. I sat up late that first night listenin' +to the wild geese honkin' away up in the sky an' wonderin' why I was +so happy. Kate, that night there was tears in my eyes when I thought +of how that kid had been out there on the hills walkin' along so happy +an' independent. + +"But the next mornin' he was gone. I sent my cowpunchers out to look +for him. + +"'Which way shall we ride?' they asked. + +"I don't know why, but I thought of the wild geese that Dan had seemed +to be followin'. + +"'Ride north,' I said. + +"An' sure enough, they rode north an' found him. After that I didn't +have no trouble with him about runnin' away--at least not durin' the +summer. An' all those months I kept plannin' how I would take care of +this boy who had come wanderin' to me. It seemed like he was sort of a +gift of God to make up for me havin' no son. And everythin' went well +until the next fall, when the geese began to fly south. + +"Sure enough, that was when Dan ran away again, and when I sent my +cowpunchers south after him, they found him and brought him back. It +seemed as if they'd brought back half the world to me, when I seen +him. But I saw that I'd have to put a stop to this runnin' away. I +tried to talk to him, but all he'd say was that he'd better be movin' +on. I took the law in my hands an' told him he had to be disciplined. +So I started thrashin' him with a quirt, very light. He took it as if +he didn't feel the whip on his shoulders, an' he smiled. But there +came up a yellow light in his eyes that made me feel as if a man was +standin' right behind me with a bare knife in his hand an' smilin' +jest like the kid was doin'. Finally I simply backed out of the room, +an' since that day there ain't been man or beast ever has put a hand +on Whistlin' Dan. To this day I reckon he ain't quite forgiven me." + +"Why!" she cried, "I have never heard him mention it!" + +"That's why I know he's not forgotten it. Anyway, Kate, I locked him +in his room, but he wouldn't promise not to run away. Then I got an +inspiration. You was jest a little toddlin' thing then. That day you +was cryin' an awful lot an' I suddenly thought of puttin' you in Dan's +room. I did it. I jest unlocked the door quick and then shoved you in +an' locked it again. First of all you screamed terrible hard. I was +afraid maybe you'd hurt yourself yellin' that way. I was about to take +you out again when all at once I heard Dan start whistlin' and pretty +quick your cryin' stopped. I listened an' wondered. After that I never +had to lock Dan in his room. I was sure he'd stay on account of you. +But now, honey, I'm gettin' to the end of the story, an' I'm goin' to +give you the straight idea the way I see it. + +"I've watched Dan like--like a father, almost. I think he loves me, +sort of--but I've never got over being afraid of him. You see I can't +forget how he smiled when I licked him! But listen to me, Kate, that +fear has been with me all the time--an' it's the only time I've ever +been afraid of any man. It isn't like being scared of a man, but of a +panther. + +"Now we'll jest nacherally add up all the points we've made about +Dan--the queer way I found him without a home an' without wantin' +one--that strength he has that's like the power of a mule compared +with a horse--that funny control he has over wild animals so that they +almost seem to know what he means when he simply looks at them (have +you noticed him with Black Bart and Satan?)--then there's the yellow +light that comes in his eyes when he begins to get real mad--you an' I +have both seen it only once, but we don't want to see it again! More +than this there's the way he handles either a knife or a gun. He +hasn't practiced much with shootin' irons, but I never seen him miss a +reasonable mark--or an unreasonable one either, for that matter. I've +spoke to him about it. He said: 'I dunno how it is. I don't see how +a feller can shoot crooked. It jest seems that when I get out a gun +there's a line drawn from the barrel to the thing I'm shootin' at. All +I have to do is to pull the trigger--almost with my eyes closed!' Now, +Kate, do you begin to see what these here things point to?" + +"Tell me what you see," she said, "and then I'll tell you what I think +of it all." + +"All right," he said. "I see in Dan a man who's different from the +common run of us. I read in a book once that in the ages when men +lived like animals an' had no weapons except sticks and stones, their +muscles must have been two or three times as strong as they are +now--more like the muscles of brutes. An' their hearin' an' their +sight an' their quickness an' their endurance was about three times +more than that of ordinary men. Kate, I think that Dan is one of those +men the book described! He knows animals because he has all the powers +that they have. An' I know from the way his eyes go yellow that he has +the fightin' instinct of the ancestors of man. So far I've kept him +away from other men. Which I may say is the main reason I bought Dan +Morgan's place so's to keep fightin' men away from our Whistlin' Dan. +So I've been hidin' him from himself. You see, he's my boy if he +belongs to anybody. Maybe when time goes on he'll get tame. But I +reckon not. It's like takin' a panther cub--or a wolf pup--an tryin' +to raise it for a pet. Some day it gets the taste of blood, maybe its +own blood, an' then it goes mad and becomes a killer. An' that's what +I fear, Kate. So far I've kept Dan from ever havin' a single fight, +but I reckon the day'll come when someone'll cross him, and then +there'll be a tornado turned loose that'll jest about wreck these +parts." + +Her anger had grown during this speech. Now she rose. + +"I won't believe you, Dad," she said. "I'd sooner trust our Dan than +any man alive. I don't think you're right in a single word!" + +"I was sure loco," sighed Cumberland, "to ever dream of convincin' a +woman. Let it drop, Kate. We're about to get rid of Morgan's place, +an' now I reckon there won't be any temptation near Dan. We'll see +what time'll do for him. Let the thing drop there. Now I'm goin' over +to the Bar XO outfit an' I won't be back till late tonight. There's +only one thing more. I told Morgan there wasn't to be any gun-play in +his place today. If you hear any shootin' go down there an' remind +Morgan to take the guns off'n the men." + +Kate nodded, but her stare travelled far away, and the thing she saw +was the yellow light burning in the eyes of Whistling Dan. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +SILENT SHOOTS + +It was a great day and also a sad one for Morgan. His general store +and saloon had been bought out by old Joe Cumberland, who declared +a determination to clear up the landscape, and thereby plunged the +cowpunchers in gloom. They partially forgave Cumberland, but only +because he was an old man. A younger reformer would have met armed +resistance. Morgan's place was miles away from the next oasis in the +desert and the closing meant dusty, thirsty leagues of added journey +to every man in the neighbourhood. The word "neighbourhood," of +course, covered a territory fifty miles square. + +If the day was very sad for this important reason, it was also very +glad, for rustling Morgan advertised the day of closing far and wide, +and his most casual patrons dropped all business to attend the big +doings. A long line of buckboards and cattle ponies surrounded the +place. Newcomers gallopped in every few moments. Most of them did not +stop to tether their mounts, but simply dropped the reins over the +heads of the horses and then went with rattling spurs and slouching +steps into the saloon. Every man was greeted by a shout, for one or +two of those within usually knew him, and when they raised a cry +the others joined in for the sake of good fellowship. As a rule he +responded by ordering everyone up to the bar. + +One man, however, received no more greeting than the slamming of the +door behind him. He was a tall, handsome fellow with tawny hair and a +little smile of habit rather than mirth upon his lips. He had ridden +up on a strong bay horse, a full two hands taller than the average +cattle pony, and with legs and shoulders and straight back that +unmistakably told of a blooded pedigree. When he entered the saloon +he seemed nowise abashed by the silence, but greeted the turned heads +with a wave of the hand and a good-natured "Howdy, boys!" A volley of +greetings replied to him, for in the mountain-desert men cannot be +strangers after the first word. + +"Line up and hit the red-eye," he went on, and leaning against the +bar as he spoke, his habitual smile broadened into one of actual +invitation. Except for a few groups who watched the gambling in the +corners of the big room, there was a general movement towards the bar. + +"And make it a tall one, boys," went on the genial stranger. "This is +the first time I ever irrigated Morgan's place, and from what I have +heard today about the closing I suppose it will be the last time. So +here's to you, Morgan!" + +And he waved his glass towards the bartender. His voice was well +modulated and his enunciation bespoke education. This, in connection +with his careful clothes and rather modish riding-boots, might have +given him the reputation of a dude, had it not been for several other +essential details of his appearance. His six-gun hung so low that he +would scarcely have to raise his hand to grasp the butt. He held his +whisky glass in his left hand, and the right, which rested carelessly +on his hip, was deeply sunburned, as if he rarely wore a glove. +Moreover, his eyes were marvellously direct, and they lingered a +negligible space as they touched on each man in the room. All of this +the cattlemen noted instantly. What they did not see on account of his +veiling fingers was that he poured only a few drops of the liquor into +his glass. + +In the meantime another man who had never before "irrigated" at +Morgan's place, rode up. His mount, like that of the tawny-haired +rider, was considerably larger and more finely built than the common +range horse. In three days of hard work a cattle pony might wear down +these blooded animals, but would find it impossible to either overtake +or escape them in a straight run. The second stranger, short-legged, +barrel-chested, and with a scrub of black beard, entered the barroom +while the crowd was still drinking the health of Morgan. He took a +corner chair, pushed back his hat until a mop of hair fell down his +forehead, and began to roll a cigarette. The man of the tawny hair +took the next seat. + +"Seems to be quite a party, stranger," said the tall fellow +nonchalantly. + +"Sure," growled he of the black beard, and after a moment he added: +"Been out on the trail long, pardner?" + +"Hardly started." + +"So'm I." + +"As a matter of fact, I've got a lot of hard riding before me." + +"So've I." + +"And some long riding, too." + +Perhaps it was because he turned his head suddenly towards the light, +but a glint seemed to come in the eyes of the bearded man. + +"Long rides," he said more amiably, "are sure hell on hosses." + +"And on men, too," nodded the other, and tilted back in his chair. + +The bearded man spoke again, but though a dozen cowpunchers were close +by no one heard his voice except the man at his side. One side of his +face remained perfectly immobile and his eyes stared straight before +him drearily while he whispered from a corner of his mouth: "How long +do you stay, Lee?" + +"Noon," said Lee. + +Once more the shorter man spoke in the manner which is learned in a +penitentiary: "Me too. We must be slated for the same ride, Lee. Do +you know what it is? It's nearly noon, and the chief ought to be +here." + +There was a loud greeting for a newcomer, and Lee took advantage of +the noise to say quite openly: "If Silent said he'll come, he'll be +here. But I say he's crazy to come to a place full of range riders, +Bill." + +"Take it easy," responded Bill. "This hangout is away off our regular +beat. Nobody'll know him." + +"His hide is his own and he can do what he wants with it," said Lee. +"I warned him before." + +"Shut up," murmured Bill, "Here's Jim now, and Hal Purvis with him!" + +Through the door strode a great figure before whom the throng at the +bar gave way as water rolls back from the tall prow of a ship. In his +wake went a little man with a face dried and withered by the sun and +small bright eyes which moved continually from side to side. Lee and +Bill discovered their thirst at the same time and made towards the +newcomers. + +They had no difficulty in reaching them. The large man stood with his +back to the bar, his elbows spread out on it, so that there was a +little space left on either side of him. No one cared to press too +close to this sombre-faced giant. Purvis stood before him and Bill and +Lee were instantly at his side. The two leaned on the bar, facing him, +yet the four did not seem to make a group set apart from the rest. + +"Well?" asked Lee. + +"I'll tell you what it is when we're on the road," said Jim Silent. +"Plenty of time, Haines." + +"Who'll start first?" asked Bill. + +"You can, Kilduff," said the other. "Go straight north, and go slow. +Then Haines will follow you. Purvis next. I come last because I got +here last. There ain't any hurry--What's this here?" + +"I tell you I seen it!" called an angry voice from a corner. + +"You must of been drunk an' seein' double, partner," drawled the +answer. + +"Look here!" said the first man, "I'm willin' to take that any way you +mean it!" + +"An' I'm willin'," said the other, "that you should take it any way +you damn please." + +Everyone in the room was grave except Jim Silent and his three +companions, who were smiling grimly. + +"By God, Jack," said the first man with ominous softness, "I'll take a +lot from you but when it comes to doubtin' my word----" + +Morgan, with popping eyes and a very red face, slapped his hand on +the bar and vaulted over it with more agility than his plumpness +warranted. He shouldered his way hurriedly through the crowd to the +rapidly widening circle around the two disputants. They stood with +their right hands resting with rigid fingers low down on their hips, +and their eyes, fixed on each other, forgot the rest of the world. +Morgan burst in between them. + +"Look here," he thundered, "it's only by way of a favour that I'm +lettin' you boys wear shootin' irons today because I promised old +Cumberland there wouldn't be no fuss. If you got troubles there's +enough room for you to settle them out in the hills, but there ain't +none at all in here!" + +The gleam went out of their eyes like four candles snuffed by the +wind. Obviously they were both glad to have the tension broken. Mike +wiped his forehead with a rather unsteady hand. + +"I ain't huntin' for no special brand of trouble," he said, "but Jack +has been ridin' the red-eye pretty hard and it's gotten into that +dried up bean he calls his brain." + +"Say, partner," drawled Jack, "I ain't drunk enough of the hot stuff +to make me fall for the line you've been handing out." + +He turned to Morgan. + +"Mike, here, has been tryin' to make me believe that he knew a feller +who could drill a dollar at twenty yards every time it was tossed up." + +The crowd laughed, Morgan loudest of all. + +"Did you anyways have Whistlin' Dan in mind?" he asked. + +"No, I didn't," said Mike, "an' I didn't say this here man I was +talkin' about could drill them every time. But he could do it two +times out of four." + +"Mike," said Morgan, and he softened his disbelief with his smile and +the good-natured clap on the shoulder, "you sure must of been drinkin' +when you seen him do it. I allow Whistlin' Dan could do that an' more, +but he ain't human with a gun." + +"How d'you know?" asked Jack, "I ain't ever seen him packin' a +six-gun." + +"Sure you ain't," answered Morgan, "but I have, an' I seen him use it, +too. It was jest sort of by chance I saw it." + +"Well," argued Mike anxiously, "then you allow it's possible if +Whistlin' Dan can do it. An' I say I seen a chap who could turn the +trick." + +"An' who in hell is this Whistlin' Dan?" asked Jim Silent. + +"He's the man that caught Satan, an' rode him," answered a bystander. + +"Some man if he can ride the devil," laughed Lee Haines. + +"I mean the black mustang that ran wild around here for a couple of +years. Some people tell tales about him being a wonder with a gun. But +Morgan's the only one who claims to have seen him work." + +"Maybe you did see it, and maybe you didn't," Morgan was saying to +Mike noncommittally, "but there's some pretty fair shots in this +room, which I'd lay fifty bucks no man here could hit a dollar with a +six-gun at twenty paces." + +"While they're arguin'," said Bill Kilduff, "I reckon I'll hit the +trail." + +"Wait a minute," grinned Jim Silent, "an' watch me have some fun with +these short-horns." + +He spoke more loudly: "Are you makin' that bet for the sake of +arguin', partner, or do you calculate to back it up with cold cash?" + +Morgan whirled upon him with a scowl, "I ain't pulled a bluff in my +life that I can't back up!" he said sharply. + +"Well," said Silent, "I ain't so flush that I'd turn down fifty bucks +when a kind Christian soul, as the preachers say, slides it into my +glove. Not me. Lead out the dollar, pal, an' kiss it farewell!" + +"Who'll hold the stakes?" asked Morgan. + +"Let your friend Mike," said Jim Silent carelessly, and he placed +fifty dollars in gold in the hands of the Irishman. Morgan followed +suit. The crowd hurried outdoors. + +A dozen bets were laid in as many seconds. Most of the men wished to +place their money on the side of Morgan, but there were not a few who +stood willing to risk coin on Jim Silent, stranger though he was. +Something in his unflinching eye, his stern face, and the nerveless +surety of his movements commanded their trust. + +"How do you stand, Jim?" asked Lee Haines anxiously. "Is it a safe +bet? I've never seen you try a mark like this one!" + +"It ain't safe," said Silent, "because I ain't mad enough to shoot my +best, but it's about an even draw. Take your pick." + +"Not me," said Haines, "if you had ten chances instead of one I might +stack some coin on you. If the dollar were stationary I know you could +do it, but a moving coin looks pretty small." + +"Here you are," called Morgan, who stood at a distance of twenty +paces, "are you ready?" + +Silent whipped out his revolver and poised it. "Let 'er go!" + +The coin whirled in the air. Silent fired as it commenced to fall--it +landed untouched. + +"As a kind, Christian soul," said Morgan sarcastically, "I ain't in +your class, stranger. Charity always sort of interests me when I'm on +the receivin' end!" + +The crowd chuckled, and the sound infuriated Silent. + +"Don't go back jest yet, partners," he drawled. "Mister Morgan, I got +one hundred bones which holler that I can plug that dollar the second +try." + +"Boys," grinned Morgan, "I'm leavin' you to witness that I hate to do +it, but business is business. Here you are!" + +The coin whirled again. Silent, with his lips pressed into a straight +line and his brows drawn dark over his eyes, waited until the coin +reached the height of its rise, and then fired--missed--fired again, +and sent the coin spinning through the air in a flashing semicircle. +It was a beautiful piece of gun-play. In the midst of the clamour of +applause Silent strode towards Morgan with his hand outstretched. + +"After all," he said. "I knowed you wasn't really hard of heart. It +only needed a little time and persuasion to make you dig for coin when +I pass the box." + +Morgan, red of face and scowling, handed over his late winnings and +his own stakes. + +"It took you two shots to do it," he said, "an' if I wanted to argue +the pint maybe you wouldn't walk off with the coin." + +"Partner," said Jim Silent gently, "I got a wanderin' hunch that +you're showin' a pile of brains by not arguin' this here pint!" + +There followed that little hush of expectancy which precedes trouble, +but Morgan, after a glance at the set lips of his opponent, swallowed +his wrath. + +"I s'pose you'll tell how you did this to your kids when +you're eighty," he said scornfully, "but around here, stranger, they +don't think much of it. Whistlin' Dan"--he paused, as if to calculate +how far he could safely exaggerate--"Whistlin' Dan can stand with +his back to the coins an' when they're thrown he drills four dollars +easier than you did one--an' he wouldn't waste three shots on one +dollar. He ain't so extravagant!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +SOMETHING YELLOW + +The crowd laughed again at the excitement of Morgan, and Silent's +mirth particularly was loud and long. + +"An' if you're still bent on charity," he said at last, "maybe we +could find somethin' else to lay a bet on!" + +"Anything you name!" said Morgan hotly. + +"I suppose," said Silent, "that you're some rider, eh?" + +"I c'n get by with most of 'em." + +"Yeh--I suppose you never pulled leather in your life?" + +"Not any hoss that another man could ride straight up." + +"Is that so? Well, partner, you see that roan over there?" + +"That tall horse?" + +"You got him. You c'n win back that hundred if you stick on his back +two minutes. D'you take it?" + +Morgan hesitated a moment. The big roan was footing it nervously here +and there, sometimes throwing up his head suddenly after the manner of +a horse of bad temper. However, the loss of that hundred dollars and +the humiliation which accompanied it, weighed heavily on the saloon +owner's mind. + +"I'll take you," he said. + +A high, thrilling whistle came faintly from the distance. + +"That fellow on the black horse down the road," said Lee Haines, "I +guess he's the one that can hit the four dollars? Ha! ha! ha!" + +"Sure," grinned Silent, "listen to his whistle! We'll see if we can +drag another bet out of the bar-keep if the roan doesn't hurt him too +bad. Look at him now!" + +Morgan was having a bad time getting his foot in the stirrup, for +the roan reared and plunged. Finally two men held his head and the +saloon-keeper swung into the saddle. There was a little silence. The +roan, as if doubtful that he could really have this new burden on his +back, and still fearful of the rope which had been lately tethering +him, went a few short, prancing steps, and then, feeling something +akin to freedom, reared straight up, snorting. The crowd yelled with +delight, and the sound sent the roan back to all fours and racing down +the road. He stopped with braced feet, and Morgan lurched forwards on +the neck, yet he struck to his seat gamely. Whistling Dan was not a +hundred yards away. + +Morgan yelled and swung the quirt. The response of the roan was +another race down the road at terrific speed, despite the pull of +Morgan on the reins. Just as the running horse reached Whistling Dan, +he stopped as short as he had done before, but this time with an added +buck and a sidewise lurch all combined, which gave the effect of +snapping a whip--and poor Morgan was hurled from the saddle like +a stone from a sling. The crowd waved their hats and yelled with +delight. + +"Look out!" yelled Jim Silent. "Grab the reins!" + +But though Morgan made a valiant effort the roan easily swerved past +him and went racing down the road. + +"My God," groaned Silent, "he's gone!" + +"Saddles!" called someone. "We'll catch him!" + +"Catch hell!" answered Silent bitterly. "There ain't a hoss on earth +that can catch him--an' now that he ain't got the weight of a rider, +he'll run away from the wind!" + +"Anyway there goes Dan on Satan after him!" + +"No use! The roan ain't carryin' a thing but the saddle." + +"Satan never seen the day he could make the roan eat dust, anyway!" + +"Look at 'em go, boys!" + +"There ain't no use," said Jim Silent sadly, "he'll wind his black for +nothin'--an' I've lost the best hoss on the ranges." + +"I believe him," whispered one man to a neighbour, "because I've got +an idea that hoss is Red Peter himself!" + +His companion stared at him agape. + +"Red Pete!" he said. "Why, pal, that's the hoss that Silent--" + +"Maybe it is an' maybe it ain't. But why should we ask too many +questions?" + +"Let the marshals tend to him. He ain't ever troubled this part of the +range." + +"Anyway, I'm goin' to remember his face. If it's really Jim Silent, I +got something that's worth tellin' to my kids when they grow up." + +They both turned and looked at the tall man with an uncomfortable awe. +The rest of the crowd swarmed into the road to watch the race. + +The black stallion was handicapped many yards at the start before Dan +could swing him around after the roan darted past with poor Morgan in +ludicrous pursuit. Moreover, the roan had the inestimable advantage +of an empty saddle. Yet Satan leaned to his work with a stout heart. +There was no rock and pitch to his gait, no jerk and labour to his +strides. Those smooth shoulders were corded now with a thousand lines +where the steel muscles whipped to and fro. His neck stretched out +a little--his ears laid back along the neck--his whole body settled +gradually and continually down as his stride lengthened. Whistling Dan +was leaning forward so that his body would break less wind. He laughed +low and soft as the air whirred into his face, and now and then he +spoke to his horse, no yell of encouragement, but a sound hardly +louder than a whisper. There was no longer a horse and rider--the two +had become one creature--a centaur--the body of a horse and the mind +of a man. + +For a time the roan increased his advantage, but quickly Satan began +to hold him even, and then gain. First inch by inch; then at every +stride the distance between them diminished. No easy task. The great +roan had muscle, heart, and that empty saddle; as well, perhaps, as a +thought of the free ranges which lay before him and liberty from the +accursed thraldom of the bit and reins and galling spurs. What he +lacked was that small whispering voice--that hand touching lightly now +and then on his neck--that thrill of generous sympathy which passes +between horse and rider. He lost ground steadily and more and more +rapidly. Now the outstretched black head was at his tail, now at his +flank, now at his girth, now at his shoulder, now they raced nose and +nose. Whistling Dan shifted in the saddle. His left foot took the +opposite stirrup. His right leg swung free. + +The big roan swerved--the black in response to a word from his rider +followed the motion--and then the miracle happened. A shadow plunged +through the air; a weight thudded on the saddle of the roan; an iron +hand jerked back the reins. + +Red Pete hated men and feared them, but this new weight on his back +was different. It was not the pressure on the reins which urged him to +slow up; he had the bit in his teeth and no human hand could pull down +his head; but into the blind love, blind terror, blind rage which +makes up the consciousness of a horse entered a force which he had +never known before. He realized suddenly that it was folly to attempt +to throw off this clinging burden. He might as well try to jump out of +his skin. His racing stride shortened to a halting gallop, this to a +sharp trot, and in a moment more he was turned and headed back for +Morgan's place. The black, who had followed, turned at the same time +like a dog and followed with jouncing bridle reins. Black Bart, with +lolling red tongue, ran under his head, looking up to the stallion now +and again with a comical air of proprietorship, as if he were showing +the way. + +It was very strange to Red Pete. He pranced sideways a little and +shook his head up and down in an effort to regain his former temper, +but that iron hand kept his nose down, now, and that quiet voice +sounded above him--no cursing, no raking of sharp spurs to torture his +tender flanks, no whir of the quirt, but a calm voice of authority and +understanding. Red Pete broke into an easy canter and in this fashion +they came up to Morgan in the road. Red Pete snorted and started to +shy, for he recognized the clumsy, bouncing weight which had insulted +his back not long before; but this quiet voiced master reassured him, +and he came to a halt. + +"That red devil has cost me a hundred bones and all the skin on my +knees," groaned Morgan, "and I can hardly walk. Damn his eyes. But +say, Dan"--and his eyes glowed with an admiration which made him +momentarily forget his pains--"that was some circus stunt you done +down the road there--that changin' of saddles on the run, I never seen +the equal of it!" + +"If you got hurt in the fall," said Dan quietly, overlooking the +latter part of the speech, "why don't you climb onto Satan. He'll take +you back." + +Morgan laughed. + +"Say, kid, I'd take a chance with Satan, but there ain't any hospital +for fools handy." + +"Go ahead. He won't stir a foot. Steady, Satan!" + +"All right," said Morgan, "every step is sure like pullin' teeth!" + +He ventured closer to the black stallion, but was stopped short. Black +Bart was suddenly changed to a green-eyed devil, his hair bristling +around his shoulders, his teeth bared, and a snarl that came from the +heart of a killer. Satan also greeted his proposed rider with ears +laid flat back on his neck and a quivering anger. + +"If I'm goin' to ride Satan," declared Morgan, "I got to shoot the dog +first and then blindfold the hoss." + +"No you don't," said Dan. "No one else has ever had a seat on Satan, +but I got an idea he'll make an exception for a sort of temporary +cripple. Steady, boy. Here you, Bart, come over here an' keep your +face shut!" + +The dog, after a glance at his master, moved reluctantly away, keeping +his eyes upon Morgan. Satan backed away with a snort. He stopped at +the command of Dan, but when Morgan laid a hand on the bridle and +spoke to him he trembled with fear and anger. The saloon-keeper turned +away. + +"Thankin' you jest the same, Dan," he said, "I think I c'n walk back. +I'd as soon ride a tame tornado as that hoss." + +He limped on down the road with Dan riding beside him. Black Bart +slunk at his heels, sniffing. + +"Dan, I'm goin' to ask you a favour--an' a big one; will you do it for +me?" + +"Sure," said Whistling Dan. "Anything I can." + +"There's a skunk down there with a bad eye an' a gun that jumps out +of its leather like it had a mind of its own. He picked me for fifty +bucks by nailing a dollar I tossed up at twenty yards. Then he gets a +hundred because I couldn't ride this hoss of his. Which he's made a +plumb fool of me, Dan. Now I was tellin' him about you--maybe I was +sort of exaggeratin'--an' I said you could have your back turned when +the coins was tossed an' then pick off four dollars before they hit +the ground. I made it a bit high, Dan?" + +His eyes were wistful. + +"Nick four round boys before they hit the dust?" said Dan. "Maybe I +could, I don't know. I can't try it, anyway, Morgan, because I told +Dad Cumberland I'd never pull a gun while there was a crowd aroun'." + +Morgan sighed; he hesitated, and then: "But you promised you'd do me a +favour, Dan?" + +The rider started. + +"I forgot about that--I didn't think----" + +"It's only to do a shootin' trick," said Morgan eagerly. "It ain't +pullin' a gun on any one. Why, lad, if you'll tell me you got a ghost +of a chance, I'll bet every cent in my cash drawer on you agin that +skunk! You've give me your word, Dan." + +Whistling Dan shrugged his shoulders. + +"I've given you my word," he said, "an' I'll do it. But I guess Dad +Cumberland'll be mighty sore on me." + +A laugh rose from the crowd at Morgan's place, which they were nearing +rapidly. It was like a mocking comment on Dan's speech. As they came +closer they could see money changing hands in all directions. + +"What'd you do to my hoss?" asked Jim Silent, walking out to meet +them. + +"He hypnotized him," said Hal Purvis, and his lips twisted over yellow +teeth into a grin of satisfaction. + +"Git out of the saddle damn quick," growled Silent. "It ain't nacheral +he'd let you ride him like he was a plough-hoss. An' if you've tried +any fancy stunts, I'll----" + +"Take it easy," said Purvis as Dan slipped from the saddle without +showing the slightest anger. "Take it easy. You're a bum loser. When +I seen the black settle down to his work," he explained to Dan with +another grin, "I knowed he'd nail him in the end an' I staked twenty +on you agin my friend here! That was sure a slick change of hosses you +made." + +There were other losers. Money chinked on all sides to an +accompaniment of laughter and curses. Jim Silent was examining the +roan with a scowl, while Bill Kilduff and Hal Purvis approached Satan +to look over his points. Purvis reached out towards the bridle when a +murderous snarl at his feet made him jump back with a shout. He stood +with his gun poised, facing Black Bart. + +"Who's got any money to bet this damn wolf lives more'n five seconds?" +he said savagely. + +"I have," said Dan. + +"Who in hell are you? What d'you mean by trailing this man-killer +around?" + +He turned to Dan with his gun still poised. + +"Bart ain't a killer," said Dan, and the gentleness of his voice was +oil on troubled waters, "but he gets peeved when a stranger comes nigh +to the hoss." + +"All right this time," said Purvis, slowly restoring his gun to its +holster, "but if this wolf of yours looks cross-eyed at me agin he'll +hit the long trail that ain't got any end, savvy?" + +"Sure," said Dan, and his soft brown eyes smiled placatingly. + +Purvis kept his right hand close to the butt of his gun and his eyes +glinted as if he expected an answer somewhat stronger than words. +At this mild acquiesence he turned away, sneering. Silent, having +discovered that he could find no fault with Dan's treatment of his +horse, now approached with an ominously thin-lipped smile. Lee Haines +read his face and came to his side with a whisper: "Better cut out the +rough stuff, Jim. This chap hasn't hurt anything but your cash, and +he's already taken water from Purvis. I guess there's no call for you +to make any play." + +"Shut your face, Haines," responded Silent, in the same tone. "He's +made a fool of me by showin' up my hoss, an' by God I'm goin' to give +him a man-handlin' he'll never forgit." + +He whirled on Morgan. + +"How about it, bar-keep, is this the dead shot you was spillin' so +many words about?" + +Dan, as if he could not understand the broad insult, merely smiled at +him with marvellous good nature. + +"Keep away from him, stranger," warned Morgan. "Jest because he rode +your hoss you ain't got a cause to hunt trouble with him. He's been +taught not to fight." + +Silent, still looking Dan over with insolent eyes, replied: "He sure +sticks to his daddy's lessons. Nice an' quiet an' house broke, ain't +he? In my part of the country they dress this kind of a man in gal's +clothes so's nobody'll ever get sore at him an' spoil his pretty face. +Better go home to your ma. This ain't any place for you. They's men +aroun' here." + +There was another one of those grimly expectant hushes and then a +general guffaw; Dan showed no inclination to take offence. He merely +stared at brawny Jim Silent with a sort of childlike wonder. + +"All right," he said meekly, "if I ain't wanted around here I figger +there ain't any cause why I should stay. You don't figger to be peeved +at me, do you?" + +The laughter changed to a veritable yell of delight. Even Silent +smiled with careless contempt. + +"No, kid," he answered, "if I was peeved at you, you'd learn it +without askin' questions." + +He turned slowly away. + +"Maybe I got jaundice, boys," he said to the crowd, "but it seems to +me I see something kind of yellow around here!" + +The delightful subtlety of this remark roused another side-shaking +burst of merriment. Dan shook his head as if the mystery were beyond +his comprehension, and looked to Morgan for an explanation. The +saloon-keeper approached him, struggling with a grin. + +"It's all right, Dan," he said. "Don't let 'em rile you." + +"You ain't got any cause to fear that," said Silent, "because it can't +be done." + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +FOUR IN THE AIR + +Dan looked from Morgan to Silent and back again for understanding. +He felt that something was wrong, but what it was he had not the +slightest idea. For many years old Joe Cumberland had patiently taught +him that the last offence against God and man was to fight. The old +cattleman had instilled in him the belief that if he did not cross the +path of another, no one would cross his way. The code was perfect +and satisfying. He would let the world alone and the world would not +trouble him. The placid current of his life had never come to "white +waters" of wrath. + +Wherefore he gazed bewildered about him. They were laughing--they were +laughing unpleasantly at him as he had seen men laugh at a fiery young +colt which struggled against the rope. It was very strange. They could +not mean harm. Therefore he smiled back at them rather uncertainly. +Morgan slapped at his shoulder by way of good-fellowship and to +hearten him, but Dan slipped away under the extended hand with a +motion as subtle and swift as the twist of a snake when it flees for +its hole. He had a deep aversion for contact with another man's body. +He hated it as the wild horse hates the shadow of the flying rope. + +"Steady up, pal," said Morgan, "the lads mean no harm. That tall man +is considerable riled; which he'll now bet his sombrero agin you when +it comes to shootin'." + +He turned back to Silent. + +"Look here, partner," he said, "this is the man I said could nail the +four dollars before they hit the dust. I figger you don't think how it +can be done, eh?" + +"Him?" said Silent in deep disgust. "Send him back to his ma before +somebody musses him all up! Why, he don't even pack a gun!" + +Morgan waited a long moment so that the little silence would make his +next speech impressive. + +"Stranger," he said, "I've still got somewhere in the neighbourhood of +five hundred dollars in that cash drawer. An' every cent of it hollers +that Dan can do what I said." + +Silent hesitated. His code was loose, but he did not like to take +advantage of a drunk or a crazy man. However, five hundred dollars was +five hundred dollars. Moreover that handsome fellow who had just taken +water from Hal Purvis and was now smiling foolishly at his own shame, +had actually ridden Red Peter. The remembrance infuriated Silent. + +"Hurry up," said Morgan confidently. "I dunno what you're thinkin', +stranger. Which I'm kind of deaf an' I don't understand the way +anything talks except money." + +"Corral that talk, Morgan!" called a voice from the crowd, "you're +plumb locoed if you think any man in the world can get away with a +stunt like that! Pick four in the air!" + +"You keep your jaw for yourself," said Silent angrily, "if he wants to +donate a little more money to charity, let him do it. Morgan, I've got +five hundred here to cover your stake." + +"Make him give you odds, Morgan," said another voice, "because----" + +A glance from Silent cut the suggestion short. After that there was +little loud conversation. The stakes were large. The excitement made +the men hush the very tones in which they spoke. Morgan moistened his +white lips. + +"You c'n see I'm not packin' any shootin' irons," said Dan. "Has +anybody got any suggestions?" + +Every gun in the crowd was instantly at his service. They were +heartily tempted to despise Dan, but as one with the courage to +attempt the impossible, they would help him as far as they could. He +took their guns one after the other, weighed them, tried the action, +and handed them back. It was almost as if there were a separate +intelligence in the ends of his fingers which informed him of the +qualities of each weapon. + +"Nice gun," he said to the first man whose revolver he handled, "but I +don't like a barrel that's quite so heavy. There's a whole ounce too +much in the barrel." + +"What d'you mean?" asked the cowpuncher. "I've packed that gun for +pretty nigh eight years!" + +"Sorry," said Dan passing on, "but I can't work right with a top-heavy +gun." + +The next weapon he handed back almost at once. + +"What's the matter with that?" asked the owner aggressively. + +"Cylinder too tight," said Dan decisively, and a moment later to +another man, "Bad handle. I don't like the feel of it." + +Over Jim Silent's guns he paused longer than over most of the rest, +but finally he handed them back. The big man scowled. + +Dan looked back to him in gentle surprise. + +"You see," he explained quietly, "you got to handle a gun like a +horse. If you don't treat it right it won't treat you right. That's +all I know about it. Your gun ain't very clean, stranger, an' a gun +that ain't kept clean gets off feet." + +Silent glanced at his weapons, cursed softly, and restored them to the +holsters. + +"Lee," he muttered to Haines, who stood next to him, "what do you +think he meant by that? D' you figger he's got somethin' up his +sleeve, an' that's why he acts so like a damned woman?" + +"I don't know," said Haines gravely, "he looks to me sort of +queer--sort of different--damned different, chief!" + +By this time Dan had secured a second gun which suited him. He whirled +both guns, tried their actions alternately, and then announced that he +was ready. In the dead silence, one of the men paced off the twenty +yards. + +Dan, with his back turned, stood at the mark, shifting his revolvers +easily in his hands, and smiling down at them as if they could +understand his caress. + +"How you feelin', Dan?" asked Morgan anxiously. + +"Everything fine," he answered. + +"Are you gettin' weak?" + +"No, I'm all right." + +"Steady up, partner." + +"Steady up? Look at my hand!" + +Dan extended his arm. There was not a quiver in it. + +"All right, Dan. When you're shootin', remember that I got pretty +close to everything I own staked on you. There's the stranger gettin' +his four dollars ready." + +Silent took his place with the four dollars in his hand. + +"Are you ready?" he called. + +"Let her go!" said Dan, apparently without the least excitement. + +Jim Silent threw the coins, and he threw them so as to increase his +chances as much as possible. A little snap of his hand gave them a +rapid rotary motion so that each one was merely a speck of winking +light. He flung them high, for it was probable that Whistling Dan +would wait to shoot until they were on the way down. The higher he +threw them the more rapidly they would be travelling when they crossed +the level of the markman's eye. + +As a shout proclaimed the throwing of the coins, Dan whirled, and it +seemed to the bystanders that a revolver exploded before he was fully +turned; but one of the coins never rose to the height of the throw. +There was a light "cling!" and it spun a dozen yards away. Two more +shots blended almost together; two more dollars darted away in +twinkling streaks of light. One coin still fell, but when it was a +few inches from the earth a six-shooter barked again and the fourth +dollar glanced sidewise into the dust. It takes long to describe the +feat. Actually, the four shots consumed less than a second of time. + +"That last dollar," said Dan, and his soft voice was the first sound +out of the silence, "wasn't good. It didn't ring true. Counterfeit?" + +It seemed that no one heard his words. The men were making a wild +scramble for the dollars. They dived into the dust for them, rising +white of face and clothes to fight and struggle over their prizes. +Those dollars with the chips and neat round holes in them would +confirm the truth of a story that the most credulous might be tempted +to laugh or scorn. A cowpuncher offered ten dollars for one of the +relics--but none would part with a prize. + +The moment the shooting was over Dan stepped quietly back and restored +the guns to the owners. The first man seized his weapon carelessly. He +was in the midst of his rush after one of the chipped coins. The other +cowpuncher received his weapon almost with reverence. + +"I'm thankin' you for the loan," said Dan, "an here's hopin' you +always have luck with the gun." + +"Luck?" said the other. "I sure _will_ have luck with it. I'm goin' +to oil her up and put her in a glass case back home, an' when I get +grandchildren I'm goin' to point out that gun to 'em and tell 'em what +men used to do in the old days. Let's go in an' surround some red-eye +at my expense." + +"No thanks," answered Dan, "I ain't drinkin'." + +He stepped back to the edge of the circle and folded his arms. It was +as if he had walked out of the picture. He suddenly seemed to be aloof +from them all. + +Out of the quiet burst a torrent of curses, exclamations, and shouts. +Chance drew Jim Silent and his three followers together. + +"My God!" whispered Lee Haines, with a sort of horror in his voice, +"it wasn't human! Did you see? Did you see?" + +"Am I blind?" asked Hal Purvis, "an' think of me walkin' up an' +bracin' that killer like he was a two-year-old kid! I figger that's +the nearest I ever come to a undeserved grave, an' I've had some close +calls! 'That last dollar wasn't good! It didn't ring true,' says he +when he finished. I never seen such nerve!" + +"You're wrong as hell," said Silent, "a _woman_ can shoot at a target, +but it takes a cold _nerve_ to shoot at a man--an' this feller is +yellow all through!" + +"Is he?" growled Bill Kilduff, "well, I'd hate to take him by +surprise, so's he'd forget himself. He gets as much action out of a +common six-gun as if it was a gatling. He was right about that last +dollar, too. It was pure--lead!" + +"All right, Haines," said Silent. "You c'n start now any time, an' +the rest of us'll follow on the way I said. I'm leavin' last. I got a +little job to finish up with the kid." + +But Haines was staring fixedly down the road. + +"I'm not leaving yet," said Haines. "Look!" + +He turned to one of the cowpunchers. + +"Who's the girl riding up the road, pardner?" + +"That calico? She's Kate Cumberland--old Joe's gal." + +"I like the name," said Haines. "She sits the saddle like a man!" + +Her pony darted off from some imaginary object in the middle of the +road, and she swayed gracefully, following the sudden motion. Her +mount came to the sudden halt of the cattle pony and she slipped to +the ground before Morgan could run out to help. Even Lee Haines, who +was far quicker, could not reach her in time. + +"Sorry I'm late," said Haines. "Shall I tie your horse?" + +The fast ride had blown colour to her face and good spirits into her +eyes. She smiled up to him, and as she shook her head in refusal her +eyes lingered a pardonable moment on his handsome face, with the stray +lock of tawny hair fallen low across his forehead. She was used to +frank admiration, but this unembarrassed courtesy was a new world to +her. She was still smiling when she turned to Morgan. + +"You told my father the boys wouldn't wear guns today." + +He was somewhat confused. + +"They seem to be wearin' them," he said weakly, and his eyes wandered +about the armed circle, pausing on the ominous forms of Hal Purvis, +Bill Kilduff, and especially Jim Silent, a head taller than the rest. +He stood somewhat in the background, but the slight sneer with which +he watched Whistling Dan dominated the entire picture. + +"As a matter of fact," went on Morgan, "it would be a ten man job to +take the guns away from this crew. You can see for yourself." + +She glanced about the throng and started. She had seen Dan. + +"How did he come here?" + +"Oh, Dan?" said Morgan, "he's all right. He just pulled one of the +prettiest shootin' stunts I ever seen." + +"But he promised my father--" began Kate, and then stopped, flushing. + +If her father was right in diagnosing Dan's character, this was the +most critical day in his life, for there he stood surrounded by armed +men. If there were anything wild in his nature it would be brought out +that day. She was almost glad the time of trial had come. + +She said: "How about the guns, Mr. Morgan?" + +"If you want them collected and put away for a while," offered Lee +Haines, "I'll do what I can to help you!" + +Her smile of thanks set his blood tingling. His glance lingered a +little too long, a little too gladly, and she coloured slightly. + +"Miss Cumberland," said Haines, "may I introduce myself? My name is +Lee." + +She hesitated. The manners she had learned in the Eastern school +forbade it, but her Western instinct was truer and stronger. Her hand +went out to him. + +"I'm very glad to know you, Mr. Lee." + +"All right, stranger," said Morgan, who in the meantime had been +shifting from one foot to the other and estimating the large chances +of failure in this attempt to collect the guns, "if you're going to +help me corral the shootin' irons, let's start the roundup." + +The girl went with them. They had no trouble in getting the weapons. +The cold blue eye of Lee Haines was a quick and effective persuasion. + +When they reached Jim Silent he stared fixedly upon Haines. Then he +drew his guns slowly and presented them to his comrade, while his eyes +shifted to Kate and he said coldly: "Lady, I hope I ain't the last one +to congratulate you!" + +She did not understand, but Haines scowled and coloured. Dan, in the +meantime, was swept into the saloon by an influx of the cowpunchers +that left only Lee Haines outside with Kate. She had detained him with +a gesture. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +LAUGHTER + +"Mr. Lee," she said, "I am going to ask you to do me a favour. Will +you?" + +His smile was a sufficient answer, and it was in her character that +she made no pretext of misunderstanding it. + +"You have noticed Dan among the crowd?" she asked, "Whistling Dan?" + +"Yes," he said, "I saw him do some very nice shooting." + +"It's about him that I want to speak to you. Mr. Lee, he knows very +little about men and their ways. He is almost a child among them. You +seem--stronger--than most of the crowd here. Will you see that if +trouble comes he is not imposed upon?" + +She flushed a little, there was such a curious yearning in the eyes of +the big man. + +"If you wish it," he said simply, "I will do what I can." + +As he walked beside her towards her horse, she turned to him abruptly. + +"You are very different from the men I have met around here," she +said. + +"I am glad," he answered. + +"Glad?" + +"If you find me different, you will remember me, whether for better or +worse." + +He spoke so earnestly that she grew grave. He helped her to the saddle +and she leaned a little to study him with the same gentle gravity. + +"I should like to see you again, Mr. Lee," she said, and then in a +little outburst, "I should like to see you a _lot!_ Will you come to +my house sometime?" + +The directness, the sudden smile, made him flinch. His voice was a +trifle unsteady when he replied. + +"I _shall!_" He paused and his hand met hers. "If it is possible." + +Her eyebrows raised a trifle. + +"Is it so hard to do?" + +"Do not ask me to explain," he said, "I am riding a long way." + +"Oh, a 'long-rider'!" she laughed, "then of course--" She stopped +abruptly. It may have been imagination, but he seemed to start when +she spoke the phrase by which outlaws were known to each other. He was +forcing his eyes to meet hers. + +He said slowly: "I am going on a long journey. Perhaps I will come +back. If I am able to, I shall." + +He dropped his hand from hers and she remained silent, guessing at +many things, and deeply moved, for every woman knows when a man speaks +from his soul. + +"You will not forget me?" + +"I shall never forget you," she answered quietly. "Good-bye, Mr. Lee!" + +Her hand touched his again, she wheeled, and rode away. He remained +standing with the hand she had grasped still raised. And after a +moment, as he had hoped, she turned in the saddle and waved to him. +His eyes were downward and he was smiling faintly when he re-entered +the saloon. + +Silent sat at a table with his chin propped in his hand--his left +hand, of course, for that restless right hand must always be free. He +stared across the room towards Whistling Dan. The train of thoughts +which kept those ominous eyes so unmoving must be broken. He sat down +at the side of his chief. + +"What the hell?" said the big man, "ain't you started yet?" + +"Look here, Jim," said Haines cautiously, "I want you to lay off on +this kid, Whistling Dan. It won't meant anything to you to raise the +devil with him." + +"I tell you," answered Silent, "it'll please me more'n anything in the +world to push that damned girl face of his into the floor." + +"Silent, I'm asking a personal favour of you!" + +The leader turned upon him that untamed stare. Haines set his teeth. + +"Haines," came the answer, "I'll stand more from you than from any man +alive. I know you've got guts an' I know you're straight with me. +But there ain't anything can keep me from manhandlin' that kid over +there." He opened and shut his fingers slowly. "I sort of yearn to get +at him!" + +Haines recognized defeat. + +"But you haven't another gun hidden on you, Jim? You won't try to +shoot him up?" + +"No," said Silent. "If I had a gun I don't know--but I haven't a gun. +My hands'll be enough!" + +All that could be done now was to get Whistling Dan out of the saloon. +That would be simple. A single word would suffice to send the timid +man helter-skelter homewards. + +The large, lazy brown eyes turned up to Haines as the latter +approached. + +"Dan," he said, "hit for the timbers--get on your way--there's danger +here for you!" + +To his astonishment the brown eyes did not vary a shade. + +"Danger?" he repeated wonderingly. + +"Danger! Get up and get out if you want to save your hide!" + +"What's the trouble?" said Dan, and his eyes were surprised, but not +afraid. + +"The biggest man in this room is after your blood." + +"Is he?" said Dan wonderingly. "I'm sorry I don't feel like leavin', +but I'm not tired of this place yet." + +"Friend," said Haines, "if that tall man puts his hands on you, he'll +break you across his knee like a rotten stick of wood!" + +It was too late. Silent evidently guessed that Haines was urging his +quarry to flee. + +"Hey!" he roared, so that all heads turned towards him, "you over +there." + +Haines stepped back, sick at heart. He knew that it would be folly to +meet his chief hand to hand, but he thought of his pledge to Kate, and +groaned. + +"What do you want of me?" asked Dan, for the pointed arm left no doubt +as to whom Silent intended. + +"Get up when you're spoke to" cried Silent. "Ain't you learned no +manners? An' git up quick!" + +Dan rose, smiling his surprise. + +"Your friend has a sort of queer way of talkin'," he said to Haines. + +"Don't stan' there like a fool. Trot over to the bar an' git me a jolt +of red-eye. I'm dry!" thundered Silent. + +"Sure!" nodded Whistling Dan amiably, "glad to!" and he went +accordingly towards the bar. + +The men about the room looked to each other with sick smiles. +There was an excuse for acquiescence, for the figure of Jim Silent +contrasted with Whistling Dan was like an oak compared with a sapling. +Nevertheless such bland cowardice as Dan was showing made their flesh +creep. He asked at the bar for the whisky, and Morgan spoke as Dan +filled a glass nearly to the brim. + +"Dan," he whispered rapidly, "I got a gun behind the bar. Say the word +an' I'll take the chance of pullin' it on that big skunk. Then you +make a dive for the door. Maybe I can keep him back till you get on +Satan." + +"Why should I beat it?" queried Dan, astonished. "I'm jest beginnin' +to get interested in your place. That tall feller is sure a queer one, +ain't he?" + +With the same calm and wide-eyed smile of inquiry he turned away, +taking the glass of liquor, and left Morgan to stare after him with a +face pale with amazement, while he whispered over and over to himself: +"Well, I'll be damned! Well, I'll be damned!" + +Dan placed the liquor before Silent. The latter sat gnawing his lips. + +"What in hell do you mean?" he said. "Did you only bring one glass? +Are you too damn good to drink with me? Then drink by yourself, you +white-livered coyote!" + +He dashed the glass of whisky into Dan's face. Half blinded by the +stinging liquor, the latter fell back a pace, sputtering, and wiping +his eyes. Not a man in the room stirred. The same sick look was on +each face. But the red devil broke loose in Silent's heart when he saw +Dan cringe. He followed the thrown glass with his clenched fist. Dan +stood perfectly still and watched the blow coming. His eyes were wide +and wondering, like those of a child. The iron-hard hand struck him +full on the mouth, fairly lifted him from his feet, and flung him +against the wall with such violence that he recoiled again and fell +forward onto his knees. Silent was making beast noises in his throat +and preparing to rush on the half-prostrate figure. He stopped short. + +Dan was laughing. At least that chuckling murmur was near to a laugh. +Yet there was no mirth in it. It had that touch of the maniacal in it +which freezes the blood. Silent halted in the midst of his rush, with +his hands poised for the next blow. His mouth fell agape with an odd +expression of horror as Dan stared up at him. That hideous chuckling +continued. The sound defied definition. And from the shadow in which +Dan was crouched his brown eyes blazed, changed, and filled with +yellow fires. + +"God!" whispered Silent, and at that instant the ominous crouched +animal with the yellow eyes, the nameless thing which had been +Whistling Dan a moment before, sprang up and forward with a leap like +that of a panther. + +Morgan stood behind the bar with a livid face and a fixed smile. His +fingers still stiffly clutched the whisky bottle from which the last +glass had been filled. Not another man in the room stirred from his +place. Some sat with their cards raised in the very act of playing. +Some had stopped midway a laugh. One man had been tying a bootlace. +His body did not rise. Only his eyes rolled up to watch. + +Dan darted under the outstretched arms of Silent, fairly heaved him up +from the floor and drove him backwards. The big man half stumbled and +half fell, knocking aside two chairs. He rushed back with a shout, but +at sight of the white face with the thin trickle of blood falling from +the lips, and at the sound of that inhuman laughter, he paused again. + +Once more Dan was upon him, his hands darting out with motions too +fast for the eye to follow. Jim Silent stepped back a half pace, +shifted his weight, and drove his fist straight at that white face. +How it happened not a man in the room could tell, but the hand did not +strike home. Dan had swerved aside as lightly as a wind-blown feather +and his fist rapped against Silent's ribs with a force that made the +giant grunt. + +Some of the horror was gone from his face and in its stead was baffled +rage. He knew the scientific points of boxing, and he applied them. +His eye was quick and sure. His reach was whole inches longer than his +opponent's. His strength was that of two ordinary men. What did it +avail him? He was like an agile athlete in the circus playing tag with +a black panther. He was like a child striking futilely at a wavering +butterfly. Sometimes this white-faced, laughing devil ducked under +his arms. Sometimes a sidestep made his blows miss by the slightest +fraction of an inch. + +And for every blow he struck four rained home against him. It was +impossible! It could not be! Silent telling himself that he dreamed, +and those dancing fists crashed into his face and body like +sledgehammers. There was no science in the thing which faced him. Had +there been trained skill the second blow would have knocked Silent +unconscious, and he knew it, but Dan made no effort to strike a +vulnerable spot. He hit at anything which offered. + +Still he laughed as he leaped back and forth. Perhaps mere weight of +rushing would beat the dancing will-o'-the-wisp to the floor. Silent +bored in with lowered head and clutched at his enemy. Then he roared +with triumph. His outstretched hand caught Dan's shirt as the latter +flicked to one side. Instantly they were locked in each other's arms! +The most meaning part of the fight followed. + +The moment after they grappled, Silent shifted his right arm from its +crushing grip on Dan's body and clutched at the throat. The move was +as swift as lightning, but the parry of the smaller man was still +quicker. His left hand clutched Silent by the wrist, and that mighty +sweep of arm was stopped in mid-air! They were in the middle of the +room. They stood perfectly erect and close together, embraced. Their +position had a ludicrous resemblance to the posture of dancers, but +their bodies were trembling with effort. With every ounce of power in +his huge frame Silent strove to complete his grip at the throat. +He felt the right arm of Dan tightening around him closer, closer, +closer! It was not a bulky arm, but it seemed to be made of linked +steel which was shrinking into him, and promised to crush his very +bones. The strength of this man seemed to increase. It was limitless. +His breath came struggling under that pressure and the blood thundered +and raged in his temples. If he could only get at that soft throat! + +But his struggling right hand was held in a vice of iron. Now his numb +arm gave way, slowly, inevitably. He ground his teeth and cursed. His +curse was half a prayer. For answer there was the unearthly chuckle +just below his ear. His hand was moved back, down, around! He was +helpless as a child in the arms of its father--no, helpless as a sheep +in the constricting coils of a python. + +An impulse of frantic horror and shame and fear gave him redoubled +strength for an instant. He tore himself clear and reeled back. Dan +planted two smashes on Silent's snarling mouth. A glance showed the +large man the mute, strained faces around the room. The laughing devil +leaped again. Then all pride slipped like water from the heart of Jim +Silent, and in its place there was only icy fear, fear not of a man, +but of animal power. He caught up a heavy chair and drove it with all +his desperate strength at Dan. + +It cracked distinctly against his head and the weight of it fairly +drove him into the floor. He fell with a limp thud on the boards. +Silent, reeling and blind, staggered to and fro in the centre of the +room. Morgan and Lee Haines reached Dan at the same moment and kneeled +beside him. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +THE MUTE MESSENGER + +Almost at once Haines raised a hand and spoke to the crowd: "He's all +right, boys. Badly cut across the head and stunned, but he'll live." + +There was a deep gash on the upper part of the forehead. If the +cross-bar of the chair had not broken, the skull might have been +injured. The impact of the blow had stunned him, and it might be many +minutes before his senses returned. + +As the crowd closed around Dan, a black body leaped among them, +snarling hideously. They sprang back with a yell from the rush of this +green-eyed fury; but Black Bart made no effort to attack them. He sat +crouching before the prostrate body, licking the deathly white face, +and growling horribly, and then stood over his fallen master and +stared about the circle. Those who had seen a lone wolf make its stand +against a pack of dogs recognized the attitude. Then without a sound, +as swiftly as he had entered the room, he leaped through the door and +darted off up the road. Satan, for the first time deserted by this +wolfish companion, turned a high head and neighed after him, but he +raced on. + +The men returned to their work over Dan's body, cursing softly. There +was a hair-raising unearthliness about the sudden coming and departure +of Black Bart. Jim Silent and his comrades waited no longer, but took +to their saddles and galloped down the road. + +Within a few moments the crowd at Morgan's place began to thin out. +Evening was coming on, and most of them had far to ride. They might +have lingered until midnight, but this peculiar accident damped their +spirits. Probably not a hundred words were spoken from the moment +Silent struck Dan to the time when the last of the cattlemen took to +the saddle. They avoided each other's eyes as if in shame. In a short +time only Morgan remained working over Dan. + +In the house of old Joe Cumberland his daughter sat fingering the keys +of the only piano within many miles. The evening gloom deepened as she +played with upward face and reminiscent eyes. The tune was uncertain, +weird--for she was trying to recall one of those nameless airs which +Dan whistled as he rode through the hills. There came a patter of +swift, light footfalls in the hall, and then a heavy scratching at the +door. + +"Down, Bart!" she called, and went to admit him to the room. + +The moment she turned the handle the door burst open and Bart fell in +against her. She cried out at sight of the gleaming teeth and eyes, +but he fawned about her feet, alternately whining and snarling. + +"What is it, boy?" she asked, gathering her skirts close about her +ankles and stepping back, for she never was without some fear of this +black monster. "What do you want, Bart?" + +For reply he stood stock still, raised his nose, and emitted a long +wail, a mournful, a ghastly sound, with a broken-hearted quaver at the +end. Kate Cumberland shrank back still farther until the wall blocked +her retreat. Black Bart had never acted like this before. He followed +her with a green light in his eyes, which shone phosphorescent and +distinct through the growing shadows. And most terrible of all was +the sound which came deep in his throat as if his brute nature was +struggling to speak human words. She felt a great impulse to cry out +for help, but checked herself. He was still crouching about her feet. +Obviously he meant no harm to her. + +He turned and ran towards the door, stopped, looked back to her, and +made a sound which was nearer to the bark of a dog than anything he +had ever uttered. She made a step after him. He whined with delight +and moved closer to the door. Now she stopped again. He whirled and +ran back, caught her dress in his teeth, and again made for the door, +tugging her after him. + +At last she understood and followed him. When she went towards the +corral to get her horse, he planted himself in front of her and +snarled so furiously that she gave up her purpose. She was beginning +to be more and more afraid. A childish thought came to her that +perhaps this brute was attempting to lure her away from the house, as +she had seen coyotes lure dogs, and then turn his teeth against her. +Nevertheless she followed. Something in the animal's eagerness moved +her deeply. When he led her out to the road he released her dress and +trotted ahead a short distance, looking back and whining, as if to beg +her to go faster. For the first time the thought of Dan came into her +mind. Black Bart was leading her down the road towards Morgan's place. +What if something had happened to Dan? + +She caught a breath of sharp terror and broke into a run. Bart yelped +his pleasure. Yet a cold horror rose in her heart as she hurried. Had +her father after all been right? What power had Dan, if he needed her, +to communicate with this mute beast and send him to her? As she ran +she wished for the day, the warm, clear sun--for these growing shadows +of evening bred a thousand ghostly thoughts. Black Bart was running +backwards and forwards before her as if he half entreated and half +threatened her. + +Her heart died within her as she came in sight of Morgan's place. +There was only one horse before it, and that was the black stallion. +Why had the others gone so soon? Breathless, she reached the door of +the saloon. It was very dim within. She could make out only formless +shades at first. Black Bart slid noiselessly across the floor. She +followed him with her eyes, and now she saw a figure stretched +straight out on the floor while another man kneeled at his side. She +ran forward with a cry. + +Morgan rose, stammering. She pushed him aside and dropped beside Dan. +A broad white bandage circled his head. His face was almost as pale as +the cloth. Her touches went everywhere over that cold face, and she +moaned little syllables that had no meaning. He lived, but it seemed +to her that she had found him at the legended gates of death. + +"Miss Kate!" said Morgan desperately. + +"You murderer!" + +"You don't think that _I_ did that?" + +"It happened in your place--you had given Dad your word!" + +Still she did not turn her head. + +"Won't you hear me explain? He's jest in a sort of a trance. He'll +wake up feelin' all right. Don't try to move him tonight. I'll go out +an' put his hoss up in the shed. In the mornin' he'll be as good as +new. Miss Kate, won't you listen to me?" + +She turned reluctantly towards him. Perhaps he was right and Dan would +waken from his swoon as if from a healthful sleep. + +"It was that big feller with them straight eyes that done it," began +Morgan. + +"The one who was sneering at Dan?" + +"Yes." + +"Weren't there enough boys here to string him up?" + +"He had three friends with him. It would of taken a hundred men to lay +hands on one of those four. They were all bad ones. I'm goin' to tell +you how it was, because I'm leavin' in a few minutes and ridin' south, +an' I want to clear my trail before I start. This was the way it +happened--" + +His back was turned to the dim light which fell through the door. She +could barely make out the movement of his lips. All the rest of his +face was lost in shadow. As he spoke she sometimes lost his meaning +and the stir of his lips became a nameless gibbering. The grey gloom +settled more deeply round the room and over her heart while he talked. +He explained how the difference had risen between the tall stranger +and Whistling Dan. How Dan had been insulted time and again and borne +it with a sort of childish stupidity. How finally the blow had been +struck. How Dan had crouched on the floor, laughing, and how a yellow +light gathered in his eyes. + +At that, her mind went blank. When her thoughts returned she stood +alone in the room. The clatter of Morgan's galloping horse died +swiftly away down the road. She turned to Dan. Black Bart was crouched +at watch beside him. She kneeled again--lowered her head--heard the +faint but steady breathing. He seemed infinitely young--infinitely +weak and helpless. The whiteness of the bandage stared up at her like +an eye through the deepening gloom. All the mother in her nature came +to her eyes in tears. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +RED WRITING + +He stirred. + +"Dan--dear!" + +"My head," he muttered, "it sort of aches, Kate, as if--" + +He was silent and she knew that he remembered. + +"You're all right now, honey. I've come here to take care of you--I +won't leave you. Poor Dan!" + +"How did you know?" he asked, the words trailing. + +"Black Bart came for me." + +"Good ol' Bart!" + +The great wolf slunk closer, and licked the outstretched hand. + +"Why, Kate, I'm on the floor and it's dark. Am I still in Morgan's +place? Yes, I begin to see clearer." + +He made an effort to rise, but she pressed him back. + +"If you try to move right away you may get a fever. I'm going back +to the house, and I'll bring you down some blankets. Morgan says you +shouldn't attempt to move for several hours. He says you've lost a +great deal of blood and that you mustn't make any effort or ride a +horse till tomorrow." + +Dan relaxed with a sigh. + +"Kate." + +"Yes, honey." + +Her hand travelled lightly as blown snow across his forehead. He +caught it and pressed the coolness against his cheek. + +"I feel as if I'd sort of been through a fire. I seem to be still +seein' red." + +"Dan, it makes me feel as if I never knew you! Now you must forget all +that has happened. Promise me you will!" + +He was silent for a moment and then he sighed again. + +"Maybe I can, Kate. Which I feel, though, as if there was somethin' +inside me writ--writ in red letters--I got to try to read the writin' +before I can talk much." + +She barely heard him. Her hand was still against his face. A deep awe +and content was creeping through her, so that she began to smile and +was glad that the dark covered her face. She felt abashed before him +for the first time in her life, and there was a singular sense of +shame. It was as if some door in her inner heart had opened so that +Dan was at liberty to look down into her soul. There was terror in +this feeling, but there was also gladness. + +"Kate." + +"Yes--honey!" + +"What were you hummin'?" + +She started. + +"I didn't know I was humming, Dan." + +"You were, all right. It sounded sort of familiar, but I couldn't +figger out where I heard it." + +"I know now. It's one of your own tunes." + +Now she felt a tremor so strong that she feared he would notice it. + +"I must go back to the house, Dan. Maybe Dad has returned. If he has, +perhaps he can arrange to have you carried back tonight." + +"I don't want to think of movin', Kate. I feel mighty comfortable. +I'm forgettin' all about that ache in my head. Ain't that queer? Why, +Kate, what in the world are you laughin' about?" + +"I don't know, Dan. I'm just happy!" + +"Kate." + +"Yes?" + +"I like you pretty much." + +"I'm so glad!" + +"You an' Black Bart, an' Satan--" + +"Oh!" Her tone changed. + +"Why are you tryin' to take your hand away, Kate?" + +"Don't you care for me any more than for your horse--and your dog?" + +He drew a long breath, puzzled. + +"It's some different, I figger." + +"Tell me!" + +"If Black Bart died--" + +The wolf-dog whined, hearing his name. + +"Good ol' Bart! Well, if Black Bart died maybe I'd some day have +another dog I'd like almost as much." + +"Yes." + +"An' if Satan died--even Satan!--maybe I could sometime like another +hoss pretty well--if he was a pile like Satan! But if you was to +die--it'd be different, a considerable pile different." + +"Why?" + +His pauses to consider these questions were maddening. + +"I don't know," he muttered at last. + +Once more she was thankful for the dark to hide her smile. + +"Maybe you know the reason, Kate?" + +Her laughter was rich music. His hold on her hand relaxed. He was +thinking of a new theme. When he laughed in turn it startled her. She +had never heard that laugh before. + +"What is it, Dan?" + +"He was pretty big, Kate. He was bigger'n almost any man I ever seen! +It was kind of funny. After he hit me I was almost glad. I didn't hate +him--" + +"Dear Dan!" + +"I didn't hate him--I jest nacherally wanted to kill him--and wantin' +to do that made me glad. Isn't that funny, Kate?" + +He spoke of it as a chance traveller might point out a striking +feature of the landscape to a companion. + +"Dan, if you really care for me you must drop the thought of him." + +His hand slipped away. + +"How can I do that? That writin' I was tellin' you about--" + +"Yes?" + +"It's about him!" + +"Ah!" + +"When he hit me the first time--" + +"I won't hear you tell of it!" + +"The blood come down my chin--jest a little trickle of it. It was +warm, Kate. That was what made me hot all through." + +Her hands fell limp, cold, lifeless. + +"It's as clear as the print in a book. I've got to finish him. That's +the only way I can forget the taste of my own blood." + +"Dan, listen to me!" + +He laughed again, in the new way. She remembered that her father had +dreaded the very thing that had come to Dan--this first taste of his +own powers--this first taste (she shuddered) of blood! + +"Dan, you've told me that you like me. You have to make a choice now, +between pursuing this man, and me." + +"You don't understand," he explained carefully. "I _got_ to follow +him. I can't help it no more'n Black Bart can help howlin' when he +sees the moon." + +He fell silent, listening. Far across the hills came the plaintive +wail of a coyote--that shrill bodiless sound. Kate trembled. + +"Dan!" + +Outside, Satan whinnied softly like a call. She leaned and her lips +touched his. He thrust her away almost roughly. + +"They's blood on my lips, Kate! I can't kiss you till they're clean." + +He turned his head. + +"You must listen to me, Dan!" + +"Kate, would you talk to the wind?" + +"Yes, if I loved the wind!" + +He turned his head. + +She pleaded: "Here are my hands to cover your eyes and shut out the +thoughts of this man you hate. Here are my lips, dear, to tell you +that I love you unless this thirst for killing carries you away from +me. Stay with me! Give me your heart to keep gentle!" + +He said nothing, but even through the dark she was aware of a struggle +in his face, and then, through the gloom, she began to see his +eyes more clearly. They seemed to be illuminated by a light from +within--they changed--there was a hint of yellow in the brown. And she +spoke again, blindly, passionately. + +"Give me your promise! It is so easy to do. One little word will make +you safe. It will save you from yourself." + +Still he answered nothing. Black Bart came and crouched at his head +and stared at her fixedly. + +"Speak to me!" + +Only the yellow light answered her. Cold fear fought in her heart, but +love still struggled against it. + +"For the last time--for God's sake, Dan!" + +Still that silence. She rose, shaking and weak. The changeless eyes +followed her. Only fear remained now. She backed towards the door, +slowly, then faster, and faster. At the threshold she whirled and +plunged into the night. + +Up the road she raced. Once she stumbled and fell to her knees. She +cried out and glanced behind her, breathing again when she saw that +nothing followed. At the house she made no pause, though she heard the +voice of her father singing. She could not tell him. He should be the +last in all the world to know. She went to her room and huddled into +bed. + +Presently a knock came at her door, and her father's voice asked if +she were ill. She pleaded that she had a bad headache and wished to be +alone. He asked if she had seen Dan. By a great effort she managed to +reply that Dan had ridden to a neighbouring ranch. Her father left +the door without further question. Afterwards she heard him in the +distance singing his favourite mournful ballads. It doubled her sense +of woe and brought home the clinging fear. She felt that if she could +weep she might live, but otherwise her heart would burst. And after +hours and hours of that torture which burns the name of "woman" in the +soul of a girl, the tears came. The roosters announced the dawn before +she slept. + +Late the next morning old Joe Cumberland knocked again at her door. He +was beginning to fear that this illness might be serious. Moreover, he +had a definite purpose in rousing her. + +"Yes?" she called, after the second knock. + +"Look out your window, honey, down to Morgan's place. You remember I +said I was goin' to clean up the landscape?" + +The mention of Morgan's place cleared the sleep from Kate's mind and +it brought back the horror of the night before. Shivering she slipped +from her bed and went to the window. Morgan's place was a mass of +towering flames! + +She grasped the window-sill and stared again. It could not be. It must +be merely another part of the nightmare, and no reality. Her father's +voice, high with exultation, came dimly to her ears, but what she saw +was Dan as he had laid there the night before, hurt, helpless, too +weak to move! + +"There's the end of it," Joe Cumberland was saying complacently +outside her door. "There ain't goin' to be even a shadow of the saloon +left nor nothin' that's in it. I jest travelled down there this +mornin' and touched a match to it!" + +Still she stared without moving, without making a sound. She was +seeing Dan as he must have wakened from a swoonlike sleep with the +smell of smoke and the heat of rising flames around him. She saw him +struggle, and fail to reach his feet. She almost heard him cry out--a +sound drowned easily by the roar of the fire, and the crackling of the +wood. She saw him drag himself with his hands across the floor, only +to be beaten back by a solid wall of flame. Black Bart crouched beside +him and would not leave his doomed master. Fascinated by the raging +fire the black stallion Satan would break from the shed and rush into +the flames!--and so the inseparable three must have perished together! + +"Why don't you speak, Kate?" called her father. + +"Dan!" she screamed, and pitched forward to the floor. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +THE PHANTOM RIDER + +In the daytime the willows along the wide, level river bottom seemed +an unnatural growth, for they made a streak of yellow-green across +the mountain-desert when all other verdure withered and died. After +nightfall they became still more dreary. Even when the air was calm +there was apt to be a sound as of wind, for the tenuous, trailing +branches brushed lightly together, making a guarded whispering like +ghosts. + +In a small clearing among these willows sat Silent and his companions. +A fifth member had just arrived at this rendezvous, answered the quiet +greeting with a wave of his hand, and was now busy caring for his +horse. Bill Kilduff, who had a natural inclination and talent for +cookery, raked up the deft dying coals of the fire over which he had +cooked the supper, and set about preparing bacon and coffee for the +newcomer. The latter came forward, and squatted close to the cook, +watching the process with a careful eye. He made a sharp contrast with +the rest of the group. From one side his profile showed the face of +a good-natured boy, but when he turned his head the flicker of the +firelight ran down a scar which gleamed in a jagged semi-circle from +his right eyebrow to the corner of his mouth. This whole side of his +countenance was drawn by the cut, the mouth stretching to a perpetual +grimace. When he spoke it was as if he were attempting secrecy. The +rest of the men waited in patience until he finished eating. Then +Silent asked: "What news, Jordan?" + +Jordan kept his regretful eyes a moment longer on his empty coffee +cup. + +"There ain't a pile to tell," he answered at last. "I suppose you +heard about what happened to the chap you beat up at Morgan's place +the other day?" + +"Who knows that _I_ beat him up?" asked Silent sharply. + +"Nobody," said Jordan, "but when I heard the description of the man +that hit Whistling Dan with the chair, I knew it was Jim Silent." + +"What about Barry?" asked Haines, but Jordan still kept his eyes upon +the chief. + +"They was sayin' pretty general," he went on, "that you _needed_ that +chair, Jim. Is that right?" + +The other three glanced covertly to each other. Silent's hand bunched +into a great fist. + +"He went loco. I had to slam him. Was he hurt bad?" + +"The cut on his head wasn't much, but he was left lyin' in the saloon +that night, an' the next mornin' old Joe Cumberland, not knowin' that +Whistlin' Dan was in there, come down an' touched a match to the old +joint. She went up in smoke an' took Dan along." + +No one spoke for a moment. Then Silent cried out: "Then what was that +whistlin' I've heard down the road behind us?" + +Bill Kilduff broke into rolling bass laughter, and Hal Purvis chimed +in with a squeaking tenor. + +"We told you all along, Jim," said Purvis, as soon as he could control +his voice, "that there wasn't any whistlin' behind us. We know you +got powerful good hearin', Jim, but we all figger you been makin' +somethin' out of nothin'. Am I right, boys?" + +"You sure are," said Kilduff, "I ain't heard a thing." + +Silent rolled his eyes angrily from face to face. + +"I'm kind of sorry the lad got his in the fire. I was hopin' maybe +we'd meet agin. There's nothin' I'd rather do than be alone five +minutes with Whistlin' Dan." + +His eyes dared any one to smile. The men merely exchanged glances. +When he turned away they grinned broadly. Hal Purvis turned and caught +Bill Kilduff by the shoulder. + +"Bill," he said excitedly, "if Whistlin' Dan is dead there ain't any +master for that dog!" + +"What about him?" growled Kilduff. + +"I'd like to try my hand with him," said Purvis, and he moistened his +tight lips. "Did you see the black devil when he snarled at me in +front of Morgan's place?" + +"He sure didn't look too pleasant." + +"Right. Maybe if I had him on a chain I could change his manners some, +eh?" + +"How?" + +"A whip every day, damn him--a whip every time he showed his teeth at +me. No eats till he whined and licked my hand." + +"He'd die first. I know that kind of a dog--or a wolf." + +"Maybe he'd die. Anyway I'd like to try my hand with him. Bill, I'm +goin' to get hold of him some of these days if I have to ride a +hundred miles an' swim a river!" + +Kilduff grunted. + +"Let the damn wolf be. You c'n have him, I say. What I'm thinkin' +about is the hoss. Hal, do you remember the way he settled to his +stride when he lighted out after Red Pete?" + +Purvis shrugged his shoulders. + +"You're a fool, Bill. Which no man but Barry could ever ride that +hoss. I seen it in his eye. He'd cash in buckin'. He'd fight you like +a man." + +Kilduff sighed. A great yearning was in his eyes. + +"Hal," he said softly, "they's some men go around for years an' +huntin' for a girl whose picture is in their bean, cached away +somewhere. When they see her they jest nacherally goes nutty. Hal, I +don't give a damn for women folk, but I've travelled around a long +time with a picture of a hoss in my brain, an' Satan is the hoss." + +He closed his eyes. + +"I c'n see him now. I c'n see them shoulders--an' that head--an', my +God! them eyes--them fire eatin' eyes! Hal, if a man was to win the +heart of that hoss he'd lay down his life for you--he'd run himself +plumb to death! I won't never sleep tight till I get the feel of them +satin sides of his between my knees." + +Lee Haines heard them speak, but he said nothing. His heart also +leaped when he heard of Whistling Dan's death, but he thought neither +of the horse nor the dog. He was seeing the yellow hair and the blue +eyes of Kate Cumberland. He approached Jordan and took a place beside +him. + +"Tell me some more about it, Terry," he asked. + +"Some more about what?" + +"About Whistling Dan's death--about the burning of the saloon," said +Haines. + +"What the hell! Are you still thinkin' about that?" + +"I certainly am." + +"Then I'll trade you news," said Terry Jordan, lowering his voice so +that it would not reach the suspicious ear of Jim Silent. "I'll tell +you about the burnin' if you'll tell me something about Barry's fight +with Silent!" + +"It's a trade," answered Haines. + +"All right. Seems old Joe Cumberland had a hunch to clean up the +landscape--old fool! so he jest up in the mornin' an' without sayin' a +word to any one he downs to the saloon and touches a match to it. When +he come back to his house he tells his girl, Kate, what he done. With +that she lets out a holler an' drops in a faint." + +Haines muttered. + +"What's the matter?" asked Terry, a little anxiously. + +"Nothin," said Haines. "She fainted, eh? Well, good!" + +"Yep. She fainted an' when she come to, she told Cumberland that Dan +was in the saloon, an' probably too weak to get out of the fire. They +started for the place on the run. When they got there all they found +was a pile of red hot coals. So everyone figures that he went up in +the flames. That's all I know. Now what about the fight?" + +Lee Haines sat with fixed eyes. + +"There isn't much to say about the fight," he said at last. + +"The hell there isn't," scoffed Terry Jordan. "From what I heard, this +Whistling Dan simply cut loose and raised the devil more general than +a dozen mavericks corralled with a bunch of yearlings." + +"Cutting loose is right," said Haines. "It wasn't a pleasant thing to +watch. One moment he was about as dangerous as an eighteen-year-old +girl. The next second he was like a panther that's tasted blood. +That's all there was to it, Terry. After the first blow, he was all +over the chief. You know Silent's a bad man with his hands?" + +"I guess we all know that," said Jordan, with a significant smile. + +"Well," said Haines, "he was like a baby in the hands of Barry. I +don't like to talk about it--none of us do. It makes the flesh creep." + +There was a loud crackling among the underbrush several hundred yards +away. It drew closer and louder. + +"Start up your works agin, will you, Bill?" called Silent. "Here comes +Shorty Rhinehart, an' he's overdue." + +In a moment Shorty swung from his horse and joined the group. He +gained his nickname from his excessive length, being taller by an inch +or two than Jim Silent himself, but what he gained in height he lost +in width. Even his face was monstrously long, and marked with such sad +lines that the favourite name of "Shorty" was affectionately varied to +"Sour-face" or "Calamity." Silent went to him at once. + +"You seen Hardy?" he asked. + +"I sure did," said Rhinehart, "an' it's the last time I'll make that +trip to him, you can lay to that." + +"Did he give you the dope?" + +"No." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I jest want you to know that this here's my last trip to Elkhead--on +_any_ business." + +"Why?" + +"I passed three marshals on the street, an' I knew them all. They was +my friends, formerly. One of them was--" + +"What did they do?" + +"I waved my hand to them, glad an' familiar. They jest grunted. One of +them, he looked up an' down the street, an' seein' that no one was in +sight, he come up to me an' without shakin' hands he says: 'I'm some +surprised to see you in Elkhead, Shorty.' 'Why,' says I, 'the town's +all right, ain't it?' 'It's all right,' he says, 'but you'd find it a +pile more healthier out on the range.'" + +"What in hell did he mean by that?" growled Silent. + +"He simply meant that they're beginnin' to think a lot more about +us than they used to. We've been pullin' too many jobs the last six +months." + +"You've said all that before, Shorty. I'm runnin' this gang. Tell me +about Hardy." + +"I'm comin' to that. I went into the Wells Fargo office down by the +railroad, an' the clerk sent me back to find Hardy in the back room, +where he generally is. When he seen me he changed colour. I'd jest +popped my head through the door an' sung out: 'Hello, Hardy, how's the +boy?' He jumped up from the desk an' sung out so's his clerk in the +outside room could hear: 'How are you, lad?' an' he pulled me quick +into the room an' locked the door behind me. + +"'Now what in hell have you come to Elkhead for?' says he. + +"'For a drink' says I, never battin' an eye. + +"'You've come a damn long ways,' says he. + +"'Sure,' says I, 'that's one reason I'm so dry. Will you liquor, pal?' + +"He looked like he needed a drink, all right. He begun loosening his +shirt collar. + +"'Thanks, but I ain't drinkin', says he. 'Look here, Shorty, are you +loco to come ridin' into Elkhead this way?' + +"'I'm jest beginnin' to think maybe I am,' says I. + +"'Shorty,' he says in a whisper, 'they're beginnin' to get wise to the +whole gang--includin' me.' + +"'Take a brace,' says I. 'They ain't got a thing on you, Hardy.' + +"'That don't keep 'em from thinkin' a hell of a pile,' says he, 'an' +I tell you, Shorty, I'm jest about through with the whole works. It +ain't worth it--not if there was a million in it. Everybody is gettin' +wise to Silent, an' the rest of you. Pretty soon hell's goin' to bust +loose.' + +"'You've been sayin' that for two years,' says I. + +"He stopped an' looked at me sort of thoughtful an' pityin'. Then he +steps up close to me an' whispers in that voice: 'D'you know who's on +Silent's trail now? Eh?' + +"'No, an' I don't give a damn,' says I, free an' careless. + +"'Tex Calder!' says he." + +Silent started violently, and his hand moved instinctively to his +six-gun. + +"Did he say Tex Calder?" + +"He said no less," answered Shorty Rhinehart, and waited to see his +news take effect. Silent stood with head bowed, scowling. + +"Tex Calder's a fool," he said at last. "He ought to know better'n to +take to _my_ trail." + +"He's fast with his gun," suggested Shorty. + +"Don't I know that?" said Silent. "If Alvarez, an' Bradley, an' +Hunter, an' God knows how many more could come up out of their graves, +they'd tell jest how quick he _is_ with a six-gun. But I'm the one man +on the range that's faster." + +Shorty was eloquently mute. + +"I ain't askin' you to take my word for it," said Jim Silent. "Now +that he's after me, I'm glad of it. It had to come some day. The +mountains ain't big enough for both of us to go rangin' forever. We +had to lock horns some day. An' I say, God help Tex Calder!" + +He turned abruptly to the rest of the men. + +"Boys, I got somethin' to tell you that Shorty jest heard. Tex Calder +is after us." + +There came a fluent outburst of cursing. + +Silent went on: "I know jest how slick Calder is. I'm bettin' on +my draw to be jest the necessary half a hair quicker. He may die +shootin'. I don't lay no bets that I c'n nail him before he gets his +iron out of its leather, but I say he'll be shootin' blind when he +dies. Is there any one takin' that bet?" + +His eyes challenged them one after another. Their glances travelled +past Silent as if they were telling over and over to themselves the +stories of those many men to whom Tex Calder had played the part of +Fate. The leader turned back to Shorty Rhinehart. + +"Now tell me what he had to say about the coin." + +"Hardy says the shipment's delayed. He don't know how long." + +"How'd it come to be delayed?" + +"He figures that Wells Fargo got a hunch that Silent was layin' for +the train that was to carry it." + +"Will he let us know when it _does_ come through?" + +"I asked him, an' he jest hedged. He's quitting on us cold." + +"I was a fool to send you, Shorty. I'm goin' myself, an' if Hardy +don't come through to me--" + +He broke off and announced to the rest of his gang that he intended to +make the journey to Elkhead. He told Haines, who in such cases usually +acted as lieutenant, to take charge of the camp. Then he saddled his +roan. + +In the very act of pulling up the cinch of his saddle, Silent stopped +short, turned, and raised a hand for quiet. The rest were instantly +still. Hal Purvis leaned his weazened face towards the ground. In this +manner it was sometimes possible to detect far-off sounds which to one +erect would be inaudible. In a moment, however, he straightened up, +shaking his head. + +"What is it?" whispered Haines. + +"Shut up," muttered Silent, and the words were formed by the motion of +his lips rather than through any sound. "That damned whistling again." + +Every face changed. At a rustling in a near-by willow, Terry Jordan +started and then cursed softly to himself. That broke the spell. + +"It's the whisperin' of the willows," said Purvis. + +"You lie," said Silent hoarsely. "I hear the sound growing closer." + +"Barry is dead," said Haines. + +Silent whipped out his revolver--and then shoved it back into the +holster. + +"Stand by me, boys," he pleaded. "It's his ghost come to haunt me! You +can't hear it, because he ain't come for you." + +They stared at him with a fascinated horror. + +"How do you know it's him?" asked Shorty Rhinehart. + +"There ain't no sound in the whole world like it. It's a sort of cross +between the singing of a bird an' the wailin' of the wind. It's the +ghost of Whistlin' Dan." + +The tall roan raised his head and whinnied softly. It was an unearthly +effect--as if the animal heard the sound which was inaudible to all +but his master. It changed big Jim Silent into a quavering coward. +Here were five practised fighters who feared nothing between heaven +and hell, but what could they avail him against a bodiless spirit? The +whistling stopped. He breathed again, but only for a moment. + +It began again, and this time much louder and nearer. Surely the +others must hear it now, or else it was certainly a ghost. The men sat +with dilated eyes for an instant, and then Hal Purvis cried, "I heard +it, chief! If it's a ghost, it's hauntin' me too!" + +Silent cursed loudly in his relief. + +"It ain't a ghost. It's Whistlin' Dan himself. An' Terry Jordan has +been carryin' us lies! What in hell do you mean by it?" + +"I ain't been carryin' you lies," said Jordan, hotly. "I told you +what I heard. I didn't never say that there was any one seen his dead +body!" + +The whistling began to die out. A babble of conjecture and exclamation +broke out, but Jim Silent, still sickly white around the mouth, swung +up into the saddle. + +"That Whistlin' Dan I'm leavin' to you, Haines," he called. "I've had +his blood onct, an' if I meet him agin there's goin' to be another +notch filed into my shootin' iron." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +THE STRENGTH OF WOMEN + +He rode swiftly into the dark of the willows, and the lack of noise +told that he was picking his way carefully among the bended branches. + +"It seems to me," said Terry Jordan, "which I'm not suggestin' +anything--but it seems to me that the chief was in a considerable +hurry to leave the camp." + +"He was," said Hal Purvis, "an' if you seen that play in Morgan's +place you wouldn't be wonderin' why. If I was the chief I'd do the +same." + +"Me speakin' personal," remarked Shorty Rhinehart, "I ain't layin' out +to be no man-eater like the chief, but I ain't seen the man that'd +make me take to the timbers that way. I don't noways expect there _is_ +such a man!" + +"Shorty," said Haines calmly, "we all knows that you're quite a man, +but you and Terry are the only ones of us who are surprised that +Silent slid away. The rest of us who saw this Whistling Dan in action +aren't a bit inclined to wonder. Suppose you were to meet a black +panther down here in the willows?" + +"I wouldn't give a damn if I had my Winchester with me." + +"All right, Terry, but suppose the panther," broke in Hal Purvis, +"could sling shootin' irons as well as you could--maybe _that'd_ make +you partic'ler pleased." + +"It ain't possible," said Terry. + +"Sure it ain't," grinned Purvis amiably, "an' this Barry ain't +possible, either. Where you going, Lee?" + +Haines turned from his task of saddling his mount. + +"Private matter. Kilduff, you take my place while I'm gone. I may be +back tomorrow night. The chief isn't apt to return so soon." + +A few moments later Haines galloped out of the willows and headed +across the hills towards old Joe Cumberland's ranch. He was +remembering his promise to Kate, to keep Dan out of danger. He had +failed from that promise once, but that did not mean that he had +forgotten. He looked up to the yellow-bright mountain stars, and they +were like the eyes of good women smiling down upon him. He guessed +that she loved Barry and if he could bring her to Whistling Dan she +might have strength enough to take the latter from Silent's trail. The +lone rider knew well enough that to bring Dan and Kate together was +to surrender his own shadowy hopes, but the golden eyes of the sky +encouraged him. So he followed his impulse. + +Haines could never walk that middle path which turns neither to the +right nor the left, neither up nor down. He went through life with +a free-swinging stride, and as the result of it he had crossed the +rights of others. He might have lived a lawful life, for all his +instincts were gentle. But an accident placed him in the shadow of the +law. He waited for his legal trial, but when it came and false witness +placed him behind the bars, the revolt came. Two days after his +confinement, he broke away from his prison and went to the wilds. +There he found Jim Silent, and the mountain-desert found another to +add to its list of great outlaws. + +Morning came as he drew close to the house, and now his reminiscences +were cut short, for at a turn of the road he came upon Kate galloping +swiftly over the hills. He drew his horse to a halt and raised his +hand. She followed suit. They sat staring. If she had remembered his +broken promise and started to reproach, he could have found answer, +but her eyes were big with sorrow alone. He put out his hand without a +word. She hesitated over it, her eyes questioning him mutely, and then +with the ghost of a smile she touched his fingers. + +"I want to explain," he said huskily. + +"What?" + +"You remember I gave you my word that no harm would come to Barry?" + +"No man could have helped him." + +"You don't hold it against me?" + +A gust of wind moaned around them. She waved her arm towards the +surrounding hills and her laugh blended with the sound of the wind, +it was so faint. He watched her with a curious pang. She seemed among +women what that morning was to the coming day--fresh, cool, aloof. It +was hard to speak the words which would banish the sorrow from her +eyes and make them brilliant with hope and shut him away from her +thoughts with a barrier higher than mountains, and broader than seas. + +"I have brought you news," he said at last, reluctantly. + +She did not change. + +"About Dan Barry." + +Ay, she changed swiftly enough at that! He could not meet the fear and +question of her glance. He looked away and saw the red rim of the sun +pushing up above the hills. And colour poured up the throat of Kate +Cumberland, up even to her forehead beneath the blowing golden hair. + +Haines jerked his sombrero lower on his head. A curse tumbled up to +his lips and he had to set his teeth to keep it back. + +"But I have heard his whistle." + +Her lips moved but made no sound. + +"Five other men heard him." + +She cried out as if he had hurt her, but the hurt was happiness. He +knew it and winced, for she was wonderfully beautiful. + +"In the willows of the river bottom, a good twenty miles south," he +said at last, "and I will show you the way, if you wish." + +He watched her eyes grow large with doubt. + +"Can you trust me?" he asked. "I failed you once. Can you trust me +now?" + +Her hand went out to him. + +"With all my heart," she said. "Let us start!" + +"I've given my horse a hard ride. He must have some rest." + +She moaned softly in her impatience, and then: "We'll go back to the +house and you can stable your horse there until you're ready to start. +Dad will go with us." + +"Your father cannot go," he said shortly. + +"Cannot?" + +"Let's start back for the ranch," he said, "and I'll tell you +something about it as we go." + +As they turned their horses he went on: "In order that you may reach +Whistling Dan, you'll have to meet first a number of men who are +camping down there in the willows." + +He stopped. It became desperately difficult for him to go on. + +"I am one of those men," he said, "and another of them is the one whom +Whistling Dan is following." + +She caught her breath and turned abruptly on him. + +"What are you, Mr. Lee?" + +Very slowly he forced his eyes up to meet her gaze. + +"In that camp," he answered indirectly, "your father wouldn't be +safe!" + +It was out at last! + +"Then you are--" + +"Your friend." + +"Forgive me. You _are_ my friend!" + +"The man whom Dan is following," he went on, "is the leader. If he +gives the command four practised fighters pit themselves against +Barry." + +"It is murder!" + +"You can prevent it," he said. "They know Barry is on the trail, but I +think they will do nothing unless he forces them into trouble. And he +will force them unless you stop him. No other human being could take +him off that trail." + +"I know! I know!" she muttered. "But I have already tried, and he will +not listen to me!" + +"But he will listen to you," insisted Haines, "when you tell him that +he will be fighting not one man, but six." + +"And if he doesn't listen to me?" + +Haines shrugged his shoulders. + +"Can't you promise that these men will not fight with him?" + +"I cannot." + +"But I shall plead with them myself." + +He turned to her in alarm. + +"No, you must not let them dream you know who they are," he warned, +"for otherwise--" + +Again that significant shrug of the shoulders. + +He explained: "These men are in such danger that they dare not take +chances. You are a woman, but if they feel that you suspect them you +will no longer be a woman in their eyes." + +"Then what must I do?" + +"I shall ride ahead of you when we come to the willows, after I have +pointed out the position of our camp. About an hour after I have +arrived, for they must not know that I have brought you, you will ride +down towards the camp. When you come to it I will make sure that it +is I who will bring you in. You must pretend that you have simply +blundered upon our fire. Whatever you do, never ask a question while +you are there--and I'll be your warrant that you will come off safely. +Will you try?" + +He attempted no further persuasion and contented himself with merely +meeting the wistful challenge of her eyes. + +"I will," she said at last, and then turning her glance away she +repeated softly, "I will." + +He knew that she was already rehearsing what she must say to Whistling +Dan. + +"You are not afraid?" + +She smiled. + +"Do you really trust me as far as this?" + +With level-eyed tenderness that took his breath, she answered: "An +absolute trust, Mr. Lee." + +"My name," he said in a strange voice, "is Lee Haines." + +Of one accord they stopped their horses and their hands met. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +SILENT BLUFFS + +The coming of the railroad had changed Elkhead from a mere crossing of +the ways to a rather important cattle shipping point. Once a year it +became a bustling town whose two streets thronged with cattlemen with +pockets burdened with gold which fairly burned its way out to the open +air. At other times Elkhead dropped back into a leaden-eyed sleep. + +The most important citizen was Lee Hardy, the Wells Fargo agent. +Office jobs are hard to find in the mountain-desert, and those who +hold them win respect. The owner of a swivel-chair is more lordly +than the possessor of five thousand "doggies." Lee Hardy had such +a swivel-chair. Moreover, since large shipments of cash were often +directed by Wells Fargo to Elkhead, Hardy's position was really more +significant than the size of the village suggested. As a crowning +stamp upon his dignity he had a clerk who handled the ordinary routine +of work in the front room, while Hardy set himself up in state in +a little rear office whose walls were decorated by two brilliant +calendars and the coloured photograph of a blond beauty advertising a +toilet soap. + +To this sanctuary he retreated during the heat of the day, while in +the morning and evening he loitered on the small porch, chatting with +passers-by. Except in the hottest part of the year he affected a soft +white collar with a permanent bow tie. The leanness of his features, +and his crooked neck with the prominent Adam's apple which stirred +when he spoke, suggested a Yankee ancestry, but the faded blue eyes, +pathetically misted, could only be found in the mountain-desert. + +One morning into the inner sanctum of this dignitary stepped a man +built in rectangles, a square face, square, ponderous shoulders, and +even square-tipped fingers. Into the smiling haze of Hardy's face his +own keen black eye sparkled like an electric lantern flashed into a +dark room. He was dressed in the cowboy's costume, but there was no +Western languor in his make-up. Everything about him was clear cut +and precise. He had a habit of clicking his teeth as he finished a +sentence. In a word, when he appeared in the doorway Lee Hardy woke +up, and before the stranger had spoken a dozen words the agent was +leaning forward to be sure that he would not miss a syllable. + +"You're Lee Hardy, aren't you?" said he, and his eyes gave the +impression of a smile, though his lips did not stir after speaking. + +"I am," said the agent. + +"Then you're the man I want to see. If you don't mind--" + +He closed the door, pulled a chair against it, and then sat down, and +folded his arms. Very obviously he meant business. Hardy switched his +position in his chair, sitting a little more to the right, so that the +edge of the seat would not obstruct the movement of his hand towards +the holster on his right thigh. + +"Well," he said good naturedly, "I'm waitin'." + +"Good," said the stranger, "I won't keep you here any longer than is +necessary. In the first place my name is Tex Calder." + +Hardy changed as if a slight layer of dust had been sifted over his +face. He stretched out his hand. + +"It's great to see you, Calder," he said, "of course I've heard +about you. Everyone has. Here! I'll send over to the saloon for some +red-eye. Are you dry?" + +He rose, but Calder waved him back to the swivel-chair. + +"Not dry a bit," he said cheerily. "Not five minutes ago I had a drink +of--water." + +"All right," said Hardy, and settled back into his chair. + +"Hardy, there's been crooked work around here." + +"What in hell--" + +"Get your hand away from that gun, friend." + +"What the devil's the meaning of all this?" + +"That's very well done," said Calder. "But this isn't the stage. Are +we going to talk business like friends?" + +"I've got nothing agin you," said Hardy testily, and his eyes followed +Calder's right hand as if fascinated. "What do you want to say? I'll +listen. I'm not very busy." + +"That's exactly it," smiled Tex Calder, "I want you to get busier." + +"Thanks." + +"In the first place I'll be straight with you. Wells Fargo hasn't sent +me here." + +"Who has?" + +"My conscience." + +"I don't get your drift." + +Through a moment of pause Calder's eyes searched the face of Hardy. + +"You've been pretty flush for some time." + +"I ain't been starvin'." + +"There are several easy ways for you to pick up extra money." + +"Yes?" + +"For instance, you know all about the Wells Fargo money shipments, and +there are men around here who'd pay big for what you could tell them." + +The prominent Adam's apple rose and fell in Hardy's throat. + +"You're quite a joker, ain't you Calder? Who, for instance?" + +"Jim Silent." + +"This is like a story in a book," grinned Hardy. "Go on. I suppose +I've been takin' Silent's money?" + +The answer came like the click of a cocked revolver. + +"You have!" + +"By God, Calder--" + +"Steady! I have some promising evidence, partner. Would you like to +hear part of it?" + +"This country has its share of the world's greatest liars," said +Hardy, "I don't care what you've heard." + +"That saves my time. Understand me straight. I can slap you into a +lock-up, if I want to, and then bring in that evidence. I'm not going +to do it. I'm going to use you as a trap and through you get some of +the worst of the lone riders." + +"There's nothin' like puttin' your hand on the table." + +"No, there isn't. I'll tell you what you're to do." + +"Thanks." + +The marshal drove straight on. + +"I've got four good men in this town. Two of them will always be +hanging around your office. Maybe you can get a job for them here, eh? +I'll pay the salaries. You simply tip them off when your visitors are +riders the government wants, see? You don't have to lift a hand. You +just go to the door as the visitor leaves, and if he's all right you +say: 'So long, we'll be meeting again before long.' But if he's a man +I want, you say 'Good-bye.' That's all. My boys will see that it is +good-bye." + +"Go on," said the agent, "and tell the rest of the story. It starts +well." + +"Doesn't it?" agreed Calder, "and the way it concludes is with you +reaching over and shaking hands with me and saying 'yes'!" + +He leaned forward. The twinkle was gone from his eyes and he extended +his hand to Hardy. The latter reached out with an impulsive gesture, +wrung the proffered hand, and then slipping back into his chair broke +into hysterical laughter. + +"The real laugh," said Calder, watching his man narrowly, "will be on +the long riders." + +"Tex," said the agent. "I guess you have the dope. I won't say +anything except that I'm glad as hell to be out of the rotten business +at last. Once started I couldn't stop. I did one 'favour' for these +devils, and after that they had me in their power. I haven't slept for +months as I'm going to sleep tonight!" + +He wiped his face with an agitated hand. + +"A week ago," he went on, "I knew you were detailed on this work. I've +been sweating ever since. Now that you've come--why, I'm glad of it!" + +A faint sneer touched Calder's mouth and was gone. + +"You're a wise man," he said. "Have you seen much of Jim Silent +lately?" + +Hardy hesitated. The rôle of informer was new. + +"Not directly." + +Calder nodded. + +"Now put me right if I go off the track. The way I understand it, Jim +Silent has about twenty gun fighters and long riders working in gangs +under him and combining for big jobs." + +"That's about it." + +"The inside circle consists of Silent; Lee Haines, a man who went +wrong because the law did _him_ wrong; Hal Purvis, a cunning devil; +and Bill Kilduff, a born fighter who loves blood for its own sake." + +"Right." + +"Here's something more. For Jim Silent, dead or alive, the government +will pay ten thousand dollars. For each of the other three it pays +five thousand. The notices aren't out yet, but they will be in a few +days. Hardy, if you help me bag these men, you'll get fifty per cent +of the profits. Are you on?" + +The hesitancy of Hardy changed to downright enthusiasm. + +"Easy money, Tex. I'm your man, hand and glove." + +"Don't get optimistic. This game isn't played yet, and unless I make +the biggest mistake of my life we'll be guessing again before we land +Silent. I've trailed some fast gunmen in my day, and I have an idea +that Silent will be the hardest of the lot; but if you play your end +of the game we may land him. I have a tip that he's lying out in the +country near Elkhead. I'm riding out alone to get track of him. As I +go out I'll tell my men that you're O.K. for this business." + +He hesitated a moment with his hand on the door knob. + +"Just one thing more, Hardy. I heard a queer tale this morning about +a fight in a saloon run by a man named Morgan. Do you know anything +about it?" + +"No." + +"I was told of a fellow who chipped four dollars thrown into the air +at twenty yards." + +"That's a lie." + +"The man who talked to me had a nicked dollar to prove his yarn." + +"The devil he did!" + +"And after the shooting this chap got into a fight with a tall man +twice his size and fairly mopped up the floor with him. They say it +wasn't a nice thing to watch. He is a frail man, but when the fight +started he turned into a tiger." + +"Wish I'd seen it." + +"The tall man tallies to a hair with my description of Silent." + +"You're wrong. I know what Silent can do with his hands. No one could +beat him up. What's the name of the other?" + +"Barry. Whistling Dan Barry." + +Calder hesitated. + +"Right or wrong, I'd like to have this Barry with me. So long." + +He was gone as he had come, with a nod and a flash of the keen, black +eyes. Lee Hardy stared at the door for some moments, and then went +outside. The warm light of the sun had never been more welcome to him. +Under that cheering influence he began to feel that with Tex Calder +behind him he could safely defy the world. + +His confidence received a shock that afternoon when a heavy step +crossed the outside room, and his door opening without a preliminary +knock, he looked up into the solemn eyes of Jim Silent. The outlaw +shook his head when Hardy offered him a chair. + +"What's the main idea of them two new men out in your front room, +Lee?" he asked. + +"Two cowpunchers that was down on their luck. I got to stand in with +the boys now and then." + +"I s'pose so. Shorty Rhinehart in here to see you, Lee?" + +"Yep." + +"You told him that the town was gettin' pretty hot." + +"It is." + +"You said you had no dope on when that delayed shipment was comin' +through?" + +Hardy made lightning calculations. A half truth would be the best way +out. + +"I've just got the word you want. It come this morning." + +Silent's expression changed and he leaned a little closer. + +"It's the nineteenth. Train number 89. Savvy? Seven o'clock at +Elkhead!" + +"How much? Same bunch of coin?" + +"Fifty thousand!" + +"That's ten more." + +"Yep. A new shipment rolled in with the old one. No objections?" + +Silent grinned. + +"Any other news, Lee?" + +"Shorty told you about Tex Calder?" + +"He did. Seen him around here?" + +The slightest fraction of a second in hesitation. + +"No." + +"Was that the straight dope you give Shorty?" + +"Straighter'n hell. They're beginnin' to talk, but I guess I was jest +sort of panicky when I talked with Shorty." + +"This Tex Calder----" + +"What about him?" This with a trace of suspicion. + +"He's got a long record." + +"So've you, Jim." + +Once more that wolflike grin which had no mirth. + +"So long, Lee. I'll be on the job. Lay to that." + +He turned towards the door. Hardy followed him. A moment more, in a +single word, and the job would be done. Five thousand dollars for a +single word! It warmed the very heart of Lee Hardy. + +Silent, as he moved away, seemed singularly thoughtful. He hesitated a +moment with bowed head at the door--then whirled and shoved a six-gun +under the nose of Hardy. The latter leaped back with his arms thrust +above his head, straining at his hands to get them higher. + +"My God, Jim!" + +"You're a low-down, lyin' hound!" + +Hardy's tongue clove to the roof of his mouth. + +"Damn you, d'you hear me?" + +"Yes! For God's sake, Jim, don't shoot!" + +"Your life ain't worth a dime!" + +"Give me one more chance an' I'll play square!" + +A swift change came over the face of Silent, and then Hardy went hot +with terror and anger. The long rider had known nothing. The gun play +had been a mere bluff, but he had played into the hands of Silent, and +now his life was truly worth nothing. + +"You poor fool," went on Silent, his voice purring with controlled +rage. "You damn blind fool! D'you think you could double cross me an' +get by with it?" + +"Give me a chance, Jim. One more chance, one more chance!" + +Even in his terror he remembered to keep his voice low lest those in +the front room should hear. + +"Out with it, if you love livin'!" + +"I--I can't talk while you got that gun on me!" + +Silent not only lowered his gun, but actually returned it to the +holster. Nothing could more clearly indicate his contempt, and Hardy, +in spite of his fear, crimsoned with shame. + +"It was Tex Calder," he said at last. + +Silent started a little and his eyes narrowed again. + +"What of him?" + +"He came here a while ago an' tried to make a deal with me." + +"An' made it!" said Silent ominously. + +No gun pointed at him this time, but Hardy jerked his hands once more +above his head and cowered against the wall. + +"So help me God he didn't, Jim." + +"Get your hands down." + +He lowered his hands slowly. + +"I told him I didn't know nothin' about you." + +"What about that train? What about that shipment?" + +"It's jest the way I told you, except that it's on the eighteenth +instead of the nineteenth." + +"I'm goin' to believe you. If you double cross me I'll have your hide. +Maybe they'll get me, but there'll be enough of my boys left to get +you. You can lay to that. How much did they offer you, Lee? How much +am I worth to the little old U.S.A.?" + +"I--I--it wasn't the money. I was afraid to stick with my game any +longer." + +The long rider had already turned towards the door, making no effort +to keep his face to the agent. The latter, flushing again, moved his +hand towards his hip, but stopped the movement. The last threat of +Silent carried a deep conviction with it. He knew that the faith of +lone riders to each other was an inviolable bond. Accordingly he +followed at the heels of the other man into the outside room. + +"So long, old timer," he called, slapping Silent on the shoulder, +"I'll be seein' you agin before long." + +Calder's men looked up with curious eyes. Hardy watched Silent swing +onto his horse and gallop down the street. Then he went hurriedly +back to his office. Once inside he dropped into the big swivel-chair, +buried his face in his arms, and wept like a child. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +PARTNERS + +Dust powdered his hat and clothes as Tex Calder trotted his horse +north across the hills. His face was a sickly grey, and his black +hair might have been an eighteenth century wig, so thoroughly was it +disguised. It had been a long ride. Many a long mile wound back behind +him, and still the cattle pony, with hanging head, stuck to its task. +Now he was drawing out on a highland, and below him stretched the +light yellow-green of the willows of the bottom land. He halted his +pony and swung a leg over the horn of his saddle. Then he rolled a +cigarette, and while he inhaled it in long puffs he scanned the trees +narrowly. Miles across, and stretching east and west farther than his +eye could reach, extended the willows. Somewhere in that wilderness +was the gang of Jim Silent. An army corps might have been easily +concealed there. + +If he was not utterly discouraged in the beginning of his search, it +was merely because the rangers of the hills and plains are taught +patience almost as soon as they learn to ride a horse. He surveyed the +yellow-green forest calmly. In the west the low hanging sun turned +crimson and bulged at the sides into a clumsy elipse. He started down +the slope at the same dog-trot which the pony had kept up all day. +Just before he reached the skirts of the trees he brought his horse to +a sudden halt and threw back his head. It seemed to him that he heard +a faint whistling. + +He could not be sure. It was so far off and unlike any whistling he +had ever heard before, that he half guessed it to be the movement of a +breeze through the willows, but the wind was hardly strong enough to +make this sound. For a full five minutes he listened without moving +his horse. Then came the thing for which he waited, a phrase of melody +undoubtedly from human lips. + +What puzzled him most was the nature of the music. As he rode closer +to the trees it grew clearer. It was unlike any song he had ever +heard. It was a strange improvisation with a touch of both melancholy +and savage exultation running through it. Calder found himself nodding +in sympathy with the irregular rhythm. + +It grew so clear at last that he marked with some accuracy the +direction from which it came. If this was Silent's camp, it must be +strongly guarded, and he should approach the place more cautiously +than he could possibly do on a horse. Accordingly he dismounted, threw +the reins over the pony's head, and started on through the willows. +The whistling became louder and louder. He moved stealthily from tree +to tree, for he had not the least idea when he would run across a +guard. The whistling ceased, but the marshal was now so near that he +could follow the original direction without much trouble. In a few +moments he might distinguish the sound of voices. If there were two or +three men in the camp he might be able to surprise them and make his +arrest. If the outlaws were many, at least he could lie low near +the camp and perhaps learn the plans of the gang. He worked his way +forward more and more carefully. At one place he thought a shadowy +figure slipped through the brush a short distance away. He poised his +gun, but lowered it again after a moment's thought. It must have +been a stir of shadows. No human being could move so swiftly or so +noiselessly. + +Nevertheless the sight gave him such a start that he proceeded with +even greater caution. He was crouched close to the ground. Every inch +of it he scanned carefully before he set down a foot, fearful of the +cracking of a fallen twig. Like most men when they hunt, he began to +feel that something followed him. He tried to argue the thought out of +his brain, but it persisted, and grew stronger. Half a dozen times he +whirled suddenly with his revolver poised. At last he heard a stamp +which could come from nothing but the hoof of a horse. The sound +dispelled his fears. In another moment he would be in sight of the +camp. + +"Do you figger you'll find it?" asked a quiet voice behind him. + +He turned and looked into the steady muzzle of a Colt. Behind that +revolver was a thin, handsome face with a lock of jet black hair +falling over the forehead. Calder knew men, and now he felt a strange +absence of any desire to attempt a gun-play. + +"I was just taking a stroll through the willows," he said, with a +mighty attempt at carelessness. + +"Oh," said the other. "It appeared to me you was sort of huntin' for +something. You was headed straight for my hoss." + +Calder strove to find some way out. He could not. There was no waver +in the hand that held that black gun. The brown eyes were decidedly +discouraging to any attempt at a surprise. He felt helpless for the +first time in his career. + +"Go over to him, Bart," said the gentle voice of the stranger. "Stand +fast!" + +The last two words, directed to Calder came, with a metallic hardness, +for the marshal started as a great black dog slipped from behind a +tree and slunk towards him. This was the shadow which moved more +swiftly and noiselessly than a human being. + +"Keep back that damned wolf," he said desperately. + +"He ain't goin' to hurt you," said the calm voice. "Jest toss your gun +to the ground." + +There was nothing else for it. Calder dropped his weapon with the butt +towards Whistling Dan. + +"Bring it here, Bart," said the latter. + +The big animal lowered his head, still keeping his green eyes upon +Calder, took up the revolver in his white fangs, and glided back to +his master. + +"Jest turn your back to me, an' keep your hands clear of your body," +said Dan. + +Calder obeyed, sweating with shame. He felt a hand pat his pockets +lightly in search for a hidden weapon, and then, with his head +slightly turned, he sensed the fact that Dan was dropping his revolver +into its holster. He whirled and drove his clenched fist straight at +Dan's face. + +What happened then he would never forget to the end of his life. +Calder's weapon still hung in Dan's right hand, but the latter made no +effort to use it. He dropped the gun, and as Calder's right arm shot +out, it was caught at the wrist, and jerked down with a force that +jarred his whole body. + +"Down, Bart!" shouted Dan. The great wolf checked in the midst of his +leap and dropped, whining with eagerness, at Calder's feet. At the +same time the marshal's left hand was seized and whipped across his +body. He wrenched away with all his force. He might as well have +struggled with steel manacles. He was helpless, staring into eyes +which now glinted with a yellow light that sent a cold wave tingling +through his blood. + +The yellow gleam died; his hands were loosed; but he made no move to +spring at Dan's throat. Chill horror had taken the place of his shame, +and the wolf-dog still whined at his feet with lips grinned back from +the long white teeth. + +"Who in the name of God are you?" he gasped, and even as he spoke +the truth came to him--the whistling--the panther-like speed of +hand--"Whistling Dan Barry." + +The other frowned. + +"If you didn't know my name why were you trailin' me?" + +"I wasn't after you," said Calder. + +"You was crawlin' along like that jest for fun? Friend, I figger to +know you. You been sent out by the tall man to lay for me." + +"What tall man?" asked Calder, his wits groping. + +"The one that swung the chair in Morgan's place," said Dan. "Now +you're goin' to take me to your camp. I got something to say to him." + +"By the Lord!" cried the marshal, "you're trailing Silent." + +Dan watched him narrowly. It was hard to accuse those keen black eyes +of deceit. + +"I'm trailin' the man who sent you out after me," he asserted with a +little less assurance. + +Calder tore open the front of his shirt and pushed back one side of +it. Pinned there next to his skin was his marshal's badge. + +He said: "My name's Tex Calder." + +It was a word to conjure with up and down the vast expanse of the +mountain-desert. Dan smiled, and the change of expression made him +seem ten years younger. + +"Git down, Bart. Stand behind me!" The dog obeyed sullenly. "I've +heard a pile of men talk about you, Tex Calder." Their hands and their +eyes met. There was a mutual respect in the glances. "An' I'm a pile +sorry for this." + +He picked up the gun from the ground and extended it butt first to the +marshal, who restored it slowly to the holster. It was the first time +it had ever been forced from his grasp. + +"Who was it you talked about a while ago?" asked Dan. + +"Jim Silent." + +Dan instinctively dropped his hand back to his revolver. + +"The tall man?" + +"The one you fought with in Morgan's place." + +The unpleasant gleam returned to Dan's eyes. + +"I thought there was only one reason why he should die, but now I see +there's a heap of 'em." + +Calder was all business. + +"How long have you been here?" he asked. + +"About a day." + +"Have you seen anything of Silent here among the willows?" + +"No." + +"Do you think he's still here?" + +"Yes." + +"Why?" + +"I dunno. I'll stay here till I find him among the trees or he breaks +away into the open." + +"How'll you know when he leaves the willows?" + +Whistling Dan was puzzled. + +"I dunno," he answered. "Somethin' will tell me when he gets far away +from me--he an' his men." + +"It's an inner sense, eh? Like the smell of the bloodhound?" said +Calder, but his eyes were strangely serious. + +"This day's about done," he went on. "Have you any objections to me +camping with you here?" + +Not a cowpuncher within five hundred miles but would be glad of such +redoubted company. They went back to Calder's horse. + +"We can start for my clearing," said Dan. "Bart'll bring the hoss. +Fetch him in." + +The wolf took the dangling bridle reins and led on the cowpony. Calder +observed his performance with starting eyes, but he was averse to +asking questions. In a few moments they came out on a small open +space. The ground was covered with a quantity of dried bunch grass +which a glorious black stallion was cropping. Now he tossed up his +head so that some of his long mane fell forward between his ears and +at sight of Calder his ears dropped back and his eyes blazed, but when +Dan stepped from the willows the ears came forward again with a +whinny of greeting. Calder watched the beautiful animal with all the +enthusiasm of an expert horseman. Satan was untethered; the saddle and +bridle lay in a corner of the clearing; evidently the horse was a pet +and would not leave its master. He spoke gently and stepped forward to +caress the velvet shining neck, but Satan snorted and started away, +trembling with excitement. + +"How can you keep such a wild fellow as this without hobbling him?" +asked Calder. + +"He ain't wild," said Dan. + +"Why, he won't let me put a hand on him." + +"Yes, he will. Steady, Satan!" + +The stallion stood motionless with the veritable fires of hell in his +eyes as Calder approached. The latter stopped. + +"Not for me," he said. "I'd rather rub the moustache of the lion in +the zoo than touch that black devil!" + +Bart at that moment led in the cowpony and Calder started to remove +the saddle. He had scarcely done so and hobbled his horse when he was +startled by a tremendous snarling and snorting. He turned to see the +stallion plunging hither and thither, striking with his fore-hooves, +while around him, darting in and out under the driving feet, sprang +the great black wolf, his teeth clashing like steel on steel. In +another moment they might sink in the throat of the horse! Calder, +with an exclamation of horror, whipped out his revolver, but checked +himself at the very instant of firing. The master of the two animals +stood with arms folded, actually smiling upon the fight! + +"For God's sake!" cried the marshal. "Shoot the damned wolf, man, or +he'll have your horse by the throat!" + +"Leave 'em be," said Dan, without turning his head. "Satan an' Black +Bart ain't got any other dogs an' hosses to run around with. They's +jest playing a little by way of exercise." + +Calder stood agape before what seemed the incarnate fury of the pair. +Then he noticed that those snapping fangs, however close they came, +always missed the flesh of the stallion, and the driving hoofs never +actually endangered the leaping wolf. + +"Stop 'em!" he cried at last. "It makes me nervous to watch that sort +of play. It isn't natural!" + +"All right," said Dan. "Stop it, boys." + +He had not raised his voice, but they ceased their wild gambols +instantly, the stallion, with head thrown high and arched tail and +heaving sides, while the wolf, with lolling red tongue, strolled +calmly towards his master. + +The latter paid no further attention to them, but set about kindling a +small fire over which to cook supper. Calder joined him. The marshal's +mind was too full for speech, but now and again he turned a long +glance of wonder upon the stallion or Black Bart. In the same silence +they sat under the last light of the sunset and ate their supper. +Calder, with head bent, pondered over the man of mystery and his two +tamed animals. Tamed? Not one of the three was tamed, the man least of +all. + +He saw Dan pause from his eating to stare with wide, vacant eyes among +the trees. The wolf-dog approached, looked up in his master's face, +whined softly, and getting no response went back to his place and lay +down, his eyes never moving from Dan. Still he stared among the trees. +The gloom deepened, and he smiled faintly. He began to whistle, a low, +melancholy strain so soft that it blended with the growing hush of the +night. Calder listened, wholly overawed. That weird music seemed an +interpretation of the vast spaces of the mountains, of the pitiless +desert, of the limitless silences, and the whistler was an +understanding part of the whole. + +He became aware of a black shadow behind the musician. It was Satan, +who rested his nose on the shoulder of the master. Without ceasing his +whistling Dan raised a hand, touched the small muzzle, and Satan went +at once to a side of the clearing and lay down. It was almost as if +the two had said good-night! Calder could stand it no longer. + +"Dan, I've got to talk to you," he began. + +The whistling ceased; the wide brown eyes turned to him. + +"Fire away--partner." + +Ay, they had eaten together by the same fire--they had watched the +coming of the night--they had shaken hands in friendship--they were +partners. He knew deep in his heart that no human being could ever +be the actual comrade of this man. This lord of the voiceless desert +needed no human companionship; yet as the marshal glanced from the +black shadow of Satan to the gleaming eyes of Bart, and then to +the visionary face of Barry, he felt that he had been admitted by +Whistling Dan into the mysterious company. The thought stirred him +deeply. It was as if he had made an alliance with the wandering wind. +Why he had been accepted he could not dream, but he had heard the word +"partner" and he knew it was meant. After all, stranger things +than this happen in the mountain-desert, where man is greater and +convention less. A single word has been known to estrange lifelong +comrades; a single evening beside a camp-fire has changed foes to +partners. Calder drew his mind back to business with a great effort. + +"There's one thing you don't know about Jim Silent. A reward of ten +thousand dollars lies on his head. The notices aren't posted yet." + +Whistling Dan shrugged his shoulders. + +"I ain't after money," he answered. + +Calder frowned. He did not appreciate a bluff. + +"Look here," he said, "if we kill him, because no power on earth will +take him alive--we'll split the money." + +"If you lay a hand on him," said Dan, without emotion, "we won't be +friends no longer, I figger." + +Calder stared. + +"If you don't want to get him," he said, "why in God's name are you +trailing him this way?" + +Dan touched his lips. "He hit me with his fist." + +He paused, and spoke again with a drawling voice that gave his words +an uncanny effect. + +"My blood went down from my mouth to my chin. I tasted it. Till I get +him there ain't no way of me forgettin' him." + +His eyes lighted with that ominous gleam. + +"That's why no other man c'n put a hand on him. He's laid out all for +me. Understand?" + +The ring of the question echoed for a moment through Calder's mind. + +"I certainly do," he said with profound conviction, "and I'll never +forget it." He decided on a change of tactics. "But there are other +men with Jim Silent and those men will fight to keep you from getting +to him." + +"I'm sorry for 'em," said Dan gently. "I ain't got nothin' agin any +one except the big man." + +Calder took a long breath. + +"Don't you see," he explained carefully, "if you shoot one of these +men you are simply a murderer who must be apprehended by the law and +punished." + +"It makes it bad for me, doesn't it?" said Dan. "An' I hope I won't +have to hurt more'n one or two of 'em. You see,"--he leaned forward +seriously towards Calder--"I'd only shoot for their arms or their +legs. I wouldn't spoil them altogether." + +Calder threw up his hands in despair. Black Bart snarled at the +gesture. + +"I can't listen no more," said Dan. "I got to start explorin' the +willows pretty soon." + +"In the dark?" exclaimed Calder. + +"Sure. Black Bart'll go with me. The dark don't bother him." + +"I'll go along." + +"I'd rather be alone. I might meet him." + +"Any way you want," said Calder, "but first hear my plan--it doesn't +take long to tell it." + +The darkness thickened around them while he talked. The fire died +out--the night swallowed up their figures. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +THE LONE RIDERS ENTERTAIN + +When Lee Haines rode into Silent's camp that evening no questions were +asked. Questions were not popular among the long riders. He did not +know more than the names of half the men who sat around the smoky +fire. They were eager to forget the past, and the only allusions +to former times came in chance phrases which they let fall at rare +intervals. When they told an anecdote they erased all names by +instinct. They would begin: "I heard about a feller over to the Circle +Y outfit that was once ridin'--" etc. As a rule they themselves were +"that feller over to the Circle Y outfit." Accordingly only a few +grunts greeted Haines and yet he was far and away the most popular man +in the group. Even solemn-eyed Jim Silent was partial to the handsome +fellow. + +"Heard the whistling today?" he asked. + +Purvis shook his head and Terry Jordan allowed "as how it was most +uncommon fortunate that this Barry feller didn't start his noise." +After this Haines ate his supper in silence, his ear ready to catch +the first sound of Kate's horse as it crashed through the willows and +shrubs. Nevertheless it was Shorty Rhinehart who sprang to his feet +first. + +"They's a hoss there comin' among the willows!" he announced. + +"Maybe it's Silent," remarked Haines casually. + +"The chief don't make no such a noise. He picks his goin'," answered +Hal Purvis. + +The sound was quite audible now. + +"They's been some crooked work," said Rhinehart excitedly. "Somebody's +tipped off the marshals about where we're lyin'." + +"All right," said Haines quietly, "you and I will investigate." + +They started through the willows. Rhinehart was cursing beneath his +breath. + +"Don't be too fast with your six-gun," warned Haines. + +"I'd rather be too early than too late." + +"Maybe it isn't a marshal. If a man were looking for us he'd be a fool +to come smashing along like that." + +He had scarcely spoken when Kate came into view. + +"A girl, by God!" said Rhinehart, with mingled relief and disgust. + +"Sure thing," agreed Haines. + +"Let's beat it back to the camp." + +"Not a hope. She's headed straight for the camp. We'll take her in and +tell her we're a bunch from the Y Circle X outfit headed north. She'll +never know the difference." + +"Good idea," said Rhinehart, and he added with a chuckle, "it's been +nigh three months since I've talked to a piece of calico." + +"Hey, there!" called Haines, and he stepped out with Rhinehart before +her horse. + +"Oh!" cried Kate, reining up her horse sharply. "Who are you?" + +"A beaut!" muttered Rhinehart in devout admiration. + +"We're from the Y Circle X outfit," said Haines glibly, "camping over +here for the night. Are you lost, lady?" + +"I guess I am. I thought I could get across the willows before the +night fell. I'm trying to find a man who rode in this direction." + +"Come on into the camp," said Haines easily. "Maybe some of the boys +can put you on his track. What sort of a looking fellow is he?" + +"Rides a black horse and whistles a good deal. His name is Barry. They +call him Whistling Dan." + +"By God!" whispered Rhinehart in the ear of Haines. + +"Shut up!" answered Haines in the same tone. "Are you afraid of a +girl?" + +"I've trailed him south this far," went on Kate, "and a few miles away +from here I lost track of him. I think he may have gone on across the +willows." + +"Haven't seen him," said Rhinehart amiably. "But come on to the camp, +lady. Maybe one of the boys has spotted him on the way. What's your +name?" + +"Kate Cumberland," she answered. + +He removed his hat with a broad grin and reached up a hand to her. + +"I'm most certainly glad to meet you, an' my name's Shorty. This here +is Lee. Want to come along with us?" + +"Thank you. I'm a little worried." + +"'S all right. Don't get worried. We'll show you the way out. Just +follow us." + +They started back through the willows, Kate following half a dozen +yards behind. + +"Listen here, Shorty," said Haines in a cautious voice. "You heard her +name?" + +"Sure." + +"Well, that's the daughter of the man that raised Whistling Dan. I +saw her at Morgan's place. She's probably been tipped off that he's +following Silent, but she has no idea who we are." + +"Sure she hasn't. She's a great looker, eh, Lee?" + +"She'll do, I guess. Now get this: The girl is after Whistling Dan, +and if she meets him she'll persuade him to come back to her father's +place. She'll take him off our trail, and I guess none of us'll be +sorry to know that he's gone, eh?" + +"I begin to follow you, Lee. You've always had the head!" + +"All right. Now we'll get Purvis to tell the girl that he's heard a +peculiar whistling around here this evening. We'll advise her to stick +around and go out when she hears the whistling again. That way she'll +meet him and head him off, savvy?" + +"Right," said Rhinehart. + +"Then beat it ahead as fast as you can and wise up the boys." + +"That's me--specially about their bein' Y Circle X fellers, eh?" + +He chuckled and made ahead as fast as his long legs could carry him. +Haines dropped back beside Kate. + +"Everything goes finely," he assured her. "I told Rhinehart what to +do. He's gone ahead to the camp. Now all you have to do is to keep +your head. One of the boys will tell you that we've heard some +whistling near the camp this evening. Then I'll ask you to stay around +for a while in case the whistling should sound again, do you see? +Remember, never ask a question!" + +It was even more simple than Haines had hoped. Silent's men suspected +nothing. After all, Kate's deception was a small affair, and her +frankness, her laughter, and her beauty carried all before her. + +The long riders became quickly familiar with her, but through their +rough talk, the Westerners' reverence for a woman ran like a thread of +gold over a dark cloth. Her fear lessened and almost passed away while +she listened to their talk and watched their faces. The kindly human +nature which had lain unexpressed in most of them for months together +burst out torrent-like and flooded about her with a sense of security +and power. These were conquerors of men, fighters by instinct and +habit, but here they sat laughing and chattering with a helpless girl, +and not a one of them but would have cut the others' throats rather +than see her come to harm. The roughness of their past and the dread +of their future they laid aside like an ugly cloak while they showed +her what lies in the worst man's heart--a certain awe of woman. Their +manners underwent a sudden change. Polite words, rusted by long +disuse, were resurrected in her honour. Tremendous phrases came +labouring forth. There was a general though covert rearranging of +bandanas, and an interchange of self-conscious glances. Haines alone +seemed impervious to her charm. + +The red died slowly along the west. There was no light save the +flicker of the fire, which played on Kate's smile and the rich gold of +her hair, or caught out of the dark one of the lean, hard faces which +circled her. Now and then it fell on the ghastly grin of Terry Jordan +and Kate had to clench her hand to keep up her nerve. + +It was deep night when Jim Silent rode into the clearing. Shorty +Rhinehart and Hal Purvis went to him quickly to explain the presence +of the girl and the fact that they were all members of the Y Circle +X outfit. He responded with nods while his gloomy eyes held fast on +Kate. When they presented him as the boss, Jim, he replied to her +good-natured greeting in a voice that was half grunt and half growl. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +DELILAH + +Haines muttered at Kate's ear: "This is the man. Now keep up your +courage." + +"He doesn't like this," went on Haines in the same muffled voice, "but +when he understands just why you're here I think he'll be as glad as +any of us." + +Silent beckoned to him and he went to the chief. + +"What about the girl?" asked the big fellow curtly. + +"Didn't Rhinehart tell you?" + +"Rhinehart's a fool and so are the rest of them. Have you gone loco +too, Haines, to let a girl come here?" + +"Where's the harm?" + +"Why, damn it, she's marked every man here." + +"I let her in because she is trying to get hold of Whistling Dan." + +"Which no fool girl c'n take that feller off the trail. Nothin' but +lead can do that." + +"I tell you," said Haines, "the boy's in love with her. I watched them +at Morgan's place. She can twist him around her finger." + +A faint light broke the gloom of Silent's face. + +"Yaller hair an' blue eyes. They c'n do a lot. Maybe you're right. +What's that?" His voice had gone suddenly husky. + +A russet moon pushed slowly up through the trees. Its uncertain light +fell across the clearing. For the first time the thick pale smoke of +the fire was visible, rising straight up until it cleared the tops of +the willows, and then caught into swift, jagging lines as the soft +wind struck it. A coyote wailed from the distant hills, and before +his complaint was done another sound came through the hushing of the +willows, a melancholy whistling, thin with distance. + +"We'll see if that's the man you want," suggested Haines. + +"I'll go along," said Shorty Rhinehart. + +"And me too," said a third. The whole group would have accompanied +them, but the heavy voice of Jim Silent cut in: "You'll stay here, all +of you except the girl and Lee." + +They turned back, muttering, and Kate followed Haines into the +willows. + +"Well?" growled Bill Kilduff. + +"What I want to know--" broke in Terry Jordan. + +"Go to hell with your questions," said Silent, "but until you go there +you'll do what I say, understand?" + +"Look here, Jim," said Hal Purvis, "are you a king an' we jest your +slaves, maybe?" + +"You're goin' it a pile too hard," said Shorty Rhinehart. + +Every one of these speeches came sharply out while they glared at +Jim Silent. Hands were beginning to fall to the hip and fingers were +curving stiffly as if for the draw. Silent leaned his broad shoulders +against the side of his roan and folded his arms. His eyes went round +the circle slowly, lingering an instant on each face. Under that cold +stare they grew uneasy. To Shorty Rhinehart it became necessary to +push back his hat and scratch his forehead. Terry Jordan found a +mysterious business with his bandana. Every one of them had occasion +to raise his hand from the neighbourhood of his six-shooter. Silent +smiled. + +"A fine, hard crew you are," he said sarcastically at last. "A great +bunch of long riders, lettin' a slip of a yaller-haired girl make +fools of you. You over there--you, Shorty Rhinehart, you'd cut the +throat of a man that looked crosswise at the Cumberland girl, wouldn't +you? An' you, Purvis, you're aching to get at me, ain't you? An' +you're still thinkin' of them blue eyes, Jordan?" + +Before any one could speak he poured in another volley between wind +and water: "One slip of a girl can make fools out of five long riders? +No, you ain't long riders. All you c'n handle is hobby hosses!" + +"What do you want us to do?" growled swarthy Bill Kilduff. + +"Keep your face shut while I'm talkin', that's what I want you to do!" + +There was a devil of rage in his eyes. His folded arms tugged at each +other, and if they got free there would be gun play. The four men +shrank, and he was satisfied. + +"Now I'll tell you what we're goin' to do," he went on. "We're goin' +out after Haines an' the girl. If they come up with this Whistlin' Dan +we're goin' to surround him an' fill him full of lead, while they're +talkin'." + +"Not for a million dollars!" burst in Hal Purvis. + +"Not in a thousan' years!" echoed Terry Jordan. + +Silent turned his watchful eyes from one to the other. They were ready +to fight now, and he sensed it at once. + +"Why?" he asked calmly. + +"It ain't playin' square with the girl," announced Rhinehart. + +"Purvis," said Silent, for he knew that the opposition centred in the +figure of the venomous little gun fighter; "if you seen a mad dog +that was runnin' straight at you, would you be kep' from shootin' it +because a pretty girl hollered out an' asked you not to?" + +Their eyes shifted rapidly from one to another, seeking a way out, and +finding none. + +"An' is there any difference between this hero Whistlin' Dan an' a mad +dog?" + +Still they were mute. + +"I tell you, boys, we got a better chance of dodgin' lightnin' an' +puttin' a bloodhound off our trail than we have of gettin' rid of this +Whistlin' Dan. An' when he catches up with us--well, all I'm askin' is +that you remember what he done to them four dollars before they hit +the dust?" + +"The chief's right," growled Kilduff, staring down at the ground. +"It's Whistlin' Dan or us. The mountains ain't big enough to hold him +an' us!" + + * * * * * + +Before Whistling Dan the great wolf glided among the trees. For a full +hour they had wandered through the willows in this manner, and Dan had +made up his mind to surrender the search when Bart, returning from +one of his noiseless detours, sprang out before his master and whined +softly. Dan turned, loosening his revolver in the holster, and +followed Bart through the soft gloom of the tree shadows and the +moonlight. His step was almost as silent as that of the slinking +animal which went before. At last the wolf stopped and raised his +head. Almost instantly Dan saw a man and a woman approaching through +the willows. The moonlight dropped across her face. He recognized +Kate, with Lee Haines walking a pace before her. + +"Stand where you are," he said. + +Haines leaped to one side, his revolver flashing in his hand. Dan +stepped out before them while Black Bart slunk close beside him, +snarling softly. + +He seemed totally regardless of the gun in Haines's hand. His manner +was that of a conqueror who had the outlaw at his mercy. + +"You," he said, "walk over there to the side of the clearing." + +"Dan!" cried Kate, as she went to him with extended arms. + +He stopped her with a gesture, his eyes upon Haines, who had moved +away. + +"Watch him, Bart," said Dan. + +The black wolf ran to Haines and crouched snarling at his feet. The +outlaw restored his revolver to his holster and stood with his arms +folded, his back turned. Dan looked to Kate. At the meeting of their +eyes she shrank a little. She had expected a difficult task in +persuading him, but not this hard aloofness. She felt suddenly as if +she were a stranger to him. + +"How do you come here--with him?" + +"He is my friend!" + +"You sure pick a queer place to go walkin' with him." + +"Hush, Dan! He brought me here to find you!" + +"_He_ brought you here?" + +"Don't you understand?" + +"When I want a friend like him, I'll go huntin' for him myself; an' +I'll pack a gun with me!" + +That flickering yellow light played behind Dan's eyes. + +"I looked into his face--an' he stared the other way." + +She made a little imploring gesture, but his hand remained on his +hips, and there was no softening of his voice. + +"What fetched you here?" + +Every word was like a hand that pushed her farther away. + +"Are you dumb, Kate? What fetched you here?" + +"I have come to bring you home, Dan." + +"I'm home now." + +"What do you mean?" + +"There's the roof of my house," he jerked his hand towards the sky, +"the mountain passes are my doors--an' the earth is my floor." + +"No! no! We are waiting for you at the ranch." + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Dan, this wild trail has no end." + +"Maybe, but I know that feller can show me the way to Jim Silent, an' +now----" + +He turned towards Haines as he spoke, but here a low, venomous snarl +from Black Bart checked his words. Kate saw him stiffen--his lips +parted to a faint smile--his head tilted back a little as if he +listened intently, though she could hear nothing. She was not a yard +from him, and yet she felt a thousand miles away. His head turned full +upon her, and she would never forget the yellow light of his eyes. + +"Dan!" she cried, but her voice was no louder than a whisper. + +"Delilah!" he said, and leaped back into the shade of the willows. + +Even as he sprang she saw the flash of the moonlight on his drawn +revolver, and fire spat from it twice, answered by a yell of pain, +the clang of a bullet on metal, and half a dozen shots from the woods +behind her. + +That word "Delilah!" rang in her brain to the exclusion of all the +world. Vaguely she heard voices shouting--she turned a little and saw +Haines facing her with his revolver in his hand, but prevented from +moving by the wolf who crouched snarling at his feet. The order of his +master kept him there even after that master was gone. Now men ran out +into the clearing. A keen whistle sounded far off among the willows, +and the wolf leaped away from his prisoner and into the shadows on the +trail of Dan. + + * * * * * + +Tex Calder prided himself on being a light sleeper. Years spent in +constant danger enabled him to keep his sense of hearing alert even +when he slept. He had never been surprised. It was his boast that he +never would be. Therefore when a hand dropped lightly on his shoulder +he started erect from his blankets with a curse and grasped his +revolver. A strong grip on his wrist paralysed his fingers. Whistling +Dan leaned above him. + +"Wake up," said the latter. + +"What the devil--" breathed the marshal. "You travel like a cloud +shadow, Dan. You make no sound." + +"Wake up and talk to me." + +"I'm awake all right. What's happened?" + +There was a moment of silence while Dan seemed to be trying for +speech. + +Black Bart, at the other side of the clearing, pointed his nose at +the yellow moon and wailed. He was very close, but the sound was so +controlled that it seemed to come at a great distance from some wild +spirit wandering between earth and heaven. + +Instead of speaking Dan jumped to his feet and commenced pacing up and +down, up and down, a rapid, tireless stride; at his heels the wolf +slunk, with lowered head and tail. The strange fellow was in some +great trouble, Calder could see, and it stirred him mightily to know +that the wild man had turned to him for help. Yet he would ask no +questions. + +When in doubt the cattleman rolls a cigarette, and that was what +Calder did. He smoked and waited. At last the inevitable came. + +"How old are you, Tex?" + +"Forty-four." + +"That's a good deal. You ought to know something." + +"Maybe." + +"About women?" + +"Ah!" said Calder. + +"Bronchos is cut out chiefly after one pattern," went on Dan. + +"They's chiefly jest meanness. Are women the same--jest cut after one +pattern?" + +"What pattern, Dan?" + +"The pattern of Delilah! They ain't no trust to be put in 'em?" + +"A good many of us have found that out." + +"I thought one woman was different from the rest." + +"We all think that. Woman in particular is divine; woman in general +is--hell!" + +"Ay, but this one--" He stopped and set his teeth. + +"What has she done?" + +"She--" he hesitated, and when he spoke again his voice did not +tremble; there was a deep hurt and wonder in it: "She double-crossed +me!" + +"When? Do you mean to say you've met a woman tonight out here among +the willows?--Where--how----" + +"Tex----!" + +"Ay, Dan." + +"It's--it's hell!" + +"It is now. But you'll forget her! The mountains, the desert, and +above all, time--they'll cure you, my boy." + +"Not in a whole century, Tex." + +Calder waited curiously for the explanation. It came. + +"Jest to think of her is like hearing music. Oh, God, Tex, what c'n I +do to fight agin this here cold feelin' at my heart?" + +Dan slipped down beside the marshal and the latter dropped a +sympathetic hand over the lean, brown fingers. They returned the +pressure with a bone-crushing grip. + +"Fight, Dan! It will make you forget her." + +"Her skin is softer'n satin, Tex." + +"Ay, but you'll never touch it again, Dan." + +"Her eyes are deeper'n a pool at night an' her hair is all gold like +ripe corn." + +"You'll never look into her eyes again, Dan, and you'll never touch +the gold of that hair." + +"God!" + +The word was hardly more than a whisper, but it brought Black Bart +leaping to his feet. + +Dan spoke again: "Tex, I'm thankin' you for listenin' to me; I wanted +to talk. Bein' silent was burnin' me up. There's one thing more." + +"Fire it out, lad." + +"This evenin' I told you I hated no man but Jim Silent." + +"Yes." + +"An' now they's another of his gang. Sometime--when she's standin' +by--I'm goin' to take him by the throat till he don't breathe no more. +Then I'll throw him down in front of her an' ask her if she c'n kiss +the life back into his lips!" + +Calder was actually shaking with excitement, but he was wise enough +not to speak. + +"Tex!" + +"Ay, lad." + +"But when I've choked his damned life away----" + +"Yes?" + +"Ay, lad." + +"There'll be five more that seen her shamin' me. Tex--all hell is +bustin' loose inside me!" + +For a moment Calder watched, but that stare of cold hate mastered him. +He turned his head. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +THE CROSS ROADS + +As Black Bart raced away in answer to Dan's whistle, Kate recovered +herself from the daze in which she stood and with a sob ran towards +the willows, calling the name of Dan, but Silent sprang after her, and +caught her by the arm. She cried out and struggled vainly in his grip. + +"Don't follow him, boys!" called Silent. "He's a dog that can bite +while he runs. Stand quiet, girl!" + +Lee Haines caught him by the shoulder and jerked Silent around. His +hand held the butt of his revolver, and his whole arm trembled with +eagerness for the draw. + +"Take your hand from her, Jim!" he said. + +Silent met his eye with the same glare and while his left hand still +held Kate by both her wrists his right dropped to his gun. + +"Not when you tell me, Lee!" + +"Damn you, I say let her go!" + +"By God, Haines, I stand for too much from you!" + +And still they did not draw, because each of them knew that if the +crisis came it would mean death to them both. Bill Kilduff jumped +between them and thrust them back. + +He cried, "Ain't we got enough trouble without roundin' up work at +home? Terry Jordan is shot through the arm." + +Kate tugged at the restraining hand of Silent, not in an attempt to +escape, but in order to get closer to Haines. + +"Was this your friendship?" she said, her voice shaking with hate and +sorrow, "to bring me here as a lure for Whistling Dan? Listen to me, +all of you! He's escaped you now, and he'll come again. Remember him, +for he shan't forget you!" + +"You hear her?" said Silent to Haines. + +"Is this what you want me to turn loose?" + +"Silent," said Haines, "it isn't the girl alone you've double crossed. +You've crooked me, and you'll pay me for it sooner or later!" + +"Day or night, winter or summer, I'm willing to meet you an' fight it +out. Rhinehart and Purvis, take this girl back to the clearing!" + +They approached, Purvis still staring at the hand from which only a +moment before his gun had been knocked by the shot of Whistling Dan. +It was a thing which he could not understand--he had not yet lost a +most uncomfortable sense of awe. Haines made no objection when they +went off, with Kate walking between them. He knew, now that his blind +anger had left him, that it was folly to draw on a fight while the +rest of Silent's men stood around them. + +"An' the rest of you go back to the clearin'. I got somethin' to talk +over with Lee," said Silent. + +The others obeyed without question, and the leader turned back to his +lieutenant. For a moment longer they remained staring at each other. +Then Silent moved slowly forward with outstretched hand. + +"Lee," he said quietly, "I'm owin' you an apology an' I'm man enough +to make it." + +"I can't take your hand, Jim." + +Silent hesitated. + +"I guess you got cause to be mad, Lee," he said. "Maybe I played too +quick a hand. I didn't think about double crossin' you. I only seen +a way to get Whistlin' Dan out of our path, an' I took it without +rememberin' that you was the safeguard to the girl." + +Haines eyed his chief narrowly. + +"I wish to God I could read your mind," he said at last, "but I'll +take your word that you did it without thinking." + +His hand slowly met Silent's. + +"An' what about the girl now, Lee?" + +"I'll send her back to her father's ranch. It will be easy to put her +on the right way." + +"Don't you see no reason why you can't do that?" + +"Are you playing with me?" + +"I'm talkin' to you as I'd talk to myself. If she's loose she'll +describe us all an' set the whole range on our trail." + +Haines stared. + +Silent went on: "If we can't turn her loose, they's only one thing +left--an' that's to take her with us wherever we go." + +"On your honour, do you see no other way out?" + +"Do you?" + +"She may promise not to speak of it." + +"There ain't no way of changin' the spots of a leopard, Lee, an' there +ain't no way of keepin' a woman's tongue still." + +"How can we take a girl with us." + +"It ain't goin' to be for long. After we pull the job that comes on +the eighteenth, we'll blow farther south an' then we'll let her go." + +"And no harm will come to her while she's with us?" + +"Here's my hand on it, Lee." + +"How can she ride with us?" + +"She won't go as a woman. I've thought of that. I brought out a new +outfit for Purvis from Elkhead--trousers, chaps, shirts, an' all. He's +small. They'll near fit the girl." + +"There isn't any other way, Jim?" + +"I leave it to you. God knows I don't want to drag any damn calico +aroun' with us." + +As they went back towards their clearing they arranged the details. +Silent would take the men aside and explain his purpose to them. +Haines could inform the girl of what she must do. Just before they +reached the camp Silent stopped short and took Haines by the shoulder. + +"They's one thing I can't make out, Lee, an' that's how Whistlin' Dan +made his getaway. I'd of bet a thousand bones that he would be dropped +before he could touch his shootin' irons. An' then what happened? Hal +Purvis jest flashed a gun--and that feller shot it out'n his hand. +I never seen a draw like that. His hand jest seemed to twitch--I +couldn't follow the move he made--an' the next second his gun went +off." + +He stared at Lee with a sort of fascinated horror. + +"Silent," said Haines, "can you explain how the lightning comes down +out of the sky?" + +"Of course not." + +"Then don't ask me to explain how Whistling Dan made his getaway. One +minute I heard him talkin' with the girl. The next second there was +two shots and when I whirled he was gone. But he'll come back, Jim. +We're not through with him. He slipped away from you and your men like +water out of a sieve, but we won't slip away from him the same way." + +Silent stared on again with bowed head. + +"He liked the girl, Lee?" + +"Any one could see that." + +"Then while she's with us he'll go pretty slow. Lee, that's another +reason why she's got to stay with us. My frien', it's time we was +moving out from the willows. The next time he comes up with us he +won't be numb in the head. He'll be thinkin' fast an' he'll be +shootin' a damn sight faster. We got two jobs ahead of us--first to +get that Wells Fargo shipment, and then to get Whistling Dan. There +ain't room enough in the whole world for him and me." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +THE THREE OF US + +In the clearing of Whistling Dan and Tex Calder the marshal had turned +into his blankets once more. There was no thought of sleep in Dan's +mind. When the heavy breathing of the sleeper began he rose and +commenced to pace up and down on the farther side of the open space. +Two pairs of glowing eyes followed him in every move. Black Bart, who +trailed him up and down during the first few turns he made, now sat +down and watched his master with a wistful gaze. The black stallion, +who lay more like a dog than a horse on the ground, kept his ears +pricked forwards, as if expecting some order. Once or twice he +whinnied very softly, and finally Dan sat down beside Satan, his +shoulders leaned against the satiny side and his arms flung out along +the stallion's back. Several times he felt hot breath against his +cheek as the horse turned a curious head towards him, but he paid no +attention, even when the stallion whinnied a question in his ear. In +his heart was a numb, strange feeling which made him weak. He was even +blind to the fact that Black Bart at last slipped into the shadows of +the willows. + +Presently something cold touched his chin. He found himself staring +into the yellow-green eyes of Black Bart, who panted from his run, and +now dropped from his mouth something which fell into Dan's lap. It +was the glove of Kate Cumberland. In the grasp of his long nervous +fingers, how small it was!; and yet the hand which had wrinkled the +leather was strong enough to hold the heart of a man. He slipped and +caught the shaggy black head of Bart between his hands. The wolf +knew--in some mysterious way he knew! + +The touch of sympathy unnerved him. All his sorrow and his weakness +burst on his soul in a single wave. A big tear struck the shining nose +of the wolf. + +"Bart!" he whispered. "Did you figger on plumb bustin' my heart, pal?" + +To avoid those large melancholy eyes, Bart pressed his head inside of +his master's arms. + +"Delilah!" whispered Dan. + +After that not a sound came from the three, the horse, the dog, or +the man. Black Bart curled up at the feet of his master and seemed to +sleep, but every now and then an ear raised or an eye twitched open. +He was on guard against a danger which he did not understand. The +horse, also, with a high head scanned the circling willows, alert; but +the man for whom the stallion and the wolf watched gave no heed to +either. There was a vacant and dreamy expression in his eye as if he +was searching his own inner heart and found there the greatest enemy +of all. All night they sat in this manner, silent, moveless; the +animals watching against the world, the man watching against himself. +Before dawn he roused himself suddenly, crossed to the sleeping +marshal, and touched him on the arm. + +"It's time we hit the trail," he said, as Calder sat up in the +blanket. + +"What's happened? Isn't it our job to comb the willows?" + +"Silent ain't in the willows." + +Calder started to his feet. + +"How do you know?" + +"They ain't close to us, that's all I know." + +Tex smiled incredulously. + +"I suppose," he said good humouredly, "that your _instinct_ brought you +this message?" + +"Instinct?" repeated Dan blankly, "I dunno." + +Calder grew serious. + +"We'll take a chance that you may be right. At least we can ride down +the river bank and see if there are any fresh tracks in the sand. If +Silent started this morning I have an idea he'll head across the river +and line out for the railroad." + +In twenty minutes their breakfast was eaten and they were in the +saddle. The sun had not yet risen when they came out of the willows to +the broad shallow basin of the river. In spring, when the snow of the +mountains melted, that river filled from bank to bank with a yellow +torrent; at the dry season of the year it was a dirty little creek +meandering through the sands. Down the bank they rode at a sharp trot +for a mile and a half until Black Bart, who scouted ahead of them at +his gliding wolf-trot, came to an abrupt stop. Dan spoke to Satan and +the stallion broke into a swift gallop which left the pony of Tex +Calder labouring in the rear. When they drew rein beside the wolf, +they found seven distinct tracks of horses which went down the bank +of the river and crossed the basin. Calder turned with a wide-eyed +amazement to Dan. + +"You're right again," he said, not without a touch of vexation in his +voice; "but the dog stopped at these tracks. How does he know we are +hunting for Silent's crew?" + +"I dunno," said Dan, "maybe he jest suspects." + +"They can't have a long start of us," said Calder. "Let's hit the +trail. Well get them before night." + +"No," said Dan, "we won't." + +"Why won't we?" + +"I've seen Silent's hoss, and I've ridden him. If the rest of his gang +have the same kind of hoss flesh, you c'n never catch him with that +cayuse of yours." + +"Maybe not today," said Calder, "but in two days we'll run him down. +Seven horses can't travel as two in a long chase." + +They started out across the basin, keeping to the tracks of Silent's +horses. It was the marshal's idea that the outlaws would head on a +fairly straight line for the railroad and accordingly when they lost +the track of the seven horses they kept to this direction. Twice +during the day they verified their course by information received once +from a range rider and once from a man in a dusty buck-board. Both of +these had sighted the fast travelling band, but each had seen it pass +an hour or two before Calder and Dan arrived. Such tidings encouraged +the marshal to keep his horse at an increasing speed; but in the +middle of the afternoon, though black Satan showed little or no signs +of fatigue, the cattle-pony was nearly blown and they were forced to +reduce their pace to the ordinary dog-trot. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +THE PANTHER'S PAW + +Evening came and still they had not sighted the outlaws. As dark fell +they drew near a house snuggled away among a group of cottonwoods. +Here they determined to spend the night, for Calder's pony was now +almost exhausted. A man of fifty came from the house in answer to +their call and showed them the way to the horse-shed. While they +unsaddled their horses he told them his name was Sam Daniels, yet +he evinced no curiosity as to the identity of his guests, and they +volunteered no information. His eyes lingered long and fondly over the +exquisite lines of Satan. From behind, from the side, and in front, he +viewed the stallion while Dan rubbed down the legs of his mount with +a care which was most foreign to the ranges. Finally the cattleman +reached out a hand toward the smoothly muscled shoulders. + +It was Calder who stood nearest and he managed to strike up Daniels's +extended arm and jerk him back from the region of danger. + +"What'n hell is that for?" exclaimed Daniels. + +"That horse is called Satan," said Calder, "and when any one save his +owner touches him he lives up to his name and raises hell." + +Before Daniels could answer, the light of his lantern fell upon Black +Bart, hitherto half hidden by the deepening shadows of the night, +but standing now at the entrance of the shed. The cattleman's teeth +clicked together and he slapped his hand against his thigh in a reach +for the gun which was not there. + +"Look behind you," he said to Calder. "A wolf!" + +He made a grab for the marshal's gun, but the latter forestalled him. + +"Go easy, partner," he said, grinning, "that's only the running +mate of the horse. He's not a wolf, at least not according to his +owner--and as for being wild--look at that!" + +Bart had stalked calmly into the shed and now lay curled up exactly +beneath the feet of the stallion. + +The two guests received a warmer welcome from Sam Daniels' wife when +they reached the house. Their son, Buck, had been expected home +for supper, but it was too late for them to delay the meal longer. +Accordingly they sat down at once and the dinner was nearly over when +Buck, having announced himself with a whoop as he rode up, entered, +banging the door loudly behind him. He greeted the strangers with a +careless wave of the hand and sat down at the table. His mother placed +food silently before him. No explanations of his tardiness were asked +and none were offered. The attitude of his father indicated clearly +that the boy represented the earning power of the family. He was a big +fellow with broad, thick wrists, and a straight black eye. When he had +eaten, he broke into breezy conversation, and especially of a vicious +mustang he had ridden on a bet the day before. + +"Speakin' of hosses, Buck," said his father, "they's a black out in +the shed right now that'd make your eyes jest nacherally pop out'n +their sockets. No more'n fifteen hands, but a reg'lar picture. Must be +greased lightnin'." + +"I've heard talk of these streaks of greased lightnin'," said Buck, +with a touch of scorn, "but I'll stack old Mike agin the best of +them." + +"An' there's a dog along with the hoss--a dog that's the nearest to a +wolf of any I ever seen." + +There was a sudden change in Buck--a change to be sensed rather than +definitely noted with the eye. It was a stiffening of his body--an +alertness of which he was at pains to make no show. For almost +immediately he began to whistle softly, idly, his eyes roving +carelessly across the wall while he tilted back in his chair. Dan +dropped his hand close to the butt of his gun. Instantly, the eyes of +Buck flashed down and centered on Dan for an instant of keen scrutiny. +Certainly Buck had connected that mention of the black horse and the +wolf-dog with a disturbing idea. + +When they went to their room--a room in which there was no bed and +they had to roll down their blankets on the floor--Dan opened the +window and commenced to whistle one of his own wild tunes. It seemed +to Calder that there was a break in that music here and there, and a +few notes grouped together like a call. In a moment a shadowy figure +leaped through the window, and Black Bart landed on the floor with +soft padding feet. + +Recovering from his start Calder cursed softly. + +"What's the main idea?" he asked. + +Dan made a signal for a lower tone. + +"There ain't no idea," he answered, "but these Daniels people--do you +know anything about them?" + +"No. Why?" + +"They interest me, that's all." + +"Anything wrong?" + +"I guess not." + +"Why did you whistle for this infernal wolf? It makes me nervous to +have him around. Get out, Bart." + +The wolf turned a languid eye upon the marshal. + +"Let him be," said Dan. "I don't feel no ways nacheral without havin' +Bart around." + +The marshal made no farther objections, and having rolled himself in +his blankets was almost immediately asleep and breathing heavily. The +moment Dan heard his companion draw breath with a telltale regularity, +he sat up again in his blankets. Bart was instantly at his side. He +patted the shaggy head lightly, and pointed towards the door. + +"Guard!" he whispered. + +Then he lay down and was immediately asleep. Bart crouched at his feet +with his head pointed directly at the door. + +In other rooms there was the sound of the Daniels family going to +bed--noises distinctly heard throughout the flimsy frame of the house. +After that a deep silence fell which lasted many hours, but in that +darkest moment which just precedes the dawn, a light creaking came up +the hall. It was very faint and it occurred only at long intervals, +but at the first sound Black Bart raised his head from his paws and +stared at the door with those glowing eyes which see in the dark. + +Now another sound came, still soft, regular. There was a movement of +the door. In the pitch dark a man could never have noticed it, but it +was plainly visible to the wolf. Still more visible, when the door +finally stood wide, was the form of the man who stood in the opening. +In one hand he carried a lantern thoroughly hooded, but not so well +wrapped that it kept back a single ray which flashed on a revolver. +The intruder made a step forward, a step as light as the fall of +feathers, but it was not half so stealthy as the movement of Black +Bart as he slunk towards the door. He had been warned to watch that +door, but it did not need a warning to tell him that a danger was +approaching the sleeping master. In the crouched form of the man, in +the cautious step, he recognized the unmistakable stalking of one who +hunts. Another soft step the man made forward. + +Then, with appalling suddenness, a blacker shadow shot up from the +deep night of the floor, and white teeth gleamed before the stranger's +face. He threw up his hand to save his throat. The teeth sank into +his arm--a driving weight hurled him against the wall and then to +the floor--the revolver and the lantern dropped clattering, and the +latter, rolling from its wrapping, flooded the room with light. But +neither man nor wolf uttered a sound. + +Calder was standing, gun in hand, but too bewildered to act, while +Dan, as if he were playing a part long rehearsed, stood covering the +fallen form of Buck Daniels. + +"Stand back from him, Bart!" he commanded. + +The wolf slipped off a pace, whining with horrible eagerness, for he +had tasted blood. Far away a shout came from Sam Daniels. Dan lowered +his gun. + +"Stand up," he ordered. + +The big fellow picked himself up and stood against the wall with the +blood streaming down his right arm. Still he said nothing and his keen +eyes darted from Calder to Whistling Dan. + +"Give me a strip of that old shirt over there, will you, Tex?" said +Dan, "an' keep him covered while I tie up his arm." + +Before Calder could move, old Daniels appeared at the door, a heavy +Colt in his hand. For a moment he stood dumbfounded, but then, with a +cry, jerked up his gun--a quick movement, but a fraction of a second +too slow, for the hand of Dan darted out and his knuckles struck the +wrist of the old cattleman. The Colt rattled on the floor. He lunged +after his weapon, but the voice of Buck stopped him short. + +"The game's up, Dad," he growled, "that older feller is Tex Calder." + +The name, like a blow in the face, straightened old Daniels and left +him white and blinking. Whistling Dan turned his back on the father +and deftly bound up the lacerated arm of Buck. + +"In the name o' God, Buck," moaned Sam, "what you been tryin' to do in +here?" + +"What you'd do if you had the guts for it. That's Tex Calder an' this +is Dan Barry. They're on the trail of big Jim. I wanted to put 'em off +that trail." + +"Look here," said Calder, "how'd you know us?" + +"I've said my little say," said Buck sullenly, "an' you'll get no more +out of me between here an' any hell you can take me to." + +"He knew us when his father talked about Satan an' Black Bart," said +Dan to Tex. "Maybe he's one of Silent's." + +"Buck, for God's sake tell 'em you know nothin' of Silent," cried old +Daniels. "Boy, boy, it's hangin' for you if they get you to Elkhead +an' charge you with that!" + +"Dad, you're a fool," said Buck. "I ain't goin' down on my knees to +'em. Not me." + +Calder, still keeping Buck covered with his gun, drew Dan a little to +one side. + +"What can we do with this fellow, Dan?" he said. "Shall we give up the +trail and take him over to Elkhead?" + +"An' break the heart of the ol' man?" + +"Buck is one of the gang, that's certain." + +"Get Silent an' there won't be no gang left." + +"But we caught this chap in red blood--" + +"He ain't very old, Tex. Maybe he could change. I think he ain't been +playin' Silent's game any too long." + +"We can't let him go. It isn't in reason to do that." + +"I ain't thinkin' of reason. I'm thinkin' of old Sam an' his wife." + +"And if we turn him loose?" + +"He'll be your man till he dies." + +Calder scowled. + +"The whole range is filled with these silent partners of the +outlaws--but maybe you're right, Dan. Look at them now!" + +The father was standing close to his son and pouring out a torrent of +appeal--evidently begging him in a low voice to disavow any knowledge +of Silent and his crew, but Buck shook his head sullenly. He had given +up hope. Calder approached them. + +"Buck," he said, "I suppose you know that you could be hung for what +you've tried to do tonight. If the law wouldn't hang you a lynching +party would. No jail would be strong enough to keep them away from +you." + +Buck was silent, dogged. + +"But suppose we were to let you go scot free?" + +Buck started. A great flush covered his face. + +"I'm taking the advice of Dan Barry in doing this," said Calder. +"Barry thinks you could go straight. Tell me man to man, if I give you +the chance will you break loose from Silent and his gang?" + +A moment before, Buck had been steeled for the worst, but this sudden +change loosened all the bonds of his pride. He stammered and choked. +Calder turned abruptly away. + +"Dan," he said, "here's the dawn, and it's time for us to hit the +trail." + +They rolled their blankets hastily and broke away from the gratitude +which poured like water from the heart of old Sam. They were in their +saddles when Buck came beside Dan. His pride, his shame, and his +gratitude broke his voice. + +"I ain't much on words," he said, "but it's you I'm thankin'!" + +His hand reached up hesitatingly, and Dan caught it in a firm grip. + +"Why," he said gently, "even Satan here stumbles now an' then, but +that ain't no reason I should get rid of him. Good luck--partner!" + +He shook the reins and the stallion leaped off after Calder's trotting +pony. Buck Daniels stood motionless looking after them, and his eyes +were very dim. + +For an hour Dan and Tex were on the road before the sun looked over +the hills. Calder halted his horse to watch. + +"Dan," he said at last, "I used to think there were only two ways of +handling men--one with the velvet touch and one with the touch of +steel. Mine has been the way of steel, but I begin to see there's a +third possibility--the touch of the panther's paw--the velvet with the +steel claws hid beneath. That's your way, and I wonder if it isn't the +best. I think Buck Daniels would be glad to die for you!" + +He turned directly to Dan. + +"But all this is aside from the point, which is that the whole country +is full of these silent partners of the outlaws. The law plays a lone +hand in the mountain-desert." + +"You've played the lone hand and won twenty times," said Dan. + +"Ay, but the twenty-first time I may fail. The difference between +success and failure in this country is just the length of time it +takes to pull a trigger--and Silent is fast with a gun. He's the root +of the outlaw power. We may kill a hundred men, but till he's gone +we've only mowed the weeds, not pulled them. But what's the use of +talking? One second will tell the tale when I stand face to face with +Jim Silent and we go for our six-guns. And somewhere between that +rising sun and those mountains I'll find Jim Silent and the end of +things for one of us." + +He started his cattle-pony into a sudden gallop, and they drove on +into the bright morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +CAIN + +Hardly a score of miles away, Jim Silent and his six companions topped +a hill. He raised his hand and the others drew rein beside him. Kate +Cumberland shifted her weight a little to one side of the saddle to +rest and looked down from the crest on the sweep of country below. A +mile away the railroad made a streak of silver light across the brown +range and directly before them stood the squat station-house with +red-tiled roof. Just before the house, a slightly broader streak of +that gleaming light showed the position of the siding rails. She +turned her head towards the outlaws. They were listening to the final +directions of their chief, and the darkly intent faces told their own +story. She knew, from what she had gathered of their casual hints, +that this was to be the scene of the train hold-up. + +It seemed impossible that this little group of men could hold the +great fabric of a train with all its scores of passengers at their +mercy. In spite of herself, half her heart wished them success. There +was Terry Jordan forgetful of the wound in his arm; Shorty Rhinehart, +his saturnine face longer and more calamitous than ever; Hal Purvis, +grinning and nodding his head; Bill Kilduff with his heavy jaw set +like a bull dog's; Lee Haines, with a lock of tawny hair blowing over +his forehead, smiling faintly as he listened to Silent as if he heard +a girl tell a story of love; and finally Jim Silent himself, huge, +solemn, confident. She began to feel that these six men were worth six +hundred. + +She hated them for some reasons; she feared them for others; but the +brave blood of Joe Cumberland was thick in her and she loved the +danger of the coming moment. Their plans were finally agreed upon, +their masks arranged, and after Haines had tied a similar visor over +Kate's face, they started down the hill at a swinging gallop. + +In front of the house of the station-agent they drew up, and while the +others were at their horses, Lee Haines dismounted and rapped loudly +at the door. It was opened by a grey-bearded man smoking a pipe. +Haines covered him. He tossed up his hands and the pipe dropped from +his mouth. + +"Who's in the house here with you?" asked Haines. + +"Not a soul!" stammered the man. "If you're lookin' for money you c'n +run through the house. You won't find a thing worth takin'." + +"I don't want money. I want you," said Haines; and immediately +explained, "you're perfectly safe. All you have to do is to be +obliging. As for the money, you just throw open that switch and flag +the train when she rolls along in a few moments. We'll take care of +the rest. You don't have to keep your hands up." + +The hands came down slowly. For a brief instant the agent surveyed +Haines and the group of masked men who sat their horses a few paces +away, and then without a word he picked up his flag from behind the +door and walked out of the house. Throughout the affair he never +uttered a syllable. Haines walked up to the head of the siding with +him while he opened the switch and accompanied him back to the point +opposite the station-house to see that he gave the "stop" signal +correctly. In the meantime two of the other outlaws entered the little +station, bound the telegrapher hand and foot, and shattered his +instrument. That would prevent the sending of any call for help after +the hold-up. Purvis and Jordan (since Terry could shoot with his left +hand in case of need) went to the other side of the track and lay down +against the grade. It was their business to open fire on the tops +of the windows as the train drew to a stop. That would keep the +passengers inside. The other four were distributed along the side +nearest to the station-house. Shorty Rhinehart and Bill Kilduff were +to see that no passengers broke out from the train and attempted a +flank attack. Haines would attend to having the fire box of the engine +flooded. For the cracking of the safe, Silent carried the stick of +dynamite. + +Now the long wait began. There is a dreamlike quality about bright +mornings in the open country, and everything seemed unreal to Kate. +It was impossible that tragedy should come on such a day. The moments +stole on. She saw Silent glance twice at his watch and scowl. +Evidently the train was late and possibly they would give up the +attempt. Then a light humming caught her ear. + +She held her breath and listened again. It was unmistakable--a slight +thing--a tremor to be felt rather than heard. She saw Haines peering +under shaded eyes far down the track, and following the direction of +his gaze she saw a tiny spot of haze on the horizon. The tiny puff of +smoke developed to a deeper, louder note. The station-agent took his +place on the track. + +Now the train bulked big, the engine wavering slightly to the +unevenness of the road bed. The flag of the station-agent moved. Kate +closed her eyes and set her teeth. There was a rumbling and puffing +and a mighty grinding--a shout somewhere--the rattle of a score of +pistol shots--she opened her eyes to see the train rolling to a stop +on the siding directly before her. + +Kilduff and Shorty Rhinehart, crouching against the grade, were +splintering the windows one by one with nicely placed shots. The +baggage-cars were farther up the siding than Silent calculated. He and +Haines now ran towards the head of the train. + +The fireman and engineer jumped from their cab, holding their arms +stiffly above their heads; and Haines approached with poised revolver +to make them flood the fire box. In this way the train would be +delayed for some time and before it could send out the alarm the +bandits would be far from pursuit. Haines had already reached the +locomotive and Silent was running towards the first baggage-car when +the door of that car slid open and at the entrance appeared two men +with rifles at their shoulders. As they opened fire Silent pitched to +the ground. Kate set her teeth and forced her eyes to stay open. + +Even as the outlaw fell his revolver spoke and one of the men threw up +his hands with a yell and pitched out of the open door. His companion +still kept his post, pumping shots at the prone figure. Twice more the +muzzle of Silent's gun jerked up and the second man crumpled on the +floor of the car. + +A great hissing and a jetting cloud of steam announced that Haines +had succeeded in flooding the fire box. Silent climbed into the first +baggage-car, stepping, as he did so, on the limp body of the Wells +Fargo agent, who lay on the road bed. A moment later he flung out the +body of the second messenger. The man flopped on the ground heavily, +face downwards, and then--greatest horror of all!--dragged himself +to his hands and knees and began to crawl laboriously. Kate ran and +dropped to her knees beside him. + +"Are you hurt badly?" she pleaded. "Where? Where?" + +He sagged to the ground and lay on his left side, breathing heavily. + +"Where is the wound?" she repeated. + +He attempted to speak, but only a bloody froth came to his lips. That +was sufficient to tell her that he had been shot through the lungs. + +She tore open his shirt and found two purple spots high on the chest, +one to the right, and one to the left. From that on the left ran a +tiny trickle of blood, but that on the right was only a small puncture +in the midst of a bruise. He was far past all help. + +"Speak to me!" she pleaded. + +His eyes rolled and then checked on her face. + +"Done for," he said in a horrible whisper, "that devil done me. +Kid--cut out--this life. I've played this game--myself--an' now--I'm +goin'--to hell for it!" + +A great convulsion twisted his face. + +"What can I do?" cried Kate. + +"Tell the world--I died--game!" + +His body writhed, and in the last agony his hand closed hard over +hers. It was like a silent farewell, that strong clasp. + +A great hand caught her by the shoulder and jerked her to her feet. + +"The charge is goin' off! Jump for it!" shouted Silent in her ear. + +She sprang up and at the same time there was a great boom from within +the car. The side bulged out--a section of the top lifted and fell +back with a crash--and Silent ran back into the smoke. Haines, Purvis, +and Kilduff were instantly at the car, taking the ponderous little +canvas sacks of coin as their chief handed them out. + +Within two minutes after the explosion ten small sacks were deposited +in the saddlebags on the horses which stood before the station-house. +Silent's whistle called in Terry Jordan and Shorty Rhinehart--a sharp +order forced Kate to climb into her saddle--and the train robbers +struck up the hillside at a racing pace. A confused shouting rose +behind them. Rifles commenced to crack where some of the passengers +had taken up the weapons of the dead guards, but the bullets flew +wide, and the little troop was soon safely out of range. + +On the other side of the hill-top they changed their course to the +right. For half an hour the killing pace continued, and then, as there +was not a sign of immediate chase, the lone riders drew down to a +soberer pace. Silent called: "Keep bunched behind me. We're headed for +the old Salton place--an' a long rest." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +REAL MEN + +Some people pointed out that Sheriff Gus Morris had never made a +single important arrest in the ten years during which he had held +office, and there were a few slanderers who spoke insinuatingly of the +manner in which the lone riders flourished in Morris's domain. These +"knockers," however, were voted down by the vast majority, who swore +that the sheriff was the finest fellow who ever threw leg over saddle. +They liked him for his inexhaustible good-nature, the mellow baritone +in which he sang the range songs at any one's request, and perhaps +more than all, for the very laxness with which he conducted his work. +They had had enough of the old school of sheriffs who lived a few +months gun in hand and died fighting from the saddle. The office had +never seemed desirable until Gus Morris ran for it and smiled his way +to a triumphant election. + +Before his career as an office-holder began, he ran a combined general +merchandise store, saloon, and hotel. That is to say, he ran the +hostelry in name. The real executive head, general manager, clerk, +bookkeeper, and cook, and sometimes even bartender was his daughter, +Jacqueline. She found the place only a saloon, and a poorly patronized +one at that. Her unaided energy gradually made it into a hotel, +restaurant, and store. Even while her father was in office he spent +most of his time around the hotel; but no matter how important he +might be elsewhere, in his own house he had no voice. There the only +law was the will of Jacqueline. + +Out of the stable behind this hostelry Dan and Tex Calder walked on +the evening of the train robbery. They had reached the place of the +hold-up a full two hours after Silent's crew departed; and the fireman +and engineer had been working frantically during the interim to clean +out the soaked fire box and get up steam again. Tex looked at the two +dead bodies, spoke to the conductor, and then cut short the voluble +explanations of a score of passengers by turning his horse and riding +away, followed by Dan. All that day he was gloomily silent. It was a +shrewd blow at his reputation, for the outlaws had actually carried +out the robbery while he was on their trail. Not till they came out of +the horse-shed after stabling their horses did he speak freely. + +"Dan," he said, "do you know anything about Sheriff Gus Morris?" + +"No" + +"Then listen to this and salt every word away. I'm an officer of the +law, but I won't tell that to Morris. I hope he doesn't know me. If he +does it will spoil our game. I am almost certain he is playing a close +hand with the lone riders. I'll wager he'd rather see a stick of +dynamite than a marshal. Remember when we get in that place that we're +not after Jim Silent or any one else. We're simply travelling cowboys. +No questions. I expect to learn something about the location of +Silent's gang while we're here, but we'll never find out except by +hints and chance remarks. We have to watch Morris like hawks. If he +suspects us he'll find a way to let Silent know we're here and then +the hunters will be hunted." + +In the house they found a dozen cattlemen sitting down at the table in +the dining-room. As they entered the room the sheriff, who sat at the +head of the table, waved his hand to them. + +"H'ware ye, boys?" he called. "You'll find a couple of chairs right in +the next room. Got two extra plates, Jac?" + +As Dan followed Tex after the chairs he noticed the sheriff beckon +to one of the men who sat near him. As they returned with the chairs +someone was leaving the room by another door. + +"Tex," he said, as they sat down side by side, "when we left the +dining-room for the chairs, the sheriff spoke to one of the boys and +as we came back one of them was leavin' through another door. D'you +think Morris knew you when you came in?" + +Calder frowned thoughtfully and then shook his head. + +"No," he said in a low voice. "I watched him like a hawk when we +entered. He didn't bat an eye when he saw me. If he recognized me he's +the greatest actor in the world, bar none! No, Dan, he doesn't know us +from Adam and Abel." + +"All right," said Dan, "but I don't like somethin' about this +place--maybe it's the smell of the air. Tex, take my advice an' keep +your gun ready for the fastest draw you ever made." + +"Don't worry about me," smiled Calder. "How about yourself?" + +"Hello," broke in Jacqueline from the end of the table. "Look who +we've picked in the draw!" + +Her voice was musical, but her accent and manner were those of a girl +who has lived all her life among men and has caught their ways--with +an exaggeration of that self-confidence which a woman always feels +among Western men. Her blue eyes were upon Dan. + +"Ain't you a long ways from home?" she went on. + +The rest of the table, perceiving the drift of her badgering, broke +into a rumbling bass chuckle. + +"Quite a ways," said Dan, and his wide brown eyes looked seriously +back at her. + +A yell of delight came from the men at this naive rejoinder. Dan +looked about him with a sort of childish wonder. Calder's anxious +whisper came at his side: "Don't let them get you mad, Dan!" +Jacqueline, having scored so heavily with her first shot, was by no +means willing to give up her sport. + +"With them big eyes, for a starter," she said, "all you need is long +hair to be perfect. Do your folks generally let you run around like +this?" + +Every man canted his ear to get the answer and already they were +grinning expectantly. + +"I don't go out much," returned the soft voice of Dan, "an' when I do, +I go with my friend, here. He takes care of me." + +Another thunder of laughter broke out. Jacqueline had apparently +uncovered a tenderfoot, and a rare one even for that absurd species. A +sandy-haired cattle puncher who sat close to Jacqueline now took the +cue from the mistress of the house. + +"Ain't you a bit scared when you get around among real men?" he asked, +leering up the table towards Dan. + +The latter smiled gently upon him. + +"I reckon maybe I am," he said amiably. + +"Then you must be shakin' in your boots right now," said the other +over the sound of the laughter. + +"No, said Dan," "I feel sort of comfortable." + +The other replied with a frown that would have intimidated a balky +horse. + +"What d'you mean? Ain't you jest said men made you sort of--nervous?" + +He imitated the soft drawl of Dan with his last words and raised +another yell of delight from the crowd. Whistling Dan turned his +gentle eyes upon Jacqueline. + +"Pardon me, ma'am," he began. + +An instant hush fell on the men. They would not miss one syllable of +the delightful remarks of this rarest of all tenderfoots, and the +prelude of this coming utterance promised something that would eclipse +all that had gone before. + +"Talk right out, Brown-eyes," said Jacqueline, wiping the tears of +delight from her eyes. "Talk right out as if you was a man. _I_ won't +hurt you." + +"I jest wanted to ask," said Dan, "if these are real men?" + +The ready laughter started, checked, and died suddenly away. The +cattlemen looked at each other in puzzled surprise. + +"Don't they look like it to you, honey?" asked Jacqueline curiously. + +Dan allowed his eyes to pass lingeringly around the table from face to +face. + +"I dunno," he said at last, "they look sort of queer to me." + +"For God's sake cut this short, Dan," pleaded Tex Calder in an +undertone. "Let them have all the rope they want. Don't trip up our +party before we get started." + +"Queer?" echoed Jacqueline, and there was a deep murmur from the men. + +"Sure," said Dan, smiling upon her again, "they all wear their guns so +awful high." + +Out of the dead silence broke the roar of the sandy-haired man: +"What'n hell d'you mean by that?" + +Dan leaned forward on one elbow, his right hand free and resting on +the edge of the table, but still his smile was almost a caress. + +"Why," he said, "maybe you c'n explain it to me. Seems to me that all +these guns is wore so high they's more for ornament than use." + +"You damned pup--" began Sandy. + +He stopped short and stared with a peculiar fascination at Dan, who +started to speak again. His voice had changed--not greatly, for its +pitch was the same and the drawl was the same--but there was a purr +in it that made every man stiffen in his chair and make sure that his +right hand was free. The ghost of his former smile was still on his +lips, but it was his eyes that seemed to fascinate Sandy. + +"Maybe I'm wrong, partner," he was saying, "an' maybe you c'n prove +that _your_ gun ain't jest ornamental hardware?" + +What followed was very strange. Sandy was a brave man and everyone at +that table knew it. They waited for the inevitable to happen. They +waited for Sandy's lightning move for his gun. They waited for the +flash and the crack of the revolver. It did not come. There followed a +still more stunning wonder. + +"You c'n see," went on that caressing voice of Dan, "that everyone +is waitin' for you to demonstrate--which the lady is most special +interested." + +And still Sandy did not move that significant right hand. It remained +fixed in air a few inches above the table, the fingers stiffly spread. +He moistened his white lips. Then--most strange of all!--his eyes +shifted and wandered away from the face of Whistling Dan. The others +exchanged incredulous glances. The impossible had happened--Sandy had +taken water! The sheriff was the first to recover, though his forehead +was shining with perspiration. + +"What's all this stuff about?" he called. "Hey, Sandy, quit pickin' +trouble with the stranger!" + +Sandy seized the loophole through which to escape with his honour. He +settled back in his chair. + +"All right, gov'nor," he said, "I won't go spoilin' your furniture. I +won't hurt him." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +ONE TRAIL ENDS + +But this deceived no one. They had seen him palpably take water. A +moment of silence followed, while Sandy stared whitefaced down at the +table, avoiding all eyes; but all the elements of good breeding exist +under all the roughness of the West. It was Jacqueline who began with +a joke which was rather old, but everyone appreciated it--at that +moment--and the laughter lasted long enough to restore some of the +colour to Sandy's face. A general rapid fire of talk followed. + +"How did you do it?" queried Calder. "I was all prepared for a +gun-play." + +"Why, you seen I didn't do nothin'." + +"Then what in the world made Sandy freeze while his hand was on the +way to his gun?" + +"I dunno," sighed Dan, "but when I see his hand start movin' I sort of +wanted his blood--I _wanted_ him to keep right on till he got hold of +his gun--and maybe he seen it in my eyes an' that sort of changed his +mind." + +"I haven't the least doubt that it did," said Calder grimly. + +At the foot of the table Jacqueline's right-hand neighbour was saying: +"What happened, Jac?" + +"Don't ask me," she replied. "All I know is that I don't think any +less of Sandy because he backed down. I saw that stranger's face +myself an' I'm still sort of weak inside." + +"How did he look?" + +"I dunno. Jest--jest _hungry_. Understand?" + +She was silent for a time, but she was evidently thinking hard. At +last she turned to the same man. + +"Did you hear Brown-eyes say that the broad-shouldered feller next to +him was his friend?" + +"Sure. I seen them ride in together. That other one looks like a hard +nut, eh?" + +She returned no answer, but after a time her eyes raised slowly and +rested for a long moment on Dan's face. It was towards the end of +the meal when she rose and went towards the kitchen. At the door +she turned, and Dan, though he was looking down at his plate, was +conscious that someone was observing him. He glanced up and the moment +his eyes met hers she made a significant backward gesture with her +hand. He hesitated a moment and then shoved back his chair. Calder was +busy talking to a table mate, so he walked out of the house without +speaking to his companion. He went to the rear of the house and as he +had expected she was waiting for him. + +"Brown-eyes," she said swiftly, "that feller who sat beside you--is he +your partner?" + +"I dunno," said Dan evasively, "why are you askin'?" + +Her breath was coming audibly as if from excitement. + +"Have you got a fast hoss?" + +"There ain't no faster." + +"Believe me, he can't go none too fast with you tonight. Maybe they're +after you, too." + +"Who?" + +"I can't tell you. Listen to me, Brown-eyes. Go get your hoss an' feed +him the spur till you're a hundred miles away, an' even then don't +stop runnin'." + +He merely stared at her curiously. + +She stamped. + +"Don't stop to talk. If they're after him and you're his partner, they +probably want you, too." + +"I'll stay aroun'. If they're curious about me, I'll tell 'em my +name--I'll even spell it for 'em. Who are they?" + +"They are--hell--that's all." + +"I'd like to see 'em. Maybe _they're_ real men." + +"They're devils. If I told you their names you'd turn stiff." + +"I'll take one chance. Tell me who they are." + +"I don't dare tell you." + +She hesitated. + +"I _will_ tell you! You've made a fool out of me with them big baby +eyes. Jim Silent is in that house!" + +He turned and ran, but not for the horse-shed; he headed straight for +the open door of the house. + + * * * * * + +In the dining-room two more had left the table, but the rest, +lingering over their fresh filled coffee cups, sat around telling +tales, and Tex Calder was among them. He was about to push back his +chair when the hum of talk ceased as if at a command. The men on the +opposite side of the table were staring with fascinated eyes at the +door, and then a big voice boomed behind him: "Tex Calder, stan' up. +You've come to the end of the trail!" + +He whirled as he rose, kicking down the chair behind him, and stood +face to face with Jim Silent. The great outlaw was scowling; but his +gun was in its holster and his hands rested lightly on his hips. It +was plain for all eyes to see that he had come not to murder but to +fight a fair duel. Behind him loomed the figure of Lee Haines scarcely +less imposing. + +All eternity seemed poised and waiting for the second when one of the +men would make the move for his gun. Not a breath was drawn in the +room. Hands remained frozen in air in the midst of a gesture. Lips +which had parted to speak did not close. The steady voice of the clock +broke into the silence--a dying space between every tick. For the +second time in his life Tex Calder knew fear. + +He saw no mere man before him, but his own destiny. And he knew that +if he stood before those glaring eyes another minute he would become +like poor Sandy a few minutes before--a white-faced, palsied coward. +The shame of the thought gave him power. + +"Silent," he said, "there's a quick end to the longest trail, +because--" + +His hand darted down. No eye could follow the lightning speed with +which he whipped out his revolver and fanned it, but by a mortal +fraction of a second the convulsive jerk of Silent's hand was faster +still. Two shots followed--they were rather like one drawn-out report. +The woodwork splintered above the outlaw's head; Tex Calder seemed to +laugh, but his lips made no sound. He pitched forward on his face. + +"He fired that bullet," said Silent, "after mine hit him." + +Then he leaped back through the door. + +"Keep 'em back one minute, Lee, an' then after me!" he said as he ran. +Haines stood in the door with folded arms. He knew that no one would +dare to move a hand. + +Two doors slammed at the same moment--the front door as Silent leaped +into the safety of the night, and the rear door as Whistling Dan +rushed into the house. He stood at the entrance from the kitchen to +the dining-room half crouched, and swaying from the suddenness with +which he had checked his run. He saw the sprawled form of Tex Calder +on the floor and the erect figure of Lee Haines just opposite him. + +"For God's sake!" screamed Gus Morris, "don't shoot, Haines! He's done +nothin'. Let him go!" + +"My life--or his!" said Haines savagely. "He's not a man--he's a +devil!" + +Dan was laughing low--a sound like a croon. + +"Tex," he said, "I'm goin' to take him alive for you!" + +As if in answer the dying man stirred on the floor. Haines went for +his gun, a move almost as lightning swift as that of Jim Silent, but +now far, far too late. The revolver was hardly clear of its holster +when Whistling Dan's weapon spoke. Haines, with a curse, clapped his +left hand over his wounded right forearm, and then reached after his +weapon as it clattered to the floor. Once more he was too late. Dan +tossed his gun away with a snarl like the growl of a wolf; cleared the +table at a leap, and was at Haines's throat. The bandit fought back +desperately, vainly. One instant they struggled erect, swaying, the +next Haines was lifted bodily, and hurled to the floor. He writhed, +but under those prisoning hands he was helpless. + +The sheriff headed the rush for the scene of the struggle, but Dan +stopped them. + +"All you c'n do," he said, "is to bring me a piece of rope." + +Jacqueline came running with a stout piece of twine which he twisted +around the wrists of Haines. Then he jerked the outlaw to his feet, +and stood close, his face inhumanly pale. + +"If he dies," he said, pointing with a stiff arm back at the prostrate +figure of Tex Calder, "you--you'll burn alive for it!" + +The sheriff and two of the other men turned the body of Calder on his +back. They tore open his shirt, and Jacqueline leaned over him with +a basin of water trying to wipe away the ever recurrent blood which +trickled down his breast. Dan brushed them away and caught the head of +his companion in his arms. + +"Tex!" he moaned, "Tex! Open your eyes, partner, I got him for you. I +got him alive for you to look at him! Wake up!" + +As if in obedience to the summons the eyes of Calder opened wide. The +lids fluttered as if to clear his vision, but even then his gaze was +filmed with a telltale shadow. + +"Dan--Whistling Dan," he said, "I'm seeing you a long, long ways off. +Partner, I'm done for." + +The whole body of Dan stiffened. + +"Done? Tex, you can't be! Five minutes ago you sat at that there +table, smilin' an' talkin'!" + +"It doesn't take five minutes. Half a second can take a man all the +way to hell!" + +"If you're goin', pal, if you goin', Tex, take one comfort along with +you! I got the man who killed you! Come here!" + +He pulled the outlaw to his knees beside the dying marshal whose face +had lighted wonderfully. He strained his eyes painfully to make out +the face of his slayer. Then he turned his head. + +He said: "The man who killed me was Jim Silent." + +Dan groaned and leaned close to Calder. + +"Then I'll follow him to the end--" he began. + +The feeble accent of Calder interrupted him. + +"Not that way. Come close to me. I can't hear my own voice, hardly." + +Dan bowed his head. A whisper murmured on for a moment, broken here +and there as Dan nodded his head and said, "Yes!" + +"Then hold up your hand, your right hand," said Calder at last, +audibly. + +Dan obeyed. + +"You swear it?" + +"So help me God!" + +"Then here's the pledge of it!" + +Calder fumbled inside his shirt for a moment, and then withdrawing his +hand placed it palm down in that of Dan. The breath of the marshal was +coming in a rattling gasp. + +He said very faintly: "I've stopped the trails of twenty men. It took +the greatest of them all to get me. He got me fair. He beat me to the +draw!" + +He stopped as if in awe. + +"He played square--he's a better man than I. Dan, when you get him, +do it the same way--face to face--with time for him to think of hell +before he gets there. Partner, I'm going. Wish me luck." + +"Tex--partner--good luck!" + +It seemed as if that parting wish was granted, for Calder died with a +smile. + +When Dan rose slowly Gus Morris stepped up and laid a hand on his +arm: "Look here, there ain't no use of bein' sad for Tex Calder. His +business was killin' men, an' his own time was overdue." + +Dan turned a face that made Morris wince. + +"What's the matter?" he asked, with an attempt at bluff good nature. +"Do you hate everyone because one man is dead? I'll tell you what I'll +do. I'll loan you a buckboard an' a pair of hosses to take Tex back to +Elkhead. As for this feller Haines, I'll take care of him." + +"I sure need a buckboard," said Dan slowly, "but I'll get the loan +from a--white man!" + +He turned his back sharply on the sheriff and asked if any one else +had a wagon they could lend him. One of the men had stopped at +Morris's place on his way to Elkhead. He immediately proposed that +they make the trip together. + +"All right," said Morris carelessly. "I won't pick trouble with a +crazy man. Come with me, Haines." + +He turned to leave the room. + +"Wait!" said Dan. + +Haines stopped as though someone had seized him by the shoulder. + +"What the devil is this now?" asked Morris furiously. "Stranger, d'you +think you c'n run the world? Come on with me, Haines!" + +"He stays with me," said Dan. + +"By God," began Morris, "if I thought--" + +"This ain't no place for you to begin thinkin'," said the man who had +offered his buckboard to Dan. "This feller made the capture an' he's +got the right to take him into Elkhead if he wants. They's a reward on +the head of Lee Haines." + +"The arrest is made in my county," said Morris stoutly, "an' I've got +the say as to what's to be done with a prisoner." + +"Morris," said Haines earnestly, "if I'm taken to Elkhead it'll be +simply a matter of lynching. You know the crowd in that town." + +"Right--right," said Morris, eagerly picking up the word. "It'd be +plain lynchin'--murder--" + +Dan broke in: "Haines, step over here behind me!" + +For one instant Haines hesitated, and then obeyed silently. + +"This is contempt of the law and an officer of the law," said Morris. +"An" I'll see that you get fined so that--" + +"Better cut it short there, sheriff," said one of the men. "I wouldn't +go callin' the attention of folks to the way Jim Silent walked into +your own house an' made his getaway without you tryin' to raise a +hand. Law or no law, I'm with this stranger." + +"Me too," said another; "any man who can fan a gun like him don't need +no law." + +The sheriff saw that the tide of opinion had set strongly against him +and abandoned his position with speed if not with grace. Dan ordered +Haines to walk before him outside the house. They faced each other in +the dim moonlight. + +"I've got one question to ask you," he said. + +"Make it short," said Haines calmly. "I've got to do my talking before +the lynching crowd." + +"You can answer it in one word. Does Kate Cumberland--what is she to +you?" + +Lee Haines set his teeth. + +"All the world," he said. + +Even in the dim light he saw the yellow glow of Dan's eyes and he +felt as if a wolf stood there trembling with eagerness to leap at his +throat. + +"An' what are you to her?" + +"No more than the dirt under her feet!" + +"Haines, you lie!" + +"I tell you that if she cared for me as much as she does for the horse +she rides on, I'd let the whole world know if I had to die for it the +next moment." + +Truth has a ring of its own. + +"Haines, if I could hear that from her own lips, I'd let you go free. +If you'll show me the way to Kate, I'll set you loose the minute I see +her." + +"I can't do it. I've given my faith to Silent and his men. Where she +is, they are." + +"Haines, that means death for you." + +"I know it." + +Another plan had come to Dan as they talked. He took Haines inside +again and coming out once more, whistled for Bart. The wolf appeared +as if by magic through the dark. He took out Kate's glove, which the +wolf had brought to him in the willows, and allowed him to smell it. +Bart whined eagerly. If he had that glove he would range the hills +until he found its owner, directed to her by that strange instinct +of the wild things. If Kate still loved him the glove would be more +eloquent than a thousand messages. And if she managed to escape, the +wolf would guide her back to his master. + +He sat on his heels, caught the wolf on either side of the shaggy +head, and stared into the glow of the yellow green eyes. It was as if +the man were speaking to the wolf. + +At last, as if satisfied, he drew a deep breath, rose, and dropped the +glove. It was caught in the flashing teeth. For another moment Bart +stood whining and staring up to the face of his master. Then he +whirled and fled out into the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +ONE WAY OUT + +In a room of the Salton place, on the evening of the next day after +Calder's death, sat Silent, with Kilduff, Rhinehart, and Jordan about +him. Purvis was out scouting for the news of Haines, whose long +absence commenced to worry the gang. Several times they tried to +induce Kate to come out and talk with them, but she was resolute +in staying alone in the room which they had assigned to her. +Consequently, to while away the time, Bill Kilduff produced his mouth +organ and commenced a dolorous ballad. He broke short in the midst of +it and stared at the door. The others followed the direction of his +eyes and saw Black Bart standing framed against the fading daylight. +They started up with curses; Rhinehart drew his gun. + +"Wait a minute," ordered Silent. + +"Damn it!" exclaimed Jordan, "don't you see Whistling Dan's wolf? If +the wolf's here, Dan isn't far behind." + +Silent shook his head. + +"If there's goin' to be any shootin' of that wolf leave it to Hal +Purvis. He's jest nacherally set his heart on it. An' Whistlin' Dan +ain't with the wolf. Look! there's a woman's glove hangin' out of his +mouth. He picked that up in the willows, maybe, an' followed the girl +here. Watch him!" + +The wolf slunk across the room to the door which opened on Kate's +apartment. Kate threw the door open--cried out at the sight of +Bart--and then snatched up the glove he let drop at her feet. + +"No cause for gettin' excited," said Silent. "Whistlin' Dan ain't +comin' here after the wolf." + +For answer she slammed the door. + +At the same moment Hal Purvis entered. He stepped directly to Silent, +and stood facing him with his hands resting on his hips. His smile was +marvellously unpleasant. + +"Well," said the chief, "what's the news? You got eloquent eyes, Hal, +but I want words." + +"The news is plain hell," said Purvis, "Haines--" + +"What of him?" + +"He's in Elkhead!" + +"Elkhead?" + +"Whistling Dan got him at Morris's place and took him in along with +the body of Tex Calder. Jim, you got to answer for it to all of us. +You went to Morris's with Lee. You come away without him and let him +stay behind to be nabbed by that devil Whistlin' Dan." + +"Right," said Kilduff, and his teeth clicked. "Is that playin' fair?" + +"Boys," said Silent solemnly, "if I had knowed that Whistlin' Dan was +there, I'd of never left Haines to stay behind. Morris said nothin' +about Calder havin' a runnin' mate. Me an' Haines was in the upstairs +room an' about suppertime up came a feller an' told us that Tex Calder +had jest come into the dinin'-room. That was all. Did Whistlin' Dan +get Lee from behind?" + +"He got him from the front. He beat Lee to the draw so bad that Haines +hardly got his gun out of its leather!" + +"The feller that told you that lied," said Silent. "Haines is as fast +with his shootin' iron as I am--almost!" + +The rest of the outlaws nodded to each other significantly. + +Purvis went on without heeding the interruption. "After I found out +about the fight I swung towards Elkhead. About five miles out of town +I met up with Rogers, the deputy sheriff at Elkhead. I thought you had +him fixed for us, Jim?" + +"Damn his hide, I did. Is he playing us dirt now?" + +"A frosty mornin' in December was nothin' to the way he talked." + +"Cut all that short," said Rhinehart, "an' let's know if Rogers is +goin' to be able to keep the lynching party away from Haines!" + +"He says he thinks it c'n be done for a couple of days," said Purvis, +"but the whole range is risin'. All the punchers are ridin' into +Elkhead an' wantin' to take a look at the famous Lee Haines. Rogers +says that when enough of 'em get together they'll take the law in +their own hands an' nothin' can stop 'em then." + +"Why don't the rotten dog give Haines a chance to make a getaway?" +asked Silent. "Ain't we paid him his share ever since we started +workin' these parts?" + +"He don't dare take the chance," said Purvis. "He says the boys are +talkin' mighty strong. They want action. They've put up a guard all +around the jail an' they say that if Haines gets loose they'll string +up Rogers. Everyone's wild about the killin' of Calder. Jim, ol' +Saunderson, he's put up five thousand out of his own pocket to raise +the price on your head!" + +"An' this Whistlin' Dan," said Silent. "I s'pose they're makin' a hero +out of him?" + +"Rogers says every man within ten miles is talkin' about him. The +whole range'll know of him in two days. He made a nice play when he +got in. You know they's five thousand out on Haines's head. It was +offered to him by Rogers as soon as Dan brought Lee in. What d'you +think he done? Pocketed the cheque? No, he grabbed it, an' tore it up +small: 'I ain't after no blood money,' he says." + +"No," said Silent. "He ain't after no money--he's after me!" + +"Tomorrow they bury Calder. The next day Whistlin' Dan'll be on our +trail again--an' he'll be playin' the same lone hand. Rogers offered +him a posse. He wouldn't take it." + +"They's one pint that ain't no nearer bein' solved," said Bill Kilduff +in a growl, "an' that's how you're goin' to get Haines loose. Silent, +it's up to you. Which you rode away leavin' him behind." + +Silent took one glance around that waiting circle. Then he nodded. + +"It's up to me. Gimme a chance to think." + +He started walking up and down the room, muttering. At last he stopped +short. + +"Boys, it can be done! They's nothin' like talkin' of a woman to make +a man turn himself into a plumb fool, an' I'm goin' to make a fool out +of Whistlin' Dan with this girl Kate!" + +"But how in the name of God c'n you make her go out an' talk to him?" +said Rhinehart. + +"Son," answered Silent, "they's jest one main trouble with you--you +talk a hell of a pile too much. When I've done this I'll tell you how +it was figgered out!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +THE WOMAN'S WAY + +It was a day later, in the morning, that a hand knocked at Kate's door +and she opened it to Jim Silent. He entered, brushing off the dust of +a long journey. + +"Good-mornin', Miss Cumberland." + +He extended a hand which she overlooked. + +"You still busy hatin' me?" + +"I'm simply--surprised that you have come in here to talk to me." + +"You look as if you seen somethin' in my face?" he said suspiciously. +"What is it? Dirt?" + +He brushed a hand across his forehead. + +"Whatever it is," she answered, "you can't rub it away." + +"I'm thinkin' of givin' you a leave of absence--if you'll promise to +come back." + +"Would you trust my honour?" + +"In a pinch like this," he said amiably, "I would. But here's my +business. Lee Haines is jailed in Elkhead. The man that put him behind +the bars an' the only one that can take him out agin is Whistlin' Dan. +An' the one person who can make Dan set Lee loose is you. Savvy? Will +you go an' talk with Dan? This wolf of his would find him for you." + +She shook her head. + +"Why not?" cried Silent in a rising voice. + +"The last time he saw me," she said, "he had reason to think that I +tried to betray him because of Lee Haines. If I went to him now to +plead for Haines he'd be sure that I was what he called me--Delilah!" + +"Is that final?" + +"Absolutely!" + +"Now get me straight. They's a crowd of cowpunchers gatherin' in +Elkhead, an' today or tomorrow they'll be strong enough to take the +law into their own hands and organize a little lynchin' bee, savvy?" + +She shuddered. + +"It ain't pleasant, is it, the picture of big, good-lookin' Lee +danglin' from the end of a rope with the crowd aroun' takin' pot-shots +at him? No, it ain't, an' you're goin' to stop it. You're goin' to +start from here in fifteen minutes with your hoss an' this wolf, after +givin' me your promise to come back when you've seen Whistlin' Dan. +You're goin' to make Dan go an' set Lee loose." + +She smiled in derision. + +"If Dan did that he'd be outlawed." + +"You won't stir?" + +"Not a step!" + +"Well, kid, for everything that happens to Lee somethin' worse will +happen to someone in the next room. Maybe you'd like to see him?" + +He opened the door and she stepped into the entrance. Almost opposite +her sat old Joe Cumberland with his hands tied securely behind his +back. At sight of her he rose with a low cry. She turned on big Silent +and whipped the six-gun from his hip. He barely managed to grasp her +wrist and swing the heavy revolver out of line with his body. + +"You little fiend," he snarled, "drop the gun, or I'll wring your +neck." + +"I don't fear you," she said, never wincing under the crushing grip on +her wrists, "you murderer!" + +He said, calmly repossessing himself of his gun, "Now take a long look +at your father an' repeat all the things you was just saying' to me." + +She stared miserably at her father. When Silent caught Kate's hand +Cumberland had started forward, but Kilduff and Rhinehart held him. + +"What is it, Kate," he cried. "What does it mean?" + +She explained it briefly: "This is Jim Silent!" + +He remained staring at her with open mouth as if his brain refused to +admit what his ear heard. + +"There ain't no use askin' questions how an' why she's here," said +Silent. "This is the pint. Lee Haines is behind the bars in Elkhead. +Whistlin' Dan put him there an' maybe the girl c'n persuade Dan to +bring him out again. If she don't--then everything the lynchin' gang +does to Haines we're goin' to do to you. Git down on your ol' knees, +Cumberland, an' beg your daughter to save your hide!" + +The head of Kate dropped down. + +"Untie his hands," she said. "I'll talk with Dan." + +"I knew you'd see reason," grinned Silent. + +"Jest one minute," said Cumberland. "Kate, is Lee Haines one of +Silent's gang?" + +"He is." + +"An' Dan put him behind the bars?" + +"Yes." + +"If Dan takes him out again the boy'll be outlawed, Kate." + +"Cumberland," broke in Kilduff savagely, "here's your call to stop +thinkin' about Whistlin' Dan an' begin figgerin' for yourself." + +"Don't you see?" said Kate, "it's your death these cowards mean." + +Cumberland seemed to grow taller, he stood so stiffly erect with his +chin high like a soldier. + +"You shan't make no single step to talk with Dan!" + +"Can't you understand that it's _you_ they threaten?" she cried. + +"I understan' it all," he said evenly. "I'm too old to have a young +man damned for my sake." + +"Shut him up!" ordered Silent. "The old fool!" + +The heavy hand of Terry Jordan clapped over Joe's mouth effectually +silenced him. He struggled vainly to speak again and Kate turned to +Silent to shut out the sight. + +"Tell your man to let him go," she said, "I will do what you wish." + +"That's talkin' sense," said Silent. "Come out with me an' I'll saddle +your hoss. Call the wolf." + +He opened the door and in response to her whistle Black Bart trotted +out and followed them out to the horse shed. There the outlaw quickly +saddled Kate's pony. + +He said: "Whistlin' Dan is sure headin' back in this direction because +he's got an idea I'm somewhere near. Bart will find him on the way." + +Silent was right. That morning Dan had started back towards Gus +Morris's place, for he was sure that the outlaws were camped in that +neighbourhood. A little before noon he veered half a mile to the right +towards a spring which welled out from a hillside, surrounded by a +small grove of willows. Having found it, he drank, and watered Satan, +then took off the saddle to ease the stallion, and lay down at a +little distance for a ten-minute siesta, one of those half wakeful +sleeps the habit of which he had learned from his wolf. + +He was roused from the doze by a tremendous snorting and snarling and +found Black Bart playing with Satan. It was their greeting after +an absence, and they dashed about among the willows like creatures +possessed. Dan brought horse and dog to a motionless stand with a +single whistle, and then ran out to the edge of the willows. Down the +side of the hill rode Kate at a brisk gallop. In a moment she saw him +and called his name, with a welcoming wave of her arm. Now she was off +her horse and running to him. He caught her hands and held her for +an instant far from him like one striving to draw out the note of +happiness into a song. They could not speak. + +At last: "I knew you'd find a way to come." + +"They let me go, Dan." + +He frowned, and her eyes faltered from his. + +"They sent me to you to ask you--to free Lee Haines!" + +He dropped her hands, and she stood trying to find words to explain, +and finding none. + +"To free Haines?" he repeated heavily. + +"It is Dad," she cried. "They have captured him, and they are holding +him. They keep him in exchange for Haines." + +"If I free Haines they'll outlaw me. You know that, Kate?" + +She made a pace towards him, but he retreated. + +"What can I do?" she pleaded desperately. "It is for my father--" + +His face brightened as he caught at a new hope. + +"Show me the way to Silent's hiding place and I'll free your father +an' reach the end of this trail at the same time, Kate!" + +She blenched pitifully. It was hopeless to explain. + +"Dan--honey--I can't!" + +She watched him miserably. + +"I've given them my word to come back alone." + +His head bowed. Out of the willows came Satan and Black Bart and stood +beside him, the stallion nosing his shoulder affectionately. + +"Dan, dear, won't you speak to me? Won't you tell me that you try to +understand?" + +He said at last: "Yes. I'll free Lee Haines." + +The fingers of his right hand trailed slowly across the head of Black +Bart. His eyes raised and looked past her far across the running +curves of the hills, far away to the misty horizon. + +"Kate--" + +"Dan, you _do_ understand?" + +"I didn't know a woman could love a man the way you do Lee Haines. +When I send him back to you tell him to watch himself. I'm playin' +your game now, but if I meet him afterwards, I'll play my own." + +All she could say was: "Will you listen to me no more, Dan?" + +"Here's where we say good-bye." + +He took her hand and his eyes were as unfathomable as a midnight sky. +She turned to her horse and he helped her to the saddle with a steady +hand. + +That was all. He went back to the willows, his right arm resting on +the withers of Black Satan as if upon the shoulder of a friend. As she +reached the top of the hill she heard a whistling from the willows, a +haunting complaint which brought the tears to her eyes. She spurred +her tired horse to escape the sound. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + +HELL STARTS + +Between twilight and dark Whistling Dan entered Elkhead. He rose in +the stirrups, on his toes, stretching the muscles of his legs. He was +sensing his strength. So the pianist before he plays runs his fingers +up and down the keys and sees that all is in tune and the touch +perfect. + +Two rival saloons faced each other at the end of the single street. +At the other extremity of the lane stood the house of deputy sheriff +Rogers, and a little farther was the jail. A crowd of horses stood in +front of each saloon, but from the throngs within there came hardly a +sound. The hush was prophetic of action; it was the lull before the +storm. Dan slowed his horse as he went farther down the street. + +The shadowy figure of a rider showed near the jail. He narrowed his +eyes and looked more closely. Another, another, another horseman +showed--four in sight on his side of the jail and probably as many +more out of his vision. Eight cattlemen guarded the place from which +he must take Lee Haines, and every one of the eight, he had no doubt, +was a picked man. Dan pulled up Satan to a walk and commenced to +whistle softly. It was like one of those sounds of the wind, a thing +to guess at rather than to know, but the effect upon Satan and Black +Bart was startling. + +The ears of the stallion dropped flat on his neck. He began to slink +along with a gliding step which was very like the stealthy pace of +Black Bart, stealing ahead. His footfall was as silent as if he had +been shod with felt. Meantime Dan ran over a plan of action. He saw +very clearly that he had little time for action. Those motionless +guards around the jail made his task difficult enough, but there was a +still greater danger. The crowds in the two saloons would be starting +up the street for Haines before long. Their silence told him that. + +A clatter of hoofs came behind him. He did not turn his head, but his +hand dropped down to his revolver butt. The fast riding horseman swept +and shot on down the street, leaving a pungent though invisible cloud +of dust behind him. He stopped in front of Rogers's house and darted +up the steps and through the door. Acting upon a premonition, Dan +dismounted a short distance from Rogers's house and ran to the door. +He opened it softly and found himself in a narrow hall dimly lighted +by a smoking lamp. Voices came from the room to his right. + +"What d'you mean, Hardy?" the deputy sheriff was saying. + +"Hell's startin'!" + +"There's a good many kinds of hell. Come out with it, Lee. I ain't no +mind reader." + +"They're gettin' ready for the big bust!" + +"What big bust?" + +"It ain't no use bluffin'. Ain't Silent told you that I'm on the +inside of the game?" + +"You fool!" cried Rogers. "Don't use that name!" + +Dan slipped a couple of paces down the hall and flattened himself +against the wall just as the door opened. Rogers looked out, drew a +great breath of relief, and went back into the room. Dan resumed his +former position. + +"Now talk fast!" said Rogers. + +"About time for you to drop that rotten bluff. Why, man, I could even +tell you jest how much you've cost Jim Silent." + +Rogers growled: "Tell me what's up." + +"The boys are goin' for the jail tonight. They'll get out Haines an' +string him up." + +"It's comin' to him. He's played a hard game for a long time." + +"An' so have you, Rogers, for a damn long time!" + +Rogers swallowed the insult, apparently. + +"What can I do?" he asked plaintively. "I'm willin' to give Silent and +his gang a square deal." + +"You should of done something while they was only a half-dozen +cowpunchers in town. Now the town's full of riders an' they're all +after blood." + +"An' my blood if they don't get Haines!" broke in the deputy sheriff. + +Hardy grunted. + +"They sure are," he said. "I've heard 'em talk, an' they mean +business. All of 'em. But how'd you answer to Jim Silent, Rogers? If +you let 'em get Haines--well, Haines is Silent's partner an' Jim'll +bust everything wide to get even with you." + +"I c'n explain," said Rogers huskily. "I c'n show Silent how I'm +helpless." + +Footsteps went up and down the room. + +"If they start anything," said Rogers, "I'll mark down the names of +the ringleaders and I'll give 'em hell afterwards. That'll soothe Jim +some." + +"You won't know 'em. They'll wear masks." + +Dan opened the door and stepped into the room. Rogers started up with +a curse and gripped his revolver. + +"I never knew you was so fond of gun play," said Dan. "Maybe that gun +of yours would be catchin' cold if you was to leave it out of the +leather long?" + +The sheriff restored his revolver slowly to the holster, glowering. + +"An' Rogers won't be needin' you for a minute or two," went on Dan to +Hardy. + +They seemed to fear even his voice. The Wells Fargo agent vanished +through the door and clattered down the steps. + +"How long you been standin' at that door?" said Rogers, gnawing his +lips. + +"Jest for a breathin' space," said Dan. + +Rogers squinted his eyes to make up for the dimness of the lamplight. + +"By God!" he cried suddenly. "You're Whistlin' Dan Barry!" + +He dropped into his chair and passed a trembling hand across his +forehead. + +He stammered: "Maybe you've changed your mind an' come back for that +five thousand?" + +"No, I've come for a man, not for money." + +"A man?" + +"I want Lee Haines before the crowd gets him." + +"Would you really try to take Haines out?" asked Rogers with a touch +of awe. + +"Are there any guards in the jail?" + +"Two. Lewis an' Patterson." + +"Give me a written order for Haines." + +The deputy wavered. + +"If I do that I'm done for in this town!" + +"Maybe. I want the key for Haines's handcuffs." + +"Go over an' put your hoss up in the shed behind the jail," said +Rogers, fighting for time, "an' when you come back I'll have the order +written out an' give it to you with the key." + +"Why not come over with me now?" + +"I got some other business." + +"In five minutes I'll be back," said Dan, and left the house. + +Outside he whistled to Satan, and the stallion trotted up to him. He +swung into the saddle and rode to the jail. There was not a guard in +sight. He rode around to the other side of the building to reach the +stable. Still he could not sight one of those shadowy horsemen who +had surrounded the place a few minutes before. Perhaps the crowd had +called in the guards to join the attack. + +He put Satan away in the stable and as he led him into a stall he +heard a roar of many voices far away. Then came the crack of half +a dozen revolvers. Dan set his teeth and glanced quickly over the +half-dozen horses in the little shed. He recognized the tall bay of +Lee Haines at once and threw on its back the saddle which hung on a +peg directly behind it. As he drew up the cinch another shout came +from the street, but this time very close. + +When he raced around the jail he saw the crowd pouring into the house +of the deputy sheriff. He ran on till he came to the outskirts of the +mob. Every man was masked, but in the excitement no one noticed that +Dan's face was bare. Squirming his way through the press, Dan reached +the deputy's office. It was almost filled. Rogers stood on a chair +trying to argue with the cattlemen. + +"No more talk, sheriff," thundered one among the cowpunchers, "we've +had enough of your line of talk. Now we want some action of our own +brand. For the last time: Are you goin' to order Lewis an' Patterson +to give up Haines, or are you goin' to let two good men die fightin' +for a damn lone rider?" + +"What about the feller who's goin' to take Lee Haines out of Elkhead?" +cried another. + +The crowd yelled with delight. + +"Yes, where is he? What about him?" + +Rogers, glancing down from his position on the chair, stared into the +brown eyes of Whistling Dan. He stretched out an arm that shook with +excitement. + +"That feller there!" he cried, "that one without a mask! Whistlin' Dan +Barry is the man!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + + +THE RESCUE + +The throng gave back from Dan, as if from the vicinity of a panther. +Dan faced the circle of scowling faces, smiling gently upon them. + +"Look here, Barry," called a voice from the rear of the crowd, "why +do you want to take Haines away? Throw in your cards with us. We need +you." + +"If it's fightin' you want," cried a joker, "maybe Lewis an' Patterson +will give us all enough of it at the jail." + +"I ain't never huntin' for trouble," said Dan. + +"Make your play quick," said another. "We got no time to waste even on +Dan Barry. Speak out, Dan. Here's a lot of good fellers aimin' to take +out Haines an' give him what's due him--no more. Are you with us?" + +"I'm not." + +"Is that final?" + +"It is." + +"All right. Tie him up, boys. There ain't no other way!" + +"Look out!" shouted a score of voices, for a gun flashed in Dan's +hand. + +He aimed at no human target. The bullet shattered the glass lamp into +a thousand shivering and tinkling splinters. Thick darkness blotted +the room. Instantly thereafter a blow, a groan, and the fall of a +body; then a confused clamour. + +"He's here!" + +"Give up that gun, damn you!" + +"You got the wrong man!" + +"I'm Bill Flynn!" + +"Guard the door!" + +"Lights, for God's sake!" + +"Help!" + +A slender figure leaped up against the window and was dimly outlined +by the starlight outside. There was a crash of falling glass, and as +two or three guns exploded the figure leaped down outside the house. + +"Follow him!" + +"Who was that?" + +"Get a light! Who's got a match?" + +Half the men rushed out of the room to pursue that fleeing figure. The +other half remained to see what had happened. It seemed impossible +that Whistling Dan had escaped from their midst. Half a dozen sulphur +matches spurted little jets of blue flame and discovered four men +lying prone on the floor, most of them with the wind trampled from +their bodies, but otherwise unhurt. One of them was the sheriff. + +He lay with his shoulders propped against the wall. His mouth was a +mass of blood. + +"Who got you, Rogers?" + +"Where's Barry?" + +"The jail, the jail!" groaned Rogers. "Barry has gone for the jail!" + +Revolvers rattled outside. + +"He's gone for Haines," screamed the deputy. "Go get him, boys!" + +"How can he get Haines? He ain't got the keys." + +"He has, you fools! When he shot the lights out he jumped for me and +knocked me off the chair. Then he went through my pockets and got the +keys. Get on your way! Quick!" + +The lynchers, yelling with rage, were already stamping from the room. + +With the jangling bunch of keys in one hand and his revolver in the +other, Dan started full speed for the jail as soon as he leaped down +from the window. By the time he had covered half the intervening +distance the first pursuers burst out of Rogers's house and opened +fire after the shadowy fugitive. He whirled and fired three shots high +in the air. No matter how impetuous, those warning shots would make +the mob approach the jail with some caution. + +On the door of the jail he beat furiously with the bunch of keys. + +"What's up? Who's there?" cried a voice within. + +"Message from Rogers. Hell's started! He's sent me with the keys!" + +The door jerked open and a tall man, with a rifle slung across one +arm, blocked the entrance. + +"What's the message?" he asked. + +"This!" said Dan, and drove his fist squarely into the other's face. + +He fell without a cry and floundered on the floor, gasping. Dan picked +him up and shoved him through the door, bolting it behind him. +A narrow hall opened before him and ran the length of the small +building. He glanced into the room on one side. It was the kitchen and +eating-room in one. He rushed into the one on the other side. Two men +were there. One was Haines, sitting with his hands manacled. The other +was the second guard, who ran for Dan, whipping his rifle to his +shoulder. As flame spurted from the mouth of the gun, Dan dived at the +man's knees and brought him to the floor with a crash. He rose quickly +and leaned over the fallen man, who lay without moving, his arms +spread wide. He had struck on his forehead when he dropped. He was +stunned for the moment, but not seriously hurt. Dan ran to Haines, who +stood with his hands high above his head. Far away was the shout of +the coming crowd. + +"Shoot and be damned!" said Haines sullenly. + +For answer Dan jerked down the hands of the lone rider and commenced +to try the keys on the handcuffs. There were four keys. The fourth +turned the lock. Haines shouted as his hands fell free. + +"After me!" cried Dan, and raced for the stable. + +As they swung into their saddles outside the shed, the lynchers raced +their horses around the jail. + +"Straightaway!" called Dan. "Through the cottonwoods and down the +lane. After me. Satan!" + +The stallion leaped into a full gallop, heading straight for a tall +group of cottonwoods beyond which was a lane fenced in with barbed +wire. Half a dozen of the pursuers were in a position to cut them off, +and now rushed for the cottonwoods, yelling to their comrades to join +them. A score of lights flashed like giant fireflies as the lynchers +opened fire. + +"They've blocked the way!" groaned Haines. + +Three men had brought their horses to a sliding stop in front of the +cottonwoods and their revolvers cracked straight in the faces of Dan +and Haines. There was no other way for escape. Dan raised his revolver +and fired twice, aiming low. Two of the horses reared and pitched +to the ground. The third rider had a rifle at his shoulder. He was +holding his fire until he had drawn a careful bead. Now his gun +spurted and Dan bowed far over his saddle as if he had been struck +from behind. + +Before the rifleman could fire again Black Bart leaped high in the +air. His teeth closed on the shoulder of the lyncher and the man +catapulted from his saddle to the ground. With his yell in their ears, +Dan and Haines galloped through the cottonwoods, and swept down the +lane. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + + +THE LONG RIDE + +A cheer of triumph came from the lynchers. In fifty yards the +fugitives learned the reason, for they glimpsed a high set of bars +blocking the lane. Dan pulled back beside Haines. + +"Can the bay make it?" he called. + +"No. I'm done for." + +For answer Dan caught the bridle of Lee's horse close to the bit. They +were almost to the bars. A dark shadow slid up and over them. It was +Black Bart, with his head turned to look back even as he jumped, as if +he were setting an example which he bid them follow. Appallingly high +the bars rose directly in front of them. + +"Now!" called Dan to the tall bay, and jerked up on the bit. + +Satan rose like a swallow to the leap. The bay followed in gallant +imitation. For an instant they hung poised in air. Then Satan pitched +to the ground, landing safely and lightly on four cat-like feet. A +click and a rattle behind them--the bay was also over, but his hind +hoofs had knocked down the top bar. He staggered, reeled far to +one side, but recovering, swept on after Satan and Dan. A yell of +disappointment rang far behind. + +Glancing back Haines saw the foremost of the pursuers try to imitate +the feat of the fugitives, but even with the top bar down he failed. +Man and horse pitched to the ground. + +For almost a mile the lane held straight on, and beyond stretched +the open country. They were in that free sweep of hills before the +pursuers remounted beyond the bars. In daytime a mile would have been +a small handicap, but with the night and the hills to cover their +flight, and with such mounts as Satan and the tall bay, they were +safe. In half an hour all sound of them died out, and Haines, +following Dan's example, slowed his horse to an easy gallop. + +The long rider was puzzled by his companion's horsemanship, for Dan +rode leaning far to the right of his saddle, with his head bowed. +Several times Haines was on the verge of speaking, but he refrained. +He commenced to sing in the exultation of freedom. An hour before he +had been in the "rat-trap" with a circle of lynchers around him, and +only two terror-stricken guards to save him from the most horrible of +deaths. Then came Fate and tore him away and gave him to the liberty +of the boundless hills. Fate in the person of this slender, sombre +man. He stared at Dan with awe. + +At the top of a hill his companion drew rein, reeling in the saddle +with the suddenness of the halt. However, in such a horseman, this +could not be. It must be merely a freak feature of his riding. + +"Move," said Dan, his breath coming in pants. "Line out and get to +her." + +"To who?" said Haines, utterly bewildered. + +"Delilah!" + +"What?" + +"Damn you, she's waitin' for you." + +"In the name of God, Barry, why do you talk like this after you've +saved me from hell?" + +He stretched out his hand eagerly, but Dan reined Satan back. + +"Keep your hand. I hate you worse'n hell. There ain't room enough in +the world for us both. If you want to thank me do it by keepin' out of +my path. Because the next time we meet you're goin' to die, Haines. +It's writ in a book. Now feed your hoss the spur and run for Kate +Cumberland. But remember--I'm goin' to get you again if I can." + +"Kate--" began Haines. "She sent you for me?" + +Only the yellow blazing eyes made answer and the wail of a coyote far +away on the shadowy hill. + +"Kate!" cried Haines again, but now there was a world of new meaning +in his voice. He swung his horse and spurred down the slope. + +At the next hill-crest he turned in the saddle, saw the motionless +rider still outlined against the sky, and brought the bay to a halt. +He was greatly troubled. For a reason mysterious and far beyond the +horizon of his knowledge, Dan was surrendering Kate Cumberland to him. + +"He's doing it while he still loves her," muttered Haines, "and am I +cur enough to take her from him after he has saved me from God knows +what?" + +He turned his horse to ride back, but at that moment he caught +the weird, the unearthly note of Dan's whistling. There was both +melancholy and gladness in it. The storm wind running on the hills and +exulting in the blind terror of the night had such a song as this to +sing. + +"If he was a man," Haines argued briefly with himself, "I'd do it. But +he isn't a man. He's a devil. He has no more heart than the wolf which +owns him as master. Shall I give a girl like Kate Cumberland to that +wild panther? She's mine--all mine!" + +Once more he turned his horse and this time galloped steadily on into +the night. + +When Haines dropped out of sight, Dan's whistling stopped. He looked +up to the pitiless glitter of the stars. He looked down to the sombre +sweep of black hills. The wind was like a voice saying over and over +again: "Failure." Everything was lost. + +He slipped from the saddle and took off his coat. From his left +shoulder the blood welled slowly, steadily. He tore a strip from his +shirt and attempted to make a bandage, but he could not manage it with +one hand. + +The world thronged with hostile forces eager to hunt him to the death. +He needed all his strength, and now that was ebbing from a wound which +a child could have staunched for him, but where could he find even a +friendly child? Truly all was lost! The satyr or the black panther +once had less need of man's help than had Dan, but now he was hurt in +body and soul. That matchless co-ordination of eye with hand and foot +was gone. He saw Kate smiling into the eyes of Haines; he imagined +Bill Kilduff sitting on the back of Satan, controlling all that +glorious force and speed; he saw Hal Purvis fighting venomously with +Bart for the mastery which eventually must belong to the man. + +He turned to the wild pair. Vaguely they sensed a danger threatening +their master, and their eyes mourned for his hurt. He buried his face +on the strong, smooth shoulder of Satan, and groaned. There came the +answering whinny and the hot breath of the horse against the side of +his face. There was the whine of Black Bart behind him, then the rough +tongue of the wolf touched the dripping fingers. Then he felt a hot +gust of the wolf's breath against his hand. + +Too late he realized what that meant. He whirled with a cry of +command, but the snarl of Black Bart cut it short. The wolf stood +bristling, trembling with eagerness for the kill, his great white +fangs gleaming, his snarl shrill and guttural with the frenzy of his +desire, for he had tasted blood. Dan understood as he stared into the +yellow green fury of the wolf's eyes, yet he felt no fear, only a +glory in the fierce, silent conflict. He could not move the fingers of +his left hand, but those of his right curved, stiffened. He desired +nothing more in the world than the contact with that great, bristling +black body, to leap aside from those ominous teeth, to set his fingers +in the wolf's throat. Reason might have told him the folly of such a +strife, but all that remained in his mind was the love of combat--a +blind passion. His eyes glowed like those of the wolf, yellow fire +against the green. Black Bart crouched still lower, gathering himself +for the spring, but he was held by the man's yellow gleaming eyes. +They invited the battle. Fear set its icy hand on the soul of the +wolf. + +The man seemed to tower up thrice his normal height. His voice rang, +harsh, sudden, unlike the utterance of man or beast: "_Down!_" + +Fear conquered Black Bart. The fire died from his eyes. His body sank +as if from exhaustion. He crawled on his belly to the feet of his +master and whined an unutterable submission. + +And then that hand, warm and wet with the thing whose taste set the +wolf's heart on fire with the lust to kill, was thrust against his +nose. He leaped back with bared teeth, growling horribly. The eyes +commanded him back, commanded him relentlessly. He howled dismally to +the senseless stars, yet he came; and once more that hand was thrust +against his nose. He licked the fingers. + +That blood-lust came hotter than before, but his fear was greater. +He licked the strange hand again, whining. Then the master kneeled. +Another hand, clean, and free from that horrible warm, wet sign of +death, fell upon his shaggy back. The voice which he knew of old came +to him, blew away the red mist from his soul, comforted him. + +"Poor Bart!" said the voice, and the hand went slowly over his head. +"It weren't your fault." + +The stallion whinnied softly. A deep growl formed in the throat of the +wolf, a mighty effort at speech. And now, like a gleam of light in a +dark room, Dan remembered the house of Buck Daniels. There, at least, +they could not refuse him aid. He drew on his coat, though the +effort set him sweating with agony, got his foot in the stirrup with +difficulty, and dragged himself to the saddle. Satan started at a +swift gallop. + +"Faster, Satan! Faster, partner!" + +What a response! The strong body settled a little closer to the +earth as the stride increased. The rhythm of the pace grew quicker, +smoother. There was no adequate phrase to describe the matchless +motion. And in front--always just a little in front with the plunging +forefeet of the horse seeming to threaten him at every stride, ran +Black Bart with his head turned as if he were the guard and guide of +the fugitive. + +Dan called and Black Bart yelped in answer. Satan tossed up his +head and neighed as he raced along. The two replies were like human +assurances that there was still a fighting chance. + +The steady loss of blood was telling rapidly now. He clutched the +pommel, set his teeth, and felt oblivion settle slowly and surely upon +him. As his senses left him he noted the black outlines of the next +high range of hills, a full ten miles away. + +He only knew the pace of Satan never slackened. There seemed no effort +in it. He was like one of those fabled horses, the offspring of the +wind, and like the wind, tireless, eternal of motion. + +A longer oblivion fell upon Dan. As he roused from it he found +himself slipping in the saddle. He struggled desperately to grasp the +saddlehorn and managed to draw himself up again; but the warning was +sufficient to make him hunt about for some means of making himself +more secure in the saddle. It was a difficult task to do anything +with only one hand, but he managed to tie his left arm to the +bucking-strap. If the end came, at least he was sure to die in the +saddle. Vaguely he was aware as he looked around that the black hills +were no longer in the distance. He was among them. + +On went Satan. His breath was coming more and more laboured. It seemed +to Dan's dim consciousness that some of the spring was gone from that +glorious stride which swept on and on with the slightest undulation, +like a swallow skimming before the wind; but so long as strength +remained he knew that Satan would never falter in his pace. As the +delirium swept once more shadow-like on his brain, he allowed himself +to fall forward, and wound his fingers as closely as possible in the +thick mane. His left arm jerked horribly against the bonds. Black +night swallowed him once more. + +Only his invincible heart kept Satan going throughout that last +stretch. His ears lay flat on his neck, lifting only when the master +muttered and raved in his fever. Foam flew back against his throat +and breast. His breath came shorter, harder, with a rasp; but the +gibbering voice of his rider urged him on, faster, and faster. They +topped a small hill, and a little to the left and a mile away, rose +a group of cottonwoods, and Dan, recovering consciousness, knew the +house of Buck. He also knew that his last moment of consciousness was +come. Surges of sleepy weakness swept over his brain. He could never +guide Satan to the house. + +"Bart!" he called feebly. + +The wolf whining, dropped back beside him. Dan pointed his right arm +straight ahead. Black Bart leaped high into the air and his shrill +yelp told that he had seen the cottonwoods and the house. + +Dan summoned the last of his power and threw the reins over the head +of Satan. + +"Take us in, Bart," he said, and twisting his fingers into Satan's +mane fell across the saddlehorn. + +Satan, understanding the throwing of the reins as an order to halt, +came to a sharp stop, and the body of the senseless rider sagged to +one side. Black Bart caught the reins. They were bitter and salt with +blood of the master. + +He tugged hard. Satan whinnied his doubt, and the growl of Black Bart +answered, half a threat. In a moment more they were picking their way +through the brush towards the house of Buck Daniels. + +Satan was far gone with exhaustion. His head drooped; his legs +sprawled with every step; his eyes were glazed. Yet he staggered on +with the great black wolf pulling at the reins. There was the salt +taste of blood in the mouth of Black Bart; so he stalked on, saliva +dripping from his mouth, and his eyes glazed with the lust to kill. +His furious snarling was the threat which urged on the stallion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + + +BLACK BART TURNS NURSE + +It was old Mrs. Daniels who woke first at the sound of scratching and +growling. She roused her husband and son, and all three went to the +door, Buck in the lead with his six-gun in his hand. At sight of the +wolf he started back and raised the gun, but Black Bart fawned about +his feet. + +"Don't shoot--it's a dog, an' there's his master!" cried Sam. "By the +Lord, they's a dead man tied on that there hoss!" + +Dan lay on Satan, half fallen from the saddle, with his head hanging +far down, only sustained by the strength of the rein. The stallion, +wholly spent, stood with his legs braced, his head low, and his breath +coming in great gasps. The family ran to the rescue. Sam cut the rein +and Buck lowered the limp body in his arms. + +"Buck, is he dead?" whispered Mrs. Daniels. + +"I don't feel no heart beat," said Buck. "Help me fetch him into the +house, Dad!" + +"Look out for the hoss!" cried Sam. + +Buck started back with his burden just in time, for Satan, +surrendering to his exhaustion, pitched to the ground, and lay with +sprawling legs like a spent dog rather than a horse. + +"Let the hoss be," said Buck. "Help me with the man. He's hurt bad." + +Mrs. Daniels ran ahead and lighted a lamp. They laid the body +carefully upon a bed. It made a ghastly sight, the bloodless face with +the black hair fallen wildly across the forehead, the mouth loosely +open, and the lips black with dust. + +"Dad!" said Buck. "I think I've seen this feller. God knows if he's +livin' or dead." + +He dropped to his knees and pressed his ear over Dan's heart. + +"I can't feel no motion. Ma, get that hand mirror--" + +She had it already and now held it close to the lips of the wounded +man. When she drew it away their three heads drew close together. + +"They's a mist on it! He's livin'!" cried Buck. + +"It ain't nothing," said Sam. "The glass ain't quite clear, that's +all." + +Mrs. Daniels removed the last doubt by running her finger across the +surface of the glass. It left an unmistakable mark. + +They wasted no moment then. They brought hot and cold water, washed +out his wound, cleansed away the blood; and while Mrs. Daniels and her +husband fixed the bandage, Buck pounded and rubbed the limp body to +restore the circulation. In a few minutes his efforts were rewarded by +a great sigh from Dan. + +He shouted in triumph, and then: "By God, it's Whistlin' Dan Barry." + +"It is!" said Sam. "Buck, they's been devils workin' tonight. It sure +took more'n one man to nail him this way." + +They fell to work frantically. There was a perceptible pulse, the +breathing was faint but steady, and a touch of colour came in the +face. + +"His arm will be all right in a few days," said Mrs. Daniels, "but he +may fall into a fever. He's turnin' his head from side to side and +talkin'. What's he sayin', Buck?" + +"He's sayin': 'Faster, Satan.'" + +"That's the hoss," interpreted Sam. + +"'Hold us straight, Bart!' That's what he's sayin' now." + +"That's the wolf." + +"'An' it's all for Delilah!' Who's Delilah, Dad?" + +"Maybe it's some feller Dan knows." + +"Some feller?" repeated Mrs. Daniels with scorn. "It's some worthless +girl who got Whistlin' Dan into this trouble." + +Dan's eyes opened but there was no understanding in them. + +"Haines, I hate you worse'n hell!" + +"It's Lee Haines who done this!" cried Sam. + +"If it is, I'll cut out his heart!" + +"It can't be Haines," broke in Mrs. Daniels. "Old man Perkins, didn't +he tell us that Haines was the man that Whistlin' Dan Barry had +brought down into Elkhead? How could Haines do this shootin' while he +was in jail?" + +"Ma," said Sam, "you watch Whistlin' Dan. Buck an' me'll take care of +the hoss--that black stallion. He's pretty near all gone, but he's +worth savin'. What I don't see is how he found his way to us. It's +certain Dan didn't guide him all the way." + +"How does the wind find its way?" said Buck. "It was the wolf that +brought Dan here, but standin' here talkin' won't tell us how. Let's +go out an' fix up Satan." + +It was by no means an easy task. As they approached the horse he +heaved himself up, snorting, and stood with legs braced, and pendant +head. Even his eyes were glazed with exhaustion, but behind them +it was easy to guess the dauntless anger which raged against these +intruders. Yet he would have been helpless against them. It was Black +Bart who interfered at this point. He stood before them, his hair +bristling and his teeth bared. + +Sam suggested: "Leave the door of the house open an' let him hear +Whistlin' Dan's voice." + +It was done. At once the delirious voice of Dan stole out to them +faintly. The wolf turned his head to Satan with a plaintive whine, as +if asking why the stallion remained there when that voice was audible. +Then he raced for the open door and disappeared into the house. + +"Hurry in, Buck!" called Sam. "Maybe the wolf'll scare Ma!" + +They ran inside and found Black Bart on the bed straddling the body of +Whistling Dan, and growling at poor Mrs. Daniels, who crouched in a +corner of the room. It required patient work before he was convinced +that they actually meant no harm to his master. + +"What's the reason of it?" queried Sam helplessly. "The damn wolf let +us take Dan off the hoss without makin' any fuss." + +"Sure he did," assented Buck, "but he ain't sure of me yet, an' every +time he comes near me he sends the cold chills up my back." + +Having decided that he might safely trust them to touch Dan's body, +the great wolf went the round and sniffed them carefully, his hair +bristling and the forbidding growl lingering in his throat. In the end +he apparently decided that they might be tolerated, though he must +keep an eye upon their actions. So he sat down beside the bed and +followed with an anxious eye every movement of Mrs. Daniels. The men +went back to the stallion. He still stood with legs braced far apart, +and head hanging low. Another mile of that long race and he would have +dropped dead beneath his rider. + +Nevertheless at the coming of the strangers he reared up his head a +little and tried to run away. Buck caught the dangling reins near +the bit. Satan attempted to strike out with his forehoof. It was a +movement as clumsy and slow as the blow of a child, and Buck easily +avoided it. Realizing his helplessness Satan whinnied a heart-breaking +appeal for help to his unfailing friend, Black Bart. The wail of the +wolf answered dolefully from the house. + +"Good Lord," groaned Buck. "Now we'll have that black devil on our +hands again." + +"No, we won't," chuckled Sam, "the wolf won't leave Dan. Come on +along, old hoss." + +Nevertheless it required hard labour to urge and drag the stallion +to the stable. At the end of that time they had the saddle off and a +manger full of fodder before him. They went back to the house with the +impression of having done a day's work. + +"Which it shows the fool nature of a hoss," moralized Sam. "That +stallion would be willin' to lay right down and die for the man +that's jest rode him up to the front door of death, but he wishes +everlastingly that he had the strength to kick the daylight out of you +an' me that's been tryin' to take care of him. You jest write this +down inside your brain, Buck: a hoss is like a woman. They jest +nacherally ain't no reason in 'em!" + +They found Dan in a heavy sleep, his breath coming irregularly. Mrs. +Daniels stated that it was the fever which she had feared and she +offered to sit up with the sick man through the rest of that night. +Buck lifted her from the chair and took her place beside the bed. + +"No one but me is goin' to take care of Whistlin' Dan," he stated. + +So the vigil began, with Buck watching Dan, and Black Bart alert, +suspicious, ready at the first wrong move to leap at the throat of +Buck. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + + +NOBODY LAUGHS + +That night the power which had sent Dan into Elkhead, Jim Silent, +stood his turn at watch in the narrow canyon below the old Salton +place. In the house above him sat Terry Jordan, Rhinehart, and Hal +Purvis playing poker, while Bill Kilduff drew a drowsy series of airs +from his mouth-organ. His music was getting on the nerves of the other +three, particularly Jordan and Rhinehart, for Purvis was winning +steadily. + +"Let up!" broke out Jordan at last, pounding on the table with his +fist. "Your damn tunes are gettin' my goat. Nobody can think while +you're hittin' it up like that. This ain't no prayer meetin', Bill." + +For answer Kilduff removed the mouth-organ to take a deep breath, +blinked his small eyes, and began again in a still higher key. + +"Go slow, Terry," advised Rhinehart in a soft tone. "Kilduff ain't +feelin' none too well tonight." + +"What's the matter with him?" growled the scar-faced man, none too +anxious to start an open quarrel with the formidable Kilduff. + +Rhinehart jerked his thumb over his shoulder. + +"The gal in there. He don't like the game the chief has been workin' +with her." + +"Neither do I," said Purvis, "but I'd do worse than the chief done to +get Lee Haines back." + +"Get Haines back?" said Kilduff, his voice ominously deep. "There +ain't no chance of that. If there was I wouldn't have no kick against +the chief for what he's done to Kate." + +"Maybe there's _some_ chance," suggested Rhinehart. + +"Chance, hell!" cried Kilduff. "One man agin a whole town full? I say +all that Jim has done is to get Whistlin' Dan plugged full of lead." + +"Well," said Purvis, "if that's done, ain't the game worth while?" + +The rest of the men chuckled and even Kilduff smiled. + +"Old Joe Cumberland is sure takin' it hard," said "Calamity" +Rhinehart. "All day he's been lightin' into the girl." + +"The funny part," mused Purvis, "is that the old boy really means it. +I think he'd of sawed off his right hand to keep her from goin' to +Whistlin' Dan." + +"An' her sittin' white-faced an' starin' at nothin' an' tryin' to +comfort _him!_" rumbled Kilduff, standing up under the stress of his +unwonted emotion. "My God, she was apologizin' for what she done, an' +tryin' to cheer him up, an' all the time her heart was bustin'." + +He pulled out a violently coloured bandana and wiped his forehead. + +"When we all get down to hell," he said, "they'll be quite a little +talkin' done about this play of Jim's--you c'n lay to that." + +"Who's that singin' down the canyon?" asked Jordan. "It sounds +like--" + +He would not finish his sentence as if he feared to prove a false +prophet. They rose as one man and stared stupidly at one another. + +"Haines!" broke out Rhinehart at last. + +"It ain't no ways possible!" said Kilduff. "And yet--by God, it is!" + +They rushed for the door and made out two figures approaching, one on +horseback, and the other on foot. + +"Haines!" called Purvis, his shrill voice rising to a squeak with his +excitement. + +"Here I am!" rang back the mellow tones of the big lone rider, and in +a moment he and Jim Silent entered the room. + +Glad faces surrounded him. There was infinite wringing of his hand and +much pounding on the back. Kilduff and Rhinehart pushed him back into +a chair. Jordan ran for a flask of whisky, but Haines pushed the +bottle away. + +"I don't want anything on my breath," he said, "because I have to talk +to a woman. Where's Kate?" + +The men glanced at each other uneasily. + +"She's here, all right," said Silent hastily. "Now tell us how you got +away." + +"Afterwards," said Haines. "But first Kate." + +"What's your hurry to see her?" said Kilduff. + +Haines laughed exultantly. + +"You're jealous, Bill! Why, man, she sent for me! Sent Whistling Dan +himself for me." + +"Maybe she did," said Kilduff, "but that ain't no partic'lar sign I'm +jealous. Tell us about the row in Elkhead." + +"That's it," said Jordan. "We can't wait, Lee." + +"Just one word explains it," said Haines. "Barry!" + +"What did he do?" This from every throat at once. + +"Broke into the jail with all Elkhead at his heels flashing their +six-guns--knocked down the two guards--unlocked my bracelets (God +knows where he got the key!)--shoved me onto the bay--drove away with +me--shot down two men while his wolf pulled down a third--made my +horse jump a set of bars as high as my head--and here I am!" + +There was a general loosening of bandanas. The eyes of Jim Silent +gleamed. + +"And all Elkhead knows that he's the man who took you out of jail?" he +asked eagerly. + +"Right. He's put his mark on them," responded Haines, "but the girl, +Jim!" + +"By God!" said Silent. "I've got him! The whole world is agin him--the +law an' the outlaws. He's done for!" + +He stopped short. + +"Unless you're feelin' uncommon grateful to him for what he done for +you, Lee?" + +"He told me he hated me like hell," said Haines. "I'm grateful to him +as I'd be to a mountain lion that happened to do me a good turn. Now +for Kate!" + +"Let him see her," said Silent. "That's the quickest way. Call her +out, Haines. We'll take a little walk while you're with her." + +The moment they were gone Haines rushed to the door and knocked +loudly. It was opened at once and Kate stood before him. She winced at +sight of him. + +"It's I, Kate!" he cried joyously. "I've come back from the dead." + +She stepped from the room and closed the door behind her. + +"What of Dan? Tell me! Was--was he hurt?" + +"Dan?" he repeated with an impatient smile. "No, he isn't hurt. He +pulled me through--got me out of jail and safe into the country. He +had to drop two or three of the boys to do it." + +Her head fell back a little and in the dim light, for the first time, +he saw her face with some degree of clearness, and started at its +pallor. + +"What's the matter, Kate--dear?" he said anxiously. + +"What of Dan?" she asked faintly. + +"I don't know. He's outlawed. He's done for. The whole range will be +against him. But why are you so worried about him, Kate?--when he told +me that you loved me--" + +She straightened. + +"Love? _You?_" + +His face lengthened almost ludicrously. + +"But why--Dan came for me--he said you sent him--he--" he broke down, +stammering, utterly confused. + +"This is why I sent him!" she answered, and throwing open the door +gestured to him to enter. + +He followed her and saw the lean figure of old Joe Cumberland lying on +a blanket close to the wall. + +"That's why!" she whispered. + +"How does he come here?" + +"Ask the devil in his human form! Ask your friend, Jim Silent!" + +He walked into the outer room with his head low. He found the others +already returned. Their carefully controlled grins spoke volumes. + +"Where's Silent?" he asked heavily. + +"He's gone," said Jordan. + +Hal Purvis took Haines to one side. + +"Take a brace," he urged. + +"She hates me, Hal," said the big fellow sadly. "For God's sake, was +there no other way of getting me out?" + +"Not one! Pull yourself together, Lee. There ain't no one for you to +hold a spite agin. Would you rather be back in Elkhead dangling from +the end of a rope?" + +"It seems to have been a sort of--joke," said Haines. + +"Exactly. But at that sort of a joke nobody laughs!" + +"And Whistling Dan Barry?" + +"He's done for. We're all agin him, an' now even the rangers will +help us hunt him down. Think it over careful, Haines. You're agin him +because you want the girl. I want that damned wolf of his, Black Bart. +Kilduff would rather get into the saddle of Satan than ride to heaven. +An' Jim Silent won't never rest till he sees Dan lyin' on the ground +with a bullet through his heart. Here's four of us. Each of us want +something that belongs to him, from his life to his dog. Haines, I'm +askin' you man to man, was there any one ever born who could get away +from four men like us?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + + +WHISTLING DAN, DESPERADO + +It was an urgent business which sent Silent galloping over the hills +before dawn. When the first light came he was close to the place +of Gus Morris. He slowed his horse to a trot, but after a careful +reconnoitring, seeing no one stirring around the sheriff's house, he +drew closer and commenced to whistle a range song, broken here and +there with a significant phrase which sounded like a signal. Finally a +cloth was waved from a window, and Silent, content, turned his back on +the house, and rode away at a walk. + +Within half an hour the pounding of a horse approached from behind. +The plump sheriff came to a halt beside him, jouncing in the saddle +with the suddenness of the stop. + +"What's up?" he called eagerly. + +"Whistlin' Dan." + +"What's new about him? I know they're talkin' about that play he made +agin Haines. They's some says he's a faster man than you, Jim!" + +"They say too damned much!" snarled Silent. "This is what's new. +Whistlin' Dan Barry--no less--has busted open the jail at Elkhead an' +set Lee Haines free." + +The sheriff could not speak. + +"I fixed it, Gus. I staged the whole little game." + +"_You_ fixed it with Whistlin' Dan?" + +"Don't ask me how I worked it. The pint is that he did the job. He got +into the jail while the lynchers was guardin' it, gettin' ready for a +rush. They opened fire. It was after dark last night. Haines an' Dan +made a rush for it from the stable on their hosses. They was lynchers +everywhere. Haines didn't have no gun. Dan wouldn't trust him with +one. He did the shootin' himself. He dropped two of them with two +shots. His devil of a wolf-dog brung down another." + +"Shootin' at night?" + +"Shootin' at night," nodded Silent. "An" now, Gus, they's only one +thing left to complete my little game--an' that's to get Whistlin' Dan +Barry proclaimed an outlaw an' put a price on his head, savvy?" + +"Why d'you hate him so?" asked Morris curiously. + +"Morris, why d'you hate smallpox?" + +"Because a man's got no chance fightin' agin it." + +"Gus, that's why I hate Whistlin' Dan, but I ain't here to argue. I +want you to get Dan proclaimed an outlaw." + +The sheriff scowled and bit his lip. + +"I can't do it, Jim." + +"Why the hell can't you?" + +"Don't go jumpin' down my throat. It ain't human to double cross +nobody the way you're double crossin' that kid. He's clean. He fights +square. He's jest done you a good turn. I can't do it, Jim." + +There was an ominous silence. + +"Gus," said the outlaw, "how many thousand have I given you?" + +The sheriff winced. + +"I dunno," he said, "a good many, Jim." + +"An' now you're goin' to lay down on me?" + +Another pause. + +"People are gettin' pretty excited nowadays," went on Silent +carelessly. "Maybe they'd get a lot more excited if they was to know +jest how much I've paid you, Gus." + +The sheriff struck his forehead with a pudgy hand. + +"When a man's sold his soul to the devil they ain't no way of buyin' +it back." + +"When you're all waked up," said Silent soothingly, "they ain't no +more reasonable man than you, Gus. But sometimes you get to seein' +things cross-eyed. Here's my game. What do you think they'd do in +Elkhead if a letter came for Dan Barry along about now?" + +"The boys must be pretty hot," said the sheriff. "I suppose the +letter'd be opened." + +"It would," said the outlaw. "You're sure a clever feller, Gus. You +c'n see a white hoss in the sunlight. Now what d'you suppose they'd +think if they opened a letter addressed to Dan Barry and read +something like this: + +"'Dear Dan: You made great play for L.H. None of us is going to +forget it. Maybe the thing for you to do is to lay low for a while. +Then join us any time you want to. We all think nobody could of worked +that stunt any smoother than you done. The rest of the boys say that +two thousand ain't enough for the work you've done. They vote that you +get an extra thousand for it. I'm agreeable about that, and when you +get short of cash just drop up and see us--you know where. + +"'That's a great bluff you've made about being on my trail. Keep it +up. It'll fool everybody for a while. They'll think, maybe, that what +you did for L.H. was because he was your personal friend. They won't +suspect that you're now one of us. Adios, + "'J.S.'" + +Silent waited for the effect of this missive to show in Morris's face. + +"Supposin' they was to read a letter like that, Gus. D'you think maybe +it'd sort of peeve them?" + +"He'd be outlawed inside of two days!" + +"Right. Here's the letter. An' you're goin' to see that it's delivered +in Elkhead, Morris." + +The sheriff looked sombrely on the little square of white. + +"I sort of think," he said at last, "that this here's the death +warrant for Whistlin' Dan Barry." + +"So do I," grinned Silent, considerably thirsty for action. "That's +your chance to make one of your rarin', tarin' speeches. Then you hop +into the telegraph office an' send a wire to the Governor askin' that +a price be put on the head of the bloodthirsty desperado, Dan Barry, +commonly known as Whistlin' Dan." + +"It's like something out of a book," said the sheriff slowly. "It's +like some damned horror story." + +"The minute you get the reply to that telegram swear in forty deputies +and announce that they's a price on Barry's head. So long, Gus. This +little play'll make the boys figger you're the most efficient sheriff +that never pulled a gun." + +He turned his horse, laughing loudly, and the sheriff, with that +laughter in his ears, rode back towards his hotel with a downward +head. + + * * * * * + +All day at the Daniels's house the fever grew perceptibly, and that +night the family held a long consultation. + +"They's got to be somethin' done," said Buck. "I'm goin' to ride into +town tomorrow an' get ahold of Doc Geary." + +"There ain't no use of gettin' that fraud Geary," said Mrs. Daniels +scornfully. "I think that if the boy c'n be saved I c'n do it as well +as that doctor. But there ain't no doctor c'n help him. The trouble +with Dan ain't his wound--it's his mind that's keepin' him low." + +"His mind?" queried old Sam. + +"Listen to him now. What's all that talkin' about Delilah?" + +"If it ain't Delilah it's Kate," said Buck. "Always one of the two +he's talkin' about. An' when he talks of them his fever gets worse. +Who's Delilah, an' who's Kate?" + +"They's one an' the same person," said Mrs. Daniels. "It do beat all +how blind men are!" + +"Are we now?" said her husband with some heat. "An' what good would it +do even if we knowed that they was the same?" + +"Because if we could locate the girl they's a big chance she'd bring +him back to reason. She'd make his brain quiet, an' then his body'll +take care of itself, savvy?" + +"But they's a hundred Kates in the range," said Sam. "Has he said her +last name, Buck, or has he given you any way of findin' out where she +lives?" + +"There ain't no way," brooded Buck, "except that when he talks about +her sometimes he speaks of Lee Haines like he wanted to kill him. +Sometimes he's dreamin' of havin' Lee by the throat. D'you honest +think that havin' the girl here would do any good, ma?" + +"Of course it would," she answered. "He's in love, that poor boy is, +an' love is worse than bullets for some men. I don't mean you or Sam. +Lord knows you wouldn't bother yourselves none about a woman." + +Her eyes challenged them. + +"He talks about Lee havin' the girl?" asked Sam. + +"He sure does," said Buck, "which shows that he's jest ravin'. How +could Lee have the girl, him bein' in jail at Elkhead?" + +"But maybe Lee had her before Whistlin' Dan got him at Morris's place. +Maybe she's up to Silent's camp now." + +"A girl in Jim Silent's camp?" repeated Buck scornfully. "Jim'd as +soon have a ton of lead hangin' on his shoulders." + +"Would he though?" broke in Mrs. Daniels. "You're considerable young, +Buck, to be sayin' what men'll do where they's women concerned. Where +is this camp?" + +"I dunno," said Buck evasively. "Maybe up in the hills. Maybe at the +old Salton place. If I thought she was there, I'd risk goin' up and +gettin' her--with her leave or without it!" + +"Don't be talkin' fool stuff like that," said his mother anxiously. +"You ain't goin' near Jim Silent agin, Buck!" + +He shrugged his shoulders, with a scowl, and turned away to go back to +the bedside of Whistling Dan. + +In the morning Buck was hardly less haggard than Dan. His mother, with +clasped hands and an anxious face, stood at the foot of the bed, +but her trouble was more for her son than for Dan. Old Sam was out +saddling Buck's horse, for they had decided that the doctor must be +brought from Elkhead at once. + +"I don't like to leave him," growled Buck. "I misdoubt what may be +happenin' while I'm gone." + +"Don't look at me like that," said his mother. "Why, Buck, a body +would think that if he dies while you're gone you'll accuse your +father an' mother of murder." + +"Don't be no minute away from him," urged Buck, "that's all I ask." + +"Cure his brain," said his mother monotonously, "an' his body'll take +care of itself. Who's that talkin' with your dad outside?" + +Very faintly they caught the sound of voices, and after a moment the +departing clatter of a galloping horse. Old Sam ran into the house +breathless. + +"Who was it? What's the matter, pa?" asked his wife, for the old +cowpuncher's face was pale even through his tan. + +"Young Seaton was jest here. He an' a hundred other fellers is combin' +the range an' warnin' everyone agin that Dan Barry. The bullet in his +shoulder--he got it while he was breaking jail with Lee Haines. An' he +shot down the hosses of two men an' his dog pulled down a third one." + +"Busted jail with Lee Haines!" breathed Buck. "It ain't no ways +nacheral. Which Dan hates Lee Haines!" + +"He was bought off by Jim Silent," said old Sam. "They opened a letter +in Elkhead, an' the letter told everything. It was signed "J.S." an' +it thanked Dan for gettin' "L.H." free." + +"It's a lie!" said Buck doggedly. + +"Buck! Sam!" cried Mrs. Daniels, seeing the two men of her family +glaring at each other with something like hate in their eyes. "Sam, +have you forgot that this lad has eat your food in your house?" + +Sam turned as crimson as he had been pale before. + +"I forgot," he muttered. "I was scared an' forgot!" + +"An' maybe you've forgot that I'd be swingin' on the end of a rope in +Elkhead if it wasn't for Dan Barry?" suggested Buck. + +"Buck," said his father huskily, "I'm askin' your pardon. I got sort +of panicky for a minute, that's all. But what are we goin' to do with +him? If he don't get help he'll be a dead man quick. An' you can't go +to Elkhead for the doctor. They'd doctor Dan with six-guns, that's +what they'd do." + +"What could of made him do it?" said Mrs. Daniels, wiping a sudden +burst of tears from her eyes. + +"Oh, God," said Buck. "How'd I know why he done it? How'd I know why +he turned me loose when he should of took me to Elkhead to be lynched +by the mob there? The girl's the only thing to help him outside of a +doctor. I'm goin' to get the girl." + +"Where?" + +"I dunno. Maybe I'll try the old Salton place." + +"And take her away from Jim Silent?" broke in his father. "You might +jest as well go an' shoot yourse'f before startin'. That'll save your +hoss the long ride, an' it'll bring you to jest the same end." + +"Listen!" said Buck, "they's the wolf mournin'!" + +"Buck, you're loco!" + +"Hush, pa!" whispered Mrs. Daniels. + +She caught the hand of her brawny son. + +"Buck, I'm no end proud of you, lad. If you die, it's a good death! +Tell me, Buck dear, have you got a plan?" + +He ground his big hand across his forehead, scowling. + +"I dunno," he said, drawing a long breath. "I jest know that I got to +get the girl. Words don't say what I mean. All I know is that I've got +to go up there an' get that girl, and bring her back so's she can save +Dan, not from the people that's huntin' him, but from himself." + +"There ain't no way of changin' you?" said his father. + +"Pa," said Mrs. Daniels, "sometimes you're a plumb fool!" + +Buck was already in the saddle. He waved farewell, but after he set +his face towards the far-away hills he never turned his head. Behind +him lay the untamed three. Before him, somewhere among those naked, +sunburned hills, was the woman whose love could reclaim the wild. + +A dimness came before his eyes. He attempted to curse at this +weakness, but in place of the blasphemy something swelled in his +throat, and a still, small music filled his heart. And when at last +he was able to speak his lips framed a vow like that of the old +crusaders. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + + +"WEREWOLF" + +Buck's cattle pony broke from the lope into a steady dog-trot. Now and +then Buck's horse tossed his head high and jerked his ears quickly +back and forth as if he were trying to shake off a fly. As a matter of +fact he was bothered by his master's whistling. The only sound which +he was accustomed to hear from the lips of his rider was a grunted +curse now and then. This whistling made the mustang uneasy. + +Buck himself did not know what the music meant, but it brought into +his mind a thought of strong living and of glorious death. He had +heard it whistled several times by Dan Barry when the latter lay +delirious. It seemed to Buck, while he whistled this air, that the +spirit of Dan travelled beside him, nerving him to the work which lay +ahead, filling the messenger with his own wild strength. + +As Buck dropped into a level tract of country he caught sight of a +rider coming from the opposite direction. As they drew closer the +other man swung his mount far to one side. Buck chuckled softly, +seeing that the other evidently desired to pass without being +recognized. The chuckle died when the stranger changed direction and +rode straight for Buck. The latter pulled his horse to a quick stop +and turned to face the on-comer. He made sure that his six-gun was +loose in the holster, for it was always well to be prepared for the +unusual in these chance meetings in the mountain-desert. + +"Hey, Buck!" called the galloping horseman. + +The hand of Daniels dropped away from his revolver, for he recognized +the voice of Hal Purvis, who swiftly ranged alongside. + +"What's the dope?" asked Buck, producing his tobacco and the +inevitable brown papers. + +"Jest lookin' the landscape over an' scoutin' around for news," +answered Purvis. + +"Pick up anything?" + +"Yeh. Ran across some tenderfoot squatters jest out of Elkhead." + +Buck grunted and lighted his cigarette. + +"Which you've been sort of scarce around the outfit lately," went on +Purvis. + +"I'm headin' for the bunch now," said Buck. + +"D'you bring along that gun of mine I left at your house?" + +"Didn't think of it." + +"Let's drop back to your house an' get it. Then I'll ride up to the +camp with you." + +Buck drew a long puff on his cigarette. He drew a quick mental picture +of Purvis entering the house, finding Dan, and then-- + +"Sure," he said, "you c'n go back to the house an' ask pa for the gun, +if you want to. I'll keep on for the hills." + +"What's your hurry? It ain't more'n three miles back to your house. +You won't lose no time to speak of." + +"It ain't time I'm afraid of losin'," said Buck significantly. + +"Then what the devil is it? I can't afford to leave that gun." + +"All right," said Buck, forcing a grin of derision, "so long, Hal." + +Purvis frowned at him with narrowing eyes. + +"Spit it out, Buck. What's the matter with me goin' back for that gun? +Ain't I apt to find it?" + +"Sure. That's the point. You're apt to find _lots_ of guns. Here's +what I mean, Hal. Some of the cowpunchers are beginnin' to think I'm a +little partial to Jim Silent's crowd. An' they're watchin' my house." + +"The hell!" + +"You're right. It is. That's one of the reasons I'm beatin' it for the +hills." + +He started his horse to a walk. "But of course if you're bound to have +that gun, Hal--" + +Purvis grinned mirthlessly, his lean face wrinkling to the eyes, and +he swung his horse in beside Buck. + +"Anyway," said Buck, "I'm glad to see you ain't a fool. How's things +at the camp?" + +"Rotten. They's a girl up there--" + +"A girl?" + +"You look sort of pleased. Sure they's a girl. Kate Cumberland, she's +the one. She seen us hold up the train, an' now we don't dare let +her go. She's got enough evidence to hang us all if it came to a +show-down." + +"Kate! Delilah." + +"What you sayin'?" + +"I say it's damn queer that Jim'll let a girl stay at the camp." + +"Can't be helped. She's makin' us more miserable than a whole army of +men. We had her in the house for a while, an' then Silent rigged up +the little shack that stands a short ways--" + +"I know the one you mean." + +"She an' her dad is in that. We have to guard 'em at night. She ain't +had no good word for any of us since she's been up there. Every time +she looks at a feller she makes you feel like you was somethin' +low-down--a snake, or somethin'." + +"D'you mean to say none of the boys please her?" asked Buck curiously. +He understood from Dan's delirious ravings that the girl was in love +with Lee Haines and had deserted Barry for the outlaw. "Say, ain't +Haines goodlookin' enough to please her?" + +Purvis laughed unpleasantly. + +"He'd like to be, but he don't quite fit her idea of a man. We'd all +like to be, for that matter. She's a ravin' beauty, Buck. One of these +blue-eyed, yaller-haired kind, see, with a voice like silk. Speakin' +personal, I'm free to admit she's got me stopped." + +Buck drew so hard on the diminishing butt of his cigarette that he +burned his fingers. + +"Can't do nothin' with her?" he queried. + +"What you grinnin' about?" said Purvis hotly. "D'you think _you'd_ +have any better luck with her?" + +Buck chuckled. + +"The trouble with you fellers," he said complacently, "is that you're +all too damned afraid of a girl. You all treat 'em like they was +queens an' you was their slaves. They like a master." + +The thin lips of Purvis curled. + +"You're quite a man, ain't you?" + +"Man enough to handle any woman that ever walked." + +Purvis broke into loud laughter. + +"That's what a lot of us thought," he said at last, "but she breaks +all the rules. She's got her heart set on another man, an' she's that +funny sort that don't never love twice. Maybe you'll guess who the man +is?" + +Buck frowned thoughtfully to cover his growing excitement. + +"Give it up, Buck," advised Purvis. "The feller she loves is Whistlin' +Dan Barry. You wouldn't think no woman would look without shiverin' +at that hell-raiser. But she's goin' on a hunger strike on account of +him. Since yesterday she wouldn't eat none. She says she'll starve +herself to death unless we turn her loose. The hell of it is that she +will. I know it an' so does the rest of the boys." + +"Starve herself to death?" said Buck exuberantly. "Wait till I get +hold of her!" + +"_You?_" + +"Me!" + +Purvis viewed him with compassion. + +"Me bein' your friend, Buck," he said, "take my tip an' don't try no +fool stunts around that girl. Which she once belongs to Whistlin' Dan +Barry an' therefore she's got the taboo mark on her for any other man. +Everything he's ever owned is different, damned different!" + +His voice lowered to a tone which was almost awe. + +"Speakin' for myself, I don't hanker after his hoss like Bill Kilduff; +or his girl, like Lee Haines; or his life, like the chief. All I want +is a shot at that wolf-dog, that Black Bart!" + +"You look sort of het up, Hal." + +"He come near puttin' his teeth into my leg down at Morgan's place the +day Barry cleaned up the chief." + +"Why, any dog is apt to take a snap at a feller." + +"This ain't a dog. It's a wolf. An' Whistlin' Dan--" he stopped. + +"You look sort of queer, Hal. What's up?" + +"You won't think I'm loco?" + +"No." + +"They's some folks away up north that thinks a man now an' then turns +into a wolf." + +Buck nodded and shrugged his shoulders. A little chill went up and +down his back. + +"Here's my idea, Buck. I've been thinkin'--no, it's more like dreamin' +than thinkin'--that Dan Barry is a wolf turned into a man, an' Black +Bart is a man turned into a wolf." + +"Hal, you been drinkin'." + +"Maybe." + +"What made you think--" began Buck, but the long rider put spurs to +his horse and once more broke into a fast gallop. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + + +"THE MANHANDLING" + +It was close to sunset time when they reached the old Salton place, +where they found Silent sitting on the porch with Haines, Kilduff, +Jordan, and Rhinehart. They stood up at sight of the newcomers and +shouted a welcome. Buck waved his hand, but his thoughts were not for +them. The music he had heard Dan whistle formed in his throat. It +reached his lips not in sound but as a smile. + +At the house he swung from the saddle and shook hands with Jim Silent. +The big outlaw retained Buck's fingers. + +"You're comin' in mighty late," he growled, "Didn't you get the +signal?" + +Buck managed to meet the searching eyes. + +"I was doin' better work for you by stayin' around the house," he +said. + +"How d'you mean?" + +"I stayed there to pick up things you might want to know. It wasn't +easy. The boys are beginnin' to suspect me." + +"The cowpunchers is gettin' so thick around those parts," broke in +Purvis, "that Buck wouldn't even let me go back to his house with him +to get my gun." + +The keen eyes of Silent never left the face of Daniels. + +"Don't you know that Gus Morris gives us all the news we need, Buck?" + +Rhinehart and Jordan, who were chatting together, stopped to listen. +Buck smiled easily. + +"I don't no ways doubt that Morris tells you all he knows," he said, +"but the pint is that he don't know everything." + +"How's that?" + +"The rangers is beginnin' to look sidewise an' whisper when Morris +is around. He's played his game with us too long, an' the boys are +startin' to think. Thinkin' is always dangerous." + +"You seem to have been doin' some tall thinkin' yourself," said Silent +drily; "you guess the cowpunchers are goin' on our trail on their own +hook?" + +"There ain't no doubt of it." + +"Where'd you hear it?" + +"Young Seaton." + +"He's one of them?" + +"Yes." + +"I'll remember him. By the way, I see you got a little token of +Whistlin' Dan on your arm." + +He pointed to the bandage on Buck's right forearm. + +"It ain't nothin'," said Buck, shrugging his shoulders. "The cuts are +all healin' up. The arm's as good as ever now." + +"Anyway," said Silent, "you got somethin' comin' to you for the play +you made agin that devil." + +He reached into his pocket, drew out several twenty dollar gold pieces +(money was never scarce with a lone rider) and passed them to Buck. +The latter received the coin gingerly, hesitated, and then returned it +to the hand of the chief. + +"What the hell's the matter?" snarled the big outlaw. "Ain't it +enough?" + +"I don't want no money till I earn it," said Buck. + +"Life's gettin' too peaceful for you, eh?" grinned Silent. + +"Speakin' of peace," chimed in Purvis, with a liberal wink at the rest +of the gang, "Buck allows he's the boy who c'n bring the dove o' the +same into this camp. He says he knows the way to bring the girl over +there to see reason." + +Buck followed the direction of Purvis's eyes and saw Kate sitting on a +rock at a little distance from the shanty in which she lived with her +father. She made a pitiful figure, her chin cupped in her hand, and +her eyes staring fixedly down the valley. He was recalled from her by +the general laughter of the outlaws. + +"You fellers laugh," he said complacently, "because you don't know no +more about women than a cow knows about pictures." + +"What do you think we should do with her, Solomon?" Buck met the cold +blue eye of Haines. + +"Maybe I ain't Solomon," he admitted genially, "but I don't need no +million wives to learn all there is to know about women." + +"Don't make a fool of yourself, Buck," said Silent. "There ain't no +way of movin' that damn girl. She's gone on a hunger strike an' she'll +die in it. We can't send her out of the valley. It's hell to have her +dyin' on our hands here. But there ain't no way to make her change her +mind. I've tried pleadin' with her--I've even offered her money. It +don't do no good. Think of that!" + +"Sure it don't," sneered Buck. "Why, you poor bunch of yearlin' +calves, she don't need no coaxin'. What she needs is a manhandlin'. +She wants a master, that's what she wants." + +"I suppose," said Haines, "you think you're man enough to change her?" + +"None of that!" broke in Silent. "D'you really think you could do +somethin' with her, Buck?" + +"Can I do somethin' with her?" repeated Buck scornfully. "Why, boys, +there ain't nothin' I can't do with a woman." + +"Is it because of your pretty face or your winnin' smile?" growled the +deep bass of Bill Kilduff. + +"Both!" said Buck, promptly. "The wilder they are the harder they fall +for me. I've had a thirty-year old maverick eatin' out of my hand like +she'd been trained for it all her life. The edyoucated ones say I'm +'different'; the old maids allow that I'm 'naïve'; the pretty ones +jest say I'm a 'man,' but they spell the word with capital letters." + +"Daniels, you're drunk," said Haines. + +"Am I? It'll take a better man than you to make me sober, Haines!" + +The intervening men jumped back, but the deep voice of Silent rang +out like a pistol shot: "Don't move for your six-guns, or you'll be +playin' agin me!" + +Haines transferred his glare to Silent, but his hand dropped from his +gun. Daniels laughed. + +"I ain't no mile post with a hand pointin' to trouble," he said +gently. "All I say is that the girl needs excitement. Life's so damned +dull for her that she ain't got no interest in livin'." + +"If you're fool enough to try," said Silent, "go ahead. What are you +plannin' to do?" + +"You'll learn by watchin'," grinned Buck, taking the reins of his +horse. "I'm goin' to ask the lady soft an' polite to step up to her +cabin an' pile into some ham an' eggs. If she don't want to I'll rough +her up a little, an' she'll love me for it afterwards!" + +"The way she loves a snake!" growled Kilduff. + +"By God, Silent," said Haines, his face white with emotion, "if Buck +puts a hand on her I'll--" + +"Act like a man an' not like a damn fool boy," said Silent, dropping a +heavy hand on the shoulder of his lieutenant. "He won't hurt her none, +Lee. I'll answer for that. Come on, Buck. Speakin' personal, I wish +that calico was in hell." + +Leading his horse, Buck followed Silent towards the girl. She did not +move when they approached. Her eyes still held far down the valley. +The steps of the big outlaw were shorter and shorter as they drew +close to the girl. Finally he stopped and turned to Buck with a +gesture of resignation. + +"Look at her! This is what she's been doin' ever since yesterday. +Buck, it's up to you to make good. There she is!" + +"All right," said Buck, "it's about time for you amachoors to exit an' +leave the stage clear for the big star. Now jest step back an' take +notes on the way I do it. In fifteen minutes by the clock she'll be +eatin' out of my hand." + +Silent, expectant but baffled, retired a little. Buck removed his hat +and bowed as if he were in a drawing-room. + +"Ma'am," he said, "I got the honour of askin' you to side-step up to +the shanty with me an' tackle a plate of ham an' eggs. Are you on?" + +To this Chesterfieldian outpouring of the heart, she responded with a +slow glance which started at Buck's feet, travelled up to his face, +and then returned to the purple distance down the canyon. In spite of +himself the tell-tale crimson flooded Buck's face. Far away he caught +the muffled laughter of the outlaws. He replaced his hat. + +"Don't make no mistake," he went on, his gesture including the bandits +in the background, and Silent particularly, "I ain't the same sort as +these other fellers. I c'n understand the way you feel after bein' +herded around with a lot of tin horns like these. I'm suggestin' +that you take a long look at me an' notice the difference between an +imitation an' a real man." + +She did look at him. She even smiled faintly, and the smile made +Buck's face once more grow very hot. His voice went hard. + +"For the last time, I'm askin' if you'll go up to the cabin." + +There was both wonder and contempt in her smile. + +In an instant he was in his saddle. He swung far to one side and +caught her in his arms. Vaguely he heard the yell of excitement from +the outlaws. All he was vividly conscious of was the white horror of +her face. She fought like a wildcat. She did not cry out. She struck +him full in the face with the strength of a man, almost. He prisoned +her with a stronger grip, and in so doing nearly toppled from the +saddle, for his horse reared up, snorting. + +A gun cracked twice and two bullets hummed close to his head. From +the corner of his eye he was aware of Silent and Rhinehart flinging +themselves upon Lee Haines, who struggled furiously to fire again. He +drove his spurs deep and the cattle pony started a bucking course for +the shanty. + +"Dan!" he muttered at her ear. + +The yells of the men drowned his voice. She managed to jerk her right +arm free and struck him in the face. He shook her furiously. + +"For Whistling Dan!" he said more loudly. "He's dying!" + +She went rigid in his arms. + +"Don't speak!" he panted. "Don't let them know!" + +The outlaws were running after them, laughing and waving their hats. + +"Dan!" + +"_Faint, you fool!_" + +Her eyes widened with instant comprehension. Every muscle of her body +relaxed; her head fell back; she was a lifeless burden in his arms. +Buck dismounted from the saddle before the shanty. He was white, +shaking, but triumphant. Rhinehart and Purvis and Jordan ran up to +him. Silent and Kilduff were still struggling with Haines in the +distance. + +Rhinehart dropped his head to listen at her breast for the heartbeat. + +"She's dead!" cried Jordan. + +"You're a fool," said Buck calmly. "She's jest fainted, an' when she +comes to, she'll begin tellin' me what a wonderful man I am." + +"She ain't dead," said Rhinehart, raising his head from her heart, +"but Haines'll kill you for this, Buck!" + +"Kate!" cried an agonized voice from the shanty, and old white-haired +Joe Cumberland ran towards them. + +"Jest a little accident happened to your daughter," explained Buck. +"Never mind. I c'n carry her in all right. You fellers stay back. A +crowd ain't no help. Ain't no cause to worry, Mr. Cumberland. She +ain't hurt!" + +He hastened on into the shanty and laid her on the bunk within. Her +father hurried about to bathe her face and throat. Buck pushed the +other three men out of the room. + +"She ain't hurt," he said calmly, "she's jest a little fussed up. +Remember I said in fifteen minutes I'd have her eatin' out of my hand. +I've still got ten minutes of that time. When the ten minutes is up +you all come an' take a look through that window. If you don't see the +girl eatin' at that table, I'll chaw up my hat." + +He crowded them through the door and shut it behind them. A cry of joy +came from old Joe Cumberland and Buck turned to see Kate sitting up on +the bunk. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + + +"LAUGH, DAMN IT!" + +She brushed her father's anxious arms aside and ran to Buck. + +"Shut up!" said Buck. "Talk soft. Better still, don't say nothin'!" + +"Kate," stammered her father, "what has happened?" + +"Listen an' you'll learn," said Buck. "But get busy first. I got to +get you out of here tonight. You'll need strength for the work ahead +of you. You got to eat. Get me some eggs. Eggs and ham. Got 'em? Good. +You, there!" (This to Joe.) "Rake down them ashes. On the jump, Kate. +Some wood here. I got only ten minutes!" + +In three minutes the fire was going, and the eggs in the pan, while +Joe set out some tin dishes on the rickety table, under orders from +Buck, making as much noise as possible. While they worked Buck talked. +By the time Kate's plate was ready his tale was done. He expected +hysterics. She was merely white and steady-eyed. + +"You're ready?" he concluded. + +"Yes." + +"Then begin by doin' what I say an' ask no questions. Silent an' his +crew'll be lookin' through the window over there pretty soon. You got +to be eatin' an' appearin' to enjoy talkin' to me. Get that an' don't +forget it. Mix in plenty of smiles. Cumberland, you get back into the +shadow an' stay there. Don't never come out into the light. Your face +tells more'n a whole book, an' believe me, Jim Silent is a quick +reader." + +Joe retreated to a corner of the room into which the light of the lamp +did not penetrate. + +"Sit down at that table!" ordered Buck, and he placed a generous +portion of fried eggs and ham before her. + +"I can't eat. Is Dan--" + +"I hear 'em at the window!" + +He slipped onto a box on the opposite side of the table and leaned +towards her, supporting his chin in his hands. Kate began to eat +hurriedly. + +"No! no!" advised Buck. "You eat as if you was scared. You want to be +slow an' deliberate. Watch out! They've moved the board that covers +the window!" + +For he saw a group of astonished faces outside. + +"Smile at me!" + +Her response made even Buck forget her pallor. Outside the house there +was a faint buzz of whispers. + +"Keep it up!" + +"I'll do my best," she said faintly. + +Buck leaned back and burst into uproarious laughter. + +"That's a good one!" he cried, slamming the broad palm of his hand +against the table so that the tin dishes jumped. "I never heard the +beat of it!" And in a whispered tone aside: "_Laugh, damn it!_" + +Her laughter rang true enough, but it quavered perilously close to a +sob towards the close. + +"I always granted Jim Silent a lot of sense," he said, "an' has he +really left you alone all this time? Damn near died of homesickness, +didn't you?" + +She laughed again, more confidently this time. The board was suddenly +replaced at the window. + +"Now I got to go out to them," he said. "After what Silent has seen +he'll trust me with you. He'll let me come back." + +She dropped her soft hands over his clenched fist. + +"It will be soon? Minutes are greater than hours." + +"I ain't forgot. Tonight's the time." + +Before he reached the door she ran to him. Two arms went round his +neck, two warm lips fluttered against his. + +"God bless you!" she whispered. + +Buck ran for the door. Outside he stood bareheaded, breathing deeply. +His face was hot with shame and delight, and he had to walk up and +down for a moment before he could trust himself to enter the ranch +house. When he finally did so he received a greeting which made him +think himself a curiosity rather than a man. Even Jim Silent regarded +him with awe. + +"Buck," said Jordan, "you don't never need to work no more. All you +got to do is to walk into a town, pick out the swellest heiress, an' +marry her." + +"The trouble with girls in town," said Buck, "is that there ain't no +room for a man to operate. You jest nacherally can't ride a hoss into +a parlour." + +Lee Haines drew Buck a little to one side. + +"What message did you bring to her, Buck?" he said. + +"What d'you mean?" + +"Look here, friend, these other boys are too thick-headed to +understand Kate Cumberland, but I know her kind." + +"You're a little peeved, ain't you Lee?" grinned Buck. "It ain't my +fault that she don't like you." + +Haines ground his teeth. + +"It was a very clever little act that you did with her, but it +couldn't quite deceive me. She was too pale when she laughed." + +"A jealous feller sees two things for every one that really happens, +Lee." + +"Who was the message from?" + +"Did she ever smile at you like she done at me?" + +"Was it from Dan Barry that you brought word?" + +"Did she ever let her eyes go big an' soft when she looked at you?" + +"Damn you." + +"Did she ever lean close to you, so's you got the scent of her hair, +Lee?" + +"I'll kill you for this, Daniels!" + +"When I left she kissed me good-bye, Lee." + +In spite of his bravado, Buck was deeply anxious. He watched Haines +narrowly. Only two men in the mountain-desert would have had a chance +against this man in a fight, and Buck knew perfectly well that he was +not one of the two. + +"Watch yourself, Daniels," said Haines. "I know you're lying and I'm +going to keep an eye on you." + +"Thanks," grinned Buck. "I like to have a friend watchin' out for me." + +Haines turned on his heel and went back to the card table, where Buck +immediately joined the circle. + +"Wait a minute, Lee," said Silent. "Ain't it your turn to stand guard +on the Cumberlands tonight?" + +"Right--O," answered Haines cheerfully, and rose from the table. + +"Hold on," said Buck. "Are you goin' to spoil all the work I done +today with that girl?" + +"What's the matter?" asked Silent. + +"Everything's the matter! Are you goin' to put a man she hates out +there watchin' her." + +"Damn you, Daniels," said Haines fiercely, "you're rolling up a long +account, but it only takes a bullet to collect that sort of a bill!" + +"If it hadn't been for Haines, would the girl's father be here?" asked +Buck. "Besides, she don't like blonds." + +"What type does she like?" asked Silent, enjoying the quarrel between +his lieutenant and the recruit. + +"Likes 'em with dark hair an' eyes," said Buck calmly. "Look at me, +for instance!" + +Even Haines smiled, though his lips were white with anger. + +"D'you want to stand guard over her yourself?" said the chief. + +"Sure," grinned Buck, "maybe she'd come out an' pass the time o' night +with me." + +"Go ahead and take the job," nodded Silent. "I got an idea maybe she +will." + +"Silent," warned Haines, "hasn't it occurred to you that there's +something damned queer about the ease with which Buck slid into the +favour of the girl?" + +"Well?" + +"All his talk about manhandling her is bunk. He had some message for +her. I saw him speak to her when she was struggling in his arms. Then +she conveniently fainted." + +Silent turned on Buck. + +"Is that straight?" + +"It is," said Daniels easily. + +The outlaws started and their expectant grins died out. + +"By God, Buck!" roared Silent, "if you're double crossin' me--but I +ain't goin' to be hasty now. What happened? Tell it yourself! What did +you say to her?" + +"While she was fightin' with me," said Buck, "she hollered: 'Let me +go!' I says: 'I'll see you in hell first!' Then she fainted." + +The roar of laughter drowned Haines's further protest. + +"You win, Buck," said Silent. "Take the job." + +As Buck started for the door Haines called to him: + +"Hold on, Buck, if you're aboveboard you won't mind giving your word +to see that no one comes up the valley and that you'll be here in the +morning?" + +The words set a swirling blackness before Buck's eyes. He turned +slowly. + +"That's reasonable," said Silent. "Speak up, Daniels." + +"All right," said Buck, his voice very low. "I'll be here in the +morning, and I'll see that no one comes up the valley." + +There was the slightest possible emphasis on the word "up." + +On a rock directly in front of the shanty Buck took up his watch. The +little house behind him was black. Presently he heard the soft call of +Kate: "Is it time?" + +His eyes wandered to the ranch house. He could catch the drone of many +voices. He made no reply. + +"Is it time?" she repeated. + +Still he would not venture a reply, however guarded. She called a +third time, and when he made no response he heard her voice break to +a moan of hopelessness. And yet he waited, waited, until the light in +the ranch house went out, and there was not a sound. + +"Kate!" he said, gauging his voice carefully so that it could not +possibly travel to the ranch house, which all the while he carefully +scanned. + +For answer the front door of the shanty squeaked. + +"Back!" he called. "Go back!" + +The door squeaked again. + +"They're asleep in the ranch house," she said. "Aren't we safe?" + +"S--sh!" he warned. "Talk low! They aren't all asleep. There's one in +the ranch house who'll never take his eyes off me till morning." + +"What can we do?" + +"Go out the back way. You won't be seen if you're careful. Haines has +his eyes on me, not you. Go for the stable. Saddle your horses. Then +lead them out and take the path on the other side of the house. Don't +mount them until you're far below the house. Go slow all the way. +Sounds travel far up this canyon." + +"Aren't you coming with us?" + +"No." + +"But when they find us gone?" + +"Think of Dan--not me!" + +"God be merciful to you!" + +In a moment the back door of the shanty creaked. They must be opening +it by inches. When it was wide they would run for the stable. He +wished now that he had warned Kate to walk, for a slow moving object +catches the eye more seldom than one which travels fast. If Lee Haines +was watching at that moment his attention must be held to Buck for one +all important minute. He stood up, rolled a cigarette swiftly, and +lighted it. The spurt and flare of the match would hold even the most +suspicious eye for a short time, and in those few seconds Kate and her +father might pass out of view behind the stable. + +He sat down again. A muffled sneeze came from the ranch house and Buck +felt his blood run cold. The forgotten cigarette between his fingers +burned to a dull red and then went out. In the stable a horse stamped. +He leaned back, locked his hands idly behind his head, and commenced +to whistle. Now there was a snort, as of a horse when it leaves the +shelter of a barn and takes the first breath of open air. + +All these sounds were faint, but to Buck, straining his ears in an +agony of suspense, each one came like the blast of a trumpet. Next +there was a click like that of iron striking against rock. Evidently +they were leading the horses around on the far side of the house. +With a trembling hand he relighted his cigarette and waited, waited, +waited. Then he saw them pass below the house! They were dimly +stalking figures in the night, but to Buck it seemed as though they +walked in the blaze of ten thousand searchlights. He held his breath +in expectancy of that mocking laugh from the house--that sharp command +to halt--that crack of the revolver. + +Yet nothing happened. Now he caught the click of the horses' iron +shoes against the rocks farther and farther down the valley. Still no +sound from the ranch house. They were safe! + +It was then that the great temptation seized on Buck. + +It would be simple enough for him to break away. He could walk to the +stable, saddle his horse, and tear past the ranch house as fast as his +pony could gallop. By the time the outlaws were ready for the pursuit, +he would be a mile or more away, and in the hills such a handicap was +enough. One thing held him. It was frail and subtle like the invisible +net of the enchanter--that word he had passed to Jim Silent, to see +that nothing came up the valley and to appear in the ranch house at +sunrise. + +In the midst of his struggle, strangely enough, he began to whistle +the music he had learned from Dan Barry, the song of The Untamed, +those who hunt for ever, and are for ever hunted. When his whistling +died away he touched his hand to his lips where Kate had kissed him, +and then smiled. The sun pushed up over the eastern hills. + +When he entered the ranch house the big room was a scene of much arm +stretching and yawning as the outlaws dressed. Lee Haines was already +dressed. Buck smiled ironically. + +"I say, Lee," he said, "you look sort of used up this mornin', eh?" + +The long rider scowled. + +"I'd make a guess you've not had much sleep, Haines," went on Buck. +"Your eyes is sort of hollow." + +"Not as hollow as your damned lying heart!" + +"Drop that!" commanded Silent. "You hold a grudge like a woman, Lee! +How was the watch, Buck? Are you all in?" + +"Nothin' come up the valley, an' here I am at sunrise," said Buck. "I +reckon that speaks for itself." + +"It sure does," said Silent, "but the gal and her father are kind of +slow this mornin'. The old man generally has a fire goin' before dawn +is fairly come. There ain't no sign of smoke now." + +"Maybe he's sleepin' late after the excitement of yesterday," said +Bill Kilduff. "You must of thrown some sensation into the family, +Buck." + +The eyes of Haines had not moved from the face of Buck. + +"I think I'll go over and see what's keeping them so late in bed," he +said, and left the house. + +"He takes it pretty hard," said Jordan, his scarred face twisted with +Satanic mirth, "but don't go rubbin' it into him, Buck, or you'll be +havin' a man-sized fight on your hands. I'd jest about as soon mix +with the chief as cross Haines. When he starts the undertaker does the +finishin'!" + +"Thanks for remindin' me," said Buck drily. Through the window he saw +Haines throw open the door of the shanty. + +The outcry which Buck expected did not follow. For a long moment the +long rider stood there without moving. Then he turned and walked +slowly back to the house, his head bent, his forehead gathered in a +puzzled frown. + +"What's the matter, Lee?" called Silent as his lieutenant entered the +room again. "You look sort of sick. Didn't she have a bright mornin' +smile for you?" + +Haines raised his head slowly. The frown was not yet gone. + +"They aren't there," he announced. + +His eyes shifted to Buck. Everyone followed his example, Silent +cursing softly. + +"As a joker, Lee," said Buck coldly, "you're some Little Eva. I s'pose +they jest nacherally evaporated durin' the night, maybe?" + +"Haines," said Silent sharply, "are you serious?" + +The latter nodded. + +"Then by God, Buck, you'll have to say a lot in a few words. Lee, you +suspected him all the time, but I was a fool!" + +Daniels felt the colour leaving his face, but help came from the +quarter from which he least expected it. + +"Jim, don't draw!" cried Haines. + +The eyes of the chief glittered like the hawk's who sees the field +mouse scurrying over the ground far below. + +"He ain't your meat, Lee," he said. "It's me he's double crossed." + +"Chief," said Haines, "last night while he watched the shanty, I +watched _him!_" + +"Well?" + +"I saw him keep his post in front of the cabin all night without +moving. And he was wide awake all the time." + +"Then how in hell--" + +"The back door of the cabin!" said Kilduff suddenly. + +"By God, that's it! They sneaked out there and then went down on the +other side of the house." + +"If I had let them go," interposed Buck, "do you suppose I'd be here?" + +The keen glance of Silent moved from Buck to Haines, and then back +again. He turned his back on them. + +The quiet which had fallen on the room was now broken by the usual +clatter of voices, cursing, and laughter. In the midst of it Haines +stepped close to Buck and spoke in a guarded voice. + +"Buck," he said, "I don't know how you did it, but I have an idea--" + +"Did what?" + +The eyes of Haines were sad. + +"I was a clean man, once," he said quietly, "and you've done a clean +man's work!" + +He put out his hand and that of Buck's advanced slowly to meet it. + +"Was it for Dan or Kate that you did it?" + +The glance of Buck roamed far away. + +"I dunno," he said softly. "I think it was to save my own rotten +soul!" + +On the other side of the room Silent beckoned to Purvis. + +"What is it?" asked Hal, coming close. + +"Speak low," said Silent. "I'm talking to you, not to the crowd. +I think Buck is crooked as hell. I want you to ride down to the +neighbourhood of his house. Scout around it day and night. You may see +something worth while." + +Meanwhile, in that utter blackness which precedes the dawn, Kate and +her father reached the mouth of the canyon. + +"Kate," said old Joe in a tremulous voice, "if I was a prayin' man I'd +git down on my knees an' thank God for deliverin' you tonight." + +"Thank Buck Daniels, who's left his life in pawn for us. I'll go +straight for Buck's house. You must ride to Sheriff Morris and tell +him that an honest man is up there in the power of Silent's gang." + +"But--" he began. + +She waved her hand to him, and spurring her horse to a furious gallop +raced off into the night. Her father stared after her for a few +moments, but then, as she had advised, rode for Gus Morris. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + + +THOSE WHO SEE IN THE DARK + +It was still early morning when Kate swung from her horse before the +house of Buck Daniels. Instinct seemed to lead her to the sick-room, +and when she reached it she paid not the slightest attention to the +old man and his wife, who sat nodding beside the bed. They started up +when they heard the challenging growl of Black Bart, which relapsed +into an eager whine of welcome as he recognized Kate. + +She saw nothing but the drawn white face of Dan and his blue pencilled +eyelids. She ran to him. Old Sam, hardly awake, reached out to stop +her. His wife held him back. + +"It's Delilah!" she whispered. "I seen her face!" + +Kate was murmuring soft, formless sounds which made the old man and +his wife look to each other with awe. They retreated towards the door +as if they had been found intruding where they had no right. + +They saw the fever-bright eyes of Dan open. They heard him murmur +petulantly, his glance wandering. Her hand passed across his forehead, +and then her touch lingered on the bandage which surrounded his left +shoulder. She cried out at that, and Dan's glance checked in its +wandering and fixed upon the face which leaned above him. They saw his +eyes brighten, widen, and a frown gradually contract his forehead. +Then his hand went up slowly and found hers. + +He whispered something. + +"What did he say?" murmured Sam. + +"I dunno," she answered. "I think it was 'Delilah!' See her shrink!" + +"Shut up!" cautioned Sam. "Ma, he's comin' to his senses!" + +There was no doubt of it now, for a meaning had come into his eyes. + +"Shall I take her away?" queried Sam in a hasty whisper. "He may do +the girl harm. Look at the yaller in his eyes!" + +"No," said his wife softly, "it's time for us to leave 'em alone." + +"But look at him now!" he muttered. "He's makin' a sound back in his +throat like the growl of a wolf! I'm afeard for the gal, ma!" + +"Sam, you're an old fool!" + +He followed her reluctantly from the room. + +"Now," said his wife, "we c'n leave the door a little open--jest +a crack--an' you c'n look through and tell when she's in any reel +danger." + +Sam obeyed. + +"Dan ain't sayin' a word," he said. "He's jest glarin' at her." + +"An' what's she doin'?" asked Mrs. Daniels. + +"She's got her arm around his shoulders. I never knew they could be +such a pile of music in a gal's voice, ma!" + +"Sam, you was always a fool!" + +"He's pushin' her away to the length of his arm." + +"An' she? An' she?" whispered Mrs. Daniels. + +"She's talkin' quick. The big wolf is standin' close to them an' +turnin' his head from one face to the other like he was wonderin' +which was right in the argyment." + +"The ways of lovers is as queer as the ways of the Lord, Sam!" + +"Dan has caught an arm up before his face, an' he's sayin' one word +over an' over. She's dropped on her knees beside the bed. She's +talkin'. Why does she talk so low, ma?" + +"She don't dare speak loud for fear her silly heart would bust. Oh, I +know, I know! What fools all men be! What fools! She's askin' him to +forgive her." + +"An' he's tryin' all his might not to," whispered Mrs. Daniels in an +awe-stricken voice. + +"Black Bart has put his head on the lap of the gal. You c'n hear him +whine! Dan looks at the wolf an' then at the girl. He seems sort of +dumbfoundered. She's got her one hand on the head of Bart. She's got +the other hand to her face, and she's weepin' into that hand. Martha, +she's give up tryin' to persuade him." + +There was a moment of silence. + +"He's reachin' out his hand for Black Bart. His fingers is on those of +the girl. They's both starin'." + +"Ay, ay!" she said. "An' what now?" + +But Sam closed the door and set his back to it, facing his wife. + +"I reckon the rest of it's jest like the endin' of a book, ma," he +said. + +"Men is all fools!" whispered Mrs. Daniels, but there were tears in +her eyes. + +Sam went out to put up Kate's horse in the stable. Mrs. Daniels sat in +the dining-room, her hands clasped in her lap while she watched the +grey dawn come up the east. When Sam entered and spoke to her, she +returned no answer. He shook his head as if her mood completely +baffled him, and then, worn out by the long watching, he went to bed. + +For a long time Mrs. Daniels sat without moving, with the same strange +smile transfiguring her. Then she heard a soft step pause at the +entrance to the room, and turning saw Kate. There was something in +their faces which made them strangely alike. A marvellous grace and +dignity came to Mrs. Daniels as she rose. + +"My dear!" she said. + +"I'm so happy!" whispered Kate. + +"Yes, dear! And Dan?" + +"He's sleeping like a child! Will you look at him? I think the fever's +gone!" + +They went hand in hand--like two girls, and they leaned above the bed +where Whistling Dan lay smiling as he slept. On the floor Black Bart +growled faintly, opened one eye on them, and then relapsed into +slumber. There was no longer anything to guard against in that house. + + * * * * * + +It was several days later that Hal Purvis, returning from his scouting +expedition, met no less a person that Sheriff Gus Morris at the mouth +of the canyon leading to the old Salton place. + +"Lucky I met you, Hal," said the genial sheriff. "I've saved you from +a wild-goose chase." + +"How's that?" + +"Silent has jest moved." + +"Where?" + +"He's taken the trail up the canyon an' cut across over the hills to +that old shanty on Bald-eagle Creek. It stands--" + +"I know where it is," said Purvis. "Why'd he move?" + +"Things was gettin' too hot. I rode over to tell him that the boys was +talkin' of huntin' up the canyon to see if they could get any clue of +him. They knowed from Joe Cumberland that the gang was once here." + +"Cumberland went to you when he got out of the valley?" queried Purvis +with a grin. + +"Straight." + +"And then where did Cumberland go?" + +"I s'pose he went home an' joined his gal." + +"He didn't," said Purvis drily. + +"Then where is he? An' who the hell cares where he is?" + +"They're both at Buck Daniels's house." + +"Look here, Purvis, ain't Buck one of your own men? Why, I seen him up +at the camp jest a while ago!" + +"Maybe you did, but the next time you call around he's apt to be +missin'." + +"D'you think--" + +"He's double crossed us. I not only seen the girl an' her father at +Buck's house, but I also seen a big dog hangin' around the house. +Gus, it was Black Bart, an' where that wolf is you c'n lay to it that +Whistlin' Dan ain't far away!" + +The sheriff stared at him in dumb amazement, his mouth open. + +"They's a price of ten thousand on the head of Whistlin' Dan," +suggested Purvis. + +The sheriff still seemed too astonished to understand. + +"I s'pose," said Purvis, "that you wouldn't care special for an easy +lump sum of ten thousand, what?" + +"In Buck Daniels's house!" burst out the sheriff. + +"Yep," nodded Purvis, "that's where the money is if you c'n get enough +men together to gather in Whistlin' Dan Barry." + +"D'you really think I'd get some boys together to round up Whistlin' +Dan? Why, Hal, you know there ain't no real reason for that price on +his head!" + +"D'you always wait for 'real reasons' before you set your fat hands on +a wad of money?" + +The sheriff moistened his lips. + +"Ten thousand dollars!" + +"Ten thousand dollars!" echoed Purvis. + +"By God, I'll do it! If I got him, the boys would forget all about +Silent. They're afraid of Jim, but jest the thought of Barry paralyzes +them! I'll start roundin' up the boys I need today. Tonight we'll do +our plannin'. Tomorrer mornin' bright an' early we'll hit the trail." + +"Why not go after him tonight?" + +"Because he'd have an edge on us. I got a hunch that devil c'n see in +the dark." + +He grinned apologetically for this strange idea, but Purvis nodded +with perfect sympathy, and then turned his horse up the canyon. The +sheriff rode home whistling. On ten thousand dollars more he would be +able to retire from this strenuous life. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + + +THE SONG OF THE UNTAMED + +Buck and his father were learning of a thousand crimes charged against +Dan. Wherever a man riding a black horse committed an outrage it was +laid to the account of this new and most terrible of long riders. +Two cowpunchers were found dead on the plains. Their half-emptied +revolvers lay close to their hands, and their horses were not far off. +In ordinary times it would have been accepted that they had killed +each other, for they were known enemies, but now men had room for one +thought only. And why should not a man with the courage to take an +outlaw from the centre of Elkhead be charged with every crime on the +range? Jim Silent had been a grim plague, but at least he was human. +This devil defied death. + +These were both sad and happy days for Kate. The chief cause of her +sadness, strangely enough, was the rapidly returning strength of +Dan. While he was helpless he belonged to her. When he was strong +he belonged to his vengeance on Jim Silent; and when she heard Dan +whistling softly his own wild, weird music, she knew its meaning as +she would have known the wail of a hungry wolf on a winter night. It +was the song of the untamed. She never spoke of her knowledge. She +took the happiness of the moment to her heart and closed her eyes +against tomorrow. + +Then came an evening when she watched Dan play with Black Bart--a +game of tag in which they darted about the room with a violence +which threatened to wreck the furniture, but running with such soft +footfalls that there was no sound except the rattle of Bart's claws +against the floor and the rush of their breath. They came to an abrupt +stop and Dan dropped into a chair while Black Bart sank upon his +haunches and snapped at the hand which Dan flicked across his face +with lightning movements. The master fell motionless and silent. His +eyes forgot the wolf. Rising, they rested on Kate's face. They rose +again and looked past her. + +She understood and waited. + +"Kate," he said at last, "I've got to start on the trail." + +Her smile went out. She looked where she knew his eyes were staring, +through the window and far out across the hills where the shadows +deepened and dropped slanting and black across the hollows. Far away +a coyote wailed. The wind which swept the hills seemed to her like a +refrain of Dan's whistling--the song and the summons of the untamed. + +"That trail will never bring you home," she said. + +There was a long silence. + +"You ain't cryin', honey?" + +"I'm not crying, Dan." + +"I got to go." + +"Yes." + +"Kate, you got a dyin' whisper in your voice." + +"That will pass, dear." + +"Why, honey, you _are_ cryin'!" + +He took her face between his hands, and stared into her misted eyes, +but then his glance wandered past her, through the window, out to the +shadowy hills. + +"You won't leave me now?" she pleaded. + +"I must!" + +"Give me one hour more!" + +"Look!" he said, and pointed. + +She saw Black Bart reared up with his forepaws resting on the +window-sill, while he looked into the thickening night with the eyes +of the hunter which sees in the dark. + +"The wolf knows, Kate," he said, "but I can't explain." + +He kissed her forehead, but she strained close to him and raised her +lips. + +She cried, "My whole soul is on them." + +"Not that!" he said huskily. "There's still blood on my lips an' I'm +goin' out to get them clean." + +He was gone through the door with the wolf racing before him. + +She stumbled after him, her arms outspread, blind with tears; and +then, seeing that he was gone indeed, she dropped into the chair, +buried her face against the place where his head had rested, and wept. +Far away the coyote wailed again, and this time nearer. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + + +THE COWARD + +Before the coyote cried again, three shadows glided into the night. +The lighted window in the house was like a staring eye that searched +after them, but Satan, with the wolf running before, vanished quickly +among the shadows of the hills. They were glad. They were loosed in +the void of the mountain-desert with no destiny save the will of the +master. They seemed like one being rather than three. The wolf was the +eyes, the horse the strong body to flee or pursue, and the man was the +brain which directed, and the power which struck. + +He had formulated no plan of action to free Buck and kill Silent. All +he knew was that he must reach the long riders at once, and he would +learn their whereabouts from Morris. He rode more slowly as he +approached the hotel of the sheriff. Lights burned at the dining-room +windows. Probably the host still sat at table with his guests, but it +was strange that they should linger over their meal so late. He had +hoped that he would be able to come upon Morris by surprise. Now he +must take him in the midst of many men. With Black Bart slinking at +his heels he walked softly across the porch and tiptoed through the +front room. + +The door to the dining-room was wide. Around the table sat a dozen +men, with the sheriff at their head. The latter, somewhat red of face, +as if from the effort of a long speech, was talking low and earnestly, +sometimes brandishing his clenched fist with such violence that it +made his flabby cheeks quiver. + +"We'll get to the house right after dawn," he was saying, "because +that's the time when most men are so thick-headed with sleep that--" + +"Not Whistling Dan Barry," said one of the men, shaking his head. "He +won't be thick-headed. Remember, I seen him work in Elkhead, when he +slipped through the hands of a roomful of us." + +A growl of agreement went around the table, and Black Bart in +sympathy, echoed the noise softly. + +"What's that?" called the sheriff, raising his head sharply. + +Dan, with a quick gesture, made Black Bart slink a pace back. + +"Nothin'," replied one of the men. "This business is gettin' on your +nerves, sheriff. I don't blame you. It's gettin' on mine." + +"I'm trustin' to you boys to stand back of me all through," said the +sheriff with a sort of whine, "but I'm thinkin' that we won't have no +trouble. When we see him we won't stop for no questions to be asked, +but turn loose with our six-guns an' shoot him down like a dog. He's +not human an' he don't deserve--Oh, God!" + +He started up from his chair, white faced, his hands high above his +head, staring at the apparition of Whistling Dan, who stood with two +revolvers covering the posse. Every man was on his feet instantly, +with arms straining stiffly up. The muzzles of revolvers are like the +eyes of some portraits. No matter from what angle you look at them, +they seem directed straight at you. And every cowpuncher in the room +was sure that he was the main object of Dan's aim. + +"Morris!" said Dan. + +"For God's sake, don't shoot!" screamed the sheriff. "I--" + +"Git down on your knees! Watch him, Bart!" + +As the sheriff sank obediently to his knees, the wolf slipped up to +him with a stealthy stride and stood half crouched, his teeth bared, +silent. No growl could have made Bart more terribly threatening. +Dan turned completely away from Morris so that he could keep a more +careful watch on the others. + +"Call off your wolf!" moaned Morris, a sob of terror in his voice. + +"I ought to let him set his teeth in you," said Dan, "but I'm goin' to +let you off if you'll tell me what I want to know." + +"Yes! Anything!" + +"Where's Jim Silent?" + +All eyes flashed towards Morris. The latter, as the significance of +the question came home to him, went even a sicklier white, like the +belly of a dead fish. His eyes moved swiftly about the circle of his +posse. Their answering glares were sternly forbidding. + +"Out with it!" commanded Dan. + +The sheriff strove mightily to speak, but only a ghastly whisper came: +"You got the wrong tip, Dan. I don't know nothin' about Silent. I'd +have him in jail if I did!" + +"Bart!" said Dan. + +The wolf slunk closer to the kneeling man. His hot breath fanned the +face of the sheriff and his lips grinned still farther back from the +keen, white teeth. + +"Help!" yelled Morris. "He's at the shanty up on Bald-eagle Creek." + +A rumble, half cursing and half an inarticulate snarl of brute rage, +rose from the cowpunchers. + +"Bart," called Dan again, and leaped back from the door, raced out to +Satan, and drove into the night at a dead gallop. + +Half the posse rushed after him. A dozen shots were pumped after the +disappearing shadowy figure. Two or three jumped into their saddles. +The others called them back. + +"Don't be an ass, Monte," said one. "You got a good hoss, but you +ain't fool enough to think he c'n catch Satan?" + +They trooped back to the dining-room, and gathered in a silent circle +around the sheriff, whose little fear-bright eyes went from face to +face. + +"Ah, this is the swine," said one, "that was guardin' our lives!" + +"Fellers," pleaded the sheriff desperately, "I swear to you that I +jest heard of where Silent was today. I was keepin' it dark until +after we got Whistling Dan. Then I was goin' to lead you--" + +The flat of a heavy hand struck with a resounding thwack across his +lips. He reeled back against the wall, sputtering the blood from his +split mouth. + +"Pat," said Monte, "your hoss is done for. Will you stay here an' see +that he don't get away? We'll do somethin' with him when we get back." + +Pat caught the sheriff by his shirt collar and jerked him to a chair. +The body of the fat man was trembling like shaken jelly. The posse +turned away. + +They could not overtake Whistling Dan on his black stallion, but they +might arrive before Silent and his gang got under way. Their numbers +were over small to attack the formidable long riders, but they wanted +blood. Before Whistling Dan reached the valley of Bald-eagle Creek +they were in the saddle and riding hotly in pursuit. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + + +CLOSE IN! + +In that time ruined shack towards which the posse and Dan Barry rode, +the outlaws sat about on the floor eating their supper when Hal +Purvis entered. He had missed the trail from the Salton place to the +Bald-eagle half a dozen times that day, and that had not improved his +bitter mood. + +"You been gone long enough," growled Silent. "Sit down an' chow an' +tell us what you know." + +"I don't eat with no damned traitors," said Purvis savagely. "Stan' up +an' tell us that you're a double crossin' houn', Buck Daniels!" + +"You better turn in an' sleep," said Buck calmly. "I've knowed men +before that loses their reason for want of sleep!" + +"Jim," said Purvis, turning sharply on the chief, "Barry is at Buck's +house!" + +"You lie!" said Buck. + +"Do I lie?" said Purvis, grinding his teeth. "I seen Black Bart +hangin' around your house." + +Jim Silent reached out a heavy paw and dropped it on the shoulder of +Buck. Their eyes met through a long moment, and then the glance of +Buck wavered and fell. + +"Buck," said Silent, "I like you. I don't want to believe what Purvis +says. Give me your word of honour that Whistlin' Dan--" + +"He's right, Jim," said Buck. + +"An' he dies like a yaller cur!" broke in Purvis, snarling. + +"No," said Silent, "when one of the boys goes back on the gang, they +pay _me_, not the rest of you! Daniels, take your gun and git down to +the other end of the room an' stand with your face to the wall. I'll +stay at this end. Keep your arms folded. Haines, you stand over there +an' count up to three. Then holler: 'Fire!' an' we'll turn an' start +shootin'. The rest of you c'n be judge if that's fair." + +"Too damned fair," said Kilduff. "I say: String him up an' drill the +skunk full of holes." + +Without a word Buck turned on his heel. + +"One moment," said Haines. + +"He ain't your meat, Lee," said Silent. "Jest keep your hand out of +this." + +"I only wish to ask him a question," said Haines. He turned to Buck: +"Do you mean to say that after Barry's wolf cut up your arm, you've +been giving Whistling Dan a shelter from the law--and from us?" + +"I give him a place to stay because he was damned near death," said +Buck. "An' there's one thing you'll answer for in hell, Haines, an' +that's ridin' off an' leavin' the man that got you out of Elkhead. He +was bleedin' to death." + +"Shot?" said Haines, changing colour. + +Silent broke in: "Buck, go take your place and say your prayers." + +"Stay where you are!" commanded Haines. "And the girl?" + +"He was lyin' sick in bed, ravin' about 'Delilah' an' 'Kate.' So I +come an' got the girl." + +Haines dropped his head. + +"An' when he was lyin' there," said Silent fiercely, "you could of +made an' end of him without half liftin' your hand, an' you didn't." + +"Silent," said Haines, "if you want to talk, speak to me." + +"What in hell do you mean, Lee?" + +"You can't get at Buck except through me." + +"Because that devil Barry got a bullet for your sake are you goin' +to--" + +"I've lived a rotten life," said Haines. + +"An' I suppose you think this is a pretty good way of dyin'?" sneered +Silent. + +"I have more cause to fight for Barry than Buck has," said Haines. + +"Lee, we've been pals too long." + +"Silent, I've hated you like a snake ever since I met you. But outlaws +can't choose their company." + +His tawny head rose. He stared haughtily around the circle of lowering +faces. + +"By God," said Silent, white with passion, "I'm beginnin' to think +you do hate me! Git down there an' take your place. You're first an' +Daniels comes next. Kilduff, you c'n count!" + +He stalked to the end of the room. Haines lingered one moment. + +"Buck," he said, "there's one chance in ten thousand that I'll make +this draw the quickest of the two. If I don't, you may live through +it. Tell Kate--" + +"Haines, git to your mark, or I'll start shootin'!" + +Haines turned and took his place. The others drew back along the walls +of the room. Kilduff took the lamp from the table and held it high +above his head. Even then the light was dim and uncertain and the +draughts set the flame wavering so that the place was shaken with +shadows. The moon sent a feeble shaft of light through the window. + +"One!" said Kilduff. + +The shoulders of Haines and Silent hunched slightly. + +"Two!" said Kilduff. + +"God," whispered someone. + +"Three. Fire!" + +They whirled, their guns exploding at almost the same instant, and +Silent lunged for the floor, firing twice as he fell. Haines's second +shot split the wall behind Silent. If the outlaw chief had remained +standing the bullet would have passed through his head. But as Silent +fired the third time the revolver dropped clattering from the hand of +Haines. Buck caught him as he toppled inertly forward, coughing blood. + +Silent was on his feet instantly. + +"Stand back!" he roared to his men, who crowded about the fallen long +rider. "Stand back in your places. I ain't finished. I'm jest started. +Buck, take your place!" + +"Boys!" pleaded Buck, "he's not dead, but he'll bleed to death +unless--" + +"Damn him, let him bleed. Stand up, Buck, or by God I'll shoot you +while you kneel there!" + +"_Shoot and be damned!_" + +He tore off his shirt and ripped away a long strip for a bandage. + +The revolver poised in Silent's hand. + +"Buck, I'm warnin' you for the last time!" + +"Fellers, it's murder an' damnation for all if you let Haines die this +way!" cried Buck. + +The shining barrel of the revolver dropped to a level. + +"I've given you a man's chance," said Silent, "an' now you'll have the +chance of--" + +The door at the side of the room jerked open and a revolver cracked. +The lamp shivered to a thousand pieces in the hands of Bill Kilduff. +All the room was reduced to a place of formless shadow, dimly lighted +by the shaft of moonlight. The voice of Jim Silent, strangely changed +and sharpened from his usual bass roar, shrilled over the sudden +tumult: "Each man for himself! _It's Whistling Dan!_" + +Terry Jordan and Bill Kilduff rushed at the dim figure, crouched to +the floor. Their guns spat fire, but they merely lighted the way to +their own destruction. Twice Dan's revolver spoke, and they dropped, +yelling. Pandemonium fell on the room. + +The long riders raced here and there, the revolvers coughing fire. For +an instant Hal Purvis stood framed against the pallid moonshine at the +window. He stiffened and pointed an arm toward the door. + +"The werewolf," he screamed. + +As if in answer to the call, Black Bart raced across the room. Twice +the revolver sounded from the hand of Purvis. Then a shadow leaped +from the floor. There was a flash of white teeth, and Purvis lurched +to one side and dropped, screaming terribly. The door banged. Suddenly +there was silence. The clatter of a galloping horse outside drew +swiftly away. + +"Dan!" + +"Here!" + +"Thank God!" + +"Buck, one got away! If it was Silent--Here! Bring some matches." + +Someone was dragging himself towards the door in a hopeless effort to +escape. Several others groaned. + +"You, there!" called Buck. "Stay where you are!" + +The man who struggled towards the door flattened himself against the +floor, moaning pitifully. + +"Quick," said Dan, "light a match. Morris's posse is at my heels. No +time. If Silent escaped--" + +A match flared in the hands of Buck. + +"Who's that? Haines!" + +"Let him alone, Dan! I'll tell you why later. There's Jordan and +Kilduff. That one by the door is Rhinehart." + +They ran from one to the other, greeted by groans and deep curses. + +"Who's that beneath the window?" + +"Too small for Silent. It's Purvis, and he's dead!" + +"Bart got him!" + +"No! It was fear that killed him. Look at his face!" + +"Bart, go out to Satan!" + +The wolf trotted from the room. + +"My God, Buck, I've done all this for nothin'! It was Silent that got +away!" + +"What's that?" + +Over the groans of the wounded came the sound of running horses, not +one, but many, then a call: "Close in! Close in!" + +"The posse!" said Dan. + +As he jerked open the door a bullet smashed the wood above his head. +Three horsemen were closing around Satan and Black Bart. He leaped +back into the room. + +"They've got Satan, Buck. We've got to try it on foot. Go through the +window." + +"They've got nothing on me. I'll stick with Haines." + +Dan jumped through the window, and raced to the shelter of a big rock. +He had hardly dropped behind it when four horsemen galloped around the +corner of the house. + +"Johnson and Sullivan," ordered the voice of Monte sharply, "watch +the window. They're lying low inside, but we've got Barry's horse and +wolf. Now we'll get him." + +"Come out or we'll burn the house down!" thundered a voice from the +other side. + +"We surrender!" called Buck within. + +A cheer came from the posse. Sullivan and Johnson ran for the window +they had been told to guard. The door on the other side of the house +slammed open. + +"It's a slaughter house!" cried one of the posse. + +Dan left the sheltering rock and raced around the house, keeping a +safe distance, and dodging from rock to rock. He saw Satan and Black +Bart guarded by two men with revolvers in their hands. He might have +shot them down, but the distance was too great for accurate gun-play. +He whistled shrilly. The two guards wheeled towards him, and as they +did so, Black Bart, leaping, caught one by the shoulder, whirling him +around and around with the force of the spring. The other fired at +Satan, who raced off towards the sound of the whistle. It was an easy +shot, but in the utter surprise of the instant the bullet went wide. +Before he could fire again Satan was coming to a halt beside Dan. + +"Help!" yelled the cattleman. "Whistling Dan!" + +The other guard opened fire wildly. Three men ran from the house. All +they saw was a black shadow which melted instantly into the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + + +FEAR + +Into the dark he rode. Somewhere in the mountains was Silent, and +now alone. In Dan's mouth the old salt taste of his own blood was +unforgotten. + +It was a wild chase. He had only the faintest clues to guide him, +yet he managed to keep close on the trail of the great outlaw. After +several days he rode across a tall red-roan stallion, a mere wreck of +a horse with lean sides and pendant head and glazed eye. It was a long +moment before Dan recognized Silent's peerless mount, Red Pete. The +outlaw had changed his exhausted horse for a common pony. The end of +the long trail must be near. + +The whole range followed that chase with breathless interest. It was +like the race of Hector and Achilles around the walls of Troy. And +when they met there would be a duel of giants. Twice Whistling Dan was +sighted. Once Jim Silent fought a running duel with a posse fresh from +Elkhead. The man hunters were alert, but it was their secret hope that +the two famous outlaws would destroy each other, but how the wild +chase would end no one could know. At last Buck Daniels rode to tell +Kate Cumberland strange news. + +When he stumbled into the ranch house, Kate and her father rose, +white-faced. There was an expression of waiting terror in their eyes. + +"Buck!" cried Joe. + +"Hush! Dad," said Kate. "It hasn't come yet! Buck, what has happened?" + +"The end of the world has come for Dan," he said. "That devil +Silent--" + +"Dan," cried old Joe, and rushed around the table to Buck. + +"Silent has dared Dan to meet him at three o'clock tomorrow afternoon +in Tully's saloon in Elkhead! He's held up four men in the last +twenty-four hours and told them that he'll be at Tully's tomorrow and +will expect Dan there!" + +"It isn't possible!" cried Kate. "That means that Silent is giving +himself up to the law!" + +Buck laughed bitterly. + +"The law will not put a hand on them if it thinks that they'll fight +it out together," he said. + +"There'll be a crowd in the saloon, but not a hand will stir to arrest +Silent till after the fight." + +"But Dan won't go to Tully's," broke in old Joe. "If Silent is crazy +enough to do such a thing, Dan won't be." + +"He will," said Kate. "I know!" + +"You've got to stop him," urged Buck. "You've got to get to Elkhead +and turn Dan back." + +"Ay," said Joe, "for even if he kills Silent, the crowd will tackle +him after the fight--a hundred against one." + +She shook her head. + +"You won't go?" + +"Not a step." + +"But Kate, don't you understand--?" + +"I couldn't turn Dan back. There is his chance to meet Silent. Do you +dream any one could turn him back?" + +The two men were mute. + +"You're right," said Buck at last. "I hoped for a minute that you +could do it, but now I remember the way he was in that dark shanty up +the Bald-eagle Creek. You can't turn a wolf from a trail, and Whistling +Dan has never forgotten the taste of his own blood." + +"Kate!" called her father suddenly. "What's the matter, honey?" + +With bowed head and a faltering step she was leaving the room. Buck +caught old Joe by the arm and held him back as he would have followed. + +"Let her be!" said Buck sharply. "Maybe she'll want to see you at +three o'clock tomorrow afternoon, but until then she'll want to be +alone. There'll be ghosts enough with her all the time. You c'n lay to +that." + +Joe Cumberland wiped his glistening forehead. + +"There ain't nothin' we c'n do, Buck, but sit an' wait." + +Buck drew a long breath. + +"What devil gave Silent that idea?" + +"_Fear_!" + +"Jim Silent don't know what fear is!" + +"Any one who's seen the yaller burn in Dan's eyes knows what fear is." + +Buck winced. + +Cumberland went on: "Every night Silent has been seein' them eyes that +glow yaller in the dark. They lie in wait for him in every shadow. +Between dark and dawn he dies a hundred deaths. He can't stand it no +more. He's goin' to die. Somethin' tells him that. But he wants to die +where they's humans around him, and when he dies he wants to pull Dan +down with him." + +They sat staring at each other for a time. + +"If he lives through that fight with Silent," said Buck sadly, "the +crowd will jump in on him. Their numbers'll make 'em brave." + +"An' then?" + +"Then maybe he'd like a friend to fight by his side," said Buck +simply. "So long, Joe!" + +The old man wrung his hand and then followed him out to the +hitching-rack where Buck's horse stood. + +"Ain't Dan got no friends among the crowd?" asked Cumberland. "Don't +they give him no thanks for catching the rest of Silent's gang?" + +"They give him lots of credit," said Buck. "An' Haines has said a lot +in favour of Dan, explainin' how the jail bustin' took place. Lee is +sure provin' himself a white man. He's gettin' well of his wounds +and it's said the Governor will pardon him. You see, Haines went bad +because the law done him dirt a long time ago, and the Governor is +takin' that into account." + +"But they'd still want to kill Dan?" + +"Half of the boys wouldn't," said Buck. "The other half is all wrought +up over the killings that's been happenin' on the range in the last +month. Dan is accused of about an even half of 'em, an' the friends of +dead men don't waste no time listenin' to arguments. They say Dan's an +outlawed man an' that they're goin' to treat him like one." + +"Damn them!" groaned Cumberland. "Don't Morris's confession make no +difference?" + +"Morris was lynched before he had a chance to swear to what he said in +Dan's favour. Kilduff an' Jordan an' Rhinehart might testify that Dan +wasn't never bought over by Silent, but they know they're done for +themselves, an' they won't try to help anybody else, particular the +man that put 'em in the hands of the law. Kilduff has swore that Dan +_was_ bribed by Silent, that he went after Silent not for revenge, but +to get some more money out of him, an' that the fight in the shanty up +at Bald-eagle Creek was because Silent refused to give Dan any more +money." + +"Then there ain't no hope," muttered Cumberland. "But oh, lad, it +breaks my heart to think of Kate! Dan c'n only die once, but every +minute is a death to her!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + + +DEATH + +Before noon of the next day Buck joined the crowd which had been +growing for hours around Tully's saloon. Men gave way before him, +whispering. He was a marked man--the friend of Whistling Dan Barry. +Cowpunchers who had known him all his life now avoided his eyes, but +caught him with side glances. He smiled grimly to himself, reading +their minds. He was more determined than ever to stand or fall with +Whistling Dan that day. + +There was not an officer of the law in sight. If one were present it +would be his manifest duty to apprehend the outlaws as soon as they +appeared, and the plan was to allow them to fight out their quarrel +and perhaps kill each other. + +Arguments began to rise among separate groups, where the crimes +attributed to Whistling Dan Barry were numbered and talked over. It +surprised Buck to discover the number who believed the stories which +he and Haines had told. They made a strong faction, though manifestly +in the minority. + +Hardly a man who did not, from time to time, nervously fumble the butt +of his six-gun. As three o'clock drew on the talk grew less and less. +It broke out now and again in little uneasy bursts. Someone would tell +a joke. Half hysterical laughter would greet it, and die suddenly, +as it began. These were all hard-faced men of the mountain-desert, +warriors of the frontier. What unnerved them was the strangeness of +the thing which was about to happen. The big wooden clock on the side +of the long barroom struck once for half-past two. All talk ceased. + +Men seemed unwilling to meet each other's eyes. Some of them drummed +lightly on the top of the bar and strove to whistle, but the only +sound that came through their dried lips was a whispering rush of +breath. A grey-haired cattle ranger commenced to hum a tune, very low, +but distinct. Finally a man rose, strode across the room, shook the +old fellow by the shoulder with brutal violence, and with a curse +ordered him to stop his "damned death song!" + +Everyone drew a long breath of relief. The minute hand crept on +towards three o'clock. Now it was twenty minutes, now fifteen, now +ten, now five; then a clatter of hoofs, a heavy step on the porch, and +the giant form of Jim Silent blocked the door. His hands rested on the +butts of his two guns. Buck guessed at the tremendous strength of that +grip. The eyes of the outlaw darted about the room, and every glance +dropped before his, with the exception of Buck's fascinated stare. + +For he saw a brand on the face of the great long rider. It lay in no +one thing. It was not the unusual hollowness of eyes and cheeks. It +was not the feverish brightness of his glance. It was something which +included all of these. It was the fear of death by night! His hands +fell away from the guns. He crossed the room to the bar and nodded his +head at the bartender. + +"Drink!" he said, and his voice was only a whisper without body of +sound. + +The bartender, with pasty face, round and blank, did not move either +his hand or his fascinated eyes. There was a twitch of the outlaw's +hand and naked steel gleamed. Instantly revolvers showed in every +hand. A youngster moaned. The sound seemed to break the charm. + +Silent put back his great head and burst into a deep-throated +laughter. The gun whirled in his hand and the butt crashed heavily on +the bar. + +"Drink, damn you!" he thundered. "Step up an' drink to the health of +Jim Silent!" + +The wavering line slowly approached the bar. Silent pulled out his +other gun and shoved them both across the bar. + +"Take 'em," he said. "I don't want 'em to get restless an' muss up +this joint." + +The bartender took them as if they were covered with some deadly +poison, and the outlaw stood unarmed! It came suddenly to Buck what +the whole manoeuvre meant. He gave away his guns in order to tempt +someone to arrest him. Better the hand of the law than the yellow +glare of those following eyes. Yet not a man moved to apprehend him. +Unarmed he still seemed more dangerous than six common men. + +The long rider jerked a whisky bottle upside down over a glass. Half +the contents splashed across the bar. He turned and faced the crowd, +his hand dripping with the spilled liquor. + +"Whose liquorin'?" he bellowed. + +Not a sound answered him. + +"Damn your yaller souls! Then all by myself I'll drink to--" + +He stopped short, his eyes wild, his head tilted back. One by one the +cowpunchers gave back, foot by foot, softly, until they stood close to +the opposite wall of the saloon. All the bar was left to Silent. The +whisky glass slipped from his hand and crashed on the floor. In his +face was the meaning of the sound he heard, and now it came to their +own ears--a whistle thin with distance, but clear. + +Only phrases at first, but now it rose more distinct, the song of the +untamed; the terror and beauty of the mountain-desert; a plea and a +threat. + +The clock struck, sharp, hurried, brazen--one, two, three! Before the +last quick, unmusical chime died out Black Bart stood in the entrance +to the saloon. His eyes were upon Jim Silent, who stretched out his +arms on either side and gripped the edge of the bar. Yet even when the +wolf glided silently across the room and crouched before the bandit, +at watch, his lips grinned back from the white teeth, the man had no +eyes for him. Instead, his stare held steadily upon that open door and +on his raised face there was still the terror of that whistling which +swept closer and closer. + +It ceased. A footfall crossed the porch. How different from the +ponderous stride of Jim Silent! This was like the padding step of the +panther. And Whistling Dan stood in the door. He did not fill it as +the burly shoulders of Silent had done. He seemed almost as slender as +a girl, and infinitely boyish in his grace--a strange figure, surely, +to make all these hardened fighters of the mountain-desert crouch, and +stiffen their fingers around the butts of their revolvers! His eyes +were upon Silent, and how they lighted! His face changed as the +face of the great god Pan must have altered when he blew into the +instrument of reeds and made perfect music, the first in the world. + +"Bart," said the gentle voice, "go out to Satan." + +The wolf turned and slipped from the room. It was a little thing, but, +to the men who saw it, it was terrible to watch an untamed beast obey +the voice of a man. + +Still with that light, panther-step he crossed the barroom, and now he +was looking up into the face of the giant. The huge long rider loomed +above Dan. That was not terror which set his face in written lines--it +was horror, such as a man feels when he stands face to face with the +unearthly in the middle of night. This was open daylight in a room +thronged with men, yet in it nothing seemed to live save the smile of +Whistling Dan. He drew out the two revolvers and slipped them onto the +bar. They stood unarmed, yet they seemed no less dangerous. + +Silent's arms crept closer to his sides. He seemed gathering himself +by degrees. The confidence in his own great size showed in his face, +and the blood-lust of battle in his eyes answered the yellow light in +Dan's. + +Dan spoke. + +"Silent, once you put a stain of blood on me. I've never forgot the +taste. It's goin' to be washed out today or else made redder. It was +here that you put the stain." + +He struck the long rider lightly across the mouth with the back of +his hand, and Silent lunged with the snarl of a beast. His blow spent +itself on thin air. He whirled and struck again. Only a low laughter +answered him. He might as well have battered away at a shadow. + +"Damnation!" he yelled, and leaped in with both arms outspread. + +The impetus of his rush drove them both to the floor, where they +rolled over and over, and before they stopped thin fingers were locked +about the bull neck of the bandit, and two thumbs driven into the +hollow of his throat. With a tremendous effort he heaved himself from +the floor, his face convulsed. + +He beat with both fists against the lowered head of Dan. He tore at +those hands. They were locked as if with iron. Only the laughter, the +low, continual laughter rewarded him. + +He screamed, a thick, horrible sound. He flung himself to the floor +again and rolled over and over, striving to crush the slender, +remorseless body. Once more he was on his feet, running hither and +thither, dragging Dan with him. His eyes swelled out; his face +blackened. He beat against the walls. He snapped at the wrists of Dan +like a beast, his lips flecked with a bloody froth. + +That bull-dog grip would not unlock. That animal, exultant laughter +ran on in demoniac music. In his great agony the outlaw rolled his +eyes in appeal to the crowd which surrounded the struggling two. Every +man seemed about to spring forward, yet they could not move. Some had +their fingers stiffly extended, as if in the act of gripping with +hands too stiff to close. + +Silent slipped to his knees. His head fell back, his discoloured +tongue protruding. Dan wrenched him back to his feet. One more +convulsive effort from the giant, and then his eyes glazed, his body +went limp. The remorseless hands unlocked. Silent fell in a shapeless +heap to the floor. + +Still no one moved. There was no sound except the deadly ticking of +the clock. The men stared fascinated at that massive, lifeless figure +on the floor. Even in death he was terrible. Then Dan's hand slid +inside his shirt, fumbled a moment, and came forth again bearing a +little gleaming circle of metal. He dropped it upon the body of Jim +Silent, and turning, walked slowly from the room. Still no one moved +to intercept him. Passing through the door he pushed within a few +inches of two men. They made no effort to seize him, for their eyes +were upon the body of the great lone rider. + +The moment Dan was gone the hypnotic silence which held the crowd, +broke suddenly. Someone stirred. Another cursed beneath his breath. +Instantly all was clamour and a running hither and thither. Buck +Daniels caught from the body of Jim Silent the small metal circle +which Dan had dropped. He stood dumbfounded at the sight of it, and +then raised his hand, and shouted in a voice which gathered the others +swiftly around him. They cursed deeply with astonishment, for what +they saw was the marshal's badge of Tex Calder. The number on it was +known throughout the mountain-desert, and seeing it, the worst of +Dan's enemies stammered, gaped, and could not speak. There were more +impartial men who could. In five minutes the trial of Whistling Dan +was under way. The jury was every cowpuncher present. The judge was +public opinion. It was a grey-haired man who finally leaped upon the +bar and summed up all opinion in a brief statement. + +"Whatever Whistlin' Dan has done before," he said, "this day he's done +a man-sized job in a man's way. Morris, before he died, said enough to +clear up most of this lad's past, particular about the letter from Jim +Silent that talked of a money bribe. Morris didn't have a chance to +swear to what he said, but a dying man speaks truth. Lee Haines had +cleared up most of the rest. We can't hold agin Dan what he done in +breakin' jail with Haines. Dan Barry was a marshal. He captured Haines +and then let the outlaw go. He had a right to do what he wanted as +long as he finally got Haines back. And Haines has told us that when +he was set free Barry said he would get him again. And Barry did get +him again. Remember that, and he got all the rest of Silent's gang, +and now there lies Jim Silent dead. They's two things to remember. The +first is that Whistlin' Dan has rid away without any shootin' irons on +his hip. That looks as if he's come to the end of his long trail. The +second is that he was a bunkie of Tex Calder, an' a man Tex could +trust for the avengin' of his death is good enough for me." + +There was a pause after this speech, and during the quiet the +cowpunchers were passing from hand to hand the marshal's badge which +Calder, as he died, had given to Dan. The bright small shield was a +more convincing proof than a hundred arguments. The bitterest of +Dan's enemies realized that the crimes of which he was accused were +supported by nothing stronger than blind rumour. The marshal's badge +and the dead body of Jim Silent kept them mute. So an illegal judge +and one hundred illegal jurymen found Whistling Dan "not guilty." + +Buck Daniels took horse and galloped for the Cumberland house with the +news of the verdict. He knew that Whistling Dan was there. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + + +THE WILD GEESE + +So when the first chill days of the late autumn came the four were +once more together, Dan, Kate, Black Bart, and Satan. Buck and old Joe +Cumberland made the background of their happiness. It was the latter's +request which kept the wedding a matter of the indefinite future. He +would assign no reason for his wish, but Kate guessed it. + +All was not well, she knew. Day after day, as the autumn advanced, +Dan went out with the wolf and the wild black stallion and ranged the +hills alone. She did not ask him where or why, for she understood that +to be alone was as necessary to him as sleep is to others. Yet she +could not explain it all and the cold fear grew in her. Sometimes she +surprised a look of infinite pity in the eyes of Buck or her father. +Sometimes she found them whispering and nodding together. At last on +an evening when the three sat before the fire in solemn silence and +Dan was away, they knew not where, among the hills, she could bear it +no longer. + +"Do you really think," she burst out, "that the old wildness is still +in Dan?" + +"Wild?" said her father gently. "Wild? I don't say he's still +wild--but why is he so late tonight, Kate? The ground's all covered +with snow. The wind's growin' sharper an' sharper. This is a time for +all reasonable folk to stay home an' git comfortable beside the fire. +But Dan ain't here. Where is he?" + +"Hush!" said Buck, and raised a hand for silence. + +Far away they heard the wail of a wolf crying to the moon. She rose +and went out on the porch of the house. The others followed her. +Outside they found nothing but the low moaning of the wind, and the +snow, silver glimmering where the moonlight fell upon it. Then they +heard the weird, inhuman whistling, and at last they saw Dan riding +towards the house. A short distance away he stopped Satan. Black Bart +dropped to his haunches and wailed again. Dan was staring upwards. + +"Look!" said Kate, and pointed. + +Across the white circle of the moon drove a flying wedge of wild +geese. The wail of the wolf died out. A faint honking was blown to +them by the wind, now a distant, jangling chorus, now a solitary sound +repeated like a call. + +Without a word the three returned to their seats close by the fire, +and sat silent, staring. Presently the rattle of the wolf's claws came +on the floor; then Dan entered with his soft step and stood behind +Kate's chair. They were used to his silent comings and goings. Black +Bart was slinking up and down the room with a restless step. His eyes +glowed from the shadow, and as Joe looked up to the face of Dan he +saw the same light repeated there, yellow and strange. Then, like the +wolf, Dan turned and commenced that restless pacing up and down, up +and down, a padding step like the fall of a panther's paw. + +"The wild geese--" he said suddenly, and then stopped. + +"They are flying south?" said Kate. + +"South!" he repeated. + +His eyes looked far away. The wolf slipped to his side and licked his +hand. + +"Kate, I'd like to follow the wild geese." + +Old Joe shaded his eyes and the big hands of Buck were locked +together. + +"Are you unhappy, Dan?" she said. + +"The snow is come," he muttered uneasily. + +He began pacing again with that singular step. + +"When I went out to Satan in the corral this evenin', I found him +standin' lookin' south." + +She rose and faced him with a little gesture of surrender. + +"Then you must follow the wild geese, Dan!" + +"You don't mind me goin', Kate?" + +"No." + +"But your eyes are shinin'!" + +"It's only the reflection of the firelight." + +Black Bart whined softly. Suddenly Dan straightened and threw up his +arms, laughing low with exultation. Buck Daniels shuddered and dropped +his head. + +"I am far behind," said Dan, "but I'll go fast." + +He caught her in his arms, kissed her eyes and lips, and then whirled +and ran from the room with that noiseless, padding step. + +"Kate!" groaned Buck Daniels, "you've let him go! We've all lost him +for ever!" + +A sob answered him. + +"Go call him back," pleaded Joe. "He will stay for your sake." + +She whispered: "I would rather call back the wild geese who flew +across the moon. And they are only beautiful when they are wild!" + +"But you've lost him, Kate, don't you understand?" + +"The wild geese fly north again in spring," said Buck, "and he'll--" + +"Hush!" she said. "Listen!" + +Far off, above the rushing of the wind, they heard the weird +whistling, a thrilling and unearthly music. It was sad with the beauty +of the night. It was joyous with the exultation of the wind. It might +have been the voice of some god who rode the northern storm south, +south after the wild geese, south with the untamed. + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Untamed, by Max Brand + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10886 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7ff55d --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10886 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10886) diff --git a/old/10886-8.txt b/old/10886-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd07329 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10886-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10497 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Untamed, by Max Brand + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Untamed + +Author: Max Brand + +Release Date: January 31, 2004 [EBook #10886] +[Last updated: March 17, 2011] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNTAMED *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Gene Smethers and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +THE UNTAMED + +BY MAX BRAND + + +1919 + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + +I. Pan of the Desert + +II. The Panther + +III. Silent Shoots + +IV. Something Yellow + +V. Four in the Air + +VI. Laughter + +VII. The Mute Messenger + +VIII. Red Writing + +IX. The Phantom Rider + +X. The Strength of Women + +XI. Silent Bluffs + +XII. Partners + +XIII. The Lone Riders Entertain + +XIV. Delilah + +XV. The Cross Roads + +XVI. The Three of us + +XVII. The Panther's Paw + +XVIII. Cain + +XIX. Real Men + +XX. One Trail Ends + +XXI. One Way Out + +XXII. The Woman's Way + +XXIII. Hell Starts + +XXIV. The Rescue + +XXV. The Long Ride + +XXVI. Black Bart Turns Nurse + +XXVII. Nobody Laughs + +XXVIII. Whistling Dan, Desperado + +XXIX. "Werewolf" + +XXX. "The Manhandling" + +XXXI. "Laugh, Damn it!" + +XXXII. Those who See in the Dark + +XXXIII. The Song of the Untamed + +XXXIV. The Coward + +XXXV. Close in! + +XXXVI. Fear + +XXXVII. Death + +XXXVIII. The Wild Geese + + + + +THE UNTAMED + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +PAN OF THE DESERT + +Even to a high-flying bird this was a country to be passed over +quickly. It was burned and brown, littered with fragments of rock, +whether vast or small, as if the refuse were tossed here after the +making of the world. A passing shower drenched the bald knobs of a +range of granite hills and the slant morning sun set the wet rocks +aflame with light. In a short time the hills lost their halo and +resumed their brown. The moisture evaporated. The sun rose higher and +looked sternly across the desert as if he searched for any remaining +life which still struggled for existence under his burning course. + +And he found life. Hardy cattle moved singly or in small groups and +browsed on the withered bunch grass. Summer scorched them, winter +humped their backs with cold and arched up their bellies with famine, +but they were a breed schooled through generations for this fight +against nature. In this junk-shop of the world, rattlesnakes were +rulers of the soil. Overhead the buzzards, ominous black specks +pendant against the white-hot sky, ruled the air. + +It seemed impossible that human beings could live in this +rock-wilderness. If so, they must be to other men what the lean, hardy +cattle of the hills are to the corn-fed stabled beeves of the States. + +Over the shoulder of a hill came a whistling which might have been +attributed to the wind, had not this day been deathly calm. It was fit +music for such a scene, for it seemed neither of heaven nor earth, +but the soul of the great god Pan come back to earth to charm those +nameless rocks with his wild, sweet piping. It changed to harmonious +phrases loosely connected. Such might be the exultant improvisations +of a master violinist. + +A great wolf, or a dog as tall and rough coated as a wolf, trotted +around the hillside. He paused with one foot lifted and lolling, +crimson tongue, as he scanned the distance and then turned to look +back in the direction from which he had come. The weird music changed +to whistled notes as liquid as a flute. The sound drew closer. A +horseman rode out on the shoulder and checked his mount. One could not +choose him at first glance as a type of those who fight nature in a +region where the thermometer moves through a scale of a hundred and +sixty degrees in the year to an accompaniment of cold-stabbing winds +and sweltering suns. A thin, handsome face with large brown eyes and +black hair, a body tall but rather slenderly made--he might have been +a descendant of some ancient family of Norman nobility; but could such +proud gentry be found riding the desert in a tall-crowned sombrero +with chaps on his legs and a red bandana handkerchief knotted around +his throat? That first glance made the rider seem strangely out of +place in such surroundings. One might even smile at the contrast, but +at the second glance the smile would fade, and at the third, it would +be replaced with a stare of interest. It was impossible to tell why +one respected this man, but after a time there grew a suspicion of +unknown strength in this lone rider, strength like that of a machine +which is stopped but only needs a spark of fire to plunge it into +irresistible action. Strangely enough, the youthful figure seemed in +tune with that region of mighty distances, with that white, cruel sun, +with that bird of prey hovering high, high in the air. + +It required some study to guess at these qualities of the rider, for +they were such things as a child feels more readily than a grown man; +but it needed no expert to admire the horse he bestrode. It was a +statue in black marble, a steed fit for a Shah of Persia! The stallion +stood barely fifteen hands, but to see him was to forget his size. His +flanks shimmered like satin in the sun. What promise of power in the +smooth, broad hips! Only an Arab poet could run his hand over that +shoulder and then speak properly of the matchless curve. Only an Arab +could appreciate legs like thin and carefully drawn steel below the +knees; or that flow of tail and windy mane; that generous breast with +promise of the mighty heart within; that arched neck; that proud head +with the pricking ears, wide forehead, and muzzle, as the Sheik said, +which might drink from a pint-pot. + +A rustling like dried leaves came from among the rocks and the hair +rose bristling around the neck of the wolflike dog. With outstretched +head he approached the rocks, sniffing, then stopped and turned +shining eyes upon his master, who nodded and swung from the saddle. It +was a little uncanny, this silent interchange of glances between the +beast and the man. The cause of the dog's anxiety was a long rattler +which now slid out from beneath a boulder, and giving its harsh +warning, coiled, ready to strike. The dog backed away, but instead of +growling he looked to the man. + +Cowboys frequently practise with their revolvers at snakes, but one of +the peculiarities of this rider was that he carried no gun, neither +six-shooter nor rifle. He drew out a short knife which might be used +to skin a beef or carve meat, though certainly no human being had ever +used such a weapon against a five-foot rattler. He stooped and rested +both hands on his thighs. His feet were not two paces from the poised +head of the snake. As if marvelling at this temerity, the big rattler +tucked back his head and sounded the alarm again. In response the +cowboy flashed his knife in the sun. Instantly the snake struck but +the deadly fangs fell a few inches short of the riding boots. At the +same second the man moved. No eye could follow the leap of his hand as +it darted down and fastened around the snake just behind the head. The +long brown body writhed about his wrist, with rattles clashing. He +severed the head deftly and tossed the twisting mass back on the +rocks. + +Then, as if he had performed the most ordinary act, he rubbed his +gloves in the sand, cleansed his knife in a similar manner, and +stepped back to his horse. Contrary to the rules of horse-nature, the +stallion had not flinched at sight of the snake, but actually advanced +a high-headed pace or two with his short ears laid flat on his +neck, and a sudden red fury in his eyes. He seemed to watch for an +opportunity to help his master. As the man approached after killing +the snake the stallion let his ears go forward again and touched his +nose against his master's shoulder. When the latter swung into the +saddle, the wolf-dog came to his side, reared, and resting his +forefeet on the stirrup stared up into the rider's face. The man +nodded to him, whereat, as if he understood a spoken word, the dog +dropped back and trotted ahead. The rider touched the reins and +galloped down the easy slope. The little episode had given the effect +of a three-cornered conversation. Yet the man had been as silent as +the animals. + +In a moment he was lost among the hills, but still his whistling came +back, fainter and fainter, until it was merely a thrilling whisper +that dwelt in the air but came from no certain direction. + +His course lay towards a road which looped whitely across the hills. +The road twisted over a low ridge where a house stood among a grove of +cottonwoods dense enough and tall enough to break the main force of +any wind. On the same road, a thousand yards closer to the rider of +the black stallion, was Morgan's place. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +THE PANTHER + +In the ranch house old Joseph Cumberland frowned on the floor as he +heard his daughter say: "It isn't right, Dad. I never noticed it +before I went away to school, but since I've come back I begin to feel +that it's shameful to treat Dan in this way." + +Her eyes brightened and she shook her golden head for emphasis. Her +father watched her with a faintly quizzical smile and made no reply. +The dignity of ownership of many thousand cattle kept the old +rancher's shoulders square, and there was an antique gentility about +his thin face with its white goatee. He was more like a quaint +figure of the seventeenth century than a successful cattleman of the +twentieth. + +"It _is_ shameful, Dad," she went on, encouraged by his silence, "or +you could tell me some reason." + +"Some reason for not letting him have a gun?" asked the rancher, still +with the quizzical smile. + +"Yes, yes!" she said eagerly, "and some reason for treating him in a +thousand ways as if he were an irresponsible boy." + +"Why, Kate, gal, you have tears in your eyes!" + +He drew her onto a stool beside him, holding both her hands, and +searched her face with eyes as blue and almost as bright as her own. +"How does it come that you're so interested in Dan?" + +"Why, Dad, dear," and she avoided his gaze, "I've always been +interested in him. Haven't we grown up together?" + +"Part ways you have." + +"And haven't we been always just like brother and sister?" + +"You're talkin' a little more'n sisterly, Kate." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Ay, ay! What do I mean! And now you're all red. Kate, I got an idea +it's nigh onto time to let Dan start on his way." + +He could not have found a surer way to drive the crimson from her face +and turn it white to the lips. + +"Dad!" + +"Well, Kate?" + +"You wouldn't send Dan away!" + +Before he could answer she dropped her head against his shoulder +and broke into great sobs. He stroked her head with his calloused, +sunburned hand and his eyes filmed with a distant gaze. + +"I might have knowed it!" he said over and over again; "I might have +knowed it! Hush, my silly gal." + +Her sobbing ceased with magic suddenness. + +"Then you won't send him away?" + +"Listen to me while I talk to you straight," said Joe Cumberland, +"and accordin' to the way you take it will depend whether Dan goes or +stays. Will you listen?" + +"Dear Dad, with all my heart!" + +"Humph!" he grunted, "that's just what I don't want. This what I'm +goin' to tell you is a queer thing--a mighty lot like a fairy tale, +maybe. I've kept it back from you years an' years thinkin' you'd find +out the truth about Dan for yourself. But bein' so close to him has +made you sort of blind, maybe! No man will criticize his own hoss." + +"Go on, tell me what you mean. I won't interrupt." + +He was silent for a moment, frowning to gather his thoughts. + +"Have you ever seen a mule, Kate?" + +"Of course!" + +"Maybe you've noticed that a mule is just as strong as a horse--" + +"Yes." + +"--but their muscles ain't a third as big?" + +"Yes, but what on earth--" + +"Well, Kate, Dan is built light an' yet he's stronger than the biggest +men around here." + +"Are you going to send him away simply because he's strong?" + +"It doesn't show nothin'," said the old man gently, "savin' that he's +different from the regular run of men--an' I've seen a considerable +pile of men, honey. There's other funny things about Dan maybe you +ain't noticed. Take the way he has with hosses an' other animals. The +wildest man-killin', spur-hatin' bronchos don't put up no fight when +them long legs of Dan settle round 'em." + +"Because they know fighting won't help them!" + +"Maybe so, maybe so," he said quietly, "but it's kind of queer, Kate, +that after most a hundred men on the best hosses in these parts had +ridden in relays after Satan an' couldn't lay a rope on him, Dan could +jest go out on foot with a halter an' come back in ten days leadin' +the wildest devil of a mustang that ever hated men." + +"It was a glorious thing to do!" she said. + +Old Cumberland sighed and then shook his head. + +"It shows more'n that, honey. There ain't any man but Dan that can sit +the saddle on Satan. If Dan should die, Satan wouldn't be no more use +to other men than a piece of haltered lightnin'. An' then tell me how +Dan got hold of that wolf, Black Bart, as he calls him." + +"It isn't a wolf, Dad," said Kate, "it's a dog. Dan says so himself." + +"Sure he says so," answered her father, "but there was a lone wolf +prowlin' round these parts for a considerable time an' raisin' Cain +with the calves an' the colts. An' Black Bart comes pretty close to a +description of the lone wolf. Maybe you remember Dan found his 'dog' +lyin' in a gully with a bullet through his shoulder. If he was a dog +how'd he come to be shot--" + +"Some brute of a sheep herder may have done it. What could it prove?" + +"It only proves that Dan is queer--powerful queer! Satan an' Black +Bart are still as wild as they ever was, except that they got one +master. An' they ain't got a thing to do with other people. Black +Bart'd tear the heart out of a man that so much as patted his head." + +"Why," she cried, "he'll let me do anything with him!" + +"Humph!" said Cumberland, a little baffled; "maybe that's because Dan +is kind of fond of you, gal, an' he has sort of introduced you to +his pets, damn 'em! That's just the pint! How is he able to make his +man-killers act sweet with you an' play the devil with everybody +else." + +"It wasn't Dan at all!" she said stoutly, "and he _isn't_ queer. Satan +and Black Bart let me do what I want with them because they know I +love them for their beauty and their strength." + +"Let it go at that," growled her father. "Kate, you're jest like your +mother when it comes to arguin'. If you wasn't my little gal I'd say +you was plain pig-headed. But look here, ain't you ever felt that Dan +is what I call him--different? Ain't you ever seen him get mad--jest +for a minute--an' watched them big brown eyes of his get all packed +full of yellow light that chases a chill up and down your back like a +wrigglin' snake?" + +She considered this statement in a little silence. + +"I saw him kill a rattler once," she said in a low voice. "Dan caught +him behind the head after he had struck. He did it with his bare hand! +I almost fainted. When I looked again he had cut off the head of the +snake. It was--it was terrible!" + +She turned to her father and caught him firmly by the shoulders. + +"Look me straight in the eye, Dad, and tell me just what you mean." + +"Why, Kate," said the wise old man, "you're beginnin' to see for +yourself what I'm drivin' at! Haven't you got somethin' else right on +the tip of your tongue?" + +"There was one day that I've never told you about," she said in a low +voice, looking away, "because I was afraid that if I told you, you'd +shoot Black Bart. He was gnawing a big beef bone and just for fun I +tried to take it away from him. He'd been out on a long trail with Dan +and he was very hungry. When I put my hand on the bone he snapped. +Luckily I had a thick glove on and he merely pinched my wrist. Also +I think he realized what he was doing for otherwise he'd have cut +through the glove as if it had been paper. He snarled fearfully and I +sprang back with a cry. Dan hadn't seen what happened, but he +heard the snarl and saw Black Bart's bared teeth. Then--oh, it was +terrible!" + +She covered her face. + +"Take your time, Kate," said Cumberland softly. + +"'Bart,' called Dan," she went on, "and there was such anger in his +face that I think I was more afraid of him than of the big dog. + +"Bart turned to him with a snarl and bared his teeth. When Dan saw +that his face turned--I don't know how to say it!" + +She stopped a moment and her hands tightened. + +"Back in his throat there came a sound that was almost like the snarl +of Black Bart. The wolf-dog watched him with a terror that was uncanny +to see, the hair around his neck fairly on end, his teeth still bared, +and his growl horrible. + +"'Dan!' I called, 'don't go near him!' + +"I might as well have called out to a whirlwind. He leaped. Black Bart +sprang to meet him with eyes green with fear. I heard the loud click +of his teeth as he snapped--and missed. Dan swerved to one side and +caught Black Bart by the throat and drove him into the dust, falling +with him. + +"I couldn't move. I was weak with horror. It wasn't a struggle between +a man and a beast. It was like a fight between a panther and a wolf. +Black Bart was fighting hard but fighting hopelessly. Those hands were +settling tighter on his throat. His big red tongue lolled out; his +struggles almost ceased. Then Dan happened to glance at me. What he +saw in my face sobered him. He got up, lifting the dog with him, and +flung away the lifeless weight of Bart. He began to brush the dust +from his clothes, looking down as if he were ashamed. He asked me if +the dog had hurt me when he snapped. I could not speak for a moment. +Then came the most horrible part. Black Bart, who must have been +nearly killed, dragged himself to Dan on his belly, choking and +whining, and licked the boots of his master!" + +"Then you _do_ know what I mean when I say Dan is--different?" + +She hesitated and blinked, as if she were shutting her eyes on a fact. +"I _don't_ know. I know that he's gentle and kind and loves you more +than you love him." Her voice broke a little. "Oh, Dad, you forget the +time he sat up with you for five days and nights when you got sick out +in the hills, and how he barely managed to get you back to the house +alive!" + +The old man frowned to conceal how greatly he was moved. + +"I haven't forgot nothin', Kate," he said, "an' everything is for his +own good. Do you know what I've been tryin' to do all these years?" + +"What?" + +"I've been tryin' to hide him from himself! Kate, do you remember how I found him?" + +"I was too little to know. I've heard you tell a little about it. He +was lost on the range. You found him twenty miles south of the house." + +"Lost on the range?" repeated her father softly. "I don't think he +could ever have been lost. To a hoss the corral is a home. To us our +ranch is a home. To Dan Barry the whole mountain-desert is a home! +This is how I found him. It was in the spring of the year when the +wild geese was honkin' as they flew north. I was ridin' down a gulley +about sunset and wishin' that I was closer to the ranch when I heard a +funny, wild sort of whistlin' that didn't have any tune to it that +I recognized. It gave me a queer feelin'. It made me think of fairy +stories--an' things like that! Pretty soon I seen a figure on the +crest of the hill. There was a triangle of geese away up overhead an' +the boy was walkin' along lookin' up as if he was followin' the trail +of the wild geese. + +"He was up there walkin' between the sunset an' the stars with his +head bent back, and his hands stuffed into his pockets, whistlin' as +if he was goin' home from school. An' such whistlin'." + +"Nobody could ever whistle like Dan," she said, and smiled. + +"I rode up to him, wonderin'," went on Cumberland. + +"'What're you doin' round here?' I says. + +"Says he, lookin' at me casual like over his shoulder: 'I'm jest +takin' a stroll an' whistlin'. Does it bother you, mister?' + +"'It doesn't bother me none,' says I. 'Where do you belong, sonny?' + +"'Me?' says he, lookin' sort of surprised, 'why, I belong around over +there!' An' he waved his hand careless over to the settin' sun. + +"There was somethin' about him that made my heart swell up inside of +me. I looked down into them big brown eyes and wondered--well, I don't +know what I wondered; but I remembered all at once that I didn't have +no son. + +"'Who's your folks?' says I, gettin' more an' more curious. + +"He jest looked at me sort of bored. + +"'Where does your folks live at?' says I. + +"'Oh, they live around here,' says he, an' he waved his hand again, +an' this time over towards the east. + +"Says I: 'When do you figure on reachin' home?' + +"'Oh, most any day,' says he. + +"An' I looked around at them brown, naked hills with the night comin' +down over them. Then I stared back at the boy an' there was something +that come up in me like hunger. You see, he was lost; he was alone; +the queer ring of his whistlin' was still in my ears; an' I couldn't +help rememberin' that I didn't have no son. + +"'Then supposin' you come along with me,' says I, 'an' I'll send you +home in a buckboard tomorrow?' + +"So the end of it was me ridin' home with the little kid sittin' up +before me, whistlin' his heart out! When I got him home I tried to +talk to him again. He couldn't tell me, or he wouldn't tell me where +his folks lived, but jest kept wavin' his hand liberal to half the +points of the compass. An' that's all I know of where he come from. I +done all I could to find his parents. I inquired and sent letters to +every rancher within a hundred miles. I advertised it through the +railroads, but they said nobody'd yet been reported lost. He was still +mine, at least for a while, an' I was terrible glad. + +"I give the kid a spare room. I sat up late that first night listenin' +to the wild geese honkin' away up in the sky an' wonderin' why I was +so happy. Kate, that night there was tears in my eyes when I thought +of how that kid had been out there on the hills walkin' along so happy +an' independent. + +"But the next mornin' he was gone. I sent my cowpunchers out to look +for him. + +"'Which way shall we ride?' they asked. + +"I don't know why, but I thought of the wild geese that Dan had seemed +to be followin'. + +"'Ride north,' I said. + +"An' sure enough, they rode north an' found him. After that I didn't +have no trouble with him about runnin' away--at least not durin' the +summer. An' all those months I kept plannin' how I would take care of +this boy who had come wanderin' to me. It seemed like he was sort of a +gift of God to make up for me havin' no son. And everythin' went well +until the next fall, when the geese began to fly south. + +"Sure enough, that was when Dan ran away again, and when I sent my +cowpunchers south after him, they found him and brought him back. It +seemed as if they'd brought back half the world to me, when I seen +him. But I saw that I'd have to put a stop to this runnin' away. I +tried to talk to him, but all he'd say was that he'd better be movin' +on. I took the law in my hands an' told him he had to be disciplined. +So I started thrashin' him with a quirt, very light. He took it as if +he didn't feel the whip on his shoulders, an' he smiled. But there +came up a yellow light in his eyes that made me feel as if a man was +standin' right behind me with a bare knife in his hand an' smilin' +jest like the kid was doin'. Finally I simply backed out of the room, +an' since that day there ain't been man or beast ever has put a hand +on Whistlin' Dan. To this day I reckon he ain't quite forgiven me." + +"Why!" she cried, "I have never heard him mention it!" + +"That's why I know he's not forgotten it. Anyway, Kate, I locked him +in his room, but he wouldn't promise not to run away. Then I got an +inspiration. You was jest a little toddlin' thing then. That day you +was cryin' an awful lot an' I suddenly thought of puttin' you in Dan's +room. I did it. I jest unlocked the door quick and then shoved you in +an' locked it again. First of all you screamed terrible hard. I was +afraid maybe you'd hurt yourself yellin' that way. I was about to take +you out again when all at once I heard Dan start whistlin' and pretty +quick your cryin' stopped. I listened an' wondered. After that I never +had to lock Dan in his room. I was sure he'd stay on account of you. +But now, honey, I'm gettin' to the end of the story, an' I'm goin' to +give you the straight idea the way I see it. + +"I've watched Dan like--like a father, almost. I think he loves me, +sort of--but I've never got over being afraid of him. You see I can't +forget how he smiled when I licked him! But listen to me, Kate, that +fear has been with me all the time--an' it's the only time I've ever +been afraid of any man. It isn't like being scared of a man, but of a +panther. + +"Now we'll jest nacherally add up all the points we've made about +Dan--the queer way I found him without a home an' without wantin' +one--that strength he has that's like the power of a mule compared +with a horse--that funny control he has over wild animals so that they +almost seem to know what he means when he simply looks at them (have +you noticed him with Black Bart and Satan?)--then there's the yellow +light that comes in his eyes when he begins to get real mad--you an' I +have both seen it only once, but we don't want to see it again! More +than this there's the way he handles either a knife or a gun. He +hasn't practiced much with shootin' irons, but I never seen him miss a +reasonable mark--or an unreasonable one either, for that matter. I've +spoke to him about it. He said: 'I dunno how it is. I don't see how +a feller can shoot crooked. It jest seems that when I get out a gun +there's a line drawn from the barrel to the thing I'm shootin' at. All +I have to do is to pull the trigger--almost with my eyes closed!' Now, +Kate, do you begin to see what these here things point to?" + +"Tell me what you see," she said, "and then I'll tell you what I think +of it all." + +"All right," he said. "I see in Dan a man who's different from the +common run of us. I read in a book once that in the ages when men +lived like animals an' had no weapons except sticks and stones, their +muscles must have been two or three times as strong as they are +now--more like the muscles of brutes. An' their hearin' an' their +sight an' their quickness an' their endurance was about three times +more than that of ordinary men. Kate, I think that Dan is one of those +men the book described! He knows animals because he has all the powers +that they have. An' I know from the way his eyes go yellow that he has +the fightin' instinct of the ancestors of man. So far I've kept him +away from other men. Which I may say is the main reason I bought Dan +Morgan's place so's to keep fightin' men away from our Whistlin' Dan. +So I've been hidin' him from himself. You see, he's my boy if he +belongs to anybody. Maybe when time goes on he'll get tame. But I +reckon not. It's like takin' a panther cub--or a wolf pup--an tryin' +to raise it for a pet. Some day it gets the taste of blood, maybe its +own blood, an' then it goes mad and becomes a killer. An' that's what +I fear, Kate. So far I've kept Dan from ever havin' a single fight, +but I reckon the day'll come when someone'll cross him, and then +there'll be a tornado turned loose that'll jest about wreck these +parts." + +Her anger had grown during this speech. Now she rose. + +"I won't believe you, Dad," she said. "I'd sooner trust our Dan than +any man alive. I don't think you're right in a single word!" + +"I was sure loco," sighed Cumberland, "to ever dream of convincin' a +woman. Let it drop, Kate. We're about to get rid of Morgan's place, +an' now I reckon there won't be any temptation near Dan. We'll see +what time'll do for him. Let the thing drop there. Now I'm goin' over +to the Bar XO outfit an' I won't be back till late tonight. There's +only one thing more. I told Morgan there wasn't to be any gun-play in +his place today. If you hear any shootin' go down there an' remind +Morgan to take the guns off'n the men." + +Kate nodded, but her stare travelled far away, and the thing she saw +was the yellow light burning in the eyes of Whistling Dan. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +SILENT SHOOTS + +It was a great day and also a sad one for Morgan. His general store +and saloon had been bought out by old Joe Cumberland, who declared +a determination to clear up the landscape, and thereby plunged the +cowpunchers in gloom. They partially forgave Cumberland, but only +because he was an old man. A younger reformer would have met armed +resistance. Morgan's place was miles away from the next oasis in the +desert and the closing meant dusty, thirsty leagues of added journey +to every man in the neighbourhood. The word "neighbourhood," of +course, covered a territory fifty miles square. + +If the day was very sad for this important reason, it was also very +glad, for rustling Morgan advertised the day of closing far and wide, +and his most casual patrons dropped all business to attend the big +doings. A long line of buckboards and cattle ponies surrounded the +place. Newcomers gallopped in every few moments. Most of them did not +stop to tether their mounts, but simply dropped the reins over the +heads of the horses and then went with rattling spurs and slouching +steps into the saloon. Every man was greeted by a shout, for one or +two of those within usually knew him, and when they raised a cry +the others joined in for the sake of good fellowship. As a rule he +responded by ordering everyone up to the bar. + +One man, however, received no more greeting than the slamming of the +door behind him. He was a tall, handsome fellow with tawny hair and a +little smile of habit rather than mirth upon his lips. He had ridden +up on a strong bay horse, a full two hands taller than the average +cattle pony, and with legs and shoulders and straight back that +unmistakably told of a blooded pedigree. When he entered the saloon +he seemed nowise abashed by the silence, but greeted the turned heads +with a wave of the hand and a good-natured "Howdy, boys!" A volley of +greetings replied to him, for in the mountain-desert men cannot be +strangers after the first word. + +"Line up and hit the red-eye," he went on, and leaning against the +bar as he spoke, his habitual smile broadened into one of actual +invitation. Except for a few groups who watched the gambling in the +corners of the big room, there was a general movement towards the bar. + +"And make it a tall one, boys," went on the genial stranger. "This is +the first time I ever irrigated Morgan's place, and from what I have +heard today about the closing I suppose it will be the last time. So +here's to you, Morgan!" + +And he waved his glass towards the bartender. His voice was well +modulated and his enunciation bespoke education. This, in connection +with his careful clothes and rather modish riding-boots, might have +given him the reputation of a dude, had it not been for several other +essential details of his appearance. His six-gun hung so low that he +would scarcely have to raise his hand to grasp the butt. He held his +whisky glass in his left hand, and the right, which rested carelessly +on his hip, was deeply sunburned, as if he rarely wore a glove. +Moreover, his eyes were marvellously direct, and they lingered a +negligible space as they touched on each man in the room. All of this +the cattlemen noted instantly. What they did not see on account of his +veiling fingers was that he poured only a few drops of the liquor into +his glass. + +In the meantime another man who had never before "irrigated" at +Morgan's place, rode up. His mount, like that of the tawny-haired +rider, was considerably larger and more finely built than the common +range horse. In three days of hard work a cattle pony might wear down +these blooded animals, but would find it impossible to either overtake +or escape them in a straight run. The second stranger, short-legged, +barrel-chested, and with a scrub of black beard, entered the barroom +while the crowd was still drinking the health of Morgan. He took a +corner chair, pushed back his hat until a mop of hair fell down his +forehead, and began to roll a cigarette. The man of the tawny hair +took the next seat. + +"Seems to be quite a party, stranger," said the tall fellow +nonchalantly. + +"Sure," growled he of the black beard, and after a moment he added: +"Been out on the trail long, pardner?" + +"Hardly started." + +"So'm I." + +"As a matter of fact, I've got a lot of hard riding before me." + +"So've I." + +"And some long riding, too." + +Perhaps it was because he turned his head suddenly towards the light, +but a glint seemed to come in the eyes of the bearded man. + +"Long rides," he said more amiably, "are sure hell on hosses." + +"And on men, too," nodded the other, and tilted back in his chair. + +The bearded man spoke again, but though a dozen cowpunchers were close +by no one heard his voice except the man at his side. One side of his +face remained perfectly immobile and his eyes stared straight before +him drearily while he whispered from a corner of his mouth: "How long +do you stay, Lee?" + +"Noon," said Lee. + +Once more the shorter man spoke in the manner which is learned in a +penitentiary: "Me too. We must be slated for the same ride, Lee. Do +you know what it is? It's nearly noon, and the chief ought to be +here." + +There was a loud greeting for a newcomer, and Lee took advantage of +the noise to say quite openly: "If Silent said he'll come, he'll be +here. But I say he's crazy to come to a place full of range riders, +Bill." + +"Take it easy," responded Bill. "This hangout is away off our regular +beat. Nobody'll know him." + +"His hide is his own and he can do what he wants with it," said Lee. +"I warned him before." + +"Shut up," murmured Bill, "Here's Jim now, and Hal Purvis with him!" + +Through the door strode a great figure before whom the throng at the +bar gave way as water rolls back from the tall prow of a ship. In his +wake went a little man with a face dried and withered by the sun and +small bright eyes which moved continually from side to side. Lee and +Bill discovered their thirst at the same time and made towards the +newcomers. + +They had no difficulty in reaching them. The large man stood with his +back to the bar, his elbows spread out on it, so that there was a +little space left on either side of him. No one cared to press too +close to this sombre-faced giant. Purvis stood before him and Bill and +Lee were instantly at his side. The two leaned on the bar, facing him, +yet the four did not seem to make a group set apart from the rest. + +"Well?" asked Lee. + +"I'll tell you what it is when we're on the road," said Jim Silent. +"Plenty of time, Haines." + +"Who'll start first?" asked Bill. + +"You can, Kilduff," said the other. "Go straight north, and go slow. +Then Haines will follow you. Purvis next. I come last because I got +here last. There ain't any hurry--What's this here?" + +"I tell you I seen it!" called an angry voice from a corner. + +"You must of been drunk an' seein' double, partner," drawled the +answer. + +"Look here!" said the first man, "I'm willin' to take that any way you +mean it!" + +"An' I'm willin'," said the other, "that you should take it any way +you damn please." + +Everyone in the room was grave except Jim Silent and his three +companions, who were smiling grimly. + +"By God, Jack," said the first man with ominous softness, "I'll take a +lot from you but when it comes to doubtin' my word----" + +Morgan, with popping eyes and a very red face, slapped his hand on +the bar and vaulted over it with more agility than his plumpness +warranted. He shouldered his way hurriedly through the crowd to the +rapidly widening circle around the two disputants. They stood with +their right hands resting with rigid fingers low down on their hips, +and their eyes, fixed on each other, forgot the rest of the world. +Morgan burst in between them. + +"Look here," he thundered, "it's only by way of a favour that I'm +lettin' you boys wear shootin' irons today because I promised old +Cumberland there wouldn't be no fuss. If you got troubles there's +enough room for you to settle them out in the hills, but there ain't +none at all in here!" + +The gleam went out of their eyes like four candles snuffed by the +wind. Obviously they were both glad to have the tension broken. Mike +wiped his forehead with a rather unsteady hand. + +"I ain't huntin' for no special brand of trouble," he said, "but Jack +has been ridin' the red-eye pretty hard and it's gotten into that +dried up bean he calls his brain." + +"Say, partner," drawled Jack, "I ain't drunk enough of the hot stuff +to make me fall for the line you've been handing out." + +He turned to Morgan. + +"Mike, here, has been tryin' to make me believe that he knew a feller +who could drill a dollar at twenty yards every time it was tossed up." + +The crowd laughed, Morgan loudest of all. + +"Did you anyways have Whistlin' Dan in mind?" he asked. + +"No, I didn't," said Mike, "an' I didn't say this here man I was +talkin' about could drill them every time. But he could do it two +times out of four." + +"Mike," said Morgan, and he softened his disbelief with his smile and +the good-natured clap on the shoulder, "you sure must of been drinkin' +when you seen him do it. I allow Whistlin' Dan could do that an' more, +but he ain't human with a gun." + +"How d'you know?" asked Jack, "I ain't ever seen him packin' a +six-gun." + +"Sure you ain't," answered Morgan, "but I have, an' I seen him use it, +too. It was jest sort of by chance I saw it." + +"Well," argued Mike anxiously, "then you allow it's possible if +Whistlin' Dan can do it. An' I say I seen a chap who could turn the +trick." + +"An' who in hell is this Whistlin' Dan?" asked Jim Silent. + +"He's the man that caught Satan, an' rode him," answered a bystander. + +"Some man if he can ride the devil," laughed Lee Haines. + +"I mean the black mustang that ran wild around here for a couple of +years. Some people tell tales about him being a wonder with a gun. But +Morgan's the only one who claims to have seen him work." + +"Maybe you did see it, and maybe you didn't," Morgan was saying to +Mike noncommittally, "but there's some pretty fair shots in this +room, which I'd lay fifty bucks no man here could hit a dollar with a +six-gun at twenty paces." + +"While they're arguin'," said Bill Kilduff, "I reckon I'll hit the +trail." + +"Wait a minute," grinned Jim Silent, "an' watch me have some fun with +these short-horns." + +He spoke more loudly: "Are you makin' that bet for the sake of +arguin', partner, or do you calculate to back it up with cold cash?" + +Morgan whirled upon him with a scowl, "I ain't pulled a bluff in my +life that I can't back up!" he said sharply. + +"Well," said Silent, "I ain't so flush that I'd turn down fifty bucks +when a kind Christian soul, as the preachers say, slides it into my +glove. Not me. Lead out the dollar, pal, an' kiss it farewell!" + +"Who'll hold the stakes?" asked Morgan. + +"Let your friend Mike," said Jim Silent carelessly, and he placed +fifty dollars in gold in the hands of the Irishman. Morgan followed +suit. The crowd hurried outdoors. + +A dozen bets were laid in as many seconds. Most of the men wished to +place their money on the side of Morgan, but there were not a few who +stood willing to risk coin on Jim Silent, stranger though he was. +Something in his unflinching eye, his stern face, and the nerveless +surety of his movements commanded their trust. + +"How do you stand, Jim?" asked Lee Haines anxiously. "Is it a safe +bet? I've never seen you try a mark like this one!" + +"It ain't safe," said Silent, "because I ain't mad enough to shoot my +best, but it's about an even draw. Take your pick." + +"Not me," said Haines, "if you had ten chances instead of one I might +stack some coin on you. If the dollar were stationary I know you could +do it, but a moving coin looks pretty small." + +"Here you are," called Morgan, who stood at a distance of twenty +paces, "are you ready?" + +Silent whipped out his revolver and poised it. "Let 'er go!" + +The coin whirled in the air. Silent fired as it commenced to fall--it +landed untouched. + +"As a kind, Christian soul," said Morgan sarcastically, "I ain't in +your class, stranger. Charity always sort of interests me when I'm on +the receivin' end!" + +The crowd chuckled, and the sound infuriated Silent. + +"Don't go back jest yet, partners," he drawled. "Mister Morgan, I got +one hundred bones which holler that I can plug that dollar the second +try." + +"Boys," grinned Morgan, "I'm leavin' you to witness that I hate to do +it, but business is business. Here you are!" + +The coin whirled again. Silent, with his lips pressed into a straight +line and his brows drawn dark over his eyes, waited until the coin +reached the height of its rise, and then fired--missed--fired again, +and sent the coin spinning through the air in a flashing semicircle. +It was a beautiful piece of gun-play. In the midst of the clamour of +applause Silent strode towards Morgan with his hand outstretched. + +"After all," he said. "I knowed you wasn't really hard of heart. It +only needed a little time and persuasion to make you dig for coin when +I pass the box." + +Morgan, red of face and scowling, handed over his late winnings and +his own stakes. + +"It took you two shots to do it," he said, "an' if I wanted to argue +the pint maybe you wouldn't walk off with the coin." + +"Partner," said Jim Silent gently, "I got a wanderin' hunch that +you're showin' a pile of brains by not arguin' this here pint!" + +There followed that little hush of expectancy which precedes trouble, +but Morgan, after a glance at the set lips of his opponent, swallowed +his wrath. + +"I s'pose you'll tell how you did this to your kids when +you're eighty," he said scornfully, "but around here, stranger, they +don't think much of it. Whistlin' Dan"--he paused, as if to calculate +how far he could safely exaggerate--"Whistlin' Dan can stand with +his back to the coins an' when they're thrown he drills four dollars +easier than you did one--an' he wouldn't waste three shots on one +dollar. He ain't so extravagant!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +SOMETHING YELLOW + +The crowd laughed again at the excitement of Morgan, and Silent's +mirth particularly was loud and long. + +"An' if you're still bent on charity," he said at last, "maybe we +could find somethin' else to lay a bet on!" + +"Anything you name!" said Morgan hotly. + +"I suppose," said Silent, "that you're some rider, eh?" + +"I c'n get by with most of 'em." + +"Yeh--I suppose you never pulled leather in your life?" + +"Not any hoss that another man could ride straight up." + +"Is that so? Well, partner, you see that roan over there?" + +"That tall horse?" + +"You got him. You c'n win back that hundred if you stick on his back +two minutes. D'you take it?" + +Morgan hesitated a moment. The big roan was footing it nervously here +and there, sometimes throwing up his head suddenly after the manner of +a horse of bad temper. However, the loss of that hundred dollars and +the humiliation which accompanied it, weighed heavily on the saloon +owner's mind. + +"I'll take you," he said. + +A high, thrilling whistle came faintly from the distance. + +"That fellow on the black horse down the road," said Lee Haines, "I +guess he's the one that can hit the four dollars? Ha! ha! ha!" + +"Sure," grinned Silent, "listen to his whistle! We'll see if we can +drag another bet out of the bar-keep if the roan doesn't hurt him too +bad. Look at him now!" + +Morgan was having a bad time getting his foot in the stirrup, for +the roan reared and plunged. Finally two men held his head and the +saloon-keeper swung into the saddle. There was a little silence. The +roan, as if doubtful that he could really have this new burden on his +back, and still fearful of the rope which had been lately tethering +him, went a few short, prancing steps, and then, feeling something +akin to freedom, reared straight up, snorting. The crowd yelled with +delight, and the sound sent the roan back to all fours and racing down +the road. He stopped with braced feet, and Morgan lurched forwards on +the neck, yet he struck to his seat gamely. Whistling Dan was not a +hundred yards away. + +Morgan yelled and swung the quirt. The response of the roan was +another race down the road at terrific speed, despite the pull of +Morgan on the reins. Just as the running horse reached Whistling Dan, +he stopped as short as he had done before, but this time with an added +buck and a sidewise lurch all combined, which gave the effect of +snapping a whip--and poor Morgan was hurled from the saddle like +a stone from a sling. The crowd waved their hats and yelled with +delight. + +"Look out!" yelled Jim Silent. "Grab the reins!" + +But though Morgan made a valiant effort the roan easily swerved past +him and went racing down the road. + +"My God," groaned Silent, "he's gone!" + +"Saddles!" called someone. "We'll catch him!" + +"Catch hell!" answered Silent bitterly. "There ain't a hoss on earth +that can catch him--an' now that he ain't got the weight of a rider, +he'll run away from the wind!" + +"Anyway there goes Dan on Satan after him!" + +"No use! The roan ain't carryin' a thing but the saddle." + +"Satan never seen the day he could make the roan eat dust, anyway!" + +"Look at 'em go, boys!" + +"There ain't no use," said Jim Silent sadly, "he'll wind his black for +nothin'--an' I've lost the best hoss on the ranges." + +"I believe him," whispered one man to a neighbour, "because I've got +an idea that hoss is Red Peter himself!" + +His companion stared at him agape. + +"Red Pete!" he said. "Why, pal, that's the hoss that Silent--" + +"Maybe it is an' maybe it ain't. But why should we ask too many +questions?" + +"Let the marshals tend to him. He ain't ever troubled this part of the +range." + +"Anyway, I'm goin' to remember his face. If it's really Jim Silent, I +got something that's worth tellin' to my kids when they grow up." + +They both turned and looked at the tall man with an uncomfortable awe. +The rest of the crowd swarmed into the road to watch the race. + +The black stallion was handicapped many yards at the start before Dan +could swing him around after the roan darted past with poor Morgan in +ludicrous pursuit. Moreover, the roan had the inestimable advantage +of an empty saddle. Yet Satan leaned to his work with a stout heart. +There was no rock and pitch to his gait, no jerk and labour to his +strides. Those smooth shoulders were corded now with a thousand lines +where the steel muscles whipped to and fro. His neck stretched out +a little--his ears laid back along the neck--his whole body settled +gradually and continually down as his stride lengthened. Whistling Dan +was leaning forward so that his body would break less wind. He laughed +low and soft as the air whirred into his face, and now and then he +spoke to his horse, no yell of encouragement, but a sound hardly +louder than a whisper. There was no longer a horse and rider--the two +had become one creature--a centaur--the body of a horse and the mind +of a man. + +For a time the roan increased his advantage, but quickly Satan began +to hold him even, and then gain. First inch by inch; then at every +stride the distance between them diminished. No easy task. The great +roan had muscle, heart, and that empty saddle; as well, perhaps, as a +thought of the free ranges which lay before him and liberty from the +accursed thraldom of the bit and reins and galling spurs. What he +lacked was that small whispering voice--that hand touching lightly now +and then on his neck--that thrill of generous sympathy which passes +between horse and rider. He lost ground steadily and more and more +rapidly. Now the outstretched black head was at his tail, now at his +flank, now at his girth, now at his shoulder, now they raced nose and +nose. Whistling Dan shifted in the saddle. His left foot took the +opposite stirrup. His right leg swung free. + +The big roan swerved--the black in response to a word from his rider +followed the motion--and then the miracle happened. A shadow plunged +through the air; a weight thudded on the saddle of the roan; an iron +hand jerked back the reins. + +Red Pete hated men and feared them, but this new weight on his back +was different. It was not the pressure on the reins which urged him to +slow up; he had the bit in his teeth and no human hand could pull down +his head; but into the blind love, blind terror, blind rage which +makes up the consciousness of a horse entered a force which he had +never known before. He realized suddenly that it was folly to attempt +to throw off this clinging burden. He might as well try to jump out of +his skin. His racing stride shortened to a halting gallop, this to a +sharp trot, and in a moment more he was turned and headed back for +Morgan's place. The black, who had followed, turned at the same time +like a dog and followed with jouncing bridle reins. Black Bart, with +lolling red tongue, ran under his head, looking up to the stallion now +and again with a comical air of proprietorship, as if he were showing +the way. + +It was very strange to Red Pete. He pranced sideways a little and +shook his head up and down in an effort to regain his former temper, +but that iron hand kept his nose down, now, and that quiet voice +sounded above him--no cursing, no raking of sharp spurs to torture his +tender flanks, no whir of the quirt, but a calm voice of authority and +understanding. Red Pete broke into an easy canter and in this fashion +they came up to Morgan in the road. Red Pete snorted and started to +shy, for he recognized the clumsy, bouncing weight which had insulted +his back not long before; but this quiet voiced master reassured him, +and he came to a halt. + +"That red devil has cost me a hundred bones and all the skin on my +knees," groaned Morgan, "and I can hardly walk. Damn his eyes. But +say, Dan"--and his eyes glowed with an admiration which made him +momentarily forget his pains--"that was some circus stunt you done +down the road there--that changin' of saddles on the run, I never seen +the equal of it!" + +"If you got hurt in the fall," said Dan quietly, overlooking the +latter part of the speech, "why don't you climb onto Satan. He'll take +you back." + +Morgan laughed. + +"Say, kid, I'd take a chance with Satan, but there ain't any hospital +for fools handy." + +"Go ahead. He won't stir a foot. Steady, Satan!" + +"All right," said Morgan, "every step is sure like pullin' teeth!" + +He ventured closer to the black stallion, but was stopped short. Black +Bart was suddenly changed to a green-eyed devil, his hair bristling +around his shoulders, his teeth bared, and a snarl that came from the +heart of a killer. Satan also greeted his proposed rider with ears +laid flat back on his neck and a quivering anger. + +"If I'm goin' to ride Satan," declared Morgan, "I got to shoot the dog +first and then blindfold the hoss." + +"No you don't," said Dan. "No one else has ever had a seat on Satan, +but I got an idea he'll make an exception for a sort of temporary +cripple. Steady, boy. Here you, Bart, come over here an' keep your +face shut!" + +The dog, after a glance at his master, moved reluctantly away, keeping +his eyes upon Morgan. Satan backed away with a snort. He stopped at +the command of Dan, but when Morgan laid a hand on the bridle and +spoke to him he trembled with fear and anger. The saloon-keeper turned +away. + +"Thankin' you jest the same, Dan," he said, "I think I c'n walk back. +I'd as soon ride a tame tornado as that hoss." + +He limped on down the road with Dan riding beside him. Black Bart +slunk at his heels, sniffing. + +"Dan, I'm goin' to ask you a favour--an' a big one; will you do it for +me?" + +"Sure," said Whistling Dan. "Anything I can." + +"There's a skunk down there with a bad eye an' a gun that jumps out +of its leather like it had a mind of its own. He picked me for fifty +bucks by nailing a dollar I tossed up at twenty yards. Then he gets a +hundred because I couldn't ride this hoss of his. Which he's made a +plumb fool of me, Dan. Now I was tellin' him about you--maybe I was +sort of exaggeratin'--an' I said you could have your back turned when +the coins was tossed an' then pick off four dollars before they hit +the ground. I made it a bit high, Dan?" + +His eyes were wistful. + +"Nick four round boys before they hit the dust?" said Dan. "Maybe I +could, I don't know. I can't try it, anyway, Morgan, because I told +Dad Cumberland I'd never pull a gun while there was a crowd aroun'." + +Morgan sighed; he hesitated, and then: "But you promised you'd do me a +favour, Dan?" + +The rider started. + +"I forgot about that--I didn't think----" + +"It's only to do a shootin' trick," said Morgan eagerly. "It ain't +pullin' a gun on any one. Why, lad, if you'll tell me you got a ghost +of a chance, I'll bet every cent in my cash drawer on you agin that +skunk! You've give me your word, Dan." + +Whistling Dan shrugged his shoulders. + +"I've given you my word," he said, "an' I'll do it. But I guess Dad +Cumberland'll be mighty sore on me." + +A laugh rose from the crowd at Morgan's place, which they were nearing +rapidly. It was like a mocking comment on Dan's speech. As they came +closer they could see money changing hands in all directions. + +"What'd you do to my hoss?" asked Jim Silent, walking out to meet +them. + +"He hypnotized him," said Hal Purvis, and his lips twisted over yellow +teeth into a grin of satisfaction. + +"Git out of the saddle damn quick," growled Silent. "It ain't nacheral +he'd let you ride him like he was a plough-hoss. An' if you've tried +any fancy stunts, I'll----" + +"Take it easy," said Purvis as Dan slipped from the saddle without +showing the slightest anger. "Take it easy. You're a bum loser. When +I seen the black settle down to his work," he explained to Dan with +another grin, "I knowed he'd nail him in the end an' I staked twenty +on you agin my friend here! That was sure a slick change of hosses you +made." + +There were other losers. Money chinked on all sides to an +accompaniment of laughter and curses. Jim Silent was examining the +roan with a scowl, while Bill Kilduff and Hal Purvis approached Satan +to look over his points. Purvis reached out towards the bridle when a +murderous snarl at his feet made him jump back with a shout. He stood +with his gun poised, facing Black Bart. + +"Who's got any money to bet this damn wolf lives more'n five seconds?" +he said savagely. + +"I have," said Dan. + +"Who in hell are you? What d'you mean by trailing this man-killer +around?" + +He turned to Dan with his gun still poised. + +"Bart ain't a killer," said Dan, and the gentleness of his voice was +oil on troubled waters, "but he gets peeved when a stranger comes nigh +to the hoss." + +"All right this time," said Purvis, slowly restoring his gun to its +holster, "but if this wolf of yours looks cross-eyed at me agin he'll +hit the long trail that ain't got any end, savvy?" + +"Sure," said Dan, and his soft brown eyes smiled placatingly. + +Purvis kept his right hand close to the butt of his gun and his eyes +glinted as if he expected an answer somewhat stronger than words. +At this mild acquiesence he turned away, sneering. Silent, having +discovered that he could find no fault with Dan's treatment of his +horse, now approached with an ominously thin-lipped smile. Lee Haines +read his face and came to his side with a whisper: "Better cut out the +rough stuff, Jim. This chap hasn't hurt anything but your cash, and +he's already taken water from Purvis. I guess there's no call for you +to make any play." + +"Shut your face, Haines," responded Silent, in the same tone. "He's +made a fool of me by showin' up my hoss, an' by God I'm goin' to give +him a man-handlin' he'll never forgit." + +He whirled on Morgan. + +"How about it, bar-keep, is this the dead shot you was spillin' so +many words about?" + +Dan, as if he could not understand the broad insult, merely smiled at +him with marvellous good nature. + +"Keep away from him, stranger," warned Morgan. "Jest because he rode +your hoss you ain't got a cause to hunt trouble with him. He's been +taught not to fight." + +Silent, still looking Dan over with insolent eyes, replied: "He sure +sticks to his daddy's lessons. Nice an' quiet an' house broke, ain't +he? In my part of the country they dress this kind of a man in gal's +clothes so's nobody'll ever get sore at him an' spoil his pretty face. +Better go home to your ma. This ain't any place for you. They's men +aroun' here." + +There was another one of those grimly expectant hushes and then a +general guffaw; Dan showed no inclination to take offence. He merely +stared at brawny Jim Silent with a sort of childlike wonder. + +"All right," he said meekly, "if I ain't wanted around here I figger +there ain't any cause why I should stay. You don't figger to be peeved +at me, do you?" + +The laughter changed to a veritable yell of delight. Even Silent +smiled with careless contempt. + +"No, kid," he answered, "if I was peeved at you, you'd learn it +without askin' questions." + +He turned slowly away. + +"Maybe I got jaundice, boys," he said to the crowd, "but it seems to +me I see something kind of yellow around here!" + +The delightful subtlety of this remark roused another side-shaking +burst of merriment. Dan shook his head as if the mystery were beyond +his comprehension, and looked to Morgan for an explanation. The +saloon-keeper approached him, struggling with a grin. + +"It's all right, Dan," he said. "Don't let 'em rile you." + +"You ain't got any cause to fear that," said Silent, "because it can't +be done." + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +FOUR IN THE AIR + +Dan looked from Morgan to Silent and back again for understanding. +He felt that something was wrong, but what it was he had not the +slightest idea. For many years old Joe Cumberland had patiently taught +him that the last offence against God and man was to fight. The old +cattleman had instilled in him the belief that if he did not cross the +path of another, no one would cross his way. The code was perfect +and satisfying. He would let the world alone and the world would not +trouble him. The placid current of his life had never come to "white +waters" of wrath. + +Wherefore he gazed bewildered about him. They were laughing--they were +laughing unpleasantly at him as he had seen men laugh at a fiery young +colt which struggled against the rope. It was very strange. They could +not mean harm. Therefore he smiled back at them rather uncertainly. +Morgan slapped at his shoulder by way of good-fellowship and to +hearten him, but Dan slipped away under the extended hand with a +motion as subtle and swift as the twist of a snake when it flees for +its hole. He had a deep aversion for contact with another man's body. +He hated it as the wild horse hates the shadow of the flying rope. + +"Steady up, pal," said Morgan, "the lads mean no harm. That tall man +is considerable riled; which he'll now bet his sombrero agin you when +it comes to shootin'." + +He turned back to Silent. + +"Look here, partner," he said, "this is the man I said could nail the +four dollars before they hit the dust. I figger you don't think how it +can be done, eh?" + +"Him?" said Silent in deep disgust. "Send him back to his ma before +somebody musses him all up! Why, he don't even pack a gun!" + +Morgan waited a long moment so that the little silence would make his +next speech impressive. + +"Stranger," he said, "I've still got somewhere in the neighbourhood of +five hundred dollars in that cash drawer. An' every cent of it hollers +that Dan can do what I said." + +Silent hesitated. His code was loose, but he did not like to take +advantage of a drunk or a crazy man. However, five hundred dollars was +five hundred dollars. Moreover that handsome fellow who had just taken +water from Hal Purvis and was now smiling foolishly at his own shame, +had actually ridden Red Peter. The remembrance infuriated Silent. + +"Hurry up," said Morgan confidently. "I dunno what you're thinkin', +stranger. Which I'm kind of deaf an' I don't understand the way +anything talks except money." + +"Corral that talk, Morgan!" called a voice from the crowd, "you're +plumb locoed if you think any man in the world can get away with a +stunt like that! Pick four in the air!" + +"You keep your jaw for yourself," said Silent angrily, "if he wants to +donate a little more money to charity, let him do it. Morgan, I've got +five hundred here to cover your stake." + +"Make him give you odds, Morgan," said another voice, "because----" + +A glance from Silent cut the suggestion short. After that there was +little loud conversation. The stakes were large. The excitement made +the men hush the very tones in which they spoke. Morgan moistened his +white lips. + +"You c'n see I'm not packin' any shootin' irons," said Dan. "Has +anybody got any suggestions?" + +Every gun in the crowd was instantly at his service. They were +heartily tempted to despise Dan, but as one with the courage to +attempt the impossible, they would help him as far as they could. He +took their guns one after the other, weighed them, tried the action, +and handed them back. It was almost as if there were a separate +intelligence in the ends of his fingers which informed him of the +qualities of each weapon. + +"Nice gun," he said to the first man whose revolver he handled, "but I +don't like a barrel that's quite so heavy. There's a whole ounce too +much in the barrel." + +"What d'you mean?" asked the cowpuncher. "I've packed that gun for +pretty nigh eight years!" + +"Sorry," said Dan passing on, "but I can't work right with a top-heavy +gun." + +The next weapon he handed back almost at once. + +"What's the matter with that?" asked the owner aggressively. + +"Cylinder too tight," said Dan decisively, and a moment later to +another man, "Bad handle. I don't like the feel of it." + +Over Jim Silent's guns he paused longer than over most of the rest, +but finally he handed them back. The big man scowled. + +Dan looked back to him in gentle surprise. + +"You see," he explained quietly, "you got to handle a gun like a +horse. If you don't treat it right it won't treat you right. That's +all I know about it. Your gun ain't very clean, stranger, an' a gun +that ain't kept clean gets off feet." + +Silent glanced at his weapons, cursed softly, and restored them to the +holsters. + +"Lee," he muttered to Haines, who stood next to him, "what do you +think he meant by that? D' you figger he's got somethin' up his +sleeve, an' that's why he acts so like a damned woman?" + +"I don't know," said Haines gravely, "he looks to me sort of +queer--sort of different--damned different, chief!" + +By this time Dan had secured a second gun which suited him. He whirled +both guns, tried their actions alternately, and then announced that he +was ready. In the dead silence, one of the men paced off the twenty +yards. + +Dan, with his back turned, stood at the mark, shifting his revolvers +easily in his hands, and smiling down at them as if they could +understand his caress. + +"How you feelin', Dan?" asked Morgan anxiously. + +"Everything fine," he answered. + +"Are you gettin' weak?" + +"No, I'm all right." + +"Steady up, partner." + +"Steady up? Look at my hand!" + +Dan extended his arm. There was not a quiver in it. + +"All right, Dan. When you're shootin', remember that I got pretty +close to everything I own staked on you. There's the stranger gettin' +his four dollars ready." + +Silent took his place with the four dollars in his hand. + +"Are you ready?" he called. + +"Let her go!" said Dan, apparently without the least excitement. + +Jim Silent threw the coins, and he threw them so as to increase his +chances as much as possible. A little snap of his hand gave them a +rapid rotary motion so that each one was merely a speck of winking +light. He flung them high, for it was probable that Whistling Dan +would wait to shoot until they were on the way down. The higher he +threw them the more rapidly they would be travelling when they crossed +the level of the markman's eye. + +As a shout proclaimed the throwing of the coins, Dan whirled, and it +seemed to the bystanders that a revolver exploded before he was fully +turned; but one of the coins never rose to the height of the throw. +There was a light "cling!" and it spun a dozen yards away. Two more +shots blended almost together; two more dollars darted away in +twinkling streaks of light. One coin still fell, but when it was a +few inches from the earth a six-shooter barked again and the fourth +dollar glanced sidewise into the dust. It takes long to describe the +feat. Actually, the four shots consumed less than a second of time. + +"That last dollar," said Dan, and his soft voice was the first sound +out of the silence, "wasn't good. It didn't ring true. Counterfeit?" + +It seemed that no one heard his words. The men were making a wild +scramble for the dollars. They dived into the dust for them, rising +white of face and clothes to fight and struggle over their prizes. +Those dollars with the chips and neat round holes in them would +confirm the truth of a story that the most credulous might be tempted +to laugh or scorn. A cowpuncher offered ten dollars for one of the +relics--but none would part with a prize. + +The moment the shooting was over Dan stepped quietly back and restored +the guns to the owners. The first man seized his weapon carelessly. He +was in the midst of his rush after one of the chipped coins. The other +cowpuncher received his weapon almost with reverence. + +"I'm thankin' you for the loan," said Dan, "an here's hopin' you +always have luck with the gun." + +"Luck?" said the other. "I sure _will_ have luck with it. I'm goin' +to oil her up and put her in a glass case back home, an' when I get +grandchildren I'm goin' to point out that gun to 'em and tell 'em what +men used to do in the old days. Let's go in an' surround some red-eye +at my expense." + +"No thanks," answered Dan, "I ain't drinkin'." + +He stepped back to the edge of the circle and folded his arms. It was +as if he had walked out of the picture. He suddenly seemed to be aloof +from them all. + +Out of the quiet burst a torrent of curses, exclamations, and shouts. +Chance drew Jim Silent and his three followers together. + +"My God!" whispered Lee Haines, with a sort of horror in his voice, +"it wasn't human! Did you see? Did you see?" + +"Am I blind?" asked Hal Purvis, "an' think of me walkin' up an' +bracin' that killer like he was a two-year-old kid! I figger that's +the nearest I ever come to a undeserved grave, an' I've had some close +calls! 'That last dollar wasn't good! It didn't ring true,' says he +when he finished. I never seen such nerve!" + +"You're wrong as hell," said Silent, "a _woman_ can shoot at a target, +but it takes a cold _nerve_ to shoot at a man--an' this feller is +yellow all through!" + +"Is he?" growled Bill Kilduff, "well, I'd hate to take him by +surprise, so's he'd forget himself. He gets as much action out of a +common six-gun as if it was a gatling. He was right about that last +dollar, too. It was pure--lead!" + +"All right, Haines," said Silent. "You c'n start now any time, an' +the rest of us'll follow on the way I said. I'm leavin' last. I got a +little job to finish up with the kid." + +But Haines was staring fixedly down the road. + +"I'm not leaving yet," said Haines. "Look!" + +He turned to one of the cowpunchers. + +"Who's the girl riding up the road, pardner?" + +"That calico? She's Kate Cumberland--old Joe's gal." + +"I like the name," said Haines. "She sits the saddle like a man!" + +Her pony darted off from some imaginary object in the middle of the +road, and she swayed gracefully, following the sudden motion. Her +mount came to the sudden halt of the cattle pony and she slipped to +the ground before Morgan could run out to help. Even Lee Haines, who +was far quicker, could not reach her in time. + +"Sorry I'm late," said Haines. "Shall I tie your horse?" + +The fast ride had blown colour to her face and good spirits into her +eyes. She smiled up to him, and as she shook her head in refusal her +eyes lingered a pardonable moment on his handsome face, with the stray +lock of tawny hair fallen low across his forehead. She was used to +frank admiration, but this unembarrassed courtesy was a new world to +her. She was still smiling when she turned to Morgan. + +"You told my father the boys wouldn't wear guns today." + +He was somewhat confused. + +"They seem to be wearin' them," he said weakly, and his eyes wandered +about the armed circle, pausing on the ominous forms of Hal Purvis, +Bill Kilduff, and especially Jim Silent, a head taller than the rest. +He stood somewhat in the background, but the slight sneer with which +he watched Whistling Dan dominated the entire picture. + +"As a matter of fact," went on Morgan, "it would be a ten man job to +take the guns away from this crew. You can see for yourself." + +She glanced about the throng and started. She had seen Dan. + +"How did he come here?" + +"Oh, Dan?" said Morgan, "he's all right. He just pulled one of the +prettiest shootin' stunts I ever seen." + +"But he promised my father--" began Kate, and then stopped, flushing. + +If her father was right in diagnosing Dan's character, this was the +most critical day in his life, for there he stood surrounded by armed +men. If there were anything wild in his nature it would be brought out +that day. She was almost glad the time of trial had come. + +She said: "How about the guns, Mr. Morgan?" + +"If you want them collected and put away for a while," offered Lee +Haines, "I'll do what I can to help you!" + +Her smile of thanks set his blood tingling. His glance lingered a +little too long, a little too gladly, and she coloured slightly. + +"Miss Cumberland," said Haines, "may I introduce myself? My name is +Lee." + +She hesitated. The manners she had learned in the Eastern school +forbade it, but her Western instinct was truer and stronger. Her hand +went out to him. + +"I'm very glad to know you, Mr. Lee." + +"All right, stranger," said Morgan, who in the meantime had been +shifting from one foot to the other and estimating the large chances +of failure in this attempt to collect the guns, "if you're going to +help me corral the shootin' irons, let's start the roundup." + +The girl went with them. They had no trouble in getting the weapons. +The cold blue eye of Lee Haines was a quick and effective persuasion. + +When they reached Jim Silent he stared fixedly upon Haines. Then he +drew his guns slowly and presented them to his comrade, while his eyes +shifted to Kate and he said coldly: "Lady, I hope I ain't the last one +to congratulate you!" + +She did not understand, but Haines scowled and coloured. Dan, in the +meantime, was swept into the saloon by an influx of the cowpunchers +that left only Lee Haines outside with Kate. She had detained him with +a gesture. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +LAUGHTER + +"Mr. Lee," she said, "I am going to ask you to do me a favour. Will +you?" + +His smile was a sufficient answer, and it was in her character that +she made no pretext of misunderstanding it. + +"You have noticed Dan among the crowd?" she asked, "Whistling Dan?" + +"Yes," he said, "I saw him do some very nice shooting." + +"It's about him that I want to speak to you. Mr. Lee, he knows very +little about men and their ways. He is almost a child among them. You +seem--stronger--than most of the crowd here. Will you see that if +trouble comes he is not imposed upon?" + +She flushed a little, there was such a curious yearning in the eyes of +the big man. + +"If you wish it," he said simply, "I will do what I can." + +As he walked beside her towards her horse, she turned to him abruptly. + +"You are very different from the men I have met around here," she +said. + +"I am glad," he answered. + +"Glad?" + +"If you find me different, you will remember me, whether for better or +worse." + +He spoke so earnestly that she grew grave. He helped her to the saddle +and she leaned a little to study him with the same gentle gravity. + +"I should like to see you again, Mr. Lee," she said, and then in a +little outburst, "I should like to see you a _lot!_ Will you come to +my house sometime?" + +The directness, the sudden smile, made him flinch. His voice was a +trifle unsteady when he replied. + +"I _shall!_" He paused and his hand met hers. "If it is possible." + +Her eyebrows raised a trifle. + +"Is it so hard to do?" + +"Do not ask me to explain," he said, "I am riding a long way." + +"Oh, a 'long-rider'!" she laughed, "then of course--" She stopped +abruptly. It may have been imagination, but he seemed to start when +she spoke the phrase by which outlaws were known to each other. He was +forcing his eyes to meet hers. + +He said slowly: "I am going on a long journey. Perhaps I will come +back. If I am able to, I shall." + +He dropped his hand from hers and she remained silent, guessing at +many things, and deeply moved, for every woman knows when a man speaks +from his soul. + +"You will not forget me?" + +"I shall never forget you," she answered quietly. "Good-bye, Mr. Lee!" + +Her hand touched his again, she wheeled, and rode away. He remained +standing with the hand she had grasped still raised. And after a +moment, as he had hoped, she turned in the saddle and waved to him. +His eyes were downward and he was smiling faintly when he re-entered +the saloon. + +Silent sat at a table with his chin propped in his hand--his left +hand, of course, for that restless right hand must always be free. He +stared across the room towards Whistling Dan. The train of thoughts +which kept those ominous eyes so unmoving must be broken. He sat down +at the side of his chief. + +"What the hell?" said the big man, "ain't you started yet?" + +"Look here, Jim," said Haines cautiously, "I want you to lay off on +this kid, Whistling Dan. It won't meant anything to you to raise the +devil with him." + +"I tell you," answered Silent, "it'll please me more'n anything in the +world to push that damned girl face of his into the floor." + +"Silent, I'm asking a personal favour of you!" + +The leader turned upon him that untamed stare. Haines set his teeth. + +"Haines," came the answer, "I'll stand more from you than from any man +alive. I know you've got guts an' I know you're straight with me. +But there ain't anything can keep me from manhandlin' that kid over +there." He opened and shut his fingers slowly. "I sort of yearn to get +at him!" + +Haines recognized defeat. + +"But you haven't another gun hidden on you, Jim? You won't try to +shoot him up?" + +"No," said Silent. "If I had a gun I don't know--but I haven't a gun. +My hands'll be enough!" + +All that could be done now was to get Whistling Dan out of the saloon. +That would be simple. A single word would suffice to send the timid +man helter-skelter homewards. + +The large, lazy brown eyes turned up to Haines as the latter +approached. + +"Dan," he said, "hit for the timbers--get on your way--there's danger +here for you!" + +To his astonishment the brown eyes did not vary a shade. + +"Danger?" he repeated wonderingly. + +"Danger! Get up and get out if you want to save your hide!" + +"What's the trouble?" said Dan, and his eyes were surprised, but not +afraid. + +"The biggest man in this room is after your blood." + +"Is he?" said Dan wonderingly. "I'm sorry I don't feel like leavin', +but I'm not tired of this place yet." + +"Friend," said Haines, "if that tall man puts his hands on you, he'll +break you across his knee like a rotten stick of wood!" + +It was too late. Silent evidently guessed that Haines was urging his +quarry to flee. + +"Hey!" he roared, so that all heads turned towards him, "you over +there." + +Haines stepped back, sick at heart. He knew that it would be folly to +meet his chief hand to hand, but he thought of his pledge to Kate, and +groaned. + +"What do you want of me?" asked Dan, for the pointed arm left no doubt +as to whom Silent intended. + +"Get up when you're spoke to" cried Silent. "Ain't you learned no +manners? An' git up quick!" + +Dan rose, smiling his surprise. + +"Your friend has a sort of queer way of talkin'," he said to Haines. + +"Don't stan' there like a fool. Trot over to the bar an' git me a jolt +of red-eye. I'm dry!" thundered Silent. + +"Sure!" nodded Whistling Dan amiably, "glad to!" and he went +accordingly towards the bar. + +The men about the room looked to each other with sick smiles. +There was an excuse for acquiescence, for the figure of Jim Silent +contrasted with Whistling Dan was like an oak compared with a sapling. +Nevertheless such bland cowardice as Dan was showing made their flesh +creep. He asked at the bar for the whisky, and Morgan spoke as Dan +filled a glass nearly to the brim. + +"Dan," he whispered rapidly, "I got a gun behind the bar. Say the word +an' I'll take the chance of pullin' it on that big skunk. Then you +make a dive for the door. Maybe I can keep him back till you get on +Satan." + +"Why should I beat it?" queried Dan, astonished. "I'm jest beginnin' +to get interested in your place. That tall feller is sure a queer one, +ain't he?" + +With the same calm and wide-eyed smile of inquiry he turned away, +taking the glass of liquor, and left Morgan to stare after him with a +face pale with amazement, while he whispered over and over to himself: +"Well, I'll be damned! Well, I'll be damned!" + +Dan placed the liquor before Silent. The latter sat gnawing his lips. + +"What in hell do you mean?" he said. "Did you only bring one glass? +Are you too damn good to drink with me? Then drink by yourself, you +white-livered coyote!" + +He dashed the glass of whisky into Dan's face. Half blinded by the +stinging liquor, the latter fell back a pace, sputtering, and wiping +his eyes. Not a man in the room stirred. The same sick look was on +each face. But the red devil broke loose in Silent's heart when he saw +Dan cringe. He followed the thrown glass with his clenched fist. Dan +stood perfectly still and watched the blow coming. His eyes were wide +and wondering, like those of a child. The iron-hard hand struck him +full on the mouth, fairly lifted him from his feet, and flung him +against the wall with such violence that he recoiled again and fell +forward onto his knees. Silent was making beast noises in his throat +and preparing to rush on the half-prostrate figure. He stopped short. + +Dan was laughing. At least that chuckling murmur was near to a laugh. +Yet there was no mirth in it. It had that touch of the maniacal in it +which freezes the blood. Silent halted in the midst of his rush, with +his hands poised for the next blow. His mouth fell agape with an odd +expression of horror as Dan stared up at him. That hideous chuckling +continued. The sound defied definition. And from the shadow in which +Dan was crouched his brown eyes blazed, changed, and filled with +yellow fires. + +"God!" whispered Silent, and at that instant the ominous crouched +animal with the yellow eyes, the nameless thing which had been +Whistling Dan a moment before, sprang up and forward with a leap like +that of a panther. + +Morgan stood behind the bar with a livid face and a fixed smile. His +fingers still stiffly clutched the whisky bottle from which the last +glass had been filled. Not another man in the room stirred from his +place. Some sat with their cards raised in the very act of playing. +Some had stopped midway a laugh. One man had been tying a bootlace. +His body did not rise. Only his eyes rolled up to watch. + +Dan darted under the outstretched arms of Silent, fairly heaved him up +from the floor and drove him backwards. The big man half stumbled and +half fell, knocking aside two chairs. He rushed back with a shout, but +at sight of the white face with the thin trickle of blood falling from +the lips, and at the sound of that inhuman laughter, he paused again. + +Once more Dan was upon him, his hands darting out with motions too +fast for the eye to follow. Jim Silent stepped back a half pace, +shifted his weight, and drove his fist straight at that white face. +How it happened not a man in the room could tell, but the hand did not +strike home. Dan had swerved aside as lightly as a wind-blown feather +and his fist rapped against Silent's ribs with a force that made the +giant grunt. + +Some of the horror was gone from his face and in its stead was baffled +rage. He knew the scientific points of boxing, and he applied them. +His eye was quick and sure. His reach was whole inches longer than his +opponent's. His strength was that of two ordinary men. What did it +avail him? He was like an agile athlete in the circus playing tag with +a black panther. He was like a child striking futilely at a wavering +butterfly. Sometimes this white-faced, laughing devil ducked under +his arms. Sometimes a sidestep made his blows miss by the slightest +fraction of an inch. + +And for every blow he struck four rained home against him. It was +impossible! It could not be! Silent telling himself that he dreamed, +and those dancing fists crashed into his face and body like +sledgehammers. There was no science in the thing which faced him. Had +there been trained skill the second blow would have knocked Silent +unconscious, and he knew it, but Dan made no effort to strike a +vulnerable spot. He hit at anything which offered. + +Still he laughed as he leaped back and forth. Perhaps mere weight of +rushing would beat the dancing will-o'-the-wisp to the floor. Silent +bored in with lowered head and clutched at his enemy. Then he roared +with triumph. His outstretched hand caught Dan's shirt as the latter +flicked to one side. Instantly they were locked in each other's arms! +The most meaning part of the fight followed. + +The moment after they grappled, Silent shifted his right arm from its +crushing grip on Dan's body and clutched at the throat. The move was +as swift as lightning, but the parry of the smaller man was still +quicker. His left hand clutched Silent by the wrist, and that mighty +sweep of arm was stopped in mid-air! They were in the middle of the +room. They stood perfectly erect and close together, embraced. Their +position had a ludicrous resemblance to the posture of dancers, but +their bodies were trembling with effort. With every ounce of power in +his huge frame Silent strove to complete his grip at the throat. +He felt the right arm of Dan tightening around him closer, closer, +closer! It was not a bulky arm, but it seemed to be made of linked +steel which was shrinking into him, and promised to crush his very +bones. The strength of this man seemed to increase. It was limitless. +His breath came struggling under that pressure and the blood thundered +and raged in his temples. If he could only get at that soft throat! + +But his struggling right hand was held in a vice of iron. Now his numb +arm gave way, slowly, inevitably. He ground his teeth and cursed. His +curse was half a prayer. For answer there was the unearthly chuckle +just below his ear. His hand was moved back, down, around! He was +helpless as a child in the arms of its father--no, helpless as a sheep +in the constricting coils of a python. + +An impulse of frantic horror and shame and fear gave him redoubled +strength for an instant. He tore himself clear and reeled back. Dan +planted two smashes on Silent's snarling mouth. A glance showed the +large man the mute, strained faces around the room. The laughing devil +leaped again. Then all pride slipped like water from the heart of Jim +Silent, and in its place there was only icy fear, fear not of a man, +but of animal power. He caught up a heavy chair and drove it with all +his desperate strength at Dan. + +It cracked distinctly against his head and the weight of it fairly +drove him into the floor. He fell with a limp thud on the boards. +Silent, reeling and blind, staggered to and fro in the centre of the +room. Morgan and Lee Haines reached Dan at the same moment and kneeled +beside him. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +THE MUTE MESSENGER + +Almost at once Haines raised a hand and spoke to the crowd: "He's all +right, boys. Badly cut across the head and stunned, but he'll live." + +There was a deep gash on the upper part of the forehead. If the +cross-bar of the chair had not broken, the skull might have been +injured. The impact of the blow had stunned him, and it might be many +minutes before his senses returned. + +As the crowd closed around Dan, a black body leaped among them, +snarling hideously. They sprang back with a yell from the rush of this +green-eyed fury; but Black Bart made no effort to attack them. He sat +crouching before the prostrate body, licking the deathly white face, +and growling horribly, and then stood over his fallen master and +stared about the circle. Those who had seen a lone wolf make its stand +against a pack of dogs recognized the attitude. Then without a sound, +as swiftly as he had entered the room, he leaped through the door and +darted off up the road. Satan, for the first time deserted by this +wolfish companion, turned a high head and neighed after him, but he +raced on. + +The men returned to their work over Dan's body, cursing softly. There +was a hair-raising unearthliness about the sudden coming and departure +of Black Bart. Jim Silent and his comrades waited no longer, but took +to their saddles and galloped down the road. + +Within a few moments the crowd at Morgan's place began to thin out. +Evening was coming on, and most of them had far to ride. They might +have lingered until midnight, but this peculiar accident damped their +spirits. Probably not a hundred words were spoken from the moment +Silent struck Dan to the time when the last of the cattlemen took to +the saddle. They avoided each other's eyes as if in shame. In a short +time only Morgan remained working over Dan. + +In the house of old Joe Cumberland his daughter sat fingering the keys +of the only piano within many miles. The evening gloom deepened as she +played with upward face and reminiscent eyes. The tune was uncertain, +weird--for she was trying to recall one of those nameless airs which +Dan whistled as he rode through the hills. There came a patter of +swift, light footfalls in the hall, and then a heavy scratching at the +door. + +"Down, Bart!" she called, and went to admit him to the room. + +The moment she turned the handle the door burst open and Bart fell in +against her. She cried out at sight of the gleaming teeth and eyes, +but he fawned about her feet, alternately whining and snarling. + +"What is it, boy?" she asked, gathering her skirts close about her +ankles and stepping back, for she never was without some fear of this +black monster. "What do you want, Bart?" + +For reply he stood stock still, raised his nose, and emitted a long +wail, a mournful, a ghastly sound, with a broken-hearted quaver at the +end. Kate Cumberland shrank back still farther until the wall blocked +her retreat. Black Bart had never acted like this before. He followed +her with a green light in his eyes, which shone phosphorescent and +distinct through the growing shadows. And most terrible of all was +the sound which came deep in his throat as if his brute nature was +struggling to speak human words. She felt a great impulse to cry out +for help, but checked herself. He was still crouching about her feet. +Obviously he meant no harm to her. + +He turned and ran towards the door, stopped, looked back to her, and +made a sound which was nearer to the bark of a dog than anything he +had ever uttered. She made a step after him. He whined with delight +and moved closer to the door. Now she stopped again. He whirled and +ran back, caught her dress in his teeth, and again made for the door, +tugging her after him. + +At last she understood and followed him. When she went towards the +corral to get her horse, he planted himself in front of her and +snarled so furiously that she gave up her purpose. She was beginning +to be more and more afraid. A childish thought came to her that +perhaps this brute was attempting to lure her away from the house, as +she had seen coyotes lure dogs, and then turn his teeth against her. +Nevertheless she followed. Something in the animal's eagerness moved +her deeply. When he led her out to the road he released her dress and +trotted ahead a short distance, looking back and whining, as if to beg +her to go faster. For the first time the thought of Dan came into her +mind. Black Bart was leading her down the road towards Morgan's place. +What if something had happened to Dan? + +She caught a breath of sharp terror and broke into a run. Bart yelped +his pleasure. Yet a cold horror rose in her heart as she hurried. Had +her father after all been right? What power had Dan, if he needed her, +to communicate with this mute beast and send him to her? As she ran +she wished for the day, the warm, clear sun--for these growing shadows +of evening bred a thousand ghostly thoughts. Black Bart was running +backwards and forwards before her as if he half entreated and half +threatened her. + +Her heart died within her as she came in sight of Morgan's place. +There was only one horse before it, and that was the black stallion. +Why had the others gone so soon? Breathless, she reached the door of +the saloon. It was very dim within. She could make out only formless +shades at first. Black Bart slid noiselessly across the floor. She +followed him with her eyes, and now she saw a figure stretched +straight out on the floor while another man kneeled at his side. She +ran forward with a cry. + +Morgan rose, stammering. She pushed him aside and dropped beside Dan. +A broad white bandage circled his head. His face was almost as pale as +the cloth. Her touches went everywhere over that cold face, and she +moaned little syllables that had no meaning. He lived, but it seemed +to her that she had found him at the legended gates of death. + +"Miss Kate!" said Morgan desperately. + +"You murderer!" + +"You don't think that _I_ did that?" + +"It happened in your place--you had given Dad your word!" + +Still she did not turn her head. + +"Won't you hear me explain? He's jest in a sort of a trance. He'll +wake up feelin' all right. Don't try to move him tonight. I'll go out +an' put his hoss up in the shed. In the mornin' he'll be as good as +new. Miss Kate, won't you listen to me?" + +She turned reluctantly towards him. Perhaps he was right and Dan would +waken from his swoon as if from a healthful sleep. + +"It was that big feller with them straight eyes that done it," began +Morgan. + +"The one who was sneering at Dan?" + +"Yes." + +"Weren't there enough boys here to string him up?" + +"He had three friends with him. It would of taken a hundred men to lay +hands on one of those four. They were all bad ones. I'm goin' to tell +you how it was, because I'm leavin' in a few minutes and ridin' south, +an' I want to clear my trail before I start. This was the way it +happened--" + +His back was turned to the dim light which fell through the door. She +could barely make out the movement of his lips. All the rest of his +face was lost in shadow. As he spoke she sometimes lost his meaning +and the stir of his lips became a nameless gibbering. The grey gloom +settled more deeply round the room and over her heart while he talked. +He explained how the difference had risen between the tall stranger +and Whistling Dan. How Dan had been insulted time and again and borne +it with a sort of childish stupidity. How finally the blow had been +struck. How Dan had crouched on the floor, laughing, and how a yellow +light gathered in his eyes. + +At that, her mind went blank. When her thoughts returned she stood +alone in the room. The clatter of Morgan's galloping horse died +swiftly away down the road. She turned to Dan. Black Bart was crouched +at watch beside him. She kneeled again--lowered her head--heard the +faint but steady breathing. He seemed infinitely young--infinitely +weak and helpless. The whiteness of the bandage stared up at her like +an eye through the deepening gloom. All the mother in her nature came +to her eyes in tears. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +RED WRITING + +He stirred. + +"Dan--dear!" + +"My head," he muttered, "it sort of aches, Kate, as if--" + +He was silent and she knew that he remembered. + +"You're all right now, honey. I've come here to take care of you--I +won't leave you. Poor Dan!" + +"How did you know?" he asked, the words trailing. + +"Black Bart came for me." + +"Good ol' Bart!" + +The great wolf slunk closer, and licked the outstretched hand. + +"Why, Kate, I'm on the floor and it's dark. Am I still in Morgan's +place? Yes, I begin to see clearer." + +He made an effort to rise, but she pressed him back. + +"If you try to move right away you may get a fever. I'm going back +to the house, and I'll bring you down some blankets. Morgan says you +shouldn't attempt to move for several hours. He says you've lost a +great deal of blood and that you mustn't make any effort or ride a +horse till tomorrow." + +Dan relaxed with a sigh. + +"Kate." + +"Yes, honey." + +Her hand travelled lightly as blown snow across his forehead. He +caught it and pressed the coolness against his cheek. + +"I feel as if I'd sort of been through a fire. I seem to be still +seein' red." + +"Dan, it makes me feel as if I never knew you! Now you must forget all +that has happened. Promise me you will!" + +He was silent for a moment and then he sighed again. + +"Maybe I can, Kate. Which I feel, though, as if there was somethin' +inside me writ--writ in red letters--I got to try to read the writin' +before I can talk much." + +She barely heard him. Her hand was still against his face. A deep awe +and content was creeping through her, so that she began to smile and +was glad that the dark covered her face. She felt abashed before him +for the first time in her life, and there was a singular sense of +shame. It was as if some door in her inner heart had opened so that +Dan was at liberty to look down into her soul. There was terror in +this feeling, but there was also gladness. + +"Kate." + +"Yes--honey!" + +"What were you hummin'?" + +She started. + +"I didn't know I was humming, Dan." + +"You were, all right. It sounded sort of familiar, but I couldn't +figger out where I heard it." + +"I know now. It's one of your own tunes." + +Now she felt a tremor so strong that she feared he would notice it. + +"I must go back to the house, Dan. Maybe Dad has returned. If he has, +perhaps he can arrange to have you carried back tonight." + +"I don't want to think of movin', Kate. I feel mighty comfortable. +I'm forgettin' all about that ache in my head. Ain't that queer? Why, +Kate, what in the world are you laughin' about?" + +"I don't know, Dan. I'm just happy!" + +"Kate." + +"Yes?" + +"I like you pretty much." + +"I'm so glad!" + +"You an' Black Bart, an' Satan--" + +"Oh!" Her tone changed. + +"Why are you tryin' to take your hand away, Kate?" + +"Don't you care for me any more than for your horse--and your dog?" + +He drew a long breath, puzzled. + +"It's some different, I figger." + +"Tell me!" + +"If Black Bart died--" + +The wolf-dog whined, hearing his name. + +"Good ol' Bart! Well, if Black Bart died maybe I'd some day have +another dog I'd like almost as much." + +"Yes." + +"An' if Satan died--even Satan!--maybe I could sometime like another +hoss pretty well--if he was a pile like Satan! But if you was to +die--it'd be different, a considerable pile different." + +"Why?" + +His pauses to consider these questions were maddening. + +"I don't know," he muttered at last. + +Once more she was thankful for the dark to hide her smile. + +"Maybe you know the reason, Kate?" + +Her laughter was rich music. His hold on her hand relaxed. He was +thinking of a new theme. When he laughed in turn it startled her. She +had never heard that laugh before. + +"What is it, Dan?" + +"He was pretty big, Kate. He was bigger'n almost any man I ever seen! +It was kind of funny. After he hit me I was almost glad. I didn't hate +him--" + +"Dear Dan!" + +"I didn't hate him--I jest nacherally wanted to kill him--and wantin' +to do that made me glad. Isn't that funny, Kate?" + +He spoke of it as a chance traveller might point out a striking +feature of the landscape to a companion. + +"Dan, if you really care for me you must drop the thought of him." + +His hand slipped away. + +"How can I do that? That writin' I was tellin' you about--" + +"Yes?" + +"It's about him!" + +"Ah!" + +"When he hit me the first time--" + +"I won't hear you tell of it!" + +"The blood come down my chin--jest a little trickle of it. It was +warm, Kate. That was what made me hot all through." + +Her hands fell limp, cold, lifeless. + +"It's as clear as the print in a book. I've got to finish him. That's +the only way I can forget the taste of my own blood." + +"Dan, listen to me!" + +He laughed again, in the new way. She remembered that her father had +dreaded the very thing that had come to Dan--this first taste of his +own powers--this first taste (she shuddered) of blood! + +"Dan, you've told me that you like me. You have to make a choice now, +between pursuing this man, and me." + +"You don't understand," he explained carefully. "I _got_ to follow +him. I can't help it no more'n Black Bart can help howlin' when he +sees the moon." + +He fell silent, listening. Far across the hills came the plaintive +wail of a coyote--that shrill bodiless sound. Kate trembled. + +"Dan!" + +Outside, Satan whinnied softly like a call. She leaned and her lips +touched his. He thrust her away almost roughly. + +"They's blood on my lips, Kate! I can't kiss you till they're clean." + +He turned his head. + +"You must listen to me, Dan!" + +"Kate, would you talk to the wind?" + +"Yes, if I loved the wind!" + +He turned his head. + +She pleaded: "Here are my hands to cover your eyes and shut out the +thoughts of this man you hate. Here are my lips, dear, to tell you +that I love you unless this thirst for killing carries you away from +me. Stay with me! Give me your heart to keep gentle!" + +He said nothing, but even through the dark she was aware of a struggle +in his face, and then, through the gloom, she began to see his +eyes more clearly. They seemed to be illuminated by a light from +within--they changed--there was a hint of yellow in the brown. And she +spoke again, blindly, passionately. + +"Give me your promise! It is so easy to do. One little word will make +you safe. It will save you from yourself." + +Still he answered nothing. Black Bart came and crouched at his head +and stared at her fixedly. + +"Speak to me!" + +Only the yellow light answered her. Cold fear fought in her heart, but +love still struggled against it. + +"For the last time--for God's sake, Dan!" + +Still that silence. She rose, shaking and weak. The changeless eyes +followed her. Only fear remained now. She backed towards the door, +slowly, then faster, and faster. At the threshold she whirled and +plunged into the night. + +Up the road she raced. Once she stumbled and fell to her knees. She +cried out and glanced behind her, breathing again when she saw that +nothing followed. At the house she made no pause, though she heard the +voice of her father singing. She could not tell him. He should be the +last in all the world to know. She went to her room and huddled into +bed. + +Presently a knock came at her door, and her father's voice asked if +she were ill. She pleaded that she had a bad headache and wished to be +alone. He asked if she had seen Dan. By a great effort she managed to +reply that Dan had ridden to a neighbouring ranch. Her father left +the door without further question. Afterwards she heard him in the +distance singing his favourite mournful ballads. It doubled her sense +of woe and brought home the clinging fear. She felt that if she could +weep she might live, but otherwise her heart would burst. And after +hours and hours of that torture which burns the name of "woman" in the +soul of a girl, the tears came. The roosters announced the dawn before +she slept. + +Late the next morning old Joe Cumberland knocked again at her door. He +was beginning to fear that this illness might be serious. Moreover, he +had a definite purpose in rousing her. + +"Yes?" she called, after the second knock. + +"Look out your window, honey, down to Morgan's place. You remember I +said I was goin' to clean up the landscape?" + +The mention of Morgan's place cleared the sleep from Kate's mind and +it brought back the horror of the night before. Shivering she slipped +from her bed and went to the window. Morgan's place was a mass of +towering flames! + +She grasped the window-sill and stared again. It could not be. It must +be merely another part of the nightmare, and no reality. Her father's +voice, high with exultation, came dimly to her ears, but what she saw +was Dan as he had laid there the night before, hurt, helpless, too +weak to move! + +"There's the end of it," Joe Cumberland was saying complacently +outside her door. "There ain't goin' to be even a shadow of the saloon +left nor nothin' that's in it. I jest travelled down there this +mornin' and touched a match to it!" + +Still she stared without moving, without making a sound. She was +seeing Dan as he must have wakened from a swoonlike sleep with the +smell of smoke and the heat of rising flames around him. She saw him +struggle, and fail to reach his feet. She almost heard him cry out--a +sound drowned easily by the roar of the fire, and the crackling of the +wood. She saw him drag himself with his hands across the floor, only +to be beaten back by a solid wall of flame. Black Bart crouched beside +him and would not leave his doomed master. Fascinated by the raging +fire the black stallion Satan would break from the shed and rush into +the flames!--and so the inseparable three must have perished together! + +"Why don't you speak, Kate?" called her father. + +"Dan!" she screamed, and pitched forward to the floor. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +THE PHANTOM RIDER + +In the daytime the willows along the wide, level river bottom seemed +an unnatural growth, for they made a streak of yellow-green across +the mountain-desert when all other verdure withered and died. After +nightfall they became still more dreary. Even when the air was calm +there was apt to be a sound as of wind, for the tenuous, trailing +branches brushed lightly together, making a guarded whispering like +ghosts. + +In a small clearing among these willows sat Silent and his companions. +A fifth member had just arrived at this rendezvous, answered the quiet +greeting with a wave of his hand, and was now busy caring for his +horse. Bill Kilduff, who had a natural inclination and talent for +cookery, raked up the deft dying coals of the fire over which he had +cooked the supper, and set about preparing bacon and coffee for the +newcomer. The latter came forward, and squatted close to the cook, +watching the process with a careful eye. He made a sharp contrast with +the rest of the group. From one side his profile showed the face of +a good-natured boy, but when he turned his head the flicker of the +firelight ran down a scar which gleamed in a jagged semi-circle from +his right eyebrow to the corner of his mouth. This whole side of his +countenance was drawn by the cut, the mouth stretching to a perpetual +grimace. When he spoke it was as if he were attempting secrecy. The +rest of the men waited in patience until he finished eating. Then +Silent asked: "What news, Jordan?" + +Jordan kept his regretful eyes a moment longer on his empty coffee +cup. + +"There ain't a pile to tell," he answered at last. "I suppose you +heard about what happened to the chap you beat up at Morgan's place +the other day?" + +"Who knows that _I_ beat him up?" asked Silent sharply. + +"Nobody," said Jordan, "but when I heard the description of the man +that hit Whistling Dan with the chair, I knew it was Jim Silent." + +"What about Barry?" asked Haines, but Jordan still kept his eyes upon +the chief. + +"They was sayin' pretty general," he went on, "that you _needed_ that +chair, Jim. Is that right?" + +The other three glanced covertly to each other. Silent's hand bunched +into a great fist. + +"He went loco. I had to slam him. Was he hurt bad?" + +"The cut on his head wasn't much, but he was left lyin' in the saloon +that night, an' the next mornin' old Joe Cumberland, not knowin' that +Whistlin' Dan was in there, come down an' touched a match to the old +joint. She went up in smoke an' took Dan along." + +No one spoke for a moment. Then Silent cried out: "Then what was that +whistlin' I've heard down the road behind us?" + +Bill Kilduff broke into rolling bass laughter, and Hal Purvis chimed +in with a squeaking tenor. + +"We told you all along, Jim," said Purvis, as soon as he could control +his voice, "that there wasn't any whistlin' behind us. We know you +got powerful good hearin', Jim, but we all figger you been makin' +somethin' out of nothin'. Am I right, boys?" + +"You sure are," said Kilduff, "I ain't heard a thing." + +Silent rolled his eyes angrily from face to face. + +"I'm kind of sorry the lad got his in the fire. I was hopin' maybe +we'd meet agin. There's nothin' I'd rather do than be alone five +minutes with Whistlin' Dan." + +His eyes dared any one to smile. The men merely exchanged glances. +When he turned away they grinned broadly. Hal Purvis turned and caught +Bill Kilduff by the shoulder. + +"Bill," he said excitedly, "if Whistlin' Dan is dead there ain't any +master for that dog!" + +"What about him?" growled Kilduff. + +"I'd like to try my hand with him," said Purvis, and he moistened his +tight lips. "Did you see the black devil when he snarled at me in +front of Morgan's place?" + +"He sure didn't look too pleasant." + +"Right. Maybe if I had him on a chain I could change his manners some, +eh?" + +"How?" + +"A whip every day, damn him--a whip every time he showed his teeth at +me. No eats till he whined and licked my hand." + +"He'd die first. I know that kind of a dog--or a wolf." + +"Maybe he'd die. Anyway I'd like to try my hand with him. Bill, I'm +goin' to get hold of him some of these days if I have to ride a +hundred miles an' swim a river!" + +Kilduff grunted. + +"Let the damn wolf be. You c'n have him, I say. What I'm thinkin' +about is the hoss. Hal, do you remember the way he settled to his +stride when he lighted out after Red Pete?" + +Purvis shrugged his shoulders. + +"You're a fool, Bill. Which no man but Barry could ever ride that +hoss. I seen it in his eye. He'd cash in buckin'. He'd fight you like +a man." + +Kilduff sighed. A great yearning was in his eyes. + +"Hal," he said softly, "they's some men go around for years an' +huntin' for a girl whose picture is in their bean, cached away +somewhere. When they see her they jest nacherally goes nutty. Hal, I +don't give a damn for women folk, but I've travelled around a long +time with a picture of a hoss in my brain, an' Satan is the hoss." + +He closed his eyes. + +"I c'n see him now. I c'n see them shoulders--an' that head--an', my +God! them eyes--them fire eatin' eyes! Hal, if a man was to win the +heart of that hoss he'd lay down his life for you--he'd run himself +plumb to death! I won't never sleep tight till I get the feel of them +satin sides of his between my knees." + +Lee Haines heard them speak, but he said nothing. His heart also +leaped when he heard of Whistling Dan's death, but he thought neither +of the horse nor the dog. He was seeing the yellow hair and the blue +eyes of Kate Cumberland. He approached Jordan and took a place beside +him. + +"Tell me some more about it, Terry," he asked. + +"Some more about what?" + +"About Whistling Dan's death--about the burning of the saloon," said +Haines. + +"What the hell! Are you still thinkin' about that?" + +"I certainly am." + +"Then I'll trade you news," said Terry Jordan, lowering his voice so +that it would not reach the suspicious ear of Jim Silent. "I'll tell +you about the burnin' if you'll tell me something about Barry's fight +with Silent!" + +"It's a trade," answered Haines. + +"All right. Seems old Joe Cumberland had a hunch to clean up the +landscape--old fool! so he jest up in the mornin' an' without sayin' a +word to any one he downs to the saloon and touches a match to it. When +he come back to his house he tells his girl, Kate, what he done. With +that she lets out a holler an' drops in a faint." + +Haines muttered. + +"What's the matter?" asked Terry, a little anxiously. + +"Nothin," said Haines. "She fainted, eh? Well, good!" + +"Yep. She fainted an' when she come to, she told Cumberland that Dan +was in the saloon, an' probably too weak to get out of the fire. They +started for the place on the run. When they got there all they found +was a pile of red hot coals. So everyone figures that he went up in +the flames. That's all I know. Now what about the fight?" + +Lee Haines sat with fixed eyes. + +"There isn't much to say about the fight," he said at last. + +"The hell there isn't," scoffed Terry Jordan. "From what I heard, this +Whistling Dan simply cut loose and raised the devil more general than +a dozen mavericks corralled with a bunch of yearlings." + +"Cutting loose is right," said Haines. "It wasn't a pleasant thing to +watch. One moment he was about as dangerous as an eighteen-year-old +girl. The next second he was like a panther that's tasted blood. +That's all there was to it, Terry. After the first blow, he was all +over the chief. You know Silent's a bad man with his hands?" + +"I guess we all know that," said Jordan, with a significant smile. + +"Well," said Haines, "he was like a baby in the hands of Barry. I +don't like to talk about it--none of us do. It makes the flesh creep." + +There was a loud crackling among the underbrush several hundred yards +away. It drew closer and louder. + +"Start up your works agin, will you, Bill?" called Silent. "Here comes +Shorty Rhinehart, an' he's overdue." + +In a moment Shorty swung from his horse and joined the group. He +gained his nickname from his excessive length, being taller by an inch +or two than Jim Silent himself, but what he gained in height he lost +in width. Even his face was monstrously long, and marked with such sad +lines that the favourite name of "Shorty" was affectionately varied to +"Sour-face" or "Calamity." Silent went to him at once. + +"You seen Hardy?" he asked. + +"I sure did," said Rhinehart, "an' it's the last time I'll make that +trip to him, you can lay to that." + +"Did he give you the dope?" + +"No." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I jest want you to know that this here's my last trip to Elkhead--on +_any_ business." + +"Why?" + +"I passed three marshals on the street, an' I knew them all. They was +my friends, formerly. One of them was--" + +"What did they do?" + +"I waved my hand to them, glad an' familiar. They jest grunted. One of +them, he looked up an' down the street, an' seein' that no one was in +sight, he come up to me an' without shakin' hands he says: 'I'm some +surprised to see you in Elkhead, Shorty.' 'Why,' says I, 'the town's +all right, ain't it?' 'It's all right,' he says, 'but you'd find it a +pile more healthier out on the range.'" + +"What in hell did he mean by that?" growled Silent. + +"He simply meant that they're beginnin' to think a lot more about +us than they used to. We've been pullin' too many jobs the last six +months." + +"You've said all that before, Shorty. I'm runnin' this gang. Tell me +about Hardy." + +"I'm comin' to that. I went into the Wells Fargo office down by the +railroad, an' the clerk sent me back to find Hardy in the back room, +where he generally is. When he seen me he changed colour. I'd jest +popped my head through the door an' sung out: 'Hello, Hardy, how's the +boy?' He jumped up from the desk an' sung out so's his clerk in the +outside room could hear: 'How are you, lad?' an' he pulled me quick +into the room an' locked the door behind me. + +"'Now what in hell have you come to Elkhead for?' says he. + +"'For a drink' says I, never battin' an eye. + +"'You've come a damn long ways,' says he. + +"'Sure,' says I, 'that's one reason I'm so dry. Will you liquor, pal?' + +"He looked like he needed a drink, all right. He begun loosening his +shirt collar. + +"'Thanks, but I ain't drinkin', says he. 'Look here, Shorty, are you +loco to come ridin' into Elkhead this way?' + +"'I'm jest beginnin' to think maybe I am,' says I. + +"'Shorty,' he says in a whisper, 'they're beginnin' to get wise to the +whole gang--includin' me.' + +"'Take a brace,' says I. 'They ain't got a thing on you, Hardy.' + +"'That don't keep 'em from thinkin' a hell of a pile,' says he, 'an' +I tell you, Shorty, I'm jest about through with the whole works. It +ain't worth it--not if there was a million in it. Everybody is gettin' +wise to Silent, an' the rest of you. Pretty soon hell's goin' to bust +loose.' + +"'You've been sayin' that for two years,' says I. + +"He stopped an' looked at me sort of thoughtful an' pityin'. Then he +steps up close to me an' whispers in that voice: 'D'you know who's on +Silent's trail now? Eh?' + +"'No, an' I don't give a damn,' says I, free an' careless. + +"'Tex Calder!' says he." + +Silent started violently, and his hand moved instinctively to his +six-gun. + +"Did he say Tex Calder?" + +"He said no less," answered Shorty Rhinehart, and waited to see his +news take effect. Silent stood with head bowed, scowling. + +"Tex Calder's a fool," he said at last. "He ought to know better'n to +take to _my_ trail." + +"He's fast with his gun," suggested Shorty. + +"Don't I know that?" said Silent. "If Alvarez, an' Bradley, an' +Hunter, an' God knows how many more could come up out of their graves, +they'd tell jest how quick he _is_ with a six-gun. But I'm the one man +on the range that's faster." + +Shorty was eloquently mute. + +"I ain't askin' you to take my word for it," said Jim Silent. "Now +that he's after me, I'm glad of it. It had to come some day. The +mountains ain't big enough for both of us to go rangin' forever. We +had to lock horns some day. An' I say, God help Tex Calder!" + +He turned abruptly to the rest of the men. + +"Boys, I got somethin' to tell you that Shorty jest heard. Tex Calder +is after us." + +There came a fluent outburst of cursing. + +Silent went on: "I know jest how slick Calder is. I'm bettin' on +my draw to be jest the necessary half a hair quicker. He may die +shootin'. I don't lay no bets that I c'n nail him before he gets his +iron out of its leather, but I say he'll be shootin' blind when he +dies. Is there any one takin' that bet?" + +His eyes challenged them one after another. Their glances travelled +past Silent as if they were telling over and over to themselves the +stories of those many men to whom Tex Calder had played the part of +Fate. The leader turned back to Shorty Rhinehart. + +"Now tell me what he had to say about the coin." + +"Hardy says the shipment's delayed. He don't know how long." + +"How'd it come to be delayed?" + +"He figures that Wells Fargo got a hunch that Silent was layin' for +the train that was to carry it." + +"Will he let us know when it _does_ come through?" + +"I asked him, an' he jest hedged. He's quitting on us cold." + +"I was a fool to send you, Shorty. I'm goin' myself, an' if Hardy +don't come through to me--" + +He broke off and announced to the rest of his gang that he intended to +make the journey to Elkhead. He told Haines, who in such cases usually +acted as lieutenant, to take charge of the camp. Then he saddled his +roan. + +In the very act of pulling up the cinch of his saddle, Silent stopped +short, turned, and raised a hand for quiet. The rest were instantly +still. Hal Purvis leaned his weazened face towards the ground. In this +manner it was sometimes possible to detect far-off sounds which to one +erect would be inaudible. In a moment, however, he straightened up, +shaking his head. + +"What is it?" whispered Haines. + +"Shut up," muttered Silent, and the words were formed by the motion of +his lips rather than through any sound. "That damned whistling again." + +Every face changed. At a rustling in a near-by willow, Terry Jordan +started and then cursed softly to himself. That broke the spell. + +"It's the whisperin' of the willows," said Purvis. + +"You lie," said Silent hoarsely. "I hear the sound growing closer." + +"Barry is dead," said Haines. + +Silent whipped out his revolver--and then shoved it back into the +holster. + +"Stand by me, boys," he pleaded. "It's his ghost come to haunt me! You +can't hear it, because he ain't come for you." + +They stared at him with a fascinated horror. + +"How do you know it's him?" asked Shorty Rhinehart. + +"There ain't no sound in the whole world like it. It's a sort of cross +between the singing of a bird an' the wailin' of the wind. It's the +ghost of Whistlin' Dan." + +The tall roan raised his head and whinnied softly. It was an unearthly +effect--as if the animal heard the sound which was inaudible to all +but his master. It changed big Jim Silent into a quavering coward. +Here were five practised fighters who feared nothing between heaven +and hell, but what could they avail him against a bodiless spirit? The +whistling stopped. He breathed again, but only for a moment. + +It began again, and this time much louder and nearer. Surely the +others must hear it now, or else it was certainly a ghost. The men sat +with dilated eyes for an instant, and then Hal Purvis cried, "I heard +it, chief! If it's a ghost, it's hauntin' me too!" + +Silent cursed loudly in his relief. + +"It ain't a ghost. It's Whistlin' Dan himself. An' Terry Jordan has +been carryin' us lies! What in hell do you mean by it?" + +"I ain't been carryin' you lies," said Jordan, hotly. "I told you +what I heard. I didn't never say that there was any one seen his dead +body!" + +The whistling began to die out. A babble of conjecture and exclamation +broke out, but Jim Silent, still sickly white around the mouth, swung +up into the saddle. + +"That Whistlin' Dan I'm leavin' to you, Haines," he called. "I've had +his blood onct, an' if I meet him agin there's goin' to be another +notch filed into my shootin' iron." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +THE STRENGTH OF WOMEN + +He rode swiftly into the dark of the willows, and the lack of noise +told that he was picking his way carefully among the bended branches. + +"It seems to me," said Terry Jordan, "which I'm not suggestin' +anything--but it seems to me that the chief was in a considerable +hurry to leave the camp." + +"He was," said Hal Purvis, "an' if you seen that play in Morgan's +place you wouldn't be wonderin' why. If I was the chief I'd do the +same." + +"Me speakin' personal," remarked Shorty Rhinehart, "I ain't layin' out +to be no man-eater like the chief, but I ain't seen the man that'd +make me take to the timbers that way. I don't noways expect there _is_ +such a man!" + +"Shorty," said Haines calmly, "we all knows that you're quite a man, +but you and Terry are the only ones of us who are surprised that +Silent slid away. The rest of us who saw this Whistling Dan in action +aren't a bit inclined to wonder. Suppose you were to meet a black +panther down here in the willows?" + +"I wouldn't give a damn if I had my Winchester with me." + +"All right, Terry, but suppose the panther," broke in Hal Purvis, +"could sling shootin' irons as well as you could--maybe _that'd_ make +you partic'ler pleased." + +"It ain't possible," said Terry. + +"Sure it ain't," grinned Purvis amiably, "an' this Barry ain't +possible, either. Where you going, Lee?" + +Haines turned from his task of saddling his mount. + +"Private matter. Kilduff, you take my place while I'm gone. I may be +back tomorrow night. The chief isn't apt to return so soon." + +A few moments later Haines galloped out of the willows and headed +across the hills towards old Joe Cumberland's ranch. He was +remembering his promise to Kate, to keep Dan out of danger. He had +failed from that promise once, but that did not mean that he had +forgotten. He looked up to the yellow-bright mountain stars, and they +were like the eyes of good women smiling down upon him. He guessed +that she loved Barry and if he could bring her to Whistling Dan she +might have strength enough to take the latter from Silent's trail. The +lone rider knew well enough that to bring Dan and Kate together was +to surrender his own shadowy hopes, but the golden eyes of the sky +encouraged him. So he followed his impulse. + +Haines could never walk that middle path which turns neither to the +right nor the left, neither up nor down. He went through life with +a free-swinging stride, and as the result of it he had crossed the +rights of others. He might have lived a lawful life, for all his +instincts were gentle. But an accident placed him in the shadow of the +law. He waited for his legal trial, but when it came and false witness +placed him behind the bars, the revolt came. Two days after his +confinement, he broke away from his prison and went to the wilds. +There he found Jim Silent, and the mountain-desert found another to +add to its list of great outlaws. + +Morning came as he drew close to the house, and now his reminiscences +were cut short, for at a turn of the road he came upon Kate galloping +swiftly over the hills. He drew his horse to a halt and raised his +hand. She followed suit. They sat staring. If she had remembered his +broken promise and started to reproach, he could have found answer, +but her eyes were big with sorrow alone. He put out his hand without a +word. She hesitated over it, her eyes questioning him mutely, and then +with the ghost of a smile she touched his fingers. + +"I want to explain," he said huskily. + +"What?" + +"You remember I gave you my word that no harm would come to Barry?" + +"No man could have helped him." + +"You don't hold it against me?" + +A gust of wind moaned around them. She waved her arm towards the +surrounding hills and her laugh blended with the sound of the wind, +it was so faint. He watched her with a curious pang. She seemed among +women what that morning was to the coming day--fresh, cool, aloof. It +was hard to speak the words which would banish the sorrow from her +eyes and make them brilliant with hope and shut him away from her +thoughts with a barrier higher than mountains, and broader than seas. + +"I have brought you news," he said at last, reluctantly. + +She did not change. + +"About Dan Barry." + +Ay, she changed swiftly enough at that! He could not meet the fear and +question of her glance. He looked away and saw the red rim of the sun +pushing up above the hills. And colour poured up the throat of Kate +Cumberland, up even to her forehead beneath the blowing golden hair. + +Haines jerked his sombrero lower on his head. A curse tumbled up to +his lips and he had to set his teeth to keep it back. + +"But I have heard his whistle." + +Her lips moved but made no sound. + +"Five other men heard him." + +She cried out as if he had hurt her, but the hurt was happiness. He +knew it and winced, for she was wonderfully beautiful. + +"In the willows of the river bottom, a good twenty miles south," he +said at last, "and I will show you the way, if you wish." + +He watched her eyes grow large with doubt. + +"Can you trust me?" he asked. "I failed you once. Can you trust me +now?" + +Her hand went out to him. + +"With all my heart," she said. "Let us start!" + +"I've given my horse a hard ride. He must have some rest." + +She moaned softly in her impatience, and then: "We'll go back to the +house and you can stable your horse there until you're ready to start. +Dad will go with us." + +"Your father cannot go," he said shortly. + +"Cannot?" + +"Let's start back for the ranch," he said, "and I'll tell you +something about it as we go." + +As they turned their horses he went on: "In order that you may reach +Whistling Dan, you'll have to meet first a number of men who are +camping down there in the willows." + +He stopped. It became desperately difficult for him to go on. + +"I am one of those men," he said, "and another of them is the one whom +Whistling Dan is following." + +She caught her breath and turned abruptly on him. + +"What are you, Mr. Lee?" + +Very slowly he forced his eyes up to meet her gaze. + +"In that camp," he answered indirectly, "your father wouldn't be +safe!" + +It was out at last! + +"Then you are--" + +"Your friend." + +"Forgive me. You _are_ my friend!" + +"The man whom Dan is following," he went on, "is the leader. If he +gives the command four practised fighters pit themselves against +Barry." + +"It is murder!" + +"You can prevent it," he said. "They know Barry is on the trail, but I +think they will do nothing unless he forces them into trouble. And he +will force them unless you stop him. No other human being could take +him off that trail." + +"I know! I know!" she muttered. "But I have already tried, and he will +not listen to me!" + +"But he will listen to you," insisted Haines, "when you tell him that +he will be fighting not one man, but six." + +"And if he doesn't listen to me?" + +Haines shrugged his shoulders. + +"Can't you promise that these men will not fight with him?" + +"I cannot." + +"But I shall plead with them myself." + +He turned to her in alarm. + +"No, you must not let them dream you know who they are," he warned, +"for otherwise--" + +Again that significant shrug of the shoulders. + +He explained: "These men are in such danger that they dare not take +chances. You are a woman, but if they feel that you suspect them you +will no longer be a woman in their eyes." + +"Then what must I do?" + +"I shall ride ahead of you when we come to the willows, after I have +pointed out the position of our camp. About an hour after I have +arrived, for they must not know that I have brought you, you will ride +down towards the camp. When you come to it I will make sure that it +is I who will bring you in. You must pretend that you have simply +blundered upon our fire. Whatever you do, never ask a question while +you are there--and I'll be your warrant that you will come off safely. +Will you try?" + +He attempted no further persuasion and contented himself with merely +meeting the wistful challenge of her eyes. + +"I will," she said at last, and then turning her glance away she +repeated softly, "I will." + +He knew that she was already rehearsing what she must say to Whistling +Dan. + +"You are not afraid?" + +She smiled. + +"Do you really trust me as far as this?" + +With level-eyed tenderness that took his breath, she answered: "An +absolute trust, Mr. Lee." + +"My name," he said in a strange voice, "is Lee Haines." + +Of one accord they stopped their horses and their hands met. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +SILENT BLUFFS + +The coming of the railroad had changed Elkhead from a mere crossing of +the ways to a rather important cattle shipping point. Once a year it +became a bustling town whose two streets thronged with cattlemen with +pockets burdened with gold which fairly burned its way out to the open +air. At other times Elkhead dropped back into a leaden-eyed sleep. + +The most important citizen was Lee Hardy, the Wells Fargo agent. +Office jobs are hard to find in the mountain-desert, and those who +hold them win respect. The owner of a swivel-chair is more lordly +than the possessor of five thousand "doggies." Lee Hardy had such +a swivel-chair. Moreover, since large shipments of cash were often +directed by Wells Fargo to Elkhead, Hardy's position was really more +significant than the size of the village suggested. As a crowning +stamp upon his dignity he had a clerk who handled the ordinary routine +of work in the front room, while Hardy set himself up in state in +a little rear office whose walls were decorated by two brilliant +calendars and the coloured photograph of a blond beauty advertising a +toilet soap. + +To this sanctuary he retreated during the heat of the day, while in +the morning and evening he loitered on the small porch, chatting with +passers-by. Except in the hottest part of the year he affected a soft +white collar with a permanent bow tie. The leanness of his features, +and his crooked neck with the prominent Adam's apple which stirred +when he spoke, suggested a Yankee ancestry, but the faded blue eyes, +pathetically misted, could only be found in the mountain-desert. + +One morning into the inner sanctum of this dignitary stepped a man +built in rectangles, a square face, square, ponderous shoulders, and +even square-tipped fingers. Into the smiling haze of Hardy's face his +own keen black eye sparkled like an electric lantern flashed into a +dark room. He was dressed in the cowboy's costume, but there was no +Western languor in his make-up. Everything about him was clear cut +and precise. He had a habit of clicking his teeth as he finished a +sentence. In a word, when he appeared in the doorway Lee Hardy woke +up, and before the stranger had spoken a dozen words the agent was +leaning forward to be sure that he would not miss a syllable. + +"You're Lee Hardy, aren't you?" said he, and his eyes gave the +impression of a smile, though his lips did not stir after speaking. + +"I am," said the agent. + +"Then you're the man I want to see. If you don't mind--" + +He closed the door, pulled a chair against it, and then sat down, and +folded his arms. Very obviously he meant business. Hardy switched his +position in his chair, sitting a little more to the right, so that the +edge of the seat would not obstruct the movement of his hand towards +the holster on his right thigh. + +"Well," he said good naturedly, "I'm waitin'." + +"Good," said the stranger, "I won't keep you here any longer than is +necessary. In the first place my name is Tex Calder." + +Hardy changed as if a slight layer of dust had been sifted over his +face. He stretched out his hand. + +"It's great to see you, Calder," he said, "of course I've heard +about you. Everyone has. Here! I'll send over to the saloon for some +red-eye. Are you dry?" + +He rose, but Calder waved him back to the swivel-chair. + +"Not dry a bit," he said cheerily. "Not five minutes ago I had a drink +of--water." + +"All right," said Hardy, and settled back into his chair. + +"Hardy, there's been crooked work around here." + +"What in hell--" + +"Get your hand away from that gun, friend." + +"What the devil's the meaning of all this?" + +"That's very well done," said Calder. "But this isn't the stage. Are +we going to talk business like friends?" + +"I've got nothing agin you," said Hardy testily, and his eyes followed +Calder's right hand as if fascinated. "What do you want to say? I'll +listen. I'm not very busy." + +"That's exactly it," smiled Tex Calder, "I want you to get busier." + +"Thanks." + +"In the first place I'll be straight with you. Wells Fargo hasn't sent +me here." + +"Who has?" + +"My conscience." + +"I don't get your drift." + +Through a moment of pause Calder's eyes searched the face of Hardy. + +"You've been pretty flush for some time." + +"I ain't been starvin'." + +"There are several easy ways for you to pick up extra money." + +"Yes?" + +"For instance, you know all about the Wells Fargo money shipments, and +there are men around here who'd pay big for what you could tell them." + +The prominent Adam's apple rose and fell in Hardy's throat. + +"You're quite a joker, ain't you Calder? Who, for instance?" + +"Jim Silent." + +"This is like a story in a book," grinned Hardy. "Go on. I suppose +I've been takin' Silent's money?" + +The answer came like the click of a cocked revolver. + +"You have!" + +"By God, Calder--" + +"Steady! I have some promising evidence, partner. Would you like to +hear part of it?" + +"This country has its share of the world's greatest liars," said +Hardy, "I don't care what you've heard." + +"That saves my time. Understand me straight. I can slap you into a +lock-up, if I want to, and then bring in that evidence. I'm not going +to do it. I'm going to use you as a trap and through you get some of +the worst of the lone riders." + +"There's nothin' like puttin' your hand on the table." + +"No, there isn't. I'll tell you what you're to do." + +"Thanks." + +The marshal drove straight on. + +"I've got four good men in this town. Two of them will always be +hanging around your office. Maybe you can get a job for them here, eh? +I'll pay the salaries. You simply tip them off when your visitors are +riders the government wants, see? You don't have to lift a hand. You +just go to the door as the visitor leaves, and if he's all right you +say: 'So long, we'll be meeting again before long.' But if he's a man +I want, you say 'Good-bye.' That's all. My boys will see that it is +good-bye." + +"Go on," said the agent, "and tell the rest of the story. It starts +well." + +"Doesn't it?" agreed Calder, "and the way it concludes is with you +reaching over and shaking hands with me and saying 'yes'!" + +He leaned forward. The twinkle was gone from his eyes and he extended +his hand to Hardy. The latter reached out with an impulsive gesture, +wrung the proffered hand, and then slipping back into his chair broke +into hysterical laughter. + +"The real laugh," said Calder, watching his man narrowly, "will be on +the long riders." + +"Tex," said the agent. "I guess you have the dope. I won't say +anything except that I'm glad as hell to be out of the rotten business +at last. Once started I couldn't stop. I did one 'favour' for these +devils, and after that they had me in their power. I haven't slept for +months as I'm going to sleep tonight!" + +He wiped his face with an agitated hand. + +"A week ago," he went on, "I knew you were detailed on this work. I've +been sweating ever since. Now that you've come--why, I'm glad of it!" + +A faint sneer touched Calder's mouth and was gone. + +"You're a wise man," he said. "Have you seen much of Jim Silent +lately?" + +Hardy hesitated. The rôle of informer was new. + +"Not directly." + +Calder nodded. + +"Now put me right if I go off the track. The way I understand it, Jim +Silent has about twenty gun fighters and long riders working in gangs +under him and combining for big jobs." + +"That's about it." + +"The inside circle consists of Silent; Lee Haines, a man who went +wrong because the law did _him_ wrong; Hal Purvis, a cunning devil; +and Bill Kilduff, a born fighter who loves blood for its own sake." + +"Right." + +"Here's something more. For Jim Silent, dead or alive, the government +will pay ten thousand dollars. For each of the other three it pays +five thousand. The notices aren't out yet, but they will be in a few +days. Hardy, if you help me bag these men, you'll get fifty per cent +of the profits. Are you on?" + +The hesitancy of Hardy changed to downright enthusiasm. + +"Easy money, Tex. I'm your man, hand and glove." + +"Don't get optimistic. This game isn't played yet, and unless I make +the biggest mistake of my life we'll be guessing again before we land +Silent. I've trailed some fast gunmen in my day, and I have an idea +that Silent will be the hardest of the lot; but if you play your end +of the game we may land him. I have a tip that he's lying out in the +country near Elkhead. I'm riding out alone to get track of him. As I +go out I'll tell my men that you're O.K. for this business." + +He hesitated a moment with his hand on the door knob. + +"Just one thing more, Hardy. I heard a queer tale this morning about +a fight in a saloon run by a man named Morgan. Do you know anything +about it?" + +"No." + +"I was told of a fellow who chipped four dollars thrown into the air +at twenty yards." + +"That's a lie." + +"The man who talked to me had a nicked dollar to prove his yarn." + +"The devil he did!" + +"And after the shooting this chap got into a fight with a tall man +twice his size and fairly mopped up the floor with him. They say it +wasn't a nice thing to watch. He is a frail man, but when the fight +started he turned into a tiger." + +"Wish I'd seen it." + +"The tall man tallies to a hair with my description of Silent." + +"You're wrong. I know what Silent can do with his hands. No one could +beat him up. What's the name of the other?" + +"Barry. Whistling Dan Barry." + +Calder hesitated. + +"Right or wrong, I'd like to have this Barry with me. So long." + +He was gone as he had come, with a nod and a flash of the keen, black +eyes. Lee Hardy stared at the door for some moments, and then went +outside. The warm light of the sun had never been more welcome to him. +Under that cheering influence he began to feel that with Tex Calder +behind him he could safely defy the world. + +His confidence received a shock that afternoon when a heavy step +crossed the outside room, and his door opening without a preliminary +knock, he looked up into the solemn eyes of Jim Silent. The outlaw +shook his head when Hardy offered him a chair. + +"What's the main idea of them two new men out in your front room, +Lee?" he asked. + +"Two cowpunchers that was down on their luck. I got to stand in with +the boys now and then." + +"I s'pose so. Shorty Rhinehart in here to see you, Lee?" + +"Yep." + +"You told him that the town was gettin' pretty hot." + +"It is." + +"You said you had no dope on when that delayed shipment was comin' +through?" + +Hardy made lightning calculations. A half truth would be the best way +out. + +"I've just got the word you want. It come this morning." + +Silent's expression changed and he leaned a little closer. + +"It's the nineteenth. Train number 89. Savvy? Seven o'clock at +Elkhead!" + +"How much? Same bunch of coin?" + +"Fifty thousand!" + +"That's ten more." + +"Yep. A new shipment rolled in with the old one. No objections?" + +Silent grinned. + +"Any other news, Lee?" + +"Shorty told you about Tex Calder?" + +"He did. Seen him around here?" + +The slightest fraction of a second in hesitation. + +"No." + +"Was that the straight dope you give Shorty?" + +"Straighter'n hell. They're beginnin' to talk, but I guess I was jest +sort of panicky when I talked with Shorty." + +"This Tex Calder----" + +"What about him?" This with a trace of suspicion. + +"He's got a long record." + +"So've you, Jim." + +Once more that wolflike grin which had no mirth. + +"So long, Lee. I'll be on the job. Lay to that." + +He turned towards the door. Hardy followed him. A moment more, in a +single word, and the job would be done. Five thousand dollars for a +single word! It warmed the very heart of Lee Hardy. + +Silent, as he moved away, seemed singularly thoughtful. He hesitated a +moment with bowed head at the door--then whirled and shoved a six-gun +under the nose of Hardy. The latter leaped back with his arms thrust +above his head, straining at his hands to get them higher. + +"My God, Jim!" + +"You're a low-down, lyin' hound!" + +Hardy's tongue clove to the roof of his mouth. + +"Damn you, d'you hear me?" + +"Yes! For God's sake, Jim, don't shoot!" + +"Your life ain't worth a dime!" + +"Give me one more chance an' I'll play square!" + +A swift change came over the face of Silent, and then Hardy went hot +with terror and anger. The long rider had known nothing. The gun play +had been a mere bluff, but he had played into the hands of Silent, and +now his life was truly worth nothing. + +"You poor fool," went on Silent, his voice purring with controlled +rage. "You damn blind fool! D'you think you could double cross me an' +get by with it?" + +"Give me a chance, Jim. One more chance, one more chance!" + +Even in his terror he remembered to keep his voice low lest those in +the front room should hear. + +"Out with it, if you love livin'!" + +"I--I can't talk while you got that gun on me!" + +Silent not only lowered his gun, but actually returned it to the +holster. Nothing could more clearly indicate his contempt, and Hardy, +in spite of his fear, crimsoned with shame. + +"It was Tex Calder," he said at last. + +Silent started a little and his eyes narrowed again. + +"What of him?" + +"He came here a while ago an' tried to make a deal with me." + +"An' made it!" said Silent ominously. + +No gun pointed at him this time, but Hardy jerked his hands once more +above his head and cowered against the wall. + +"So help me God he didn't, Jim." + +"Get your hands down." + +He lowered his hands slowly. + +"I told him I didn't know nothin' about you." + +"What about that train? What about that shipment?" + +"It's jest the way I told you, except that it's on the eighteenth +instead of the nineteenth." + +"I'm goin' to believe you. If you double cross me I'll have your hide. +Maybe they'll get me, but there'll be enough of my boys left to get +you. You can lay to that. How much did they offer you, Lee? How much +am I worth to the little old U.S.A.?" + +"I--I--it wasn't the money. I was afraid to stick with my game any +longer." + +The long rider had already turned towards the door, making no effort +to keep his face to the agent. The latter, flushing again, moved his +hand towards his hip, but stopped the movement. The last threat of +Silent carried a deep conviction with it. He knew that the faith of +lone riders to each other was an inviolable bond. Accordingly he +followed at the heels of the other man into the outside room. + +"So long, old timer," he called, slapping Silent on the shoulder, +"I'll be seein' you agin before long." + +Calder's men looked up with curious eyes. Hardy watched Silent swing +onto his horse and gallop down the street. Then he went hurriedly +back to his office. Once inside he dropped into the big swivel-chair, +buried his face in his arms, and wept like a child. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +PARTNERS + +Dust powdered his hat and clothes as Tex Calder trotted his horse +north across the hills. His face was a sickly grey, and his black +hair might have been an eighteenth century wig, so thoroughly was it +disguised. It had been a long ride. Many a long mile wound back behind +him, and still the cattle pony, with hanging head, stuck to its task. +Now he was drawing out on a highland, and below him stretched the +light yellow-green of the willows of the bottom land. He halted his +pony and swung a leg over the horn of his saddle. Then he rolled a +cigarette, and while he inhaled it in long puffs he scanned the trees +narrowly. Miles across, and stretching east and west farther than his +eye could reach, extended the willows. Somewhere in that wilderness +was the gang of Jim Silent. An army corps might have been easily +concealed there. + +If he was not utterly discouraged in the beginning of his search, it +was merely because the rangers of the hills and plains are taught +patience almost as soon as they learn to ride a horse. He surveyed the +yellow-green forest calmly. In the west the low hanging sun turned +crimson and bulged at the sides into a clumsy elipse. He started down +the slope at the same dog-trot which the pony had kept up all day. +Just before he reached the skirts of the trees he brought his horse to +a sudden halt and threw back his head. It seemed to him that he heard +a faint whistling. + +He could not be sure. It was so far off and unlike any whistling he +had ever heard before, that he half guessed it to be the movement of a +breeze through the willows, but the wind was hardly strong enough to +make this sound. For a full five minutes he listened without moving +his horse. Then came the thing for which he waited, a phrase of melody +undoubtedly from human lips. + +What puzzled him most was the nature of the music. As he rode closer +to the trees it grew clearer. It was unlike any song he had ever +heard. It was a strange improvisation with a touch of both melancholy +and savage exultation running through it. Calder found himself nodding +in sympathy with the irregular rhythm. + +It grew so clear at last that he marked with some accuracy the +direction from which it came. If this was Silent's camp, it must be +strongly guarded, and he should approach the place more cautiously +than he could possibly do on a horse. Accordingly he dismounted, threw +the reins over the pony's head, and started on through the willows. +The whistling became louder and louder. He moved stealthily from tree +to tree, for he had not the least idea when he would run across a +guard. The whistling ceased, but the marshal was now so near that he +could follow the original direction without much trouble. In a few +moments he might distinguish the sound of voices. If there were two or +three men in the camp he might be able to surprise them and make his +arrest. If the outlaws were many, at least he could lie low near +the camp and perhaps learn the plans of the gang. He worked his way +forward more and more carefully. At one place he thought a shadowy +figure slipped through the brush a short distance away. He poised his +gun, but lowered it again after a moment's thought. It must have +been a stir of shadows. No human being could move so swiftly or so +noiselessly. + +Nevertheless the sight gave him such a start that he proceeded with +even greater caution. He was crouched close to the ground. Every inch +of it he scanned carefully before he set down a foot, fearful of the +cracking of a fallen twig. Like most men when they hunt, he began to +feel that something followed him. He tried to argue the thought out of +his brain, but it persisted, and grew stronger. Half a dozen times he +whirled suddenly with his revolver poised. At last he heard a stamp +which could come from nothing but the hoof of a horse. The sound +dispelled his fears. In another moment he would be in sight of the +camp. + +"Do you figger you'll find it?" asked a quiet voice behind him. + +He turned and looked into the steady muzzle of a Colt. Behind that +revolver was a thin, handsome face with a lock of jet black hair +falling over the forehead. Calder knew men, and now he felt a strange +absence of any desire to attempt a gun-play. + +"I was just taking a stroll through the willows," he said, with a +mighty attempt at carelessness. + +"Oh," said the other. "It appeared to me you was sort of huntin' for +something. You was headed straight for my hoss." + +Calder strove to find some way out. He could not. There was no waver +in the hand that held that black gun. The brown eyes were decidedly +discouraging to any attempt at a surprise. He felt helpless for the +first time in his career. + +"Go over to him, Bart," said the gentle voice of the stranger. "Stand +fast!" + +The last two words, directed to Calder came, with a metallic hardness, +for the marshal started as a great black dog slipped from behind a +tree and slunk towards him. This was the shadow which moved more +swiftly and noiselessly than a human being. + +"Keep back that damned wolf," he said desperately. + +"He ain't goin' to hurt you," said the calm voice. "Jest toss your gun +to the ground." + +There was nothing else for it. Calder dropped his weapon with the butt +towards Whistling Dan. + +"Bring it here, Bart," said the latter. + +The big animal lowered his head, still keeping his green eyes upon +Calder, took up the revolver in his white fangs, and glided back to +his master. + +"Jest turn your back to me, an' keep your hands clear of your body," +said Dan. + +Calder obeyed, sweating with shame. He felt a hand pat his pockets +lightly in search for a hidden weapon, and then, with his head +slightly turned, he sensed the fact that Dan was dropping his revolver +into its holster. He whirled and drove his clenched fist straight at +Dan's face. + +What happened then he would never forget to the end of his life. +Calder's weapon still hung in Dan's right hand, but the latter made no +effort to use it. He dropped the gun, and as Calder's right arm shot +out, it was caught at the wrist, and jerked down with a force that +jarred his whole body. + +"Down, Bart!" shouted Dan. The great wolf checked in the midst of his +leap and dropped, whining with eagerness, at Calder's feet. At the +same time the marshal's left hand was seized and whipped across his +body. He wrenched away with all his force. He might as well have +struggled with steel manacles. He was helpless, staring into eyes +which now glinted with a yellow light that sent a cold wave tingling +through his blood. + +The yellow gleam died; his hands were loosed; but he made no move to +spring at Dan's throat. Chill horror had taken the place of his shame, +and the wolf-dog still whined at his feet with lips grinned back from +the long white teeth. + +"Who in the name of God are you?" he gasped, and even as he spoke +the truth came to him--the whistling--the panther-like speed of +hand--"Whistling Dan Barry." + +The other frowned. + +"If you didn't know my name why were you trailin' me?" + +"I wasn't after you," said Calder. + +"You was crawlin' along like that jest for fun? Friend, I figger to +know you. You been sent out by the tall man to lay for me." + +"What tall man?" asked Calder, his wits groping. + +"The one that swung the chair in Morgan's place," said Dan. "Now +you're goin' to take me to your camp. I got something to say to him." + +"By the Lord!" cried the marshal, "you're trailing Silent." + +Dan watched him narrowly. It was hard to accuse those keen black eyes +of deceit. + +"I'm trailin' the man who sent you out after me," he asserted with a +little less assurance. + +Calder tore open the front of his shirt and pushed back one side of +it. Pinned there next to his skin was his marshal's badge. + +He said: "My name's Tex Calder." + +It was a word to conjure with up and down the vast expanse of the +mountain-desert. Dan smiled, and the change of expression made him +seem ten years younger. + +"Git down, Bart. Stand behind me!" The dog obeyed sullenly. "I've +heard a pile of men talk about you, Tex Calder." Their hands and their +eyes met. There was a mutual respect in the glances. "An' I'm a pile +sorry for this." + +He picked up the gun from the ground and extended it butt first to the +marshal, who restored it slowly to the holster. It was the first time +it had ever been forced from his grasp. + +"Who was it you talked about a while ago?" asked Dan. + +"Jim Silent." + +Dan instinctively dropped his hand back to his revolver. + +"The tall man?" + +"The one you fought with in Morgan's place." + +The unpleasant gleam returned to Dan's eyes. + +"I thought there was only one reason why he should die, but now I see +there's a heap of 'em." + +Calder was all business. + +"How long have you been here?" he asked. + +"About a day." + +"Have you seen anything of Silent here among the willows?" + +"No." + +"Do you think he's still here?" + +"Yes." + +"Why?" + +"I dunno. I'll stay here till I find him among the trees or he breaks +away into the open." + +"How'll you know when he leaves the willows?" + +Whistling Dan was puzzled. + +"I dunno," he answered. "Somethin' will tell me when he gets far away +from me--he an' his men." + +"It's an inner sense, eh? Like the smell of the bloodhound?" said +Calder, but his eyes were strangely serious. + +"This day's about done," he went on. "Have you any objections to me +camping with you here?" + +Not a cowpuncher within five hundred miles but would be glad of such +redoubted company. They went back to Calder's horse. + +"We can start for my clearing," said Dan. "Bart'll bring the hoss. +Fetch him in." + +The wolf took the dangling bridle reins and led on the cowpony. Calder +observed his performance with starting eyes, but he was averse to +asking questions. In a few moments they came out on a small open +space. The ground was covered with a quantity of dried bunch grass +which a glorious black stallion was cropping. Now he tossed up his +head so that some of his long mane fell forward between his ears and +at sight of Calder his ears dropped back and his eyes blazed, but when +Dan stepped from the willows the ears came forward again with a +whinny of greeting. Calder watched the beautiful animal with all the +enthusiasm of an expert horseman. Satan was untethered; the saddle and +bridle lay in a corner of the clearing; evidently the horse was a pet +and would not leave its master. He spoke gently and stepped forward to +caress the velvet shining neck, but Satan snorted and started away, +trembling with excitement. + +"How can you keep such a wild fellow as this without hobbling him?" +asked Calder. + +"He ain't wild," said Dan. + +"Why, he won't let me put a hand on him." + +"Yes, he will. Steady, Satan!" + +The stallion stood motionless with the veritable fires of hell in his +eyes as Calder approached. The latter stopped. + +"Not for me," he said. "I'd rather rub the moustache of the lion in +the zoo than touch that black devil!" + +Bart at that moment led in the cowpony and Calder started to remove +the saddle. He had scarcely done so and hobbled his horse when he was +startled by a tremendous snarling and snorting. He turned to see the +stallion plunging hither and thither, striking with his fore-hooves, +while around him, darting in and out under the driving feet, sprang +the great black wolf, his teeth clashing like steel on steel. In +another moment they might sink in the throat of the horse! Calder, +with an exclamation of horror, whipped out his revolver, but checked +himself at the very instant of firing. The master of the two animals +stood with arms folded, actually smiling upon the fight! + +"For God's sake!" cried the marshal. "Shoot the damned wolf, man, or +he'll have your horse by the throat!" + +"Leave 'em be," said Dan, without turning his head. "Satan an' Black +Bart ain't got any other dogs an' hosses to run around with. They's +jest playing a little by way of exercise." + +Calder stood agape before what seemed the incarnate fury of the pair. +Then he noticed that those snapping fangs, however close they came, +always missed the flesh of the stallion, and the driving hoofs never +actually endangered the leaping wolf. + +"Stop 'em!" he cried at last. "It makes me nervous to watch that sort +of play. It isn't natural!" + +"All right," said Dan. "Stop it, boys." + +He had not raised his voice, but they ceased their wild gambols +instantly, the stallion, with head thrown high and arched tail and +heaving sides, while the wolf, with lolling red tongue, strolled +calmly towards his master. + +The latter paid no further attention to them, but set about kindling a +small fire over which to cook supper. Calder joined him. The marshal's +mind was too full for speech, but now and again he turned a long +glance of wonder upon the stallion or Black Bart. In the same silence +they sat under the last light of the sunset and ate their supper. +Calder, with head bent, pondered over the man of mystery and his two +tamed animals. Tamed? Not one of the three was tamed, the man least of +all. + +He saw Dan pause from his eating to stare with wide, vacant eyes among +the trees. The wolf-dog approached, looked up in his master's face, +whined softly, and getting no response went back to his place and lay +down, his eyes never moving from Dan. Still he stared among the trees. +The gloom deepened, and he smiled faintly. He began to whistle, a low, +melancholy strain so soft that it blended with the growing hush of the +night. Calder listened, wholly overawed. That weird music seemed an +interpretation of the vast spaces of the mountains, of the pitiless +desert, of the limitless silences, and the whistler was an +understanding part of the whole. + +He became aware of a black shadow behind the musician. It was Satan, +who rested his nose on the shoulder of the master. Without ceasing his +whistling Dan raised a hand, touched the small muzzle, and Satan went +at once to a side of the clearing and lay down. It was almost as if +the two had said good-night! Calder could stand it no longer. + +"Dan, I've got to talk to you," he began. + +The whistling ceased; the wide brown eyes turned to him. + +"Fire away--partner." + +Ay, they had eaten together by the same fire--they had watched the +coming of the night--they had shaken hands in friendship--they were +partners. He knew deep in his heart that no human being could ever +be the actual comrade of this man. This lord of the voiceless desert +needed no human companionship; yet as the marshal glanced from the +black shadow of Satan to the gleaming eyes of Bart, and then to +the visionary face of Barry, he felt that he had been admitted by +Whistling Dan into the mysterious company. The thought stirred him +deeply. It was as if he had made an alliance with the wandering wind. +Why he had been accepted he could not dream, but he had heard the word +"partner" and he knew it was meant. After all, stranger things +than this happen in the mountain-desert, where man is greater and +convention less. A single word has been known to estrange lifelong +comrades; a single evening beside a camp-fire has changed foes to +partners. Calder drew his mind back to business with a great effort. + +"There's one thing you don't know about Jim Silent. A reward of ten +thousand dollars lies on his head. The notices aren't posted yet." + +Whistling Dan shrugged his shoulders. + +"I ain't after money," he answered. + +Calder frowned. He did not appreciate a bluff. + +"Look here," he said, "if we kill him, because no power on earth will +take him alive--we'll split the money." + +"If you lay a hand on him," said Dan, without emotion, "we won't be +friends no longer, I figger." + +Calder stared. + +"If you don't want to get him," he said, "why in God's name are you +trailing him this way?" + +Dan touched his lips. "He hit me with his fist." + +He paused, and spoke again with a drawling voice that gave his words +an uncanny effect. + +"My blood went down from my mouth to my chin. I tasted it. Till I get +him there ain't no way of me forgettin' him." + +His eyes lighted with that ominous gleam. + +"That's why no other man c'n put a hand on him. He's laid out all for +me. Understand?" + +The ring of the question echoed for a moment through Calder's mind. + +"I certainly do," he said with profound conviction, "and I'll never +forget it." He decided on a change of tactics. "But there are other +men with Jim Silent and those men will fight to keep you from getting +to him." + +"I'm sorry for 'em," said Dan gently. "I ain't got nothin' agin any +one except the big man." + +Calder took a long breath. + +"Don't you see," he explained carefully, "if you shoot one of these +men you are simply a murderer who must be apprehended by the law and +punished." + +"It makes it bad for me, doesn't it?" said Dan. "An' I hope I won't +have to hurt more'n one or two of 'em. You see,"--he leaned forward +seriously towards Calder--"I'd only shoot for their arms or their +legs. I wouldn't spoil them altogether." + +Calder threw up his hands in despair. Black Bart snarled at the +gesture. + +"I can't listen no more," said Dan. "I got to start explorin' the +willows pretty soon." + +"In the dark?" exclaimed Calder. + +"Sure. Black Bart'll go with me. The dark don't bother him." + +"I'll go along." + +"I'd rather be alone. I might meet him." + +"Any way you want," said Calder, "but first hear my plan--it doesn't +take long to tell it." + +The darkness thickened around them while he talked. The fire died +out--the night swallowed up their figures. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +THE LONE RIDERS ENTERTAIN + +When Lee Haines rode into Silent's camp that evening no questions were +asked. Questions were not popular among the long riders. He did not +know more than the names of half the men who sat around the smoky +fire. They were eager to forget the past, and the only allusions +to former times came in chance phrases which they let fall at rare +intervals. When they told an anecdote they erased all names by +instinct. They would begin: "I heard about a feller over to the Circle +Y outfit that was once ridin'--" etc. As a rule they themselves were +"that feller over to the Circle Y outfit." Accordingly only a few +grunts greeted Haines and yet he was far and away the most popular man +in the group. Even solemn-eyed Jim Silent was partial to the handsome +fellow. + +"Heard the whistling today?" he asked. + +Purvis shook his head and Terry Jordan allowed "as how it was most +uncommon fortunate that this Barry feller didn't start his noise." +After this Haines ate his supper in silence, his ear ready to catch +the first sound of Kate's horse as it crashed through the willows and +shrubs. Nevertheless it was Shorty Rhinehart who sprang to his feet +first. + +"They's a hoss there comin' among the willows!" he announced. + +"Maybe it's Silent," remarked Haines casually. + +"The chief don't make no such a noise. He picks his goin'," answered +Hal Purvis. + +The sound was quite audible now. + +"They's been some crooked work," said Rhinehart excitedly. "Somebody's +tipped off the marshals about where we're lyin'." + +"All right," said Haines quietly, "you and I will investigate." + +They started through the willows. Rhinehart was cursing beneath his +breath. + +"Don't be too fast with your six-gun," warned Haines. + +"I'd rather be too early than too late." + +"Maybe it isn't a marshal. If a man were looking for us he'd be a fool +to come smashing along like that." + +He had scarcely spoken when Kate came into view. + +"A girl, by God!" said Rhinehart, with mingled relief and disgust. + +"Sure thing," agreed Haines. + +"Let's beat it back to the camp." + +"Not a hope. She's headed straight for the camp. We'll take her in and +tell her we're a bunch from the Y Circle X outfit headed north. She'll +never know the difference." + +"Good idea," said Rhinehart, and he added with a chuckle, "it's been +nigh three months since I've talked to a piece of calico." + +"Hey, there!" called Haines, and he stepped out with Rhinehart before +her horse. + +"Oh!" cried Kate, reining up her horse sharply. "Who are you?" + +"A beaut!" muttered Rhinehart in devout admiration. + +"We're from the Y Circle X outfit," said Haines glibly, "camping over +here for the night. Are you lost, lady?" + +"I guess I am. I thought I could get across the willows before the +night fell. I'm trying to find a man who rode in this direction." + +"Come on into the camp," said Haines easily. "Maybe some of the boys +can put you on his track. What sort of a looking fellow is he?" + +"Rides a black horse and whistles a good deal. His name is Barry. They +call him Whistling Dan." + +"By God!" whispered Rhinehart in the ear of Haines. + +"Shut up!" answered Haines in the same tone. "Are you afraid of a +girl?" + +"I've trailed him south this far," went on Kate, "and a few miles away +from here I lost track of him. I think he may have gone on across the +willows." + +"Haven't seen him," said Rhinehart amiably. "But come on to the camp, +lady. Maybe one of the boys has spotted him on the way. What's your +name?" + +"Kate Cumberland," she answered. + +He removed his hat with a broad grin and reached up a hand to her. + +"I'm most certainly glad to meet you, an' my name's Shorty. This here +is Lee. Want to come along with us?" + +"Thank you. I'm a little worried." + +"'S all right. Don't get worried. We'll show you the way out. Just +follow us." + +They started back through the willows, Kate following half a dozen +yards behind. + +"Listen here, Shorty," said Haines in a cautious voice. "You heard her +name?" + +"Sure." + +"Well, that's the daughter of the man that raised Whistling Dan. I +saw her at Morgan's place. She's probably been tipped off that he's +following Silent, but she has no idea who we are." + +"Sure she hasn't. She's a great looker, eh, Lee?" + +"She'll do, I guess. Now get this: The girl is after Whistling Dan, +and if she meets him she'll persuade him to come back to her father's +place. She'll take him off our trail, and I guess none of us'll be +sorry to know that he's gone, eh?" + +"I begin to follow you, Lee. You've always had the head!" + +"All right. Now we'll get Purvis to tell the girl that he's heard a +peculiar whistling around here this evening. We'll advise her to stick +around and go out when she hears the whistling again. That way she'll +meet him and head him off, savvy?" + +"Right," said Rhinehart. + +"Then beat it ahead as fast as you can and wise up the boys." + +"That's me--specially about their bein' Y Circle X fellers, eh?" + +He chuckled and made ahead as fast as his long legs could carry him. +Haines dropped back beside Kate. + +"Everything goes finely," he assured her. "I told Rhinehart what to +do. He's gone ahead to the camp. Now all you have to do is to keep +your head. One of the boys will tell you that we've heard some +whistling near the camp this evening. Then I'll ask you to stay around +for a while in case the whistling should sound again, do you see? +Remember, never ask a question!" + +It was even more simple than Haines had hoped. Silent's men suspected +nothing. After all, Kate's deception was a small affair, and her +frankness, her laughter, and her beauty carried all before her. + +The long riders became quickly familiar with her, but through their +rough talk, the Westerners' reverence for a woman ran like a thread of +gold over a dark cloth. Her fear lessened and almost passed away while +she listened to their talk and watched their faces. The kindly human +nature which had lain unexpressed in most of them for months together +burst out torrent-like and flooded about her with a sense of security +and power. These were conquerors of men, fighters by instinct and +habit, but here they sat laughing and chattering with a helpless girl, +and not a one of them but would have cut the others' throats rather +than see her come to harm. The roughness of their past and the dread +of their future they laid aside like an ugly cloak while they showed +her what lies in the worst man's heart--a certain awe of woman. Their +manners underwent a sudden change. Polite words, rusted by long +disuse, were resurrected in her honour. Tremendous phrases came +labouring forth. There was a general though covert rearranging of +bandanas, and an interchange of self-conscious glances. Haines alone +seemed impervious to her charm. + +The red died slowly along the west. There was no light save the +flicker of the fire, which played on Kate's smile and the rich gold of +her hair, or caught out of the dark one of the lean, hard faces which +circled her. Now and then it fell on the ghastly grin of Terry Jordan +and Kate had to clench her hand to keep up her nerve. + +It was deep night when Jim Silent rode into the clearing. Shorty +Rhinehart and Hal Purvis went to him quickly to explain the presence +of the girl and the fact that they were all members of the Y Circle +X outfit. He responded with nods while his gloomy eyes held fast on +Kate. When they presented him as the boss, Jim, he replied to her +good-natured greeting in a voice that was half grunt and half growl. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +DELILAH + +Haines muttered at Kate's ear: "This is the man. Now keep up your +courage." + +"He doesn't like this," went on Haines in the same muffled voice, "but +when he understands just why you're here I think he'll be as glad as +any of us." + +Silent beckoned to him and he went to the chief. + +"What about the girl?" asked the big fellow curtly. + +"Didn't Rhinehart tell you?" + +"Rhinehart's a fool and so are the rest of them. Have you gone loco +too, Haines, to let a girl come here?" + +"Where's the harm?" + +"Why, damn it, she's marked every man here." + +"I let her in because she is trying to get hold of Whistling Dan." + +"Which no fool girl c'n take that feller off the trail. Nothin' but +lead can do that." + +"I tell you," said Haines, "the boy's in love with her. I watched them +at Morgan's place. She can twist him around her finger." + +A faint light broke the gloom of Silent's face. + +"Yaller hair an' blue eyes. They c'n do a lot. Maybe you're right. +What's that?" His voice had gone suddenly husky. + +A russet moon pushed slowly up through the trees. Its uncertain light +fell across the clearing. For the first time the thick pale smoke of +the fire was visible, rising straight up until it cleared the tops of +the willows, and then caught into swift, jagging lines as the soft +wind struck it. A coyote wailed from the distant hills, and before +his complaint was done another sound came through the hushing of the +willows, a melancholy whistling, thin with distance. + +"We'll see if that's the man you want," suggested Haines. + +"I'll go along," said Shorty Rhinehart. + +"And me too," said a third. The whole group would have accompanied +them, but the heavy voice of Jim Silent cut in: "You'll stay here, all +of you except the girl and Lee." + +They turned back, muttering, and Kate followed Haines into the +willows. + +"Well?" growled Bill Kilduff. + +"What I want to know--" broke in Terry Jordan. + +"Go to hell with your questions," said Silent, "but until you go there +you'll do what I say, understand?" + +"Look here, Jim," said Hal Purvis, "are you a king an' we jest your +slaves, maybe?" + +"You're goin' it a pile too hard," said Shorty Rhinehart. + +Every one of these speeches came sharply out while they glared at +Jim Silent. Hands were beginning to fall to the hip and fingers were +curving stiffly as if for the draw. Silent leaned his broad shoulders +against the side of his roan and folded his arms. His eyes went round +the circle slowly, lingering an instant on each face. Under that cold +stare they grew uneasy. To Shorty Rhinehart it became necessary to +push back his hat and scratch his forehead. Terry Jordan found a +mysterious business with his bandana. Every one of them had occasion +to raise his hand from the neighbourhood of his six-shooter. Silent +smiled. + +"A fine, hard crew you are," he said sarcastically at last. "A great +bunch of long riders, lettin' a slip of a yaller-haired girl make +fools of you. You over there--you, Shorty Rhinehart, you'd cut the +throat of a man that looked crosswise at the Cumberland girl, wouldn't +you? An' you, Purvis, you're aching to get at me, ain't you? An' +you're still thinkin' of them blue eyes, Jordan?" + +Before any one could speak he poured in another volley between wind +and water: "One slip of a girl can make fools out of five long riders? +No, you ain't long riders. All you c'n handle is hobby hosses!" + +"What do you want us to do?" growled swarthy Bill Kilduff. + +"Keep your face shut while I'm talkin', that's what I want you to do!" + +There was a devil of rage in his eyes. His folded arms tugged at each +other, and if they got free there would be gun play. The four men +shrank, and he was satisfied. + +"Now I'll tell you what we're goin' to do," he went on. "We're goin' +out after Haines an' the girl. If they come up with this Whistlin' Dan +we're goin' to surround him an' fill him full of lead, while they're +talkin'." + +"Not for a million dollars!" burst in Hal Purvis. + +"Not in a thousan' years!" echoed Terry Jordan. + +Silent turned his watchful eyes from one to the other. They were ready +to fight now, and he sensed it at once. + +"Why?" he asked calmly. + +"It ain't playin' square with the girl," announced Rhinehart. + +"Purvis," said Silent, for he knew that the opposition centred in the +figure of the venomous little gun fighter; "if you seen a mad dog +that was runnin' straight at you, would you be kep' from shootin' it +because a pretty girl hollered out an' asked you not to?" + +Their eyes shifted rapidly from one to another, seeking a way out, and +finding none. + +"An' is there any difference between this hero Whistlin' Dan an' a mad +dog?" + +Still they were mute. + +"I tell you, boys, we got a better chance of dodgin' lightnin' an' +puttin' a bloodhound off our trail than we have of gettin' rid of this +Whistlin' Dan. An' when he catches up with us--well, all I'm askin' is +that you remember what he done to them four dollars before they hit +the dust?" + +"The chief's right," growled Kilduff, staring down at the ground. +"It's Whistlin' Dan or us. The mountains ain't big enough to hold him +an' us!" + + * * * * * + +Before Whistling Dan the great wolf glided among the trees. For a full +hour they had wandered through the willows in this manner, and Dan had +made up his mind to surrender the search when Bart, returning from +one of his noiseless detours, sprang out before his master and whined +softly. Dan turned, loosening his revolver in the holster, and +followed Bart through the soft gloom of the tree shadows and the +moonlight. His step was almost as silent as that of the slinking +animal which went before. At last the wolf stopped and raised his +head. Almost instantly Dan saw a man and a woman approaching through +the willows. The moonlight dropped across her face. He recognized +Kate, with Lee Haines walking a pace before her. + +"Stand where you are," he said. + +Haines leaped to one side, his revolver flashing in his hand. Dan +stepped out before them while Black Bart slunk close beside him, +snarling softly. + +He seemed totally regardless of the gun in Haines's hand. His manner +was that of a conqueror who had the outlaw at his mercy. + +"You," he said, "walk over there to the side of the clearing." + +"Dan!" cried Kate, as she went to him with extended arms. + +He stopped her with a gesture, his eyes upon Haines, who had moved +away. + +"Watch him, Bart," said Dan. + +The black wolf ran to Haines and crouched snarling at his feet. The +outlaw restored his revolver to his holster and stood with his arms +folded, his back turned. Dan looked to Kate. At the meeting of their +eyes she shrank a little. She had expected a difficult task in +persuading him, but not this hard aloofness. She felt suddenly as if +she were a stranger to him. + +"How do you come here--with him?" + +"He is my friend!" + +"You sure pick a queer place to go walkin' with him." + +"Hush, Dan! He brought me here to find you!" + +"_He_ brought you here?" + +"Don't you understand?" + +"When I want a friend like him, I'll go huntin' for him myself; an' +I'll pack a gun with me!" + +That flickering yellow light played behind Dan's eyes. + +"I looked into his face--an' he stared the other way." + +She made a little imploring gesture, but his hand remained on his +hips, and there was no softening of his voice. + +"What fetched you here?" + +Every word was like a hand that pushed her farther away. + +"Are you dumb, Kate? What fetched you here?" + +"I have come to bring you home, Dan." + +"I'm home now." + +"What do you mean?" + +"There's the roof of my house," he jerked his hand towards the sky, +"the mountain passes are my doors--an' the earth is my floor." + +"No! no! We are waiting for you at the ranch." + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Dan, this wild trail has no end." + +"Maybe, but I know that feller can show me the way to Jim Silent, an' +now----" + +He turned towards Haines as he spoke, but here a low, venomous snarl +from Black Bart checked his words. Kate saw him stiffen--his lips +parted to a faint smile--his head tilted back a little as if he +listened intently, though she could hear nothing. She was not a yard +from him, and yet she felt a thousand miles away. His head turned full +upon her, and she would never forget the yellow light of his eyes. + +"Dan!" she cried, but her voice was no louder than a whisper. + +"Delilah!" he said, and leaped back into the shade of the willows. + +Even as he sprang she saw the flash of the moonlight on his drawn +revolver, and fire spat from it twice, answered by a yell of pain, +the clang of a bullet on metal, and half a dozen shots from the woods +behind her. + +That word "Delilah!" rang in her brain to the exclusion of all the +world. Vaguely she heard voices shouting--she turned a little and saw +Haines facing her with his revolver in his hand, but prevented from +moving by the wolf who crouched snarling at his feet. The order of his +master kept him there even after that master was gone. Now men ran out +into the clearing. A keen whistle sounded far off among the willows, +and the wolf leaped away from his prisoner and into the shadows on the +trail of Dan. + + * * * * * + +Tex Calder prided himself on being a light sleeper. Years spent in +constant danger enabled him to keep his sense of hearing alert even +when he slept. He had never been surprised. It was his boast that he +never would be. Therefore when a hand dropped lightly on his shoulder +he started erect from his blankets with a curse and grasped his +revolver. A strong grip on his wrist paralysed his fingers. Whistling +Dan leaned above him. + +"Wake up," said the latter. + +"What the devil--" breathed the marshal. "You travel like a cloud +shadow, Dan. You make no sound." + +"Wake up and talk to me." + +"I'm awake all right. What's happened?" + +There was a moment of silence while Dan seemed to be trying for +speech. + +Black Bart, at the other side of the clearing, pointed his nose at +the yellow moon and wailed. He was very close, but the sound was so +controlled that it seemed to come at a great distance from some wild +spirit wandering between earth and heaven. + +Instead of speaking Dan jumped to his feet and commenced pacing up and +down, up and down, a rapid, tireless stride; at his heels the wolf +slunk, with lowered head and tail. The strange fellow was in some +great trouble, Calder could see, and it stirred him mightily to know +that the wild man had turned to him for help. Yet he would ask no +questions. + +When in doubt the cattleman rolls a cigarette, and that was what +Calder did. He smoked and waited. At last the inevitable came. + +"How old are you, Tex?" + +"Forty-four." + +"That's a good deal. You ought to know something." + +"Maybe." + +"About women?" + +"Ah!" said Calder. + +"Bronchos is cut out chiefly after one pattern," went on Dan. + +"They's chiefly jest meanness. Are women the same--jest cut after one +pattern?" + +"What pattern, Dan?" + +"The pattern of Delilah! They ain't no trust to be put in 'em?" + +"A good many of us have found that out." + +"I thought one woman was different from the rest." + +"We all think that. Woman in particular is divine; woman in general +is--hell!" + +"Ay, but this one--" He stopped and set his teeth. + +"What has she done?" + +"She--" he hesitated, and when he spoke again his voice did not +tremble; there was a deep hurt and wonder in it: "She double-crossed +me!" + +"When? Do you mean to say you've met a woman tonight out here among +the willows?--Where--how----" + +"Tex----!" + +"Ay, Dan." + +"It's--it's hell!" + +"It is now. But you'll forget her! The mountains, the desert, and +above all, time--they'll cure you, my boy." + +"Not in a whole century, Tex." + +Calder waited curiously for the explanation. It came. + +"Jest to think of her is like hearing music. Oh, God, Tex, what c'n I +do to fight agin this here cold feelin' at my heart?" + +Dan slipped down beside the marshal and the latter dropped a +sympathetic hand over the lean, brown fingers. They returned the +pressure with a bone-crushing grip. + +"Fight, Dan! It will make you forget her." + +"Her skin is softer'n satin, Tex." + +"Ay, but you'll never touch it again, Dan." + +"Her eyes are deeper'n a pool at night an' her hair is all gold like +ripe corn." + +"You'll never look into her eyes again, Dan, and you'll never touch +the gold of that hair." + +"God!" + +The word was hardly more than a whisper, but it brought Black Bart +leaping to his feet. + +Dan spoke again: "Tex, I'm thankin' you for listenin' to me; I wanted +to talk. Bein' silent was burnin' me up. There's one thing more." + +"Fire it out, lad." + +"This evenin' I told you I hated no man but Jim Silent." + +"Yes." + +"An' now they's another of his gang. Sometime--when she's standin' +by--I'm goin' to take him by the throat till he don't breathe no more. +Then I'll throw him down in front of her an' ask her if she c'n kiss +the life back into his lips!" + +Calder was actually shaking with excitement, but he was wise enough +not to speak. + +"Tex!" + +"Ay, lad." + +"But when I've choked his damned life away----" + +"Yes?" + +"Ay, lad." + +"There'll be five more that seen her shamin' me. Tex--all hell is +bustin' loose inside me!" + +For a moment Calder watched, but that stare of cold hate mastered him. +He turned his head. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +THE CROSS ROADS + +As Black Bart raced away in answer to Dan's whistle, Kate recovered +herself from the daze in which she stood and with a sob ran towards +the willows, calling the name of Dan, but Silent sprang after her, and +caught her by the arm. She cried out and struggled vainly in his grip. + +"Don't follow him, boys!" called Silent. "He's a dog that can bite +while he runs. Stand quiet, girl!" + +Lee Haines caught him by the shoulder and jerked Silent around. His +hand held the butt of his revolver, and his whole arm trembled with +eagerness for the draw. + +"Take your hand from her, Jim!" he said. + +Silent met his eye with the same glare and while his left hand still +held Kate by both her wrists his right dropped to his gun. + +"Not when you tell me, Lee!" + +"Damn you, I say let her go!" + +"By God, Haines, I stand for too much from you!" + +And still they did not draw, because each of them knew that if the +crisis came it would mean death to them both. Bill Kilduff jumped +between them and thrust them back. + +He cried, "Ain't we got enough trouble without roundin' up work at +home? Terry Jordan is shot through the arm." + +Kate tugged at the restraining hand of Silent, not in an attempt to +escape, but in order to get closer to Haines. + +"Was this your friendship?" she said, her voice shaking with hate and +sorrow, "to bring me here as a lure for Whistling Dan? Listen to me, +all of you! He's escaped you now, and he'll come again. Remember him, +for he shan't forget you!" + +"You hear her?" said Silent to Haines. + +"Is this what you want me to turn loose?" + +"Silent," said Haines, "it isn't the girl alone you've double crossed. +You've crooked me, and you'll pay me for it sooner or later!" + +"Day or night, winter or summer, I'm willing to meet you an' fight it +out. Rhinehart and Purvis, take this girl back to the clearing!" + +They approached, Purvis still staring at the hand from which only a +moment before his gun had been knocked by the shot of Whistling Dan. +It was a thing which he could not understand--he had not yet lost a +most uncomfortable sense of awe. Haines made no objection when they +went off, with Kate walking between them. He knew, now that his blind +anger had left him, that it was folly to draw on a fight while the +rest of Silent's men stood around them. + +"An' the rest of you go back to the clearin'. I got somethin' to talk +over with Lee," said Silent. + +The others obeyed without question, and the leader turned back to his +lieutenant. For a moment longer they remained staring at each other. +Then Silent moved slowly forward with outstretched hand. + +"Lee," he said quietly, "I'm owin' you an apology an' I'm man enough +to make it." + +"I can't take your hand, Jim." + +Silent hesitated. + +"I guess you got cause to be mad, Lee," he said. "Maybe I played too +quick a hand. I didn't think about double crossin' you. I only seen +a way to get Whistlin' Dan out of our path, an' I took it without +rememberin' that you was the safeguard to the girl." + +Haines eyed his chief narrowly. + +"I wish to God I could read your mind," he said at last, "but I'll +take your word that you did it without thinking." + +His hand slowly met Silent's. + +"An' what about the girl now, Lee?" + +"I'll send her back to her father's ranch. It will be easy to put her +on the right way." + +"Don't you see no reason why you can't do that?" + +"Are you playing with me?" + +"I'm talkin' to you as I'd talk to myself. If she's loose she'll +describe us all an' set the whole range on our trail." + +Haines stared. + +Silent went on: "If we can't turn her loose, they's only one thing +left--an' that's to take her with us wherever we go." + +"On your honour, do you see no other way out?" + +"Do you?" + +"She may promise not to speak of it." + +"There ain't no way of changin' the spots of a leopard, Lee, an' there +ain't no way of keepin' a woman's tongue still." + +"How can we take a girl with us." + +"It ain't goin' to be for long. After we pull the job that comes on +the eighteenth, we'll blow farther south an' then we'll let her go." + +"And no harm will come to her while she's with us?" + +"Here's my hand on it, Lee." + +"How can she ride with us?" + +"She won't go as a woman. I've thought of that. I brought out a new +outfit for Purvis from Elkhead--trousers, chaps, shirts, an' all. He's +small. They'll near fit the girl." + +"There isn't any other way, Jim?" + +"I leave it to you. God knows I don't want to drag any damn calico +aroun' with us." + +As they went back towards their clearing they arranged the details. +Silent would take the men aside and explain his purpose to them. +Haines could inform the girl of what she must do. Just before they +reached the camp Silent stopped short and took Haines by the shoulder. + +"They's one thing I can't make out, Lee, an' that's how Whistlin' Dan +made his getaway. I'd of bet a thousand bones that he would be dropped +before he could touch his shootin' irons. An' then what happened? Hal +Purvis jest flashed a gun--and that feller shot it out'n his hand. +I never seen a draw like that. His hand jest seemed to twitch--I +couldn't follow the move he made--an' the next second his gun went +off." + +He stared at Lee with a sort of fascinated horror. + +"Silent," said Haines, "can you explain how the lightning comes down +out of the sky?" + +"Of course not." + +"Then don't ask me to explain how Whistling Dan made his getaway. One +minute I heard him talkin' with the girl. The next second there was +two shots and when I whirled he was gone. But he'll come back, Jim. +We're not through with him. He slipped away from you and your men like +water out of a sieve, but we won't slip away from him the same way." + +Silent stared on again with bowed head. + +"He liked the girl, Lee?" + +"Any one could see that." + +"Then while she's with us he'll go pretty slow. Lee, that's another +reason why she's got to stay with us. My frien', it's time we was +moving out from the willows. The next time he comes up with us he +won't be numb in the head. He'll be thinkin' fast an' he'll be +shootin' a damn sight faster. We got two jobs ahead of us--first to +get that Wells Fargo shipment, and then to get Whistling Dan. There +ain't room enough in the whole world for him and me." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +THE THREE OF US + +In the clearing of Whistling Dan and Tex Calder the marshal had turned +into his blankets once more. There was no thought of sleep in Dan's +mind. When the heavy breathing of the sleeper began he rose and +commenced to pace up and down on the farther side of the open space. +Two pairs of glowing eyes followed him in every move. Black Bart, who +trailed him up and down during the first few turns he made, now sat +down and watched his master with a wistful gaze. The black stallion, +who lay more like a dog than a horse on the ground, kept his ears +pricked forwards, as if expecting some order. Once or twice he +whinnied very softly, and finally Dan sat down beside Satan, his +shoulders leaned against the satiny side and his arms flung out along +the stallion's back. Several times he felt hot breath against his +cheek as the horse turned a curious head towards him, but he paid no +attention, even when the stallion whinnied a question in his ear. In +his heart was a numb, strange feeling which made him weak. He was even +blind to the fact that Black Bart at last slipped into the shadows of +the willows. + +Presently something cold touched his chin. He found himself staring +into the yellow-green eyes of Black Bart, who panted from his run, and +now dropped from his mouth something which fell into Dan's lap. It +was the glove of Kate Cumberland. In the grasp of his long nervous +fingers, how small it was!; and yet the hand which had wrinkled the +leather was strong enough to hold the heart of a man. He slipped and +caught the shaggy black head of Bart between his hands. The wolf +knew--in some mysterious way he knew! + +The touch of sympathy unnerved him. All his sorrow and his weakness +burst on his soul in a single wave. A big tear struck the shining nose +of the wolf. + +"Bart!" he whispered. "Did you figger on plumb bustin' my heart, pal?" + +To avoid those large melancholy eyes, Bart pressed his head inside of +his master's arms. + +"Delilah!" whispered Dan. + +After that not a sound came from the three, the horse, the dog, or +the man. Black Bart curled up at the feet of his master and seemed to +sleep, but every now and then an ear raised or an eye twitched open. +He was on guard against a danger which he did not understand. The +horse, also, with a high head scanned the circling willows, alert; but +the man for whom the stallion and the wolf watched gave no heed to +either. There was a vacant and dreamy expression in his eye as if he +was searching his own inner heart and found there the greatest enemy +of all. All night they sat in this manner, silent, moveless; the +animals watching against the world, the man watching against himself. +Before dawn he roused himself suddenly, crossed to the sleeping +marshal, and touched him on the arm. + +"It's time we hit the trail," he said, as Calder sat up in the +blanket. + +"What's happened? Isn't it our job to comb the willows?" + +"Silent ain't in the willows." + +Calder started to his feet. + +"How do you know?" + +"They ain't close to us, that's all I know." + +Tex smiled incredulously. + +"I suppose," he said good humouredly, "that your _instinct_ brought you +this message?" + +"Instinct?" repeated Dan blankly, "I dunno." + +Calder grew serious. + +"We'll take a chance that you may be right. At least we can ride down +the river bank and see if there are any fresh tracks in the sand. If +Silent started this morning I have an idea he'll head across the river +and line out for the railroad." + +In twenty minutes their breakfast was eaten and they were in the +saddle. The sun had not yet risen when they came out of the willows to +the broad shallow basin of the river. In spring, when the snow of the +mountains melted, that river filled from bank to bank with a yellow +torrent; at the dry season of the year it was a dirty little creek +meandering through the sands. Down the bank they rode at a sharp trot +for a mile and a half until Black Bart, who scouted ahead of them at +his gliding wolf-trot, came to an abrupt stop. Dan spoke to Satan and +the stallion broke into a swift gallop which left the pony of Tex +Calder labouring in the rear. When they drew rein beside the wolf, +they found seven distinct tracks of horses which went down the bank +of the river and crossed the basin. Calder turned with a wide-eyed +amazement to Dan. + +"You're right again," he said, not without a touch of vexation in his +voice; "but the dog stopped at these tracks. How does he know we are +hunting for Silent's crew?" + +"I dunno," said Dan, "maybe he jest suspects." + +"They can't have a long start of us," said Calder. "Let's hit the +trail. Well get them before night." + +"No," said Dan, "we won't." + +"Why won't we?" + +"I've seen Silent's hoss, and I've ridden him. If the rest of his gang +have the same kind of hoss flesh, you c'n never catch him with that +cayuse of yours." + +"Maybe not today," said Calder, "but in two days we'll run him down. +Seven horses can't travel as two in a long chase." + +They started out across the basin, keeping to the tracks of Silent's +horses. It was the marshal's idea that the outlaws would head on a +fairly straight line for the railroad and accordingly when they lost +the track of the seven horses they kept to this direction. Twice +during the day they verified their course by information received once +from a range rider and once from a man in a dusty buck-board. Both of +these had sighted the fast travelling band, but each had seen it pass +an hour or two before Calder and Dan arrived. Such tidings encouraged +the marshal to keep his horse at an increasing speed; but in the +middle of the afternoon, though black Satan showed little or no signs +of fatigue, the cattle-pony was nearly blown and they were forced to +reduce their pace to the ordinary dog-trot. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +THE PANTHER'S PAW + +Evening came and still they had not sighted the outlaws. As dark fell +they drew near a house snuggled away among a group of cottonwoods. +Here they determined to spend the night, for Calder's pony was now +almost exhausted. A man of fifty came from the house in answer to +their call and showed them the way to the horse-shed. While they +unsaddled their horses he told them his name was Sam Daniels, yet +he evinced no curiosity as to the identity of his guests, and they +volunteered no information. His eyes lingered long and fondly over the +exquisite lines of Satan. From behind, from the side, and in front, he +viewed the stallion while Dan rubbed down the legs of his mount with +a care which was most foreign to the ranges. Finally the cattleman +reached out a hand toward the smoothly muscled shoulders. + +It was Calder who stood nearest and he managed to strike up Daniels's +extended arm and jerk him back from the region of danger. + +"What'n hell is that for?" exclaimed Daniels. + +"That horse is called Satan," said Calder, "and when any one save his +owner touches him he lives up to his name and raises hell." + +Before Daniels could answer, the light of his lantern fell upon Black +Bart, hitherto half hidden by the deepening shadows of the night, +but standing now at the entrance of the shed. The cattleman's teeth +clicked together and he slapped his hand against his thigh in a reach +for the gun which was not there. + +"Look behind you," he said to Calder. "A wolf!" + +He made a grab for the marshal's gun, but the latter forestalled him. + +"Go easy, partner," he said, grinning, "that's only the running +mate of the horse. He's not a wolf, at least not according to his +owner--and as for being wild--look at that!" + +Bart had stalked calmly into the shed and now lay curled up exactly +beneath the feet of the stallion. + +The two guests received a warmer welcome from Sam Daniels' wife when +they reached the house. Their son, Buck, had been expected home +for supper, but it was too late for them to delay the meal longer. +Accordingly they sat down at once and the dinner was nearly over when +Buck, having announced himself with a whoop as he rode up, entered, +banging the door loudly behind him. He greeted the strangers with a +careless wave of the hand and sat down at the table. His mother placed +food silently before him. No explanations of his tardiness were asked +and none were offered. The attitude of his father indicated clearly +that the boy represented the earning power of the family. He was a big +fellow with broad, thick wrists, and a straight black eye. When he had +eaten, he broke into breezy conversation, and especially of a vicious +mustang he had ridden on a bet the day before. + +"Speakin' of hosses, Buck," said his father, "they's a black out in +the shed right now that'd make your eyes jest nacherally pop out'n +their sockets. No more'n fifteen hands, but a reg'lar picture. Must be +greased lightnin'." + +"I've heard talk of these streaks of greased lightnin'," said Buck, +with a touch of scorn, "but I'll stack old Mike agin the best of +them." + +"An' there's a dog along with the hoss--a dog that's the nearest to a +wolf of any I ever seen." + +There was a sudden change in Buck--a change to be sensed rather than +definitely noted with the eye. It was a stiffening of his body--an +alertness of which he was at pains to make no show. For almost +immediately he began to whistle softly, idly, his eyes roving +carelessly across the wall while he tilted back in his chair. Dan +dropped his hand close to the butt of his gun. Instantly, the eyes of +Buck flashed down and centered on Dan for an instant of keen scrutiny. +Certainly Buck had connected that mention of the black horse and the +wolf-dog with a disturbing idea. + +When they went to their room--a room in which there was no bed and +they had to roll down their blankets on the floor--Dan opened the +window and commenced to whistle one of his own wild tunes. It seemed +to Calder that there was a break in that music here and there, and a +few notes grouped together like a call. In a moment a shadowy figure +leaped through the window, and Black Bart landed on the floor with +soft padding feet. + +Recovering from his start Calder cursed softly. + +"What's the main idea?" he asked. + +Dan made a signal for a lower tone. + +"There ain't no idea," he answered, "but these Daniels people--do you +know anything about them?" + +"No. Why?" + +"They interest me, that's all." + +"Anything wrong?" + +"I guess not." + +"Why did you whistle for this infernal wolf? It makes me nervous to +have him around. Get out, Bart." + +The wolf turned a languid eye upon the marshal. + +"Let him be," said Dan. "I don't feel no ways nacheral without havin' +Bart around." + +The marshal made no farther objections, and having rolled himself in +his blankets was almost immediately asleep and breathing heavily. The +moment Dan heard his companion draw breath with a telltale regularity, +he sat up again in his blankets. Bart was instantly at his side. He +patted the shaggy head lightly, and pointed towards the door. + +"Guard!" he whispered. + +Then he lay down and was immediately asleep. Bart crouched at his feet +with his head pointed directly at the door. + +In other rooms there was the sound of the Daniels family going to +bed--noises distinctly heard throughout the flimsy frame of the house. +After that a deep silence fell which lasted many hours, but in that +darkest moment which just precedes the dawn, a light creaking came up +the hall. It was very faint and it occurred only at long intervals, +but at the first sound Black Bart raised his head from his paws and +stared at the door with those glowing eyes which see in the dark. + +Now another sound came, still soft, regular. There was a movement of +the door. In the pitch dark a man could never have noticed it, but it +was plainly visible to the wolf. Still more visible, when the door +finally stood wide, was the form of the man who stood in the opening. +In one hand he carried a lantern thoroughly hooded, but not so well +wrapped that it kept back a single ray which flashed on a revolver. +The intruder made a step forward, a step as light as the fall of +feathers, but it was not half so stealthy as the movement of Black +Bart as he slunk towards the door. He had been warned to watch that +door, but it did not need a warning to tell him that a danger was +approaching the sleeping master. In the crouched form of the man, in +the cautious step, he recognized the unmistakable stalking of one who +hunts. Another soft step the man made forward. + +Then, with appalling suddenness, a blacker shadow shot up from the +deep night of the floor, and white teeth gleamed before the stranger's +face. He threw up his hand to save his throat. The teeth sank into +his arm--a driving weight hurled him against the wall and then to +the floor--the revolver and the lantern dropped clattering, and the +latter, rolling from its wrapping, flooded the room with light. But +neither man nor wolf uttered a sound. + +Calder was standing, gun in hand, but too bewildered to act, while +Dan, as if he were playing a part long rehearsed, stood covering the +fallen form of Buck Daniels. + +"Stand back from him, Bart!" he commanded. + +The wolf slipped off a pace, whining with horrible eagerness, for he +had tasted blood. Far away a shout came from Sam Daniels. Dan lowered +his gun. + +"Stand up," he ordered. + +The big fellow picked himself up and stood against the wall with the +blood streaming down his right arm. Still he said nothing and his keen +eyes darted from Calder to Whistling Dan. + +"Give me a strip of that old shirt over there, will you, Tex?" said +Dan, "an' keep him covered while I tie up his arm." + +Before Calder could move, old Daniels appeared at the door, a heavy +Colt in his hand. For a moment he stood dumbfounded, but then, with a +cry, jerked up his gun--a quick movement, but a fraction of a second +too slow, for the hand of Dan darted out and his knuckles struck the +wrist of the old cattleman. The Colt rattled on the floor. He lunged +after his weapon, but the voice of Buck stopped him short. + +"The game's up, Dad," he growled, "that older feller is Tex Calder." + +The name, like a blow in the face, straightened old Daniels and left +him white and blinking. Whistling Dan turned his back on the father +and deftly bound up the lacerated arm of Buck. + +"In the name o' God, Buck," moaned Sam, "what you been tryin' to do in +here?" + +"What you'd do if you had the guts for it. That's Tex Calder an' this +is Dan Barry. They're on the trail of big Jim. I wanted to put 'em off +that trail." + +"Look here," said Calder, "how'd you know us?" + +"I've said my little say," said Buck sullenly, "an' you'll get no more +out of me between here an' any hell you can take me to." + +"He knew us when his father talked about Satan an' Black Bart," said +Dan to Tex. "Maybe he's one of Silent's." + +"Buck, for God's sake tell 'em you know nothin' of Silent," cried old +Daniels. "Boy, boy, it's hangin' for you if they get you to Elkhead +an' charge you with that!" + +"Dad, you're a fool," said Buck. "I ain't goin' down on my knees to +'em. Not me." + +Calder, still keeping Buck covered with his gun, drew Dan a little to +one side. + +"What can we do with this fellow, Dan?" he said. "Shall we give up the +trail and take him over to Elkhead?" + +"An' break the heart of the ol' man?" + +"Buck is one of the gang, that's certain." + +"Get Silent an' there won't be no gang left." + +"But we caught this chap in red blood--" + +"He ain't very old, Tex. Maybe he could change. I think he ain't been +playin' Silent's game any too long." + +"We can't let him go. It isn't in reason to do that." + +"I ain't thinkin' of reason. I'm thinkin' of old Sam an' his wife." + +"And if we turn him loose?" + +"He'll be your man till he dies." + +Calder scowled. + +"The whole range is filled with these silent partners of the +outlaws--but maybe you're right, Dan. Look at them now!" + +The father was standing close to his son and pouring out a torrent of +appeal--evidently begging him in a low voice to disavow any knowledge +of Silent and his crew, but Buck shook his head sullenly. He had given +up hope. Calder approached them. + +"Buck," he said, "I suppose you know that you could be hung for what +you've tried to do tonight. If the law wouldn't hang you a lynching +party would. No jail would be strong enough to keep them away from +you." + +Buck was silent, dogged. + +"But suppose we were to let you go scot free?" + +Buck started. A great flush covered his face. + +"I'm taking the advice of Dan Barry in doing this," said Calder. +"Barry thinks you could go straight. Tell me man to man, if I give you +the chance will you break loose from Silent and his gang?" + +A moment before, Buck had been steeled for the worst, but this sudden +change loosened all the bonds of his pride. He stammered and choked. +Calder turned abruptly away. + +"Dan," he said, "here's the dawn, and it's time for us to hit the +trail." + +They rolled their blankets hastily and broke away from the gratitude +which poured like water from the heart of old Sam. They were in their +saddles when Buck came beside Dan. His pride, his shame, and his +gratitude broke his voice. + +"I ain't much on words," he said, "but it's you I'm thankin'!" + +His hand reached up hesitatingly, and Dan caught it in a firm grip. + +"Why," he said gently, "even Satan here stumbles now an' then, but +that ain't no reason I should get rid of him. Good luck--partner!" + +He shook the reins and the stallion leaped off after Calder's trotting +pony. Buck Daniels stood motionless looking after them, and his eyes +were very dim. + +For an hour Dan and Tex were on the road before the sun looked over +the hills. Calder halted his horse to watch. + +"Dan," he said at last, "I used to think there were only two ways of +handling men--one with the velvet touch and one with the touch of +steel. Mine has been the way of steel, but I begin to see there's a +third possibility--the touch of the panther's paw--the velvet with the +steel claws hid beneath. That's your way, and I wonder if it isn't the +best. I think Buck Daniels would be glad to die for you!" + +He turned directly to Dan. + +"But all this is aside from the point, which is that the whole country +is full of these silent partners of the outlaws. The law plays a lone +hand in the mountain-desert." + +"You've played the lone hand and won twenty times," said Dan. + +"Ay, but the twenty-first time I may fail. The difference between +success and failure in this country is just the length of time it +takes to pull a trigger--and Silent is fast with a gun. He's the root +of the outlaw power. We may kill a hundred men, but till he's gone +we've only mowed the weeds, not pulled them. But what's the use of +talking? One second will tell the tale when I stand face to face with +Jim Silent and we go for our six-guns. And somewhere between that +rising sun and those mountains I'll find Jim Silent and the end of +things for one of us." + +He started his cattle-pony into a sudden gallop, and they drove on +into the bright morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +CAIN + +Hardly a score of miles away, Jim Silent and his six companions topped +a hill. He raised his hand and the others drew rein beside him. Kate +Cumberland shifted her weight a little to one side of the saddle to +rest and looked down from the crest on the sweep of country below. A +mile away the railroad made a streak of silver light across the brown +range and directly before them stood the squat station-house with +red-tiled roof. Just before the house, a slightly broader streak of +that gleaming light showed the position of the siding rails. She +turned her head towards the outlaws. They were listening to the final +directions of their chief, and the darkly intent faces told their own +story. She knew, from what she had gathered of their casual hints, +that this was to be the scene of the train hold-up. + +It seemed impossible that this little group of men could hold the +great fabric of a train with all its scores of passengers at their +mercy. In spite of herself, half her heart wished them success. There +was Terry Jordan forgetful of the wound in his arm; Shorty Rhinehart, +his saturnine face longer and more calamitous than ever; Hal Purvis, +grinning and nodding his head; Bill Kilduff with his heavy jaw set +like a bull dog's; Lee Haines, with a lock of tawny hair blowing over +his forehead, smiling faintly as he listened to Silent as if he heard +a girl tell a story of love; and finally Jim Silent himself, huge, +solemn, confident. She began to feel that these six men were worth six +hundred. + +She hated them for some reasons; she feared them for others; but the +brave blood of Joe Cumberland was thick in her and she loved the +danger of the coming moment. Their plans were finally agreed upon, +their masks arranged, and after Haines had tied a similar visor over +Kate's face, they started down the hill at a swinging gallop. + +In front of the house of the station-agent they drew up, and while the +others were at their horses, Lee Haines dismounted and rapped loudly +at the door. It was opened by a grey-bearded man smoking a pipe. +Haines covered him. He tossed up his hands and the pipe dropped from +his mouth. + +"Who's in the house here with you?" asked Haines. + +"Not a soul!" stammered the man. "If you're lookin' for money you c'n +run through the house. You won't find a thing worth takin'." + +"I don't want money. I want you," said Haines; and immediately +explained, "you're perfectly safe. All you have to do is to be +obliging. As for the money, you just throw open that switch and flag +the train when she rolls along in a few moments. We'll take care of +the rest. You don't have to keep your hands up." + +The hands came down slowly. For a brief instant the agent surveyed +Haines and the group of masked men who sat their horses a few paces +away, and then without a word he picked up his flag from behind the +door and walked out of the house. Throughout the affair he never +uttered a syllable. Haines walked up to the head of the siding with +him while he opened the switch and accompanied him back to the point +opposite the station-house to see that he gave the "stop" signal +correctly. In the meantime two of the other outlaws entered the little +station, bound the telegrapher hand and foot, and shattered his +instrument. That would prevent the sending of any call for help after +the hold-up. Purvis and Jordan (since Terry could shoot with his left +hand in case of need) went to the other side of the track and lay down +against the grade. It was their business to open fire on the tops +of the windows as the train drew to a stop. That would keep the +passengers inside. The other four were distributed along the side +nearest to the station-house. Shorty Rhinehart and Bill Kilduff were +to see that no passengers broke out from the train and attempted a +flank attack. Haines would attend to having the fire box of the engine +flooded. For the cracking of the safe, Silent carried the stick of +dynamite. + +Now the long wait began. There is a dreamlike quality about bright +mornings in the open country, and everything seemed unreal to Kate. +It was impossible that tragedy should come on such a day. The moments +stole on. She saw Silent glance twice at his watch and scowl. +Evidently the train was late and possibly they would give up the +attempt. Then a light humming caught her ear. + +She held her breath and listened again. It was unmistakable--a slight +thing--a tremor to be felt rather than heard. She saw Haines peering +under shaded eyes far down the track, and following the direction of +his gaze she saw a tiny spot of haze on the horizon. The tiny puff of +smoke developed to a deeper, louder note. The station-agent took his +place on the track. + +Now the train bulked big, the engine wavering slightly to the +unevenness of the road bed. The flag of the station-agent moved. Kate +closed her eyes and set her teeth. There was a rumbling and puffing +and a mighty grinding--a shout somewhere--the rattle of a score of +pistol shots--she opened her eyes to see the train rolling to a stop +on the siding directly before her. + +Kilduff and Shorty Rhinehart, crouching against the grade, were +splintering the windows one by one with nicely placed shots. The +baggage-cars were farther up the siding than Silent calculated. He and +Haines now ran towards the head of the train. + +The fireman and engineer jumped from their cab, holding their arms +stiffly above their heads; and Haines approached with poised revolver +to make them flood the fire box. In this way the train would be +delayed for some time and before it could send out the alarm the +bandits would be far from pursuit. Haines had already reached the +locomotive and Silent was running towards the first baggage-car when +the door of that car slid open and at the entrance appeared two men +with rifles at their shoulders. As they opened fire Silent pitched to +the ground. Kate set her teeth and forced her eyes to stay open. + +Even as the outlaw fell his revolver spoke and one of the men threw up +his hands with a yell and pitched out of the open door. His companion +still kept his post, pumping shots at the prone figure. Twice more the +muzzle of Silent's gun jerked up and the second man crumpled on the +floor of the car. + +A great hissing and a jetting cloud of steam announced that Haines +had succeeded in flooding the fire box. Silent climbed into the first +baggage-car, stepping, as he did so, on the limp body of the Wells +Fargo agent, who lay on the road bed. A moment later he flung out the +body of the second messenger. The man flopped on the ground heavily, +face downwards, and then--greatest horror of all!--dragged himself +to his hands and knees and began to crawl laboriously. Kate ran and +dropped to her knees beside him. + +"Are you hurt badly?" she pleaded. "Where? Where?" + +He sagged to the ground and lay on his left side, breathing heavily. + +"Where is the wound?" she repeated. + +He attempted to speak, but only a bloody froth came to his lips. That +was sufficient to tell her that he had been shot through the lungs. + +She tore open his shirt and found two purple spots high on the chest, +one to the right, and one to the left. From that on the left ran a +tiny trickle of blood, but that on the right was only a small puncture +in the midst of a bruise. He was far past all help. + +"Speak to me!" she pleaded. + +His eyes rolled and then checked on her face. + +"Done for," he said in a horrible whisper, "that devil done me. +Kid--cut out--this life. I've played this game--myself--an' now--I'm +goin'--to hell for it!" + +A great convulsion twisted his face. + +"What can I do?" cried Kate. + +"Tell the world--I died--game!" + +His body writhed, and in the last agony his hand closed hard over +hers. It was like a silent farewell, that strong clasp. + +A great hand caught her by the shoulder and jerked her to her feet. + +"The charge is goin' off! Jump for it!" shouted Silent in her ear. + +She sprang up and at the same time there was a great boom from within +the car. The side bulged out--a section of the top lifted and fell +back with a crash--and Silent ran back into the smoke. Haines, Purvis, +and Kilduff were instantly at the car, taking the ponderous little +canvas sacks of coin as their chief handed them out. + +Within two minutes after the explosion ten small sacks were deposited +in the saddlebags on the horses which stood before the station-house. +Silent's whistle called in Terry Jordan and Shorty Rhinehart--a sharp +order forced Kate to climb into her saddle--and the train robbers +struck up the hillside at a racing pace. A confused shouting rose +behind them. Rifles commenced to crack where some of the passengers +had taken up the weapons of the dead guards, but the bullets flew +wide, and the little troop was soon safely out of range. + +On the other side of the hill-top they changed their course to the +right. For half an hour the killing pace continued, and then, as there +was not a sign of immediate chase, the lone riders drew down to a +soberer pace. Silent called: "Keep bunched behind me. We're headed for +the old Salton place--an' a long rest." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +REAL MEN + +Some people pointed out that Sheriff Gus Morris had never made a +single important arrest in the ten years during which he had held +office, and there were a few slanderers who spoke insinuatingly of the +manner in which the lone riders flourished in Morris's domain. These +"knockers," however, were voted down by the vast majority, who swore +that the sheriff was the finest fellow who ever threw leg over saddle. +They liked him for his inexhaustible good-nature, the mellow baritone +in which he sang the range songs at any one's request, and perhaps +more than all, for the very laxness with which he conducted his work. +They had had enough of the old school of sheriffs who lived a few +months gun in hand and died fighting from the saddle. The office had +never seemed desirable until Gus Morris ran for it and smiled his way +to a triumphant election. + +Before his career as an office-holder began, he ran a combined general +merchandise store, saloon, and hotel. That is to say, he ran the +hostelry in name. The real executive head, general manager, clerk, +bookkeeper, and cook, and sometimes even bartender was his daughter, +Jacqueline. She found the place only a saloon, and a poorly patronized +one at that. Her unaided energy gradually made it into a hotel, +restaurant, and store. Even while her father was in office he spent +most of his time around the hotel; but no matter how important he +might be elsewhere, in his own house he had no voice. There the only +law was the will of Jacqueline. + +Out of the stable behind this hostelry Dan and Tex Calder walked on +the evening of the train robbery. They had reached the place of the +hold-up a full two hours after Silent's crew departed; and the fireman +and engineer had been working frantically during the interim to clean +out the soaked fire box and get up steam again. Tex looked at the two +dead bodies, spoke to the conductor, and then cut short the voluble +explanations of a score of passengers by turning his horse and riding +away, followed by Dan. All that day he was gloomily silent. It was a +shrewd blow at his reputation, for the outlaws had actually carried +out the robbery while he was on their trail. Not till they came out of +the horse-shed after stabling their horses did he speak freely. + +"Dan," he said, "do you know anything about Sheriff Gus Morris?" + +"No" + +"Then listen to this and salt every word away. I'm an officer of the +law, but I won't tell that to Morris. I hope he doesn't know me. If he +does it will spoil our game. I am almost certain he is playing a close +hand with the lone riders. I'll wager he'd rather see a stick of +dynamite than a marshal. Remember when we get in that place that we're +not after Jim Silent or any one else. We're simply travelling cowboys. +No questions. I expect to learn something about the location of +Silent's gang while we're here, but we'll never find out except by +hints and chance remarks. We have to watch Morris like hawks. If he +suspects us he'll find a way to let Silent know we're here and then +the hunters will be hunted." + +In the house they found a dozen cattlemen sitting down at the table in +the dining-room. As they entered the room the sheriff, who sat at the +head of the table, waved his hand to them. + +"H'ware ye, boys?" he called. "You'll find a couple of chairs right in +the next room. Got two extra plates, Jac?" + +As Dan followed Tex after the chairs he noticed the sheriff beckon +to one of the men who sat near him. As they returned with the chairs +someone was leaving the room by another door. + +"Tex," he said, as they sat down side by side, "when we left the +dining-room for the chairs, the sheriff spoke to one of the boys and +as we came back one of them was leavin' through another door. D'you +think Morris knew you when you came in?" + +Calder frowned thoughtfully and then shook his head. + +"No," he said in a low voice. "I watched him like a hawk when we +entered. He didn't bat an eye when he saw me. If he recognized me he's +the greatest actor in the world, bar none! No, Dan, he doesn't know us +from Adam and Abel." + +"All right," said Dan, "but I don't like somethin' about this +place--maybe it's the smell of the air. Tex, take my advice an' keep +your gun ready for the fastest draw you ever made." + +"Don't worry about me," smiled Calder. "How about yourself?" + +"Hello," broke in Jacqueline from the end of the table. "Look who +we've picked in the draw!" + +Her voice was musical, but her accent and manner were those of a girl +who has lived all her life among men and has caught their ways--with +an exaggeration of that self-confidence which a woman always feels +among Western men. Her blue eyes were upon Dan. + +"Ain't you a long ways from home?" she went on. + +The rest of the table, perceiving the drift of her badgering, broke +into a rumbling bass chuckle. + +"Quite a ways," said Dan, and his wide brown eyes looked seriously +back at her. + +A yell of delight came from the men at this naive rejoinder. Dan +looked about him with a sort of childish wonder. Calder's anxious +whisper came at his side: "Don't let them get you mad, Dan!" +Jacqueline, having scored so heavily with her first shot, was by no +means willing to give up her sport. + +"With them big eyes, for a starter," she said, "all you need is long +hair to be perfect. Do your folks generally let you run around like +this?" + +Every man canted his ear to get the answer and already they were +grinning expectantly. + +"I don't go out much," returned the soft voice of Dan, "an' when I do, +I go with my friend, here. He takes care of me." + +Another thunder of laughter broke out. Jacqueline had apparently +uncovered a tenderfoot, and a rare one even for that absurd species. A +sandy-haired cattle puncher who sat close to Jacqueline now took the +cue from the mistress of the house. + +"Ain't you a bit scared when you get around among real men?" he asked, +leering up the table towards Dan. + +The latter smiled gently upon him. + +"I reckon maybe I am," he said amiably. + +"Then you must be shakin' in your boots right now," said the other +over the sound of the laughter. + +"No, said Dan," "I feel sort of comfortable." + +The other replied with a frown that would have intimidated a balky +horse. + +"What d'you mean? Ain't you jest said men made you sort of--nervous?" + +He imitated the soft drawl of Dan with his last words and raised +another yell of delight from the crowd. Whistling Dan turned his +gentle eyes upon Jacqueline. + +"Pardon me, ma'am," he began. + +An instant hush fell on the men. They would not miss one syllable of +the delightful remarks of this rarest of all tenderfoots, and the +prelude of this coming utterance promised something that would eclipse +all that had gone before. + +"Talk right out, Brown-eyes," said Jacqueline, wiping the tears of +delight from her eyes. "Talk right out as if you was a man. _I_ won't +hurt you." + +"I jest wanted to ask," said Dan, "if these are real men?" + +The ready laughter started, checked, and died suddenly away. The +cattlemen looked at each other in puzzled surprise. + +"Don't they look like it to you, honey?" asked Jacqueline curiously. + +Dan allowed his eyes to pass lingeringly around the table from face to +face. + +"I dunno," he said at last, "they look sort of queer to me." + +"For God's sake cut this short, Dan," pleaded Tex Calder in an +undertone. "Let them have all the rope they want. Don't trip up our +party before we get started." + +"Queer?" echoed Jacqueline, and there was a deep murmur from the men. + +"Sure," said Dan, smiling upon her again, "they all wear their guns so +awful high." + +Out of the dead silence broke the roar of the sandy-haired man: +"What'n hell d'you mean by that?" + +Dan leaned forward on one elbow, his right hand free and resting on +the edge of the table, but still his smile was almost a caress. + +"Why," he said, "maybe you c'n explain it to me. Seems to me that all +these guns is wore so high they's more for ornament than use." + +"You damned pup--" began Sandy. + +He stopped short and stared with a peculiar fascination at Dan, who +started to speak again. His voice had changed--not greatly, for its +pitch was the same and the drawl was the same--but there was a purr +in it that made every man stiffen in his chair and make sure that his +right hand was free. The ghost of his former smile was still on his +lips, but it was his eyes that seemed to fascinate Sandy. + +"Maybe I'm wrong, partner," he was saying, "an' maybe you c'n prove +that _your_ gun ain't jest ornamental hardware?" + +What followed was very strange. Sandy was a brave man and everyone at +that table knew it. They waited for the inevitable to happen. They +waited for Sandy's lightning move for his gun. They waited for the +flash and the crack of the revolver. It did not come. There followed a +still more stunning wonder. + +"You c'n see," went on that caressing voice of Dan, "that everyone +is waitin' for you to demonstrate--which the lady is most special +interested." + +And still Sandy did not move that significant right hand. It remained +fixed in air a few inches above the table, the fingers stiffly spread. +He moistened his white lips. Then--most strange of all!--his eyes +shifted and wandered away from the face of Whistling Dan. The others +exchanged incredulous glances. The impossible had happened--Sandy had +taken water! The sheriff was the first to recover, though his forehead +was shining with perspiration. + +"What's all this stuff about?" he called. "Hey, Sandy, quit pickin' +trouble with the stranger!" + +Sandy seized the loophole through which to escape with his honour. He +settled back in his chair. + +"All right, gov'nor," he said, "I won't go spoilin' your furniture. I +won't hurt him." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +ONE TRAIL ENDS + +But this deceived no one. They had seen him palpably take water. A +moment of silence followed, while Sandy stared whitefaced down at the +table, avoiding all eyes; but all the elements of good breeding exist +under all the roughness of the West. It was Jacqueline who began with +a joke which was rather old, but everyone appreciated it--at that +moment--and the laughter lasted long enough to restore some of the +colour to Sandy's face. A general rapid fire of talk followed. + +"How did you do it?" queried Calder. "I was all prepared for a +gun-play." + +"Why, you seen I didn't do nothin'." + +"Then what in the world made Sandy freeze while his hand was on the +way to his gun?" + +"I dunno," sighed Dan, "but when I see his hand start movin' I sort of +wanted his blood--I _wanted_ him to keep right on till he got hold of +his gun--and maybe he seen it in my eyes an' that sort of changed his +mind." + +"I haven't the least doubt that it did," said Calder grimly. + +At the foot of the table Jacqueline's right-hand neighbour was saying: +"What happened, Jac?" + +"Don't ask me," she replied. "All I know is that I don't think any +less of Sandy because he backed down. I saw that stranger's face +myself an' I'm still sort of weak inside." + +"How did he look?" + +"I dunno. Jest--jest _hungry_. Understand?" + +She was silent for a time, but she was evidently thinking hard. At +last she turned to the same man. + +"Did you hear Brown-eyes say that the broad-shouldered feller next to +him was his friend?" + +"Sure. I seen them ride in together. That other one looks like a hard +nut, eh?" + +She returned no answer, but after a time her eyes raised slowly and +rested for a long moment on Dan's face. It was towards the end of +the meal when she rose and went towards the kitchen. At the door +she turned, and Dan, though he was looking down at his plate, was +conscious that someone was observing him. He glanced up and the moment +his eyes met hers she made a significant backward gesture with her +hand. He hesitated a moment and then shoved back his chair. Calder was +busy talking to a table mate, so he walked out of the house without +speaking to his companion. He went to the rear of the house and as he +had expected she was waiting for him. + +"Brown-eyes," she said swiftly, "that feller who sat beside you--is he +your partner?" + +"I dunno," said Dan evasively, "why are you askin'?" + +Her breath was coming audibly as if from excitement. + +"Have you got a fast hoss?" + +"There ain't no faster." + +"Believe me, he can't go none too fast with you tonight. Maybe they're +after you, too." + +"Who?" + +"I can't tell you. Listen to me, Brown-eyes. Go get your hoss an' feed +him the spur till you're a hundred miles away, an' even then don't +stop runnin'." + +He merely stared at her curiously. + +She stamped. + +"Don't stop to talk. If they're after him and you're his partner, they +probably want you, too." + +"I'll stay aroun'. If they're curious about me, I'll tell 'em my +name--I'll even spell it for 'em. Who are they?" + +"They are--hell--that's all." + +"I'd like to see 'em. Maybe _they're_ real men." + +"They're devils. If I told you their names you'd turn stiff." + +"I'll take one chance. Tell me who they are." + +"I don't dare tell you." + +She hesitated. + +"I _will_ tell you! You've made a fool out of me with them big baby +eyes. Jim Silent is in that house!" + +He turned and ran, but not for the horse-shed; he headed straight for +the open door of the house. + + * * * * * + +In the dining-room two more had left the table, but the rest, +lingering over their fresh filled coffee cups, sat around telling +tales, and Tex Calder was among them. He was about to push back his +chair when the hum of talk ceased as if at a command. The men on the +opposite side of the table were staring with fascinated eyes at the +door, and then a big voice boomed behind him: "Tex Calder, stan' up. +You've come to the end of the trail!" + +He whirled as he rose, kicking down the chair behind him, and stood +face to face with Jim Silent. The great outlaw was scowling; but his +gun was in its holster and his hands rested lightly on his hips. It +was plain for all eyes to see that he had come not to murder but to +fight a fair duel. Behind him loomed the figure of Lee Haines scarcely +less imposing. + +All eternity seemed poised and waiting for the second when one of the +men would make the move for his gun. Not a breath was drawn in the +room. Hands remained frozen in air in the midst of a gesture. Lips +which had parted to speak did not close. The steady voice of the clock +broke into the silence--a dying space between every tick. For the +second time in his life Tex Calder knew fear. + +He saw no mere man before him, but his own destiny. And he knew that +if he stood before those glaring eyes another minute he would become +like poor Sandy a few minutes before--a white-faced, palsied coward. +The shame of the thought gave him power. + +"Silent," he said, "there's a quick end to the longest trail, +because--" + +His hand darted down. No eye could follow the lightning speed with +which he whipped out his revolver and fanned it, but by a mortal +fraction of a second the convulsive jerk of Silent's hand was faster +still. Two shots followed--they were rather like one drawn-out report. +The woodwork splintered above the outlaw's head; Tex Calder seemed to +laugh, but his lips made no sound. He pitched forward on his face. + +"He fired that bullet," said Silent, "after mine hit him." + +Then he leaped back through the door. + +"Keep 'em back one minute, Lee, an' then after me!" he said as he ran. +Haines stood in the door with folded arms. He knew that no one would +dare to move a hand. + +Two doors slammed at the same moment--the front door as Silent leaped +into the safety of the night, and the rear door as Whistling Dan +rushed into the house. He stood at the entrance from the kitchen to +the dining-room half crouched, and swaying from the suddenness with +which he had checked his run. He saw the sprawled form of Tex Calder +on the floor and the erect figure of Lee Haines just opposite him. + +"For God's sake!" screamed Gus Morris, "don't shoot, Haines! He's done +nothin'. Let him go!" + +"My life--or his!" said Haines savagely. "He's not a man--he's a +devil!" + +Dan was laughing low--a sound like a croon. + +"Tex," he said, "I'm goin' to take him alive for you!" + +As if in answer the dying man stirred on the floor. Haines went for +his gun, a move almost as lightning swift as that of Jim Silent, but +now far, far too late. The revolver was hardly clear of its holster +when Whistling Dan's weapon spoke. Haines, with a curse, clapped his +left hand over his wounded right forearm, and then reached after his +weapon as it clattered to the floor. Once more he was too late. Dan +tossed his gun away with a snarl like the growl of a wolf; cleared the +table at a leap, and was at Haines's throat. The bandit fought back +desperately, vainly. One instant they struggled erect, swaying, the +next Haines was lifted bodily, and hurled to the floor. He writhed, +but under those prisoning hands he was helpless. + +The sheriff headed the rush for the scene of the struggle, but Dan +stopped them. + +"All you c'n do," he said, "is to bring me a piece of rope." + +Jacqueline came running with a stout piece of twine which he twisted +around the wrists of Haines. Then he jerked the outlaw to his feet, +and stood close, his face inhumanly pale. + +"If he dies," he said, pointing with a stiff arm back at the prostrate +figure of Tex Calder, "you--you'll burn alive for it!" + +The sheriff and two of the other men turned the body of Calder on his +back. They tore open his shirt, and Jacqueline leaned over him with +a basin of water trying to wipe away the ever recurrent blood which +trickled down his breast. Dan brushed them away and caught the head of +his companion in his arms. + +"Tex!" he moaned, "Tex! Open your eyes, partner, I got him for you. I +got him alive for you to look at him! Wake up!" + +As if in obedience to the summons the eyes of Calder opened wide. The +lids fluttered as if to clear his vision, but even then his gaze was +filmed with a telltale shadow. + +"Dan--Whistling Dan," he said, "I'm seeing you a long, long ways off. +Partner, I'm done for." + +The whole body of Dan stiffened. + +"Done? Tex, you can't be! Five minutes ago you sat at that there +table, smilin' an' talkin'!" + +"It doesn't take five minutes. Half a second can take a man all the +way to hell!" + +"If you're goin', pal, if you goin', Tex, take one comfort along with +you! I got the man who killed you! Come here!" + +He pulled the outlaw to his knees beside the dying marshal whose face +had lighted wonderfully. He strained his eyes painfully to make out +the face of his slayer. Then he turned his head. + +He said: "The man who killed me was Jim Silent." + +Dan groaned and leaned close to Calder. + +"Then I'll follow him to the end--" he began. + +The feeble accent of Calder interrupted him. + +"Not that way. Come close to me. I can't hear my own voice, hardly." + +Dan bowed his head. A whisper murmured on for a moment, broken here +and there as Dan nodded his head and said, "Yes!" + +"Then hold up your hand, your right hand," said Calder at last, +audibly. + +Dan obeyed. + +"You swear it?" + +"So help me God!" + +"Then here's the pledge of it!" + +Calder fumbled inside his shirt for a moment, and then withdrawing his +hand placed it palm down in that of Dan. The breath of the marshal was +coming in a rattling gasp. + +He said very faintly: "I've stopped the trails of twenty men. It took +the greatest of them all to get me. He got me fair. He beat me to the +draw!" + +He stopped as if in awe. + +"He played square--he's a better man than I. Dan, when you get him, +do it the same way--face to face--with time for him to think of hell +before he gets there. Partner, I'm going. Wish me luck." + +"Tex--partner--good luck!" + +It seemed as if that parting wish was granted, for Calder died with a +smile. + +When Dan rose slowly Gus Morris stepped up and laid a hand on his +arm: "Look here, there ain't no use of bein' sad for Tex Calder. His +business was killin' men, an' his own time was overdue." + +Dan turned a face that made Morris wince. + +"What's the matter?" he asked, with an attempt at bluff good nature. +"Do you hate everyone because one man is dead? I'll tell you what I'll +do. I'll loan you a buckboard an' a pair of hosses to take Tex back to +Elkhead. As for this feller Haines, I'll take care of him." + +"I sure need a buckboard," said Dan slowly, "but I'll get the loan +from a--white man!" + +He turned his back sharply on the sheriff and asked if any one else +had a wagon they could lend him. One of the men had stopped at +Morris's place on his way to Elkhead. He immediately proposed that +they make the trip together. + +"All right," said Morris carelessly. "I won't pick trouble with a +crazy man. Come with me, Haines." + +He turned to leave the room. + +"Wait!" said Dan. + +Haines stopped as though someone had seized him by the shoulder. + +"What the devil is this now?" asked Morris furiously. "Stranger, d'you +think you c'n run the world? Come on with me, Haines!" + +"He stays with me," said Dan. + +"By God," began Morris, "if I thought--" + +"This ain't no place for you to begin thinkin'," said the man who had +offered his buckboard to Dan. "This feller made the capture an' he's +got the right to take him into Elkhead if he wants. They's a reward on +the head of Lee Haines." + +"The arrest is made in my county," said Morris stoutly, "an' I've got +the say as to what's to be done with a prisoner." + +"Morris," said Haines earnestly, "if I'm taken to Elkhead it'll be +simply a matter of lynching. You know the crowd in that town." + +"Right--right," said Morris, eagerly picking up the word. "It'd be +plain lynchin'--murder--" + +Dan broke in: "Haines, step over here behind me!" + +For one instant Haines hesitated, and then obeyed silently. + +"This is contempt of the law and an officer of the law," said Morris. +"An" I'll see that you get fined so that--" + +"Better cut it short there, sheriff," said one of the men. "I wouldn't +go callin' the attention of folks to the way Jim Silent walked into +your own house an' made his getaway without you tryin' to raise a +hand. Law or no law, I'm with this stranger." + +"Me too," said another; "any man who can fan a gun like him don't need +no law." + +The sheriff saw that the tide of opinion had set strongly against him +and abandoned his position with speed if not with grace. Dan ordered +Haines to walk before him outside the house. They faced each other in +the dim moonlight. + +"I've got one question to ask you," he said. + +"Make it short," said Haines calmly. "I've got to do my talking before +the lynching crowd." + +"You can answer it in one word. Does Kate Cumberland--what is she to +you?" + +Lee Haines set his teeth. + +"All the world," he said. + +Even in the dim light he saw the yellow glow of Dan's eyes and he +felt as if a wolf stood there trembling with eagerness to leap at his +throat. + +"An' what are you to her?" + +"No more than the dirt under her feet!" + +"Haines, you lie!" + +"I tell you that if she cared for me as much as she does for the horse +she rides on, I'd let the whole world know if I had to die for it the +next moment." + +Truth has a ring of its own. + +"Haines, if I could hear that from her own lips, I'd let you go free. +If you'll show me the way to Kate, I'll set you loose the minute I see +her." + +"I can't do it. I've given my faith to Silent and his men. Where she +is, they are." + +"Haines, that means death for you." + +"I know it." + +Another plan had come to Dan as they talked. He took Haines inside +again and coming out once more, whistled for Bart. The wolf appeared +as if by magic through the dark. He took out Kate's glove, which the +wolf had brought to him in the willows, and allowed him to smell it. +Bart whined eagerly. If he had that glove he would range the hills +until he found its owner, directed to her by that strange instinct +of the wild things. If Kate still loved him the glove would be more +eloquent than a thousand messages. And if she managed to escape, the +wolf would guide her back to his master. + +He sat on his heels, caught the wolf on either side of the shaggy +head, and stared into the glow of the yellow green eyes. It was as if +the man were speaking to the wolf. + +At last, as if satisfied, he drew a deep breath, rose, and dropped the +glove. It was caught in the flashing teeth. For another moment Bart +stood whining and staring up to the face of his master. Then he +whirled and fled out into the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +ONE WAY OUT + +In a room of the Salton place, on the evening of the next day after +Calder's death, sat Silent, with Kilduff, Rhinehart, and Jordan about +him. Purvis was out scouting for the news of Haines, whose long +absence commenced to worry the gang. Several times they tried to +induce Kate to come out and talk with them, but she was resolute +in staying alone in the room which they had assigned to her. +Consequently, to while away the time, Bill Kilduff produced his mouth +organ and commenced a dolorous ballad. He broke short in the midst of +it and stared at the door. The others followed the direction of his +eyes and saw Black Bart standing framed against the fading daylight. +They started up with curses; Rhinehart drew his gun. + +"Wait a minute," ordered Silent. + +"Damn it!" exclaimed Jordan, "don't you see Whistling Dan's wolf? If +the wolf's here, Dan isn't far behind." + +Silent shook his head. + +"If there's goin' to be any shootin' of that wolf leave it to Hal +Purvis. He's jest nacherally set his heart on it. An' Whistlin' Dan +ain't with the wolf. Look! there's a woman's glove hangin' out of his +mouth. He picked that up in the willows, maybe, an' followed the girl +here. Watch him!" + +The wolf slunk across the room to the door which opened on Kate's +apartment. Kate threw the door open--cried out at the sight of +Bart--and then snatched up the glove he let drop at her feet. + +"No cause for gettin' excited," said Silent. "Whistlin' Dan ain't +comin' here after the wolf." + +For answer she slammed the door. + +At the same moment Hal Purvis entered. He stepped directly to Silent, +and stood facing him with his hands resting on his hips. His smile was +marvellously unpleasant. + +"Well," said the chief, "what's the news? You got eloquent eyes, Hal, +but I want words." + +"The news is plain hell," said Purvis, "Haines--" + +"What of him?" + +"He's in Elkhead!" + +"Elkhead?" + +"Whistling Dan got him at Morris's place and took him in along with +the body of Tex Calder. Jim, you got to answer for it to all of us. +You went to Morris's with Lee. You come away without him and let him +stay behind to be nabbed by that devil Whistlin' Dan." + +"Right," said Kilduff, and his teeth clicked. "Is that playin' fair?" + +"Boys," said Silent solemnly, "if I had knowed that Whistlin' Dan was +there, I'd of never left Haines to stay behind. Morris said nothin' +about Calder havin' a runnin' mate. Me an' Haines was in the upstairs +room an' about suppertime up came a feller an' told us that Tex Calder +had jest come into the dinin'-room. That was all. Did Whistlin' Dan +get Lee from behind?" + +"He got him from the front. He beat Lee to the draw so bad that Haines +hardly got his gun out of its leather!" + +"The feller that told you that lied," said Silent. "Haines is as fast +with his shootin' iron as I am--almost!" + +The rest of the outlaws nodded to each other significantly. + +Purvis went on without heeding the interruption. "After I found out +about the fight I swung towards Elkhead. About five miles out of town +I met up with Rogers, the deputy sheriff at Elkhead. I thought you had +him fixed for us, Jim?" + +"Damn his hide, I did. Is he playing us dirt now?" + +"A frosty mornin' in December was nothin' to the way he talked." + +"Cut all that short," said Rhinehart, "an' let's know if Rogers is +goin' to be able to keep the lynching party away from Haines!" + +"He says he thinks it c'n be done for a couple of days," said Purvis, +"but the whole range is risin'. All the punchers are ridin' into +Elkhead an' wantin' to take a look at the famous Lee Haines. Rogers +says that when enough of 'em get together they'll take the law in +their own hands an' nothin' can stop 'em then." + +"Why don't the rotten dog give Haines a chance to make a getaway?" +asked Silent. "Ain't we paid him his share ever since we started +workin' these parts?" + +"He don't dare take the chance," said Purvis. "He says the boys are +talkin' mighty strong. They want action. They've put up a guard all +around the jail an' they say that if Haines gets loose they'll string +up Rogers. Everyone's wild about the killin' of Calder. Jim, ol' +Saunderson, he's put up five thousand out of his own pocket to raise +the price on your head!" + +"An' this Whistlin' Dan," said Silent. "I s'pose they're makin' a hero +out of him?" + +"Rogers says every man within ten miles is talkin' about him. The +whole range'll know of him in two days. He made a nice play when he +got in. You know they's five thousand out on Haines's head. It was +offered to him by Rogers as soon as Dan brought Lee in. What d'you +think he done? Pocketed the cheque? No, he grabbed it, an' tore it up +small: 'I ain't after no blood money,' he says." + +"No," said Silent. "He ain't after no money--he's after me!" + +"Tomorrow they bury Calder. The next day Whistlin' Dan'll be on our +trail again--an' he'll be playin' the same lone hand. Rogers offered +him a posse. He wouldn't take it." + +"They's one pint that ain't no nearer bein' solved," said Bill Kilduff +in a growl, "an' that's how you're goin' to get Haines loose. Silent, +it's up to you. Which you rode away leavin' him behind." + +Silent took one glance around that waiting circle. Then he nodded. + +"It's up to me. Gimme a chance to think." + +He started walking up and down the room, muttering. At last he stopped +short. + +"Boys, it can be done! They's nothin' like talkin' of a woman to make +a man turn himself into a plumb fool, an' I'm goin' to make a fool out +of Whistlin' Dan with this girl Kate!" + +"But how in the name of God c'n you make her go out an' talk to him?" +said Rhinehart. + +"Son," answered Silent, "they's jest one main trouble with you--you +talk a hell of a pile too much. When I've done this I'll tell you how +it was figgered out!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +THE WOMAN'S WAY + +It was a day later, in the morning, that a hand knocked at Kate's door +and she opened it to Jim Silent. He entered, brushing off the dust of +a long journey. + +"Good-mornin', Miss Cumberland." + +He extended a hand which she overlooked. + +"You still busy hatin' me?" + +"I'm simply--surprised that you have come in here to talk to me." + +"You look as if you seen somethin' in my face?" he said suspiciously. +"What is it? Dirt?" + +He brushed a hand across his forehead. + +"Whatever it is," she answered, "you can't rub it away." + +"I'm thinkin' of givin' you a leave of absence--if you'll promise to +come back." + +"Would you trust my honour?" + +"In a pinch like this," he said amiably, "I would. But here's my +business. Lee Haines is jailed in Elkhead. The man that put him behind +the bars an' the only one that can take him out agin is Whistlin' Dan. +An' the one person who can make Dan set Lee loose is you. Savvy? Will +you go an' talk with Dan? This wolf of his would find him for you." + +She shook her head. + +"Why not?" cried Silent in a rising voice. + +"The last time he saw me," she said, "he had reason to think that I +tried to betray him because of Lee Haines. If I went to him now to +plead for Haines he'd be sure that I was what he called me--Delilah!" + +"Is that final?" + +"Absolutely!" + +"Now get me straight. They's a crowd of cowpunchers gatherin' in +Elkhead, an' today or tomorrow they'll be strong enough to take the +law into their own hands and organize a little lynchin' bee, savvy?" + +She shuddered. + +"It ain't pleasant, is it, the picture of big, good-lookin' Lee +danglin' from the end of a rope with the crowd aroun' takin' pot-shots +at him? No, it ain't, an' you're goin' to stop it. You're goin' to +start from here in fifteen minutes with your hoss an' this wolf, after +givin' me your promise to come back when you've seen Whistlin' Dan. +You're goin' to make Dan go an' set Lee loose." + +She smiled in derision. + +"If Dan did that he'd be outlawed." + +"You won't stir?" + +"Not a step!" + +"Well, kid, for everything that happens to Lee somethin' worse will +happen to someone in the next room. Maybe you'd like to see him?" + +He opened the door and she stepped into the entrance. Almost opposite +her sat old Joe Cumberland with his hands tied securely behind his +back. At sight of her he rose with a low cry. She turned on big Silent +and whipped the six-gun from his hip. He barely managed to grasp her +wrist and swing the heavy revolver out of line with his body. + +"You little fiend," he snarled, "drop the gun, or I'll wring your +neck." + +"I don't fear you," she said, never wincing under the crushing grip on +her wrists, "you murderer!" + +He said, calmly repossessing himself of his gun, "Now take a long look +at your father an' repeat all the things you was just saying' to me." + +She stared miserably at her father. When Silent caught Kate's hand +Cumberland had started forward, but Kilduff and Rhinehart held him. + +"What is it, Kate," he cried. "What does it mean?" + +She explained it briefly: "This is Jim Silent!" + +He remained staring at her with open mouth as if his brain refused to +admit what his ear heard. + +"There ain't no use askin' questions how an' why she's here," said +Silent. "This is the pint. Lee Haines is behind the bars in Elkhead. +Whistlin' Dan put him there an' maybe the girl c'n persuade Dan to +bring him out again. If she don't--then everything the lynchin' gang +does to Haines we're goin' to do to you. Git down on your ol' knees, +Cumberland, an' beg your daughter to save your hide!" + +The head of Kate dropped down. + +"Untie his hands," she said. "I'll talk with Dan." + +"I knew you'd see reason," grinned Silent. + +"Jest one minute," said Cumberland. "Kate, is Lee Haines one of +Silent's gang?" + +"He is." + +"An' Dan put him behind the bars?" + +"Yes." + +"If Dan takes him out again the boy'll be outlawed, Kate." + +"Cumberland," broke in Kilduff savagely, "here's your call to stop +thinkin' about Whistlin' Dan an' begin figgerin' for yourself." + +"Don't you see?" said Kate, "it's your death these cowards mean." + +Cumberland seemed to grow taller, he stood so stiffly erect with his +chin high like a soldier. + +"You shan't make no single step to talk with Dan!" + +"Can't you understand that it's _you_ they threaten?" she cried. + +"I understan' it all," he said evenly. "I'm too old to have a young +man damned for my sake." + +"Shut him up!" ordered Silent. "The old fool!" + +The heavy hand of Terry Jordan clapped over Joe's mouth effectually +silenced him. He struggled vainly to speak again and Kate turned to +Silent to shut out the sight. + +"Tell your man to let him go," she said, "I will do what you wish." + +"That's talkin' sense," said Silent. "Come out with me an' I'll saddle +your hoss. Call the wolf." + +He opened the door and in response to her whistle Black Bart trotted +out and followed them out to the horse shed. There the outlaw quickly +saddled Kate's pony. + +He said: "Whistlin' Dan is sure headin' back in this direction because +he's got an idea I'm somewhere near. Bart will find him on the way." + +Silent was right. That morning Dan had started back towards Gus +Morris's place, for he was sure that the outlaws were camped in that +neighbourhood. A little before noon he veered half a mile to the right +towards a spring which welled out from a hillside, surrounded by a +small grove of willows. Having found it, he drank, and watered Satan, +then took off the saddle to ease the stallion, and lay down at a +little distance for a ten-minute siesta, one of those half wakeful +sleeps the habit of which he had learned from his wolf. + +He was roused from the doze by a tremendous snorting and snarling and +found Black Bart playing with Satan. It was their greeting after +an absence, and they dashed about among the willows like creatures +possessed. Dan brought horse and dog to a motionless stand with a +single whistle, and then ran out to the edge of the willows. Down the +side of the hill rode Kate at a brisk gallop. In a moment she saw him +and called his name, with a welcoming wave of her arm. Now she was off +her horse and running to him. He caught her hands and held her for +an instant far from him like one striving to draw out the note of +happiness into a song. They could not speak. + +At last: "I knew you'd find a way to come." + +"They let me go, Dan." + +He frowned, and her eyes faltered from his. + +"They sent me to you to ask you--to free Lee Haines!" + +He dropped her hands, and she stood trying to find words to explain, +and finding none. + +"To free Haines?" he repeated heavily. + +"It is Dad," she cried. "They have captured him, and they are holding +him. They keep him in exchange for Haines." + +"If I free Haines they'll outlaw me. You know that, Kate?" + +She made a pace towards him, but he retreated. + +"What can I do?" she pleaded desperately. "It is for my father--" + +His face brightened as he caught at a new hope. + +"Show me the way to Silent's hiding place and I'll free your father +an' reach the end of this trail at the same time, Kate!" + +She blenched pitifully. It was hopeless to explain. + +"Dan--honey--I can't!" + +She watched him miserably. + +"I've given them my word to come back alone." + +His head bowed. Out of the willows came Satan and Black Bart and stood +beside him, the stallion nosing his shoulder affectionately. + +"Dan, dear, won't you speak to me? Won't you tell me that you try to +understand?" + +He said at last: "Yes. I'll free Lee Haines." + +The fingers of his right hand trailed slowly across the head of Black +Bart. His eyes raised and looked past her far across the running +curves of the hills, far away to the misty horizon. + +"Kate--" + +"Dan, you _do_ understand?" + +"I didn't know a woman could love a man the way you do Lee Haines. +When I send him back to you tell him to watch himself. I'm playin' +your game now, but if I meet him afterwards, I'll play my own." + +All she could say was: "Will you listen to me no more, Dan?" + +"Here's where we say good-bye." + +He took her hand and his eyes were as unfathomable as a midnight sky. +She turned to her horse and he helped her to the saddle with a steady +hand. + +That was all. He went back to the willows, his right arm resting on +the withers of Black Satan as if upon the shoulder of a friend. As she +reached the top of the hill she heard a whistling from the willows, a +haunting complaint which brought the tears to her eyes. She spurred +her tired horse to escape the sound. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + +HELL STARTS + +Between twilight and dark Whistling Dan entered Elkhead. He rose in +the stirrups, on his toes, stretching the muscles of his legs. He was +sensing his strength. So the pianist before he plays runs his fingers +up and down the keys and sees that all is in tune and the touch +perfect. + +Two rival saloons faced each other at the end of the single street. +At the other extremity of the lane stood the house of deputy sheriff +Rogers, and a little farther was the jail. A crowd of horses stood in +front of each saloon, but from the throngs within there came hardly a +sound. The hush was prophetic of action; it was the lull before the +storm. Dan slowed his horse as he went farther down the street. + +The shadowy figure of a rider showed near the jail. He narrowed his +eyes and looked more closely. Another, another, another horseman +showed--four in sight on his side of the jail and probably as many +more out of his vision. Eight cattlemen guarded the place from which +he must take Lee Haines, and every one of the eight, he had no doubt, +was a picked man. Dan pulled up Satan to a walk and commenced to +whistle softly. It was like one of those sounds of the wind, a thing +to guess at rather than to know, but the effect upon Satan and Black +Bart was startling. + +The ears of the stallion dropped flat on his neck. He began to slink +along with a gliding step which was very like the stealthy pace of +Black Bart, stealing ahead. His footfall was as silent as if he had +been shod with felt. Meantime Dan ran over a plan of action. He saw +very clearly that he had little time for action. Those motionless +guards around the jail made his task difficult enough, but there was a +still greater danger. The crowds in the two saloons would be starting +up the street for Haines before long. Their silence told him that. + +A clatter of hoofs came behind him. He did not turn his head, but his +hand dropped down to his revolver butt. The fast riding horseman swept +and shot on down the street, leaving a pungent though invisible cloud +of dust behind him. He stopped in front of Rogers's house and darted +up the steps and through the door. Acting upon a premonition, Dan +dismounted a short distance from Rogers's house and ran to the door. +He opened it softly and found himself in a narrow hall dimly lighted +by a smoking lamp. Voices came from the room to his right. + +"What d'you mean, Hardy?" the deputy sheriff was saying. + +"Hell's startin'!" + +"There's a good many kinds of hell. Come out with it, Lee. I ain't no +mind reader." + +"They're gettin' ready for the big bust!" + +"What big bust?" + +"It ain't no use bluffin'. Ain't Silent told you that I'm on the +inside of the game?" + +"You fool!" cried Rogers. "Don't use that name!" + +Dan slipped a couple of paces down the hall and flattened himself +against the wall just as the door opened. Rogers looked out, drew a +great breath of relief, and went back into the room. Dan resumed his +former position. + +"Now talk fast!" said Rogers. + +"About time for you to drop that rotten bluff. Why, man, I could even +tell you jest how much you've cost Jim Silent." + +Rogers growled: "Tell me what's up." + +"The boys are goin' for the jail tonight. They'll get out Haines an' +string him up." + +"It's comin' to him. He's played a hard game for a long time." + +"An' so have you, Rogers, for a damn long time!" + +Rogers swallowed the insult, apparently. + +"What can I do?" he asked plaintively. "I'm willin' to give Silent and +his gang a square deal." + +"You should of done something while they was only a half-dozen +cowpunchers in town. Now the town's full of riders an' they're all +after blood." + +"An' my blood if they don't get Haines!" broke in the deputy sheriff. + +Hardy grunted. + +"They sure are," he said. "I've heard 'em talk, an' they mean +business. All of 'em. But how'd you answer to Jim Silent, Rogers? If +you let 'em get Haines--well, Haines is Silent's partner an' Jim'll +bust everything wide to get even with you." + +"I c'n explain," said Rogers huskily. "I c'n show Silent how I'm +helpless." + +Footsteps went up and down the room. + +"If they start anything," said Rogers, "I'll mark down the names of +the ringleaders and I'll give 'em hell afterwards. That'll soothe Jim +some." + +"You won't know 'em. They'll wear masks." + +Dan opened the door and stepped into the room. Rogers started up with +a curse and gripped his revolver. + +"I never knew you was so fond of gun play," said Dan. "Maybe that gun +of yours would be catchin' cold if you was to leave it out of the +leather long?" + +The sheriff restored his revolver slowly to the holster, glowering. + +"An' Rogers won't be needin' you for a minute or two," went on Dan to +Hardy. + +They seemed to fear even his voice. The Wells Fargo agent vanished +through the door and clattered down the steps. + +"How long you been standin' at that door?" said Rogers, gnawing his +lips. + +"Jest for a breathin' space," said Dan. + +Rogers squinted his eyes to make up for the dimness of the lamplight. + +"By God!" he cried suddenly. "You're Whistlin' Dan Barry!" + +He dropped into his chair and passed a trembling hand across his +forehead. + +He stammered: "Maybe you've changed your mind an' come back for that +five thousand?" + +"No, I've come for a man, not for money." + +"A man?" + +"I want Lee Haines before the crowd gets him." + +"Would you really try to take Haines out?" asked Rogers with a touch +of awe. + +"Are there any guards in the jail?" + +"Two. Lewis an' Patterson." + +"Give me a written order for Haines." + +The deputy wavered. + +"If I do that I'm done for in this town!" + +"Maybe. I want the key for Haines's handcuffs." + +"Go over an' put your hoss up in the shed behind the jail," said +Rogers, fighting for time, "an' when you come back I'll have the order +written out an' give it to you with the key." + +"Why not come over with me now?" + +"I got some other business." + +"In five minutes I'll be back," said Dan, and left the house. + +Outside he whistled to Satan, and the stallion trotted up to him. He +swung into the saddle and rode to the jail. There was not a guard in +sight. He rode around to the other side of the building to reach the +stable. Still he could not sight one of those shadowy horsemen who +had surrounded the place a few minutes before. Perhaps the crowd had +called in the guards to join the attack. + +He put Satan away in the stable and as he led him into a stall he +heard a roar of many voices far away. Then came the crack of half +a dozen revolvers. Dan set his teeth and glanced quickly over the +half-dozen horses in the little shed. He recognized the tall bay of +Lee Haines at once and threw on its back the saddle which hung on a +peg directly behind it. As he drew up the cinch another shout came +from the street, but this time very close. + +When he raced around the jail he saw the crowd pouring into the house +of the deputy sheriff. He ran on till he came to the outskirts of the +mob. Every man was masked, but in the excitement no one noticed that +Dan's face was bare. Squirming his way through the press, Dan reached +the deputy's office. It was almost filled. Rogers stood on a chair +trying to argue with the cattlemen. + +"No more talk, sheriff," thundered one among the cowpunchers, "we've +had enough of your line of talk. Now we want some action of our own +brand. For the last time: Are you goin' to order Lewis an' Patterson +to give up Haines, or are you goin' to let two good men die fightin' +for a damn lone rider?" + +"What about the feller who's goin' to take Lee Haines out of Elkhead?" +cried another. + +The crowd yelled with delight. + +"Yes, where is he? What about him?" + +Rogers, glancing down from his position on the chair, stared into the +brown eyes of Whistling Dan. He stretched out an arm that shook with +excitement. + +"That feller there!" he cried, "that one without a mask! Whistlin' Dan +Barry is the man!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + + +THE RESCUE + +The throng gave back from Dan, as if from the vicinity of a panther. +Dan faced the circle of scowling faces, smiling gently upon them. + +"Look here, Barry," called a voice from the rear of the crowd, "why +do you want to take Haines away? Throw in your cards with us. We need +you." + +"If it's fightin' you want," cried a joker, "maybe Lewis an' Patterson +will give us all enough of it at the jail." + +"I ain't never huntin' for trouble," said Dan. + +"Make your play quick," said another. "We got no time to waste even on +Dan Barry. Speak out, Dan. Here's a lot of good fellers aimin' to take +out Haines an' give him what's due him--no more. Are you with us?" + +"I'm not." + +"Is that final?" + +"It is." + +"All right. Tie him up, boys. There ain't no other way!" + +"Look out!" shouted a score of voices, for a gun flashed in Dan's +hand. + +He aimed at no human target. The bullet shattered the glass lamp into +a thousand shivering and tinkling splinters. Thick darkness blotted +the room. Instantly thereafter a blow, a groan, and the fall of a +body; then a confused clamour. + +"He's here!" + +"Give up that gun, damn you!" + +"You got the wrong man!" + +"I'm Bill Flynn!" + +"Guard the door!" + +"Lights, for God's sake!" + +"Help!" + +A slender figure leaped up against the window and was dimly outlined +by the starlight outside. There was a crash of falling glass, and as +two or three guns exploded the figure leaped down outside the house. + +"Follow him!" + +"Who was that?" + +"Get a light! Who's got a match?" + +Half the men rushed out of the room to pursue that fleeing figure. The +other half remained to see what had happened. It seemed impossible +that Whistling Dan had escaped from their midst. Half a dozen sulphur +matches spurted little jets of blue flame and discovered four men +lying prone on the floor, most of them with the wind trampled from +their bodies, but otherwise unhurt. One of them was the sheriff. + +He lay with his shoulders propped against the wall. His mouth was a +mass of blood. + +"Who got you, Rogers?" + +"Where's Barry?" + +"The jail, the jail!" groaned Rogers. "Barry has gone for the jail!" + +Revolvers rattled outside. + +"He's gone for Haines," screamed the deputy. "Go get him, boys!" + +"How can he get Haines? He ain't got the keys." + +"He has, you fools! When he shot the lights out he jumped for me and +knocked me off the chair. Then he went through my pockets and got the +keys. Get on your way! Quick!" + +The lynchers, yelling with rage, were already stamping from the room. + +With the jangling bunch of keys in one hand and his revolver in the +other, Dan started full speed for the jail as soon as he leaped down +from the window. By the time he had covered half the intervening +distance the first pursuers burst out of Rogers's house and opened +fire after the shadowy fugitive. He whirled and fired three shots high +in the air. No matter how impetuous, those warning shots would make +the mob approach the jail with some caution. + +On the door of the jail he beat furiously with the bunch of keys. + +"What's up? Who's there?" cried a voice within. + +"Message from Rogers. Hell's started! He's sent me with the keys!" + +The door jerked open and a tall man, with a rifle slung across one +arm, blocked the entrance. + +"What's the message?" he asked. + +"This!" said Dan, and drove his fist squarely into the other's face. + +He fell without a cry and floundered on the floor, gasping. Dan picked +him up and shoved him through the door, bolting it behind him. +A narrow hall opened before him and ran the length of the small +building. He glanced into the room on one side. It was the kitchen and +eating-room in one. He rushed into the one on the other side. Two men +were there. One was Haines, sitting with his hands manacled. The other +was the second guard, who ran for Dan, whipping his rifle to his +shoulder. As flame spurted from the mouth of the gun, Dan dived at the +man's knees and brought him to the floor with a crash. He rose quickly +and leaned over the fallen man, who lay without moving, his arms +spread wide. He had struck on his forehead when he dropped. He was +stunned for the moment, but not seriously hurt. Dan ran to Haines, who +stood with his hands high above his head. Far away was the shout of +the coming crowd. + +"Shoot and be damned!" said Haines sullenly. + +For answer Dan jerked down the hands of the lone rider and commenced +to try the keys on the handcuffs. There were four keys. The fourth +turned the lock. Haines shouted as his hands fell free. + +"After me!" cried Dan, and raced for the stable. + +As they swung into their saddles outside the shed, the lynchers raced +their horses around the jail. + +"Straightaway!" called Dan. "Through the cottonwoods and down the +lane. After me. Satan!" + +The stallion leaped into a full gallop, heading straight for a tall +group of cottonwoods beyond which was a lane fenced in with barbed +wire. Half a dozen of the pursuers were in a position to cut them off, +and now rushed for the cottonwoods, yelling to their comrades to join +them. A score of lights flashed like giant fireflies as the lynchers +opened fire. + +"They've blocked the way!" groaned Haines. + +Three men had brought their horses to a sliding stop in front of the +cottonwoods and their revolvers cracked straight in the faces of Dan +and Haines. There was no other way for escape. Dan raised his revolver +and fired twice, aiming low. Two of the horses reared and pitched +to the ground. The third rider had a rifle at his shoulder. He was +holding his fire until he had drawn a careful bead. Now his gun +spurted and Dan bowed far over his saddle as if he had been struck +from behind. + +Before the rifleman could fire again Black Bart leaped high in the +air. His teeth closed on the shoulder of the lyncher and the man +catapulted from his saddle to the ground. With his yell in their ears, +Dan and Haines galloped through the cottonwoods, and swept down the +lane. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + + +THE LONG RIDE + +A cheer of triumph came from the lynchers. In fifty yards the +fugitives learned the reason, for they glimpsed a high set of bars +blocking the lane. Dan pulled back beside Haines. + +"Can the bay make it?" he called. + +"No. I'm done for." + +For answer Dan caught the bridle of Lee's horse close to the bit. They +were almost to the bars. A dark shadow slid up and over them. It was +Black Bart, with his head turned to look back even as he jumped, as if +he were setting an example which he bid them follow. Appallingly high +the bars rose directly in front of them. + +"Now!" called Dan to the tall bay, and jerked up on the bit. + +Satan rose like a swallow to the leap. The bay followed in gallant +imitation. For an instant they hung poised in air. Then Satan pitched +to the ground, landing safely and lightly on four cat-like feet. A +click and a rattle behind them--the bay was also over, but his hind +hoofs had knocked down the top bar. He staggered, reeled far to +one side, but recovering, swept on after Satan and Dan. A yell of +disappointment rang far behind. + +Glancing back Haines saw the foremost of the pursuers try to imitate +the feat of the fugitives, but even with the top bar down he failed. +Man and horse pitched to the ground. + +For almost a mile the lane held straight on, and beyond stretched +the open country. They were in that free sweep of hills before the +pursuers remounted beyond the bars. In daytime a mile would have been +a small handicap, but with the night and the hills to cover their +flight, and with such mounts as Satan and the tall bay, they were +safe. In half an hour all sound of them died out, and Haines, +following Dan's example, slowed his horse to an easy gallop. + +The long rider was puzzled by his companion's horsemanship, for Dan +rode leaning far to the right of his saddle, with his head bowed. +Several times Haines was on the verge of speaking, but he refrained. +He commenced to sing in the exultation of freedom. An hour before he +had been in the "rat-trap" with a circle of lynchers around him, and +only two terror-stricken guards to save him from the most horrible of +deaths. Then came Fate and tore him away and gave him to the liberty +of the boundless hills. Fate in the person of this slender, sombre +man. He stared at Dan with awe. + +At the top of a hill his companion drew rein, reeling in the saddle +with the suddenness of the halt. However, in such a horseman, this +could not be. It must be merely a freak feature of his riding. + +"Move," said Dan, his breath coming in pants. "Line out and get to +her." + +"To who?" said Haines, utterly bewildered. + +"Delilah!" + +"What?" + +"Damn you, she's waitin' for you." + +"In the name of God, Barry, why do you talk like this after you've +saved me from hell?" + +He stretched out his hand eagerly, but Dan reined Satan back. + +"Keep your hand. I hate you worse'n hell. There ain't room enough in +the world for us both. If you want to thank me do it by keepin' out of +my path. Because the next time we meet you're goin' to die, Haines. +It's writ in a book. Now feed your hoss the spur and run for Kate +Cumberland. But remember--I'm goin' to get you again if I can." + +"Kate--" began Haines. "She sent you for me?" + +Only the yellow blazing eyes made answer and the wail of a coyote far +away on the shadowy hill. + +"Kate!" cried Haines again, but now there was a world of new meaning +in his voice. He swung his horse and spurred down the slope. + +At the next hill-crest he turned in the saddle, saw the motionless +rider still outlined against the sky, and brought the bay to a halt. +He was greatly troubled. For a reason mysterious and far beyond the +horizon of his knowledge, Dan was surrendering Kate Cumberland to him. + +"He's doing it while he still loves her," muttered Haines, "and am I +cur enough to take her from him after he has saved me from God knows +what?" + +He turned his horse to ride back, but at that moment he caught +the weird, the unearthly note of Dan's whistling. There was both +melancholy and gladness in it. The storm wind running on the hills and +exulting in the blind terror of the night had such a song as this to +sing. + +"If he was a man," Haines argued briefly with himself, "I'd do it. But +he isn't a man. He's a devil. He has no more heart than the wolf which +owns him as master. Shall I give a girl like Kate Cumberland to that +wild panther? She's mine--all mine!" + +Once more he turned his horse and this time galloped steadily on into +the night. + +When Haines dropped out of sight, Dan's whistling stopped. He looked +up to the pitiless glitter of the stars. He looked down to the sombre +sweep of black hills. The wind was like a voice saying over and over +again: "Failure." Everything was lost. + +He slipped from the saddle and took off his coat. From his left +shoulder the blood welled slowly, steadily. He tore a strip from his +shirt and attempted to make a bandage, but he could not manage it with +one hand. + +The world thronged with hostile forces eager to hunt him to the death. +He needed all his strength, and now that was ebbing from a wound which +a child could have staunched for him, but where could he find even a +friendly child? Truly all was lost! The satyr or the black panther +once had less need of man's help than had Dan, but now he was hurt in +body and soul. That matchless co-ordination of eye with hand and foot +was gone. He saw Kate smiling into the eyes of Haines; he imagined +Bill Kilduff sitting on the back of Satan, controlling all that +glorious force and speed; he saw Hal Purvis fighting venomously with +Bart for the mastery which eventually must belong to the man. + +He turned to the wild pair. Vaguely they sensed a danger threatening +their master, and their eyes mourned for his hurt. He buried his face +on the strong, smooth shoulder of Satan, and groaned. There came the +answering whinny and the hot breath of the horse against the side of +his face. There was the whine of Black Bart behind him, then the rough +tongue of the wolf touched the dripping fingers. Then he felt a hot +gust of the wolf's breath against his hand. + +Too late he realized what that meant. He whirled with a cry of +command, but the snarl of Black Bart cut it short. The wolf stood +bristling, trembling with eagerness for the kill, his great white +fangs gleaming, his snarl shrill and guttural with the frenzy of his +desire, for he had tasted blood. Dan understood as he stared into the +yellow green fury of the wolf's eyes, yet he felt no fear, only a +glory in the fierce, silent conflict. He could not move the fingers of +his left hand, but those of his right curved, stiffened. He desired +nothing more in the world than the contact with that great, bristling +black body, to leap aside from those ominous teeth, to set his fingers +in the wolf's throat. Reason might have told him the folly of such a +strife, but all that remained in his mind was the love of combat--a +blind passion. His eyes glowed like those of the wolf, yellow fire +against the green. Black Bart crouched still lower, gathering himself +for the spring, but he was held by the man's yellow gleaming eyes. +They invited the battle. Fear set its icy hand on the soul of the +wolf. + +The man seemed to tower up thrice his normal height. His voice rang, +harsh, sudden, unlike the utterance of man or beast: "_Down!_" + +Fear conquered Black Bart. The fire died from his eyes. His body sank +as if from exhaustion. He crawled on his belly to the feet of his +master and whined an unutterable submission. + +And then that hand, warm and wet with the thing whose taste set the +wolf's heart on fire with the lust to kill, was thrust against his +nose. He leaped back with bared teeth, growling horribly. The eyes +commanded him back, commanded him relentlessly. He howled dismally to +the senseless stars, yet he came; and once more that hand was thrust +against his nose. He licked the fingers. + +That blood-lust came hotter than before, but his fear was greater. +He licked the strange hand again, whining. Then the master kneeled. +Another hand, clean, and free from that horrible warm, wet sign of +death, fell upon his shaggy back. The voice which he knew of old came +to him, blew away the red mist from his soul, comforted him. + +"Poor Bart!" said the voice, and the hand went slowly over his head. +"It weren't your fault." + +The stallion whinnied softly. A deep growl formed in the throat of the +wolf, a mighty effort at speech. And now, like a gleam of light in a +dark room, Dan remembered the house of Buck Daniels. There, at least, +they could not refuse him aid. He drew on his coat, though the +effort set him sweating with agony, got his foot in the stirrup with +difficulty, and dragged himself to the saddle. Satan started at a +swift gallop. + +"Faster, Satan! Faster, partner!" + +What a response! The strong body settled a little closer to the +earth as the stride increased. The rhythm of the pace grew quicker, +smoother. There was no adequate phrase to describe the matchless +motion. And in front--always just a little in front with the plunging +forefeet of the horse seeming to threaten him at every stride, ran +Black Bart with his head turned as if he were the guard and guide of +the fugitive. + +Dan called and Black Bart yelped in answer. Satan tossed up his +head and neighed as he raced along. The two replies were like human +assurances that there was still a fighting chance. + +The steady loss of blood was telling rapidly now. He clutched the +pommel, set his teeth, and felt oblivion settle slowly and surely upon +him. As his senses left him he noted the black outlines of the next +high range of hills, a full ten miles away. + +He only knew the pace of Satan never slackened. There seemed no effort +in it. He was like one of those fabled horses, the offspring of the +wind, and like the wind, tireless, eternal of motion. + +A longer oblivion fell upon Dan. As he roused from it he found +himself slipping in the saddle. He struggled desperately to grasp the +saddlehorn and managed to draw himself up again; but the warning was +sufficient to make him hunt about for some means of making himself +more secure in the saddle. It was a difficult task to do anything +with only one hand, but he managed to tie his left arm to the +bucking-strap. If the end came, at least he was sure to die in the +saddle. Vaguely he was aware as he looked around that the black hills +were no longer in the distance. He was among them. + +On went Satan. His breath was coming more and more laboured. It seemed +to Dan's dim consciousness that some of the spring was gone from that +glorious stride which swept on and on with the slightest undulation, +like a swallow skimming before the wind; but so long as strength +remained he knew that Satan would never falter in his pace. As the +delirium swept once more shadow-like on his brain, he allowed himself +to fall forward, and wound his fingers as closely as possible in the +thick mane. His left arm jerked horribly against the bonds. Black +night swallowed him once more. + +Only his invincible heart kept Satan going throughout that last +stretch. His ears lay flat on his neck, lifting only when the master +muttered and raved in his fever. Foam flew back against his throat +and breast. His breath came shorter, harder, with a rasp; but the +gibbering voice of his rider urged him on, faster, and faster. They +topped a small hill, and a little to the left and a mile away, rose +a group of cottonwoods, and Dan, recovering consciousness, knew the +house of Buck. He also knew that his last moment of consciousness was +come. Surges of sleepy weakness swept over his brain. He could never +guide Satan to the house. + +"Bart!" he called feebly. + +The wolf whining, dropped back beside him. Dan pointed his right arm +straight ahead. Black Bart leaped high into the air and his shrill +yelp told that he had seen the cottonwoods and the house. + +Dan summoned the last of his power and threw the reins over the head +of Satan. + +"Take us in, Bart," he said, and twisting his fingers into Satan's +mane fell across the saddlehorn. + +Satan, understanding the throwing of the reins as an order to halt, +came to a sharp stop, and the body of the senseless rider sagged to +one side. Black Bart caught the reins. They were bitter and salt with +blood of the master. + +He tugged hard. Satan whinnied his doubt, and the growl of Black Bart +answered, half a threat. In a moment more they were picking their way +through the brush towards the house of Buck Daniels. + +Satan was far gone with exhaustion. His head drooped; his legs +sprawled with every step; his eyes were glazed. Yet he staggered on +with the great black wolf pulling at the reins. There was the salt +taste of blood in the mouth of Black Bart; so he stalked on, saliva +dripping from his mouth, and his eyes glazed with the lust to kill. +His furious snarling was the threat which urged on the stallion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + + +BLACK BART TURNS NURSE + +It was old Mrs. Daniels who woke first at the sound of scratching and +growling. She roused her husband and son, and all three went to the +door, Buck in the lead with his six-gun in his hand. At sight of the +wolf he started back and raised the gun, but Black Bart fawned about +his feet. + +"Don't shoot--it's a dog, an' there's his master!" cried Sam. "By the +Lord, they's a dead man tied on that there hoss!" + +Dan lay on Satan, half fallen from the saddle, with his head hanging +far down, only sustained by the strength of the rein. The stallion, +wholly spent, stood with his legs braced, his head low, and his breath +coming in great gasps. The family ran to the rescue. Sam cut the rein +and Buck lowered the limp body in his arms. + +"Buck, is he dead?" whispered Mrs. Daniels. + +"I don't feel no heart beat," said Buck. "Help me fetch him into the +house, Dad!" + +"Look out for the hoss!" cried Sam. + +Buck started back with his burden just in time, for Satan, +surrendering to his exhaustion, pitched to the ground, and lay with +sprawling legs like a spent dog rather than a horse. + +"Let the hoss be," said Buck. "Help me with the man. He's hurt bad." + +Mrs. Daniels ran ahead and lighted a lamp. They laid the body +carefully upon a bed. It made a ghastly sight, the bloodless face with +the black hair fallen wildly across the forehead, the mouth loosely +open, and the lips black with dust. + +"Dad!" said Buck. "I think I've seen this feller. God knows if he's +livin' or dead." + +He dropped to his knees and pressed his ear over Dan's heart. + +"I can't feel no motion. Ma, get that hand mirror--" + +She had it already and now held it close to the lips of the wounded +man. When she drew it away their three heads drew close together. + +"They's a mist on it! He's livin'!" cried Buck. + +"It ain't nothing," said Sam. "The glass ain't quite clear, that's +all." + +Mrs. Daniels removed the last doubt by running her finger across the +surface of the glass. It left an unmistakable mark. + +They wasted no moment then. They brought hot and cold water, washed +out his wound, cleansed away the blood; and while Mrs. Daniels and her +husband fixed the bandage, Buck pounded and rubbed the limp body to +restore the circulation. In a few minutes his efforts were rewarded by +a great sigh from Dan. + +He shouted in triumph, and then: "By God, it's Whistlin' Dan Barry." + +"It is!" said Sam. "Buck, they's been devils workin' tonight. It sure +took more'n one man to nail him this way." + +They fell to work frantically. There was a perceptible pulse, the +breathing was faint but steady, and a touch of colour came in the +face. + +"His arm will be all right in a few days," said Mrs. Daniels, "but he +may fall into a fever. He's turnin' his head from side to side and +talkin'. What's he sayin', Buck?" + +"He's sayin': 'Faster, Satan.'" + +"That's the hoss," interpreted Sam. + +"'Hold us straight, Bart!' That's what he's sayin' now." + +"That's the wolf." + +"'An' it's all for Delilah!' Who's Delilah, Dad?" + +"Maybe it's some feller Dan knows." + +"Some feller?" repeated Mrs. Daniels with scorn. "It's some worthless +girl who got Whistlin' Dan into this trouble." + +Dan's eyes opened but there was no understanding in them. + +"Haines, I hate you worse'n hell!" + +"It's Lee Haines who done this!" cried Sam. + +"If it is, I'll cut out his heart!" + +"It can't be Haines," broke in Mrs. Daniels. "Old man Perkins, didn't +he tell us that Haines was the man that Whistlin' Dan Barry had +brought down into Elkhead? How could Haines do this shootin' while he +was in jail?" + +"Ma," said Sam, "you watch Whistlin' Dan. Buck an' me'll take care of +the hoss--that black stallion. He's pretty near all gone, but he's +worth savin'. What I don't see is how he found his way to us. It's +certain Dan didn't guide him all the way." + +"How does the wind find its way?" said Buck. "It was the wolf that +brought Dan here, but standin' here talkin' won't tell us how. Let's +go out an' fix up Satan." + +It was by no means an easy task. As they approached the horse he +heaved himself up, snorting, and stood with legs braced, and pendant +head. Even his eyes were glazed with exhaustion, but behind them +it was easy to guess the dauntless anger which raged against these +intruders. Yet he would have been helpless against them. It was Black +Bart who interfered at this point. He stood before them, his hair +bristling and his teeth bared. + +Sam suggested: "Leave the door of the house open an' let him hear +Whistlin' Dan's voice." + +It was done. At once the delirious voice of Dan stole out to them +faintly. The wolf turned his head to Satan with a plaintive whine, as +if asking why the stallion remained there when that voice was audible. +Then he raced for the open door and disappeared into the house. + +"Hurry in, Buck!" called Sam. "Maybe the wolf'll scare Ma!" + +They ran inside and found Black Bart on the bed straddling the body of +Whistling Dan, and growling at poor Mrs. Daniels, who crouched in a +corner of the room. It required patient work before he was convinced +that they actually meant no harm to his master. + +"What's the reason of it?" queried Sam helplessly. "The damn wolf let +us take Dan off the hoss without makin' any fuss." + +"Sure he did," assented Buck, "but he ain't sure of me yet, an' every +time he comes near me he sends the cold chills up my back." + +Having decided that he might safely trust them to touch Dan's body, +the great wolf went the round and sniffed them carefully, his hair +bristling and the forbidding growl lingering in his throat. In the end +he apparently decided that they might be tolerated, though he must +keep an eye upon their actions. So he sat down beside the bed and +followed with an anxious eye every movement of Mrs. Daniels. The men +went back to the stallion. He still stood with legs braced far apart, +and head hanging low. Another mile of that long race and he would have +dropped dead beneath his rider. + +Nevertheless at the coming of the strangers he reared up his head a +little and tried to run away. Buck caught the dangling reins near +the bit. Satan attempted to strike out with his forehoof. It was a +movement as clumsy and slow as the blow of a child, and Buck easily +avoided it. Realizing his helplessness Satan whinnied a heart-breaking +appeal for help to his unfailing friend, Black Bart. The wail of the +wolf answered dolefully from the house. + +"Good Lord," groaned Buck. "Now we'll have that black devil on our +hands again." + +"No, we won't," chuckled Sam, "the wolf won't leave Dan. Come on +along, old hoss." + +Nevertheless it required hard labour to urge and drag the stallion +to the stable. At the end of that time they had the saddle off and a +manger full of fodder before him. They went back to the house with the +impression of having done a day's work. + +"Which it shows the fool nature of a hoss," moralized Sam. "That +stallion would be willin' to lay right down and die for the man +that's jest rode him up to the front door of death, but he wishes +everlastingly that he had the strength to kick the daylight out of you +an' me that's been tryin' to take care of him. You jest write this +down inside your brain, Buck: a hoss is like a woman. They jest +nacherally ain't no reason in 'em!" + +They found Dan in a heavy sleep, his breath coming irregularly. Mrs. +Daniels stated that it was the fever which she had feared and she +offered to sit up with the sick man through the rest of that night. +Buck lifted her from the chair and took her place beside the bed. + +"No one but me is goin' to take care of Whistlin' Dan," he stated. + +So the vigil began, with Buck watching Dan, and Black Bart alert, +suspicious, ready at the first wrong move to leap at the throat of +Buck. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + + +NOBODY LAUGHS + +That night the power which had sent Dan into Elkhead, Jim Silent, +stood his turn at watch in the narrow canyon below the old Salton +place. In the house above him sat Terry Jordan, Rhinehart, and Hal +Purvis playing poker, while Bill Kilduff drew a drowsy series of airs +from his mouth-organ. His music was getting on the nerves of the other +three, particularly Jordan and Rhinehart, for Purvis was winning +steadily. + +"Let up!" broke out Jordan at last, pounding on the table with his +fist. "Your damn tunes are gettin' my goat. Nobody can think while +you're hittin' it up like that. This ain't no prayer meetin', Bill." + +For answer Kilduff removed the mouth-organ to take a deep breath, +blinked his small eyes, and began again in a still higher key. + +"Go slow, Terry," advised Rhinehart in a soft tone. "Kilduff ain't +feelin' none too well tonight." + +"What's the matter with him?" growled the scar-faced man, none too +anxious to start an open quarrel with the formidable Kilduff. + +Rhinehart jerked his thumb over his shoulder. + +"The gal in there. He don't like the game the chief has been workin' +with her." + +"Neither do I," said Purvis, "but I'd do worse than the chief done to +get Lee Haines back." + +"Get Haines back?" said Kilduff, his voice ominously deep. "There +ain't no chance of that. If there was I wouldn't have no kick against +the chief for what he's done to Kate." + +"Maybe there's _some_ chance," suggested Rhinehart. + +"Chance, hell!" cried Kilduff. "One man agin a whole town full? I say +all that Jim has done is to get Whistlin' Dan plugged full of lead." + +"Well," said Purvis, "if that's done, ain't the game worth while?" + +The rest of the men chuckled and even Kilduff smiled. + +"Old Joe Cumberland is sure takin' it hard," said "Calamity" +Rhinehart. "All day he's been lightin' into the girl." + +"The funny part," mused Purvis, "is that the old boy really means it. +I think he'd of sawed off his right hand to keep her from goin' to +Whistlin' Dan." + +"An' her sittin' white-faced an' starin' at nothin' an' tryin' to +comfort _him!_" rumbled Kilduff, standing up under the stress of his +unwonted emotion. "My God, she was apologizin' for what she done, an' +tryin' to cheer him up, an' all the time her heart was bustin'." + +He pulled out a violently coloured bandana and wiped his forehead. + +"When we all get down to hell," he said, "they'll be quite a little +talkin' done about this play of Jim's--you c'n lay to that." + +"Who's that singin' down the canyon?" asked Jordan. "It sounds +like--" + +He would not finish his sentence as if he feared to prove a false +prophet. They rose as one man and stared stupidly at one another. + +"Haines!" broke out Rhinehart at last. + +"It ain't no ways possible!" said Kilduff. "And yet--by God, it is!" + +They rushed for the door and made out two figures approaching, one on +horseback, and the other on foot. + +"Haines!" called Purvis, his shrill voice rising to a squeak with his +excitement. + +"Here I am!" rang back the mellow tones of the big lone rider, and in +a moment he and Jim Silent entered the room. + +Glad faces surrounded him. There was infinite wringing of his hand and +much pounding on the back. Kilduff and Rhinehart pushed him back into +a chair. Jordan ran for a flask of whisky, but Haines pushed the +bottle away. + +"I don't want anything on my breath," he said, "because I have to talk +to a woman. Where's Kate?" + +The men glanced at each other uneasily. + +"She's here, all right," said Silent hastily. "Now tell us how you got +away." + +"Afterwards," said Haines. "But first Kate." + +"What's your hurry to see her?" said Kilduff. + +Haines laughed exultantly. + +"You're jealous, Bill! Why, man, she sent for me! Sent Whistling Dan +himself for me." + +"Maybe she did," said Kilduff, "but that ain't no partic'lar sign I'm +jealous. Tell us about the row in Elkhead." + +"That's it," said Jordan. "We can't wait, Lee." + +"Just one word explains it," said Haines. "Barry!" + +"What did he do?" This from every throat at once. + +"Broke into the jail with all Elkhead at his heels flashing their +six-guns--knocked down the two guards--unlocked my bracelets (God +knows where he got the key!)--shoved me onto the bay--drove away with +me--shot down two men while his wolf pulled down a third--made my +horse jump a set of bars as high as my head--and here I am!" + +There was a general loosening of bandanas. The eyes of Jim Silent +gleamed. + +"And all Elkhead knows that he's the man who took you out of jail?" he +asked eagerly. + +"Right. He's put his mark on them," responded Haines, "but the girl, +Jim!" + +"By God!" said Silent. "I've got him! The whole world is agin him--the +law an' the outlaws. He's done for!" + +He stopped short. + +"Unless you're feelin' uncommon grateful to him for what he done for +you, Lee?" + +"He told me he hated me like hell," said Haines. "I'm grateful to him +as I'd be to a mountain lion that happened to do me a good turn. Now +for Kate!" + +"Let him see her," said Silent. "That's the quickest way. Call her +out, Haines. We'll take a little walk while you're with her." + +The moment they were gone Haines rushed to the door and knocked +loudly. It was opened at once and Kate stood before him. She winced at +sight of him. + +"It's I, Kate!" he cried joyously. "I've come back from the dead." + +She stepped from the room and closed the door behind her. + +"What of Dan? Tell me! Was--was he hurt?" + +"Dan?" he repeated with an impatient smile. "No, he isn't hurt. He +pulled me through--got me out of jail and safe into the country. He +had to drop two or three of the boys to do it." + +Her head fell back a little and in the dim light, for the first time, +he saw her face with some degree of clearness, and started at its +pallor. + +"What's the matter, Kate--dear?" he said anxiously. + +"What of Dan?" she asked faintly. + +"I don't know. He's outlawed. He's done for. The whole range will be +against him. But why are you so worried about him, Kate?--when he told +me that you loved me--" + +She straightened. + +"Love? _You?_" + +His face lengthened almost ludicrously. + +"But why--Dan came for me--he said you sent him--he--" he broke down, +stammering, utterly confused. + +"This is why I sent him!" she answered, and throwing open the door +gestured to him to enter. + +He followed her and saw the lean figure of old Joe Cumberland lying on +a blanket close to the wall. + +"That's why!" she whispered. + +"How does he come here?" + +"Ask the devil in his human form! Ask your friend, Jim Silent!" + +He walked into the outer room with his head low. He found the others +already returned. Their carefully controlled grins spoke volumes. + +"Where's Silent?" he asked heavily. + +"He's gone," said Jordan. + +Hal Purvis took Haines to one side. + +"Take a brace," he urged. + +"She hates me, Hal," said the big fellow sadly. "For God's sake, was +there no other way of getting me out?" + +"Not one! Pull yourself together, Lee. There ain't no one for you to +hold a spite agin. Would you rather be back in Elkhead dangling from +the end of a rope?" + +"It seems to have been a sort of--joke," said Haines. + +"Exactly. But at that sort of a joke nobody laughs!" + +"And Whistling Dan Barry?" + +"He's done for. We're all agin him, an' now even the rangers will +help us hunt him down. Think it over careful, Haines. You're agin him +because you want the girl. I want that damned wolf of his, Black Bart. +Kilduff would rather get into the saddle of Satan than ride to heaven. +An' Jim Silent won't never rest till he sees Dan lyin' on the ground +with a bullet through his heart. Here's four of us. Each of us want +something that belongs to him, from his life to his dog. Haines, I'm +askin' you man to man, was there any one ever born who could get away +from four men like us?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + + +WHISTLING DAN, DESPERADO + +It was an urgent business which sent Silent galloping over the hills +before dawn. When the first light came he was close to the place +of Gus Morris. He slowed his horse to a trot, but after a careful +reconnoitring, seeing no one stirring around the sheriff's house, he +drew closer and commenced to whistle a range song, broken here and +there with a significant phrase which sounded like a signal. Finally a +cloth was waved from a window, and Silent, content, turned his back on +the house, and rode away at a walk. + +Within half an hour the pounding of a horse approached from behind. +The plump sheriff came to a halt beside him, jouncing in the saddle +with the suddenness of the stop. + +"What's up?" he called eagerly. + +"Whistlin' Dan." + +"What's new about him? I know they're talkin' about that play he made +agin Haines. They's some says he's a faster man than you, Jim!" + +"They say too damned much!" snarled Silent. "This is what's new. +Whistlin' Dan Barry--no less--has busted open the jail at Elkhead an' +set Lee Haines free." + +The sheriff could not speak. + +"I fixed it, Gus. I staged the whole little game." + +"_You_ fixed it with Whistlin' Dan?" + +"Don't ask me how I worked it. The pint is that he did the job. He got +into the jail while the lynchers was guardin' it, gettin' ready for a +rush. They opened fire. It was after dark last night. Haines an' Dan +made a rush for it from the stable on their hosses. They was lynchers +everywhere. Haines didn't have no gun. Dan wouldn't trust him with +one. He did the shootin' himself. He dropped two of them with two +shots. His devil of a wolf-dog brung down another." + +"Shootin' at night?" + +"Shootin' at night," nodded Silent. "An" now, Gus, they's only one +thing left to complete my little game--an' that's to get Whistlin' Dan +Barry proclaimed an outlaw an' put a price on his head, savvy?" + +"Why d'you hate him so?" asked Morris curiously. + +"Morris, why d'you hate smallpox?" + +"Because a man's got no chance fightin' agin it." + +"Gus, that's why I hate Whistlin' Dan, but I ain't here to argue. I +want you to get Dan proclaimed an outlaw." + +The sheriff scowled and bit his lip. + +"I can't do it, Jim." + +"Why the hell can't you?" + +"Don't go jumpin' down my throat. It ain't human to double cross +nobody the way you're double crossin' that kid. He's clean. He fights +square. He's jest done you a good turn. I can't do it, Jim." + +There was an ominous silence. + +"Gus," said the outlaw, "how many thousand have I given you?" + +The sheriff winced. + +"I dunno," he said, "a good many, Jim." + +"An' now you're goin' to lay down on me?" + +Another pause. + +"People are gettin' pretty excited nowadays," went on Silent +carelessly. "Maybe they'd get a lot more excited if they was to know +jest how much I've paid you, Gus." + +The sheriff struck his forehead with a pudgy hand. + +"When a man's sold his soul to the devil they ain't no way of buyin' +it back." + +"When you're all waked up," said Silent soothingly, "they ain't no +more reasonable man than you, Gus. But sometimes you get to seein' +things cross-eyed. Here's my game. What do you think they'd do in +Elkhead if a letter came for Dan Barry along about now?" + +"The boys must be pretty hot," said the sheriff. "I suppose the +letter'd be opened." + +"It would," said the outlaw. "You're sure a clever feller, Gus. You +c'n see a white hoss in the sunlight. Now what d'you suppose they'd +think if they opened a letter addressed to Dan Barry and read +something like this: + +"'Dear Dan: You made great play for L.H. None of us is going to +forget it. Maybe the thing for you to do is to lay low for a while. +Then join us any time you want to. We all think nobody could of worked +that stunt any smoother than you done. The rest of the boys say that +two thousand ain't enough for the work you've done. They vote that you +get an extra thousand for it. I'm agreeable about that, and when you +get short of cash just drop up and see us--you know where. + +"'That's a great bluff you've made about being on my trail. Keep it +up. It'll fool everybody for a while. They'll think, maybe, that what +you did for L.H. was because he was your personal friend. They won't +suspect that you're now one of us. Adios, + "'J.S.'" + +Silent waited for the effect of this missive to show in Morris's face. + +"Supposin' they was to read a letter like that, Gus. D'you think maybe +it'd sort of peeve them?" + +"He'd be outlawed inside of two days!" + +"Right. Here's the letter. An' you're goin' to see that it's delivered +in Elkhead, Morris." + +The sheriff looked sombrely on the little square of white. + +"I sort of think," he said at last, "that this here's the death +warrant for Whistlin' Dan Barry." + +"So do I," grinned Silent, considerably thirsty for action. "That's +your chance to make one of your rarin', tarin' speeches. Then you hop +into the telegraph office an' send a wire to the Governor askin' that +a price be put on the head of the bloodthirsty desperado, Dan Barry, +commonly known as Whistlin' Dan." + +"It's like something out of a book," said the sheriff slowly. "It's +like some damned horror story." + +"The minute you get the reply to that telegram swear in forty deputies +and announce that they's a price on Barry's head. So long, Gus. This +little play'll make the boys figger you're the most efficient sheriff +that never pulled a gun." + +He turned his horse, laughing loudly, and the sheriff, with that +laughter in his ears, rode back towards his hotel with a downward +head. + + * * * * * + +All day at the Daniels's house the fever grew perceptibly, and that +night the family held a long consultation. + +"They's got to be somethin' done," said Buck. "I'm goin' to ride into +town tomorrow an' get ahold of Doc Geary." + +"There ain't no use of gettin' that fraud Geary," said Mrs. Daniels +scornfully. "I think that if the boy c'n be saved I c'n do it as well +as that doctor. But there ain't no doctor c'n help him. The trouble +with Dan ain't his wound--it's his mind that's keepin' him low." + +"His mind?" queried old Sam. + +"Listen to him now. What's all that talkin' about Delilah?" + +"If it ain't Delilah it's Kate," said Buck. "Always one of the two +he's talkin' about. An' when he talks of them his fever gets worse. +Who's Delilah, an' who's Kate?" + +"They's one an' the same person," said Mrs. Daniels. "It do beat all +how blind men are!" + +"Are we now?" said her husband with some heat. "An' what good would it +do even if we knowed that they was the same?" + +"Because if we could locate the girl they's a big chance she'd bring +him back to reason. She'd make his brain quiet, an' then his body'll +take care of itself, savvy?" + +"But they's a hundred Kates in the range," said Sam. "Has he said her +last name, Buck, or has he given you any way of findin' out where she +lives?" + +"There ain't no way," brooded Buck, "except that when he talks about +her sometimes he speaks of Lee Haines like he wanted to kill him. +Sometimes he's dreamin' of havin' Lee by the throat. D'you honest +think that havin' the girl here would do any good, ma?" + +"Of course it would," she answered. "He's in love, that poor boy is, +an' love is worse than bullets for some men. I don't mean you or Sam. +Lord knows you wouldn't bother yourselves none about a woman." + +Her eyes challenged them. + +"He talks about Lee havin' the girl?" asked Sam. + +"He sure does," said Buck, "which shows that he's jest ravin'. How +could Lee have the girl, him bein' in jail at Elkhead?" + +"But maybe Lee had her before Whistlin' Dan got him at Morris's place. +Maybe she's up to Silent's camp now." + +"A girl in Jim Silent's camp?" repeated Buck scornfully. "Jim'd as +soon have a ton of lead hangin' on his shoulders." + +"Would he though?" broke in Mrs. Daniels. "You're considerable young, +Buck, to be sayin' what men'll do where they's women concerned. Where +is this camp?" + +"I dunno," said Buck evasively. "Maybe up in the hills. Maybe at the +old Salton place. If I thought she was there, I'd risk goin' up and +gettin' her--with her leave or without it!" + +"Don't be talkin' fool stuff like that," said his mother anxiously. +"You ain't goin' near Jim Silent agin, Buck!" + +He shrugged his shoulders, with a scowl, and turned away to go back to +the bedside of Whistling Dan. + +In the morning Buck was hardly less haggard than Dan. His mother, with +clasped hands and an anxious face, stood at the foot of the bed, +but her trouble was more for her son than for Dan. Old Sam was out +saddling Buck's horse, for they had decided that the doctor must be +brought from Elkhead at once. + +"I don't like to leave him," growled Buck. "I misdoubt what may be +happenin' while I'm gone." + +"Don't look at me like that," said his mother. "Why, Buck, a body +would think that if he dies while you're gone you'll accuse your +father an' mother of murder." + +"Don't be no minute away from him," urged Buck, "that's all I ask." + +"Cure his brain," said his mother monotonously, "an' his body'll take +care of itself. Who's that talkin' with your dad outside?" + +Very faintly they caught the sound of voices, and after a moment the +departing clatter of a galloping horse. Old Sam ran into the house +breathless. + +"Who was it? What's the matter, pa?" asked his wife, for the old +cowpuncher's face was pale even through his tan. + +"Young Seaton was jest here. He an' a hundred other fellers is combin' +the range an' warnin' everyone agin that Dan Barry. The bullet in his +shoulder--he got it while he was breaking jail with Lee Haines. An' he +shot down the hosses of two men an' his dog pulled down a third one." + +"Busted jail with Lee Haines!" breathed Buck. "It ain't no ways +nacheral. Which Dan hates Lee Haines!" + +"He was bought off by Jim Silent," said old Sam. "They opened a letter +in Elkhead, an' the letter told everything. It was signed "J.S." an' +it thanked Dan for gettin' "L.H." free." + +"It's a lie!" said Buck doggedly. + +"Buck! Sam!" cried Mrs. Daniels, seeing the two men of her family +glaring at each other with something like hate in their eyes. "Sam, +have you forgot that this lad has eat your food in your house?" + +Sam turned as crimson as he had been pale before. + +"I forgot," he muttered. "I was scared an' forgot!" + +"An' maybe you've forgot that I'd be swingin' on the end of a rope in +Elkhead if it wasn't for Dan Barry?" suggested Buck. + +"Buck," said his father huskily, "I'm askin' your pardon. I got sort +of panicky for a minute, that's all. But what are we goin' to do with +him? If he don't get help he'll be a dead man quick. An' you can't go +to Elkhead for the doctor. They'd doctor Dan with six-guns, that's +what they'd do." + +"What could of made him do it?" said Mrs. Daniels, wiping a sudden +burst of tears from her eyes. + +"Oh, God," said Buck. "How'd I know why he done it? How'd I know why +he turned me loose when he should of took me to Elkhead to be lynched +by the mob there? The girl's the only thing to help him outside of a +doctor. I'm goin' to get the girl." + +"Where?" + +"I dunno. Maybe I'll try the old Salton place." + +"And take her away from Jim Silent?" broke in his father. "You might +jest as well go an' shoot yourse'f before startin'. That'll save your +hoss the long ride, an' it'll bring you to jest the same end." + +"Listen!" said Buck, "they's the wolf mournin'!" + +"Buck, you're loco!" + +"Hush, pa!" whispered Mrs. Daniels. + +She caught the hand of her brawny son. + +"Buck, I'm no end proud of you, lad. If you die, it's a good death! +Tell me, Buck dear, have you got a plan?" + +He ground his big hand across his forehead, scowling. + +"I dunno," he said, drawing a long breath. "I jest know that I got to +get the girl. Words don't say what I mean. All I know is that I've got +to go up there an' get that girl, and bring her back so's she can save +Dan, not from the people that's huntin' him, but from himself." + +"There ain't no way of changin' you?" said his father. + +"Pa," said Mrs. Daniels, "sometimes you're a plumb fool!" + +Buck was already in the saddle. He waved farewell, but after he set +his face towards the far-away hills he never turned his head. Behind +him lay the untamed three. Before him, somewhere among those naked, +sunburned hills, was the woman whose love could reclaim the wild. + +A dimness came before his eyes. He attempted to curse at this +weakness, but in place of the blasphemy something swelled in his +throat, and a still, small music filled his heart. And when at last +he was able to speak his lips framed a vow like that of the old +crusaders. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + + +"WEREWOLF" + +Buck's cattle pony broke from the lope into a steady dog-trot. Now and +then Buck's horse tossed his head high and jerked his ears quickly +back and forth as if he were trying to shake off a fly. As a matter of +fact he was bothered by his master's whistling. The only sound which +he was accustomed to hear from the lips of his rider was a grunted +curse now and then. This whistling made the mustang uneasy. + +Buck himself did not know what the music meant, but it brought into +his mind a thought of strong living and of glorious death. He had +heard it whistled several times by Dan Barry when the latter lay +delirious. It seemed to Buck, while he whistled this air, that the +spirit of Dan travelled beside him, nerving him to the work which lay +ahead, filling the messenger with his own wild strength. + +As Buck dropped into a level tract of country he caught sight of a +rider coming from the opposite direction. As they drew closer the +other man swung his mount far to one side. Buck chuckled softly, +seeing that the other evidently desired to pass without being +recognized. The chuckle died when the stranger changed direction and +rode straight for Buck. The latter pulled his horse to a quick stop +and turned to face the on-comer. He made sure that his six-gun was +loose in the holster, for it was always well to be prepared for the +unusual in these chance meetings in the mountain-desert. + +"Hey, Buck!" called the galloping horseman. + +The hand of Daniels dropped away from his revolver, for he recognized +the voice of Hal Purvis, who swiftly ranged alongside. + +"What's the dope?" asked Buck, producing his tobacco and the +inevitable brown papers. + +"Jest lookin' the landscape over an' scoutin' around for news," +answered Purvis. + +"Pick up anything?" + +"Yeh. Ran across some tenderfoot squatters jest out of Elkhead." + +Buck grunted and lighted his cigarette. + +"Which you've been sort of scarce around the outfit lately," went on +Purvis. + +"I'm headin' for the bunch now," said Buck. + +"D'you bring along that gun of mine I left at your house?" + +"Didn't think of it." + +"Let's drop back to your house an' get it. Then I'll ride up to the +camp with you." + +Buck drew a long puff on his cigarette. He drew a quick mental picture +of Purvis entering the house, finding Dan, and then-- + +"Sure," he said, "you c'n go back to the house an' ask pa for the gun, +if you want to. I'll keep on for the hills." + +"What's your hurry? It ain't more'n three miles back to your house. +You won't lose no time to speak of." + +"It ain't time I'm afraid of losin'," said Buck significantly. + +"Then what the devil is it? I can't afford to leave that gun." + +"All right," said Buck, forcing a grin of derision, "so long, Hal." + +Purvis frowned at him with narrowing eyes. + +"Spit it out, Buck. What's the matter with me goin' back for that gun? +Ain't I apt to find it?" + +"Sure. That's the point. You're apt to find _lots_ of guns. Here's +what I mean, Hal. Some of the cowpunchers are beginnin' to think I'm a +little partial to Jim Silent's crowd. An' they're watchin' my house." + +"The hell!" + +"You're right. It is. That's one of the reasons I'm beatin' it for the +hills." + +He started his horse to a walk. "But of course if you're bound to have +that gun, Hal--" + +Purvis grinned mirthlessly, his lean face wrinkling to the eyes, and +he swung his horse in beside Buck. + +"Anyway," said Buck, "I'm glad to see you ain't a fool. How's things +at the camp?" + +"Rotten. They's a girl up there--" + +"A girl?" + +"You look sort of pleased. Sure they's a girl. Kate Cumberland, she's +the one. She seen us hold up the train, an' now we don't dare let +her go. She's got enough evidence to hang us all if it came to a +show-down." + +"Kate! Delilah." + +"What you sayin'?" + +"I say it's damn queer that Jim'll let a girl stay at the camp." + +"Can't be helped. She's makin' us more miserable than a whole army of +men. We had her in the house for a while, an' then Silent rigged up +the little shack that stands a short ways--" + +"I know the one you mean." + +"She an' her dad is in that. We have to guard 'em at night. She ain't +had no good word for any of us since she's been up there. Every time +she looks at a feller she makes you feel like you was somethin' +low-down--a snake, or somethin'." + +"D'you mean to say none of the boys please her?" asked Buck curiously. +He understood from Dan's delirious ravings that the girl was in love +with Lee Haines and had deserted Barry for the outlaw. "Say, ain't +Haines goodlookin' enough to please her?" + +Purvis laughed unpleasantly. + +"He'd like to be, but he don't quite fit her idea of a man. We'd all +like to be, for that matter. She's a ravin' beauty, Buck. One of these +blue-eyed, yaller-haired kind, see, with a voice like silk. Speakin' +personal, I'm free to admit she's got me stopped." + +Buck drew so hard on the diminishing butt of his cigarette that he +burned his fingers. + +"Can't do nothin' with her?" he queried. + +"What you grinnin' about?" said Purvis hotly. "D'you think _you'd_ +have any better luck with her?" + +Buck chuckled. + +"The trouble with you fellers," he said complacently, "is that you're +all too damned afraid of a girl. You all treat 'em like they was +queens an' you was their slaves. They like a master." + +The thin lips of Purvis curled. + +"You're quite a man, ain't you?" + +"Man enough to handle any woman that ever walked." + +Purvis broke into loud laughter. + +"That's what a lot of us thought," he said at last, "but she breaks +all the rules. She's got her heart set on another man, an' she's that +funny sort that don't never love twice. Maybe you'll guess who the man +is?" + +Buck frowned thoughtfully to cover his growing excitement. + +"Give it up, Buck," advised Purvis. "The feller she loves is Whistlin' +Dan Barry. You wouldn't think no woman would look without shiverin' +at that hell-raiser. But she's goin' on a hunger strike on account of +him. Since yesterday she wouldn't eat none. She says she'll starve +herself to death unless we turn her loose. The hell of it is that she +will. I know it an' so does the rest of the boys." + +"Starve herself to death?" said Buck exuberantly. "Wait till I get +hold of her!" + +"_You?_" + +"Me!" + +Purvis viewed him with compassion. + +"Me bein' your friend, Buck," he said, "take my tip an' don't try no +fool stunts around that girl. Which she once belongs to Whistlin' Dan +Barry an' therefore she's got the taboo mark on her for any other man. +Everything he's ever owned is different, damned different!" + +His voice lowered to a tone which was almost awe. + +"Speakin' for myself, I don't hanker after his hoss like Bill Kilduff; +or his girl, like Lee Haines; or his life, like the chief. All I want +is a shot at that wolf-dog, that Black Bart!" + +"You look sort of het up, Hal." + +"He come near puttin' his teeth into my leg down at Morgan's place the +day Barry cleaned up the chief." + +"Why, any dog is apt to take a snap at a feller." + +"This ain't a dog. It's a wolf. An' Whistlin' Dan--" he stopped. + +"You look sort of queer, Hal. What's up?" + +"You won't think I'm loco?" + +"No." + +"They's some folks away up north that thinks a man now an' then turns +into a wolf." + +Buck nodded and shrugged his shoulders. A little chill went up and +down his back. + +"Here's my idea, Buck. I've been thinkin'--no, it's more like dreamin' +than thinkin'--that Dan Barry is a wolf turned into a man, an' Black +Bart is a man turned into a wolf." + +"Hal, you been drinkin'." + +"Maybe." + +"What made you think--" began Buck, but the long rider put spurs to +his horse and once more broke into a fast gallop. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + + +"THE MANHANDLING" + +It was close to sunset time when they reached the old Salton place, +where they found Silent sitting on the porch with Haines, Kilduff, +Jordan, and Rhinehart. They stood up at sight of the newcomers and +shouted a welcome. Buck waved his hand, but his thoughts were not for +them. The music he had heard Dan whistle formed in his throat. It +reached his lips not in sound but as a smile. + +At the house he swung from the saddle and shook hands with Jim Silent. +The big outlaw retained Buck's fingers. + +"You're comin' in mighty late," he growled, "Didn't you get the +signal?" + +Buck managed to meet the searching eyes. + +"I was doin' better work for you by stayin' around the house," he +said. + +"How d'you mean?" + +"I stayed there to pick up things you might want to know. It wasn't +easy. The boys are beginnin' to suspect me." + +"The cowpunchers is gettin' so thick around those parts," broke in +Purvis, "that Buck wouldn't even let me go back to his house with him +to get my gun." + +The keen eyes of Silent never left the face of Daniels. + +"Don't you know that Gus Morris gives us all the news we need, Buck?" + +Rhinehart and Jordan, who were chatting together, stopped to listen. +Buck smiled easily. + +"I don't no ways doubt that Morris tells you all he knows," he said, +"but the pint is that he don't know everything." + +"How's that?" + +"The rangers is beginnin' to look sidewise an' whisper when Morris +is around. He's played his game with us too long, an' the boys are +startin' to think. Thinkin' is always dangerous." + +"You seem to have been doin' some tall thinkin' yourself," said Silent +drily; "you guess the cowpunchers are goin' on our trail on their own +hook?" + +"There ain't no doubt of it." + +"Where'd you hear it?" + +"Young Seaton." + +"He's one of them?" + +"Yes." + +"I'll remember him. By the way, I see you got a little token of +Whistlin' Dan on your arm." + +He pointed to the bandage on Buck's right forearm. + +"It ain't nothin'," said Buck, shrugging his shoulders. "The cuts are +all healin' up. The arm's as good as ever now." + +"Anyway," said Silent, "you got somethin' comin' to you for the play +you made agin that devil." + +He reached into his pocket, drew out several twenty dollar gold pieces +(money was never scarce with a lone rider) and passed them to Buck. +The latter received the coin gingerly, hesitated, and then returned it +to the hand of the chief. + +"What the hell's the matter?" snarled the big outlaw. "Ain't it +enough?" + +"I don't want no money till I earn it," said Buck. + +"Life's gettin' too peaceful for you, eh?" grinned Silent. + +"Speakin' of peace," chimed in Purvis, with a liberal wink at the rest +of the gang, "Buck allows he's the boy who c'n bring the dove o' the +same into this camp. He says he knows the way to bring the girl over +there to see reason." + +Buck followed the direction of Purvis's eyes and saw Kate sitting on a +rock at a little distance from the shanty in which she lived with her +father. She made a pitiful figure, her chin cupped in her hand, and +her eyes staring fixedly down the valley. He was recalled from her by +the general laughter of the outlaws. + +"You fellers laugh," he said complacently, "because you don't know no +more about women than a cow knows about pictures." + +"What do you think we should do with her, Solomon?" Buck met the cold +blue eye of Haines. + +"Maybe I ain't Solomon," he admitted genially, "but I don't need no +million wives to learn all there is to know about women." + +"Don't make a fool of yourself, Buck," said Silent. "There ain't no +way of movin' that damn girl. She's gone on a hunger strike an' she'll +die in it. We can't send her out of the valley. It's hell to have her +dyin' on our hands here. But there ain't no way to make her change her +mind. I've tried pleadin' with her--I've even offered her money. It +don't do no good. Think of that!" + +"Sure it don't," sneered Buck. "Why, you poor bunch of yearlin' +calves, she don't need no coaxin'. What she needs is a manhandlin'. +She wants a master, that's what she wants." + +"I suppose," said Haines, "you think you're man enough to change her?" + +"None of that!" broke in Silent. "D'you really think you could do +somethin' with her, Buck?" + +"Can I do somethin' with her?" repeated Buck scornfully. "Why, boys, +there ain't nothin' I can't do with a woman." + +"Is it because of your pretty face or your winnin' smile?" growled the +deep bass of Bill Kilduff. + +"Both!" said Buck, promptly. "The wilder they are the harder they fall +for me. I've had a thirty-year old maverick eatin' out of my hand like +she'd been trained for it all her life. The edyoucated ones say I'm +'different'; the old maids allow that I'm 'naïve'; the pretty ones +jest say I'm a 'man,' but they spell the word with capital letters." + +"Daniels, you're drunk," said Haines. + +"Am I? It'll take a better man than you to make me sober, Haines!" + +The intervening men jumped back, but the deep voice of Silent rang +out like a pistol shot: "Don't move for your six-guns, or you'll be +playin' agin me!" + +Haines transferred his glare to Silent, but his hand dropped from his +gun. Daniels laughed. + +"I ain't no mile post with a hand pointin' to trouble," he said +gently. "All I say is that the girl needs excitement. Life's so damned +dull for her that she ain't got no interest in livin'." + +"If you're fool enough to try," said Silent, "go ahead. What are you +plannin' to do?" + +"You'll learn by watchin'," grinned Buck, taking the reins of his +horse. "I'm goin' to ask the lady soft an' polite to step up to her +cabin an' pile into some ham an' eggs. If she don't want to I'll rough +her up a little, an' she'll love me for it afterwards!" + +"The way she loves a snake!" growled Kilduff. + +"By God, Silent," said Haines, his face white with emotion, "if Buck +puts a hand on her I'll--" + +"Act like a man an' not like a damn fool boy," said Silent, dropping a +heavy hand on the shoulder of his lieutenant. "He won't hurt her none, +Lee. I'll answer for that. Come on, Buck. Speakin' personal, I wish +that calico was in hell." + +Leading his horse, Buck followed Silent towards the girl. She did not +move when they approached. Her eyes still held far down the valley. +The steps of the big outlaw were shorter and shorter as they drew +close to the girl. Finally he stopped and turned to Buck with a +gesture of resignation. + +"Look at her! This is what she's been doin' ever since yesterday. +Buck, it's up to you to make good. There she is!" + +"All right," said Buck, "it's about time for you amachoors to exit an' +leave the stage clear for the big star. Now jest step back an' take +notes on the way I do it. In fifteen minutes by the clock she'll be +eatin' out of my hand." + +Silent, expectant but baffled, retired a little. Buck removed his hat +and bowed as if he were in a drawing-room. + +"Ma'am," he said, "I got the honour of askin' you to side-step up to +the shanty with me an' tackle a plate of ham an' eggs. Are you on?" + +To this Chesterfieldian outpouring of the heart, she responded with a +slow glance which started at Buck's feet, travelled up to his face, +and then returned to the purple distance down the canyon. In spite of +himself the tell-tale crimson flooded Buck's face. Far away he caught +the muffled laughter of the outlaws. He replaced his hat. + +"Don't make no mistake," he went on, his gesture including the bandits +in the background, and Silent particularly, "I ain't the same sort as +these other fellers. I c'n understand the way you feel after bein' +herded around with a lot of tin horns like these. I'm suggestin' +that you take a long look at me an' notice the difference between an +imitation an' a real man." + +She did look at him. She even smiled faintly, and the smile made +Buck's face once more grow very hot. His voice went hard. + +"For the last time, I'm askin' if you'll go up to the cabin." + +There was both wonder and contempt in her smile. + +In an instant he was in his saddle. He swung far to one side and +caught her in his arms. Vaguely he heard the yell of excitement from +the outlaws. All he was vividly conscious of was the white horror of +her face. She fought like a wildcat. She did not cry out. She struck +him full in the face with the strength of a man, almost. He prisoned +her with a stronger grip, and in so doing nearly toppled from the +saddle, for his horse reared up, snorting. + +A gun cracked twice and two bullets hummed close to his head. From +the corner of his eye he was aware of Silent and Rhinehart flinging +themselves upon Lee Haines, who struggled furiously to fire again. He +drove his spurs deep and the cattle pony started a bucking course for +the shanty. + +"Dan!" he muttered at her ear. + +The yells of the men drowned his voice. She managed to jerk her right +arm free and struck him in the face. He shook her furiously. + +"For Whistling Dan!" he said more loudly. "He's dying!" + +She went rigid in his arms. + +"Don't speak!" he panted. "Don't let them know!" + +The outlaws were running after them, laughing and waving their hats. + +"Dan!" + +"_Faint, you fool!_" + +Her eyes widened with instant comprehension. Every muscle of her body +relaxed; her head fell back; she was a lifeless burden in his arms. +Buck dismounted from the saddle before the shanty. He was white, +shaking, but triumphant. Rhinehart and Purvis and Jordan ran up to +him. Silent and Kilduff were still struggling with Haines in the +distance. + +Rhinehart dropped his head to listen at her breast for the heartbeat. + +"She's dead!" cried Jordan. + +"You're a fool," said Buck calmly. "She's jest fainted, an' when she +comes to, she'll begin tellin' me what a wonderful man I am." + +"She ain't dead," said Rhinehart, raising his head from her heart, +"but Haines'll kill you for this, Buck!" + +"Kate!" cried an agonized voice from the shanty, and old white-haired +Joe Cumberland ran towards them. + +"Jest a little accident happened to your daughter," explained Buck. +"Never mind. I c'n carry her in all right. You fellers stay back. A +crowd ain't no help. Ain't no cause to worry, Mr. Cumberland. She +ain't hurt!" + +He hastened on into the shanty and laid her on the bunk within. Her +father hurried about to bathe her face and throat. Buck pushed the +other three men out of the room. + +"She ain't hurt," he said calmly, "she's jest a little fussed up. +Remember I said in fifteen minutes I'd have her eatin' out of my hand. +I've still got ten minutes of that time. When the ten minutes is up +you all come an' take a look through that window. If you don't see the +girl eatin' at that table, I'll chaw up my hat." + +He crowded them through the door and shut it behind them. A cry of joy +came from old Joe Cumberland and Buck turned to see Kate sitting up on +the bunk. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + + +"LAUGH, DAMN IT!" + +She brushed her father's anxious arms aside and ran to Buck. + +"Shut up!" said Buck. "Talk soft. Better still, don't say nothin'!" + +"Kate," stammered her father, "what has happened?" + +"Listen an' you'll learn," said Buck. "But get busy first. I got to +get you out of here tonight. You'll need strength for the work ahead +of you. You got to eat. Get me some eggs. Eggs and ham. Got 'em? Good. +You, there!" (This to Joe.) "Rake down them ashes. On the jump, Kate. +Some wood here. I got only ten minutes!" + +In three minutes the fire was going, and the eggs in the pan, while +Joe set out some tin dishes on the rickety table, under orders from +Buck, making as much noise as possible. While they worked Buck talked. +By the time Kate's plate was ready his tale was done. He expected +hysterics. She was merely white and steady-eyed. + +"You're ready?" he concluded. + +"Yes." + +"Then begin by doin' what I say an' ask no questions. Silent an' his +crew'll be lookin' through the window over there pretty soon. You got +to be eatin' an' appearin' to enjoy talkin' to me. Get that an' don't +forget it. Mix in plenty of smiles. Cumberland, you get back into the +shadow an' stay there. Don't never come out into the light. Your face +tells more'n a whole book, an' believe me, Jim Silent is a quick +reader." + +Joe retreated to a corner of the room into which the light of the lamp +did not penetrate. + +"Sit down at that table!" ordered Buck, and he placed a generous +portion of fried eggs and ham before her. + +"I can't eat. Is Dan--" + +"I hear 'em at the window!" + +He slipped onto a box on the opposite side of the table and leaned +towards her, supporting his chin in his hands. Kate began to eat +hurriedly. + +"No! no!" advised Buck. "You eat as if you was scared. You want to be +slow an' deliberate. Watch out! They've moved the board that covers +the window!" + +For he saw a group of astonished faces outside. + +"Smile at me!" + +Her response made even Buck forget her pallor. Outside the house there +was a faint buzz of whispers. + +"Keep it up!" + +"I'll do my best," she said faintly. + +Buck leaned back and burst into uproarious laughter. + +"That's a good one!" he cried, slamming the broad palm of his hand +against the table so that the tin dishes jumped. "I never heard the +beat of it!" And in a whispered tone aside: "_Laugh, damn it!_" + +Her laughter rang true enough, but it quavered perilously close to a +sob towards the close. + +"I always granted Jim Silent a lot of sense," he said, "an' has he +really left you alone all this time? Damn near died of homesickness, +didn't you?" + +She laughed again, more confidently this time. The board was suddenly +replaced at the window. + +"Now I got to go out to them," he said. "After what Silent has seen +he'll trust me with you. He'll let me come back." + +She dropped her soft hands over his clenched fist. + +"It will be soon? Minutes are greater than hours." + +"I ain't forgot. Tonight's the time." + +Before he reached the door she ran to him. Two arms went round his +neck, two warm lips fluttered against his. + +"God bless you!" she whispered. + +Buck ran for the door. Outside he stood bareheaded, breathing deeply. +His face was hot with shame and delight, and he had to walk up and +down for a moment before he could trust himself to enter the ranch +house. When he finally did so he received a greeting which made him +think himself a curiosity rather than a man. Even Jim Silent regarded +him with awe. + +"Buck," said Jordan, "you don't never need to work no more. All you +got to do is to walk into a town, pick out the swellest heiress, an' +marry her." + +"The trouble with girls in town," said Buck, "is that there ain't no +room for a man to operate. You jest nacherally can't ride a hoss into +a parlour." + +Lee Haines drew Buck a little to one side. + +"What message did you bring to her, Buck?" he said. + +"What d'you mean?" + +"Look here, friend, these other boys are too thick-headed to +understand Kate Cumberland, but I know her kind." + +"You're a little peeved, ain't you Lee?" grinned Buck. "It ain't my +fault that she don't like you." + +Haines ground his teeth. + +"It was a very clever little act that you did with her, but it +couldn't quite deceive me. She was too pale when she laughed." + +"A jealous feller sees two things for every one that really happens, +Lee." + +"Who was the message from?" + +"Did she ever smile at you like she done at me?" + +"Was it from Dan Barry that you brought word?" + +"Did she ever let her eyes go big an' soft when she looked at you?" + +"Damn you." + +"Did she ever lean close to you, so's you got the scent of her hair, +Lee?" + +"I'll kill you for this, Daniels!" + +"When I left she kissed me good-bye, Lee." + +In spite of his bravado, Buck was deeply anxious. He watched Haines +narrowly. Only two men in the mountain-desert would have had a chance +against this man in a fight, and Buck knew perfectly well that he was +not one of the two. + +"Watch yourself, Daniels," said Haines. "I know you're lying and I'm +going to keep an eye on you." + +"Thanks," grinned Buck. "I like to have a friend watchin' out for me." + +Haines turned on his heel and went back to the card table, where Buck +immediately joined the circle. + +"Wait a minute, Lee," said Silent. "Ain't it your turn to stand guard +on the Cumberlands tonight?" + +"Right--O," answered Haines cheerfully, and rose from the table. + +"Hold on," said Buck. "Are you goin' to spoil all the work I done +today with that girl?" + +"What's the matter?" asked Silent. + +"Everything's the matter! Are you goin' to put a man she hates out +there watchin' her." + +"Damn you, Daniels," said Haines fiercely, "you're rolling up a long +account, but it only takes a bullet to collect that sort of a bill!" + +"If it hadn't been for Haines, would the girl's father be here?" asked +Buck. "Besides, she don't like blonds." + +"What type does she like?" asked Silent, enjoying the quarrel between +his lieutenant and the recruit. + +"Likes 'em with dark hair an' eyes," said Buck calmly. "Look at me, +for instance!" + +Even Haines smiled, though his lips were white with anger. + +"D'you want to stand guard over her yourself?" said the chief. + +"Sure," grinned Buck, "maybe she'd come out an' pass the time o' night +with me." + +"Go ahead and take the job," nodded Silent. "I got an idea maybe she +will." + +"Silent," warned Haines, "hasn't it occurred to you that there's +something damned queer about the ease with which Buck slid into the +favour of the girl?" + +"Well?" + +"All his talk about manhandling her is bunk. He had some message for +her. I saw him speak to her when she was struggling in his arms. Then +she conveniently fainted." + +Silent turned on Buck. + +"Is that straight?" + +"It is," said Daniels easily. + +The outlaws started and their expectant grins died out. + +"By God, Buck!" roared Silent, "if you're double crossin' me--but I +ain't goin' to be hasty now. What happened? Tell it yourself! What did +you say to her?" + +"While she was fightin' with me," said Buck, "she hollered: 'Let me +go!' I says: 'I'll see you in hell first!' Then she fainted." + +The roar of laughter drowned Haines's further protest. + +"You win, Buck," said Silent. "Take the job." + +As Buck started for the door Haines called to him: + +"Hold on, Buck, if you're aboveboard you won't mind giving your word +to see that no one comes up the valley and that you'll be here in the +morning?" + +The words set a swirling blackness before Buck's eyes. He turned +slowly. + +"That's reasonable," said Silent. "Speak up, Daniels." + +"All right," said Buck, his voice very low. "I'll be here in the +morning, and I'll see that no one comes up the valley." + +There was the slightest possible emphasis on the word "up." + +On a rock directly in front of the shanty Buck took up his watch. The +little house behind him was black. Presently he heard the soft call of +Kate: "Is it time?" + +His eyes wandered to the ranch house. He could catch the drone of many +voices. He made no reply. + +"Is it time?" she repeated. + +Still he would not venture a reply, however guarded. She called a +third time, and when he made no response he heard her voice break to +a moan of hopelessness. And yet he waited, waited, until the light in +the ranch house went out, and there was not a sound. + +"Kate!" he said, gauging his voice carefully so that it could not +possibly travel to the ranch house, which all the while he carefully +scanned. + +For answer the front door of the shanty squeaked. + +"Back!" he called. "Go back!" + +The door squeaked again. + +"They're asleep in the ranch house," she said. "Aren't we safe?" + +"S--sh!" he warned. "Talk low! They aren't all asleep. There's one in +the ranch house who'll never take his eyes off me till morning." + +"What can we do?" + +"Go out the back way. You won't be seen if you're careful. Haines has +his eyes on me, not you. Go for the stable. Saddle your horses. Then +lead them out and take the path on the other side of the house. Don't +mount them until you're far below the house. Go slow all the way. +Sounds travel far up this canyon." + +"Aren't you coming with us?" + +"No." + +"But when they find us gone?" + +"Think of Dan--not me!" + +"God be merciful to you!" + +In a moment the back door of the shanty creaked. They must be opening +it by inches. When it was wide they would run for the stable. He +wished now that he had warned Kate to walk, for a slow moving object +catches the eye more seldom than one which travels fast. If Lee Haines +was watching at that moment his attention must be held to Buck for one +all important minute. He stood up, rolled a cigarette swiftly, and +lighted it. The spurt and flare of the match would hold even the most +suspicious eye for a short time, and in those few seconds Kate and her +father might pass out of view behind the stable. + +He sat down again. A muffled sneeze came from the ranch house and Buck +felt his blood run cold. The forgotten cigarette between his fingers +burned to a dull red and then went out. In the stable a horse stamped. +He leaned back, locked his hands idly behind his head, and commenced +to whistle. Now there was a snort, as of a horse when it leaves the +shelter of a barn and takes the first breath of open air. + +All these sounds were faint, but to Buck, straining his ears in an +agony of suspense, each one came like the blast of a trumpet. Next +there was a click like that of iron striking against rock. Evidently +they were leading the horses around on the far side of the house. +With a trembling hand he relighted his cigarette and waited, waited, +waited. Then he saw them pass below the house! They were dimly +stalking figures in the night, but to Buck it seemed as though they +walked in the blaze of ten thousand searchlights. He held his breath +in expectancy of that mocking laugh from the house--that sharp command +to halt--that crack of the revolver. + +Yet nothing happened. Now he caught the click of the horses' iron +shoes against the rocks farther and farther down the valley. Still no +sound from the ranch house. They were safe! + +It was then that the great temptation seized on Buck. + +It would be simple enough for him to break away. He could walk to the +stable, saddle his horse, and tear past the ranch house as fast as his +pony could gallop. By the time the outlaws were ready for the pursuit, +he would be a mile or more away, and in the hills such a handicap was +enough. One thing held him. It was frail and subtle like the invisible +net of the enchanter--that word he had passed to Jim Silent, to see +that nothing came up the valley and to appear in the ranch house at +sunrise. + +In the midst of his struggle, strangely enough, he began to whistle +the music he had learned from Dan Barry, the song of The Untamed, +those who hunt for ever, and are for ever hunted. When his whistling +died away he touched his hand to his lips where Kate had kissed him, +and then smiled. The sun pushed up over the eastern hills. + +When he entered the ranch house the big room was a scene of much arm +stretching and yawning as the outlaws dressed. Lee Haines was already +dressed. Buck smiled ironically. + +"I say, Lee," he said, "you look sort of used up this mornin', eh?" + +The long rider scowled. + +"I'd make a guess you've not had much sleep, Haines," went on Buck. +"Your eyes is sort of hollow." + +"Not as hollow as your damned lying heart!" + +"Drop that!" commanded Silent. "You hold a grudge like a woman, Lee! +How was the watch, Buck? Are you all in?" + +"Nothin' come up the valley, an' here I am at sunrise," said Buck. "I +reckon that speaks for itself." + +"It sure does," said Silent, "but the gal and her father are kind of +slow this mornin'. The old man generally has a fire goin' before dawn +is fairly come. There ain't no sign of smoke now." + +"Maybe he's sleepin' late after the excitement of yesterday," said +Bill Kilduff. "You must of thrown some sensation into the family, +Buck." + +The eyes of Haines had not moved from the face of Buck. + +"I think I'll go over and see what's keeping them so late in bed," he +said, and left the house. + +"He takes it pretty hard," said Jordan, his scarred face twisted with +Satanic mirth, "but don't go rubbin' it into him, Buck, or you'll be +havin' a man-sized fight on your hands. I'd jest about as soon mix +with the chief as cross Haines. When he starts the undertaker does the +finishin'!" + +"Thanks for remindin' me," said Buck drily. Through the window he saw +Haines throw open the door of the shanty. + +The outcry which Buck expected did not follow. For a long moment the +long rider stood there without moving. Then he turned and walked +slowly back to the house, his head bent, his forehead gathered in a +puzzled frown. + +"What's the matter, Lee?" called Silent as his lieutenant entered the +room again. "You look sort of sick. Didn't she have a bright mornin' +smile for you?" + +Haines raised his head slowly. The frown was not yet gone. + +"They aren't there," he announced. + +His eyes shifted to Buck. Everyone followed his example, Silent +cursing softly. + +"As a joker, Lee," said Buck coldly, "you're some Little Eva. I s'pose +they jest nacherally evaporated durin' the night, maybe?" + +"Haines," said Silent sharply, "are you serious?" + +The latter nodded. + +"Then by God, Buck, you'll have to say a lot in a few words. Lee, you +suspected him all the time, but I was a fool!" + +Daniels felt the colour leaving his face, but help came from the +quarter from which he least expected it. + +"Jim, don't draw!" cried Haines. + +The eyes of the chief glittered like the hawk's who sees the field +mouse scurrying over the ground far below. + +"He ain't your meat, Lee," he said. "It's me he's double crossed." + +"Chief," said Haines, "last night while he watched the shanty, I +watched _him!_" + +"Well?" + +"I saw him keep his post in front of the cabin all night without +moving. And he was wide awake all the time." + +"Then how in hell--" + +"The back door of the cabin!" said Kilduff suddenly. + +"By God, that's it! They sneaked out there and then went down on the +other side of the house." + +"If I had let them go," interposed Buck, "do you suppose I'd be here?" + +The keen glance of Silent moved from Buck to Haines, and then back +again. He turned his back on them. + +The quiet which had fallen on the room was now broken by the usual +clatter of voices, cursing, and laughter. In the midst of it Haines +stepped close to Buck and spoke in a guarded voice. + +"Buck," he said, "I don't know how you did it, but I have an idea--" + +"Did what?" + +The eyes of Haines were sad. + +"I was a clean man, once," he said quietly, "and you've done a clean +man's work!" + +He put out his hand and that of Buck's advanced slowly to meet it. + +"Was it for Dan or Kate that you did it?" + +The glance of Buck roamed far away. + +"I dunno," he said softly. "I think it was to save my own rotten +soul!" + +On the other side of the room Silent beckoned to Purvis. + +"What is it?" asked Hal, coming close. + +"Speak low," said Silent. "I'm talking to you, not to the crowd. +I think Buck is crooked as hell. I want you to ride down to the +neighbourhood of his house. Scout around it day and night. You may see +something worth while." + +Meanwhile, in that utter blackness which precedes the dawn, Kate and +her father reached the mouth of the canyon. + +"Kate," said old Joe in a tremulous voice, "if I was a prayin' man I'd +git down on my knees an' thank God for deliverin' you tonight." + +"Thank Buck Daniels, who's left his life in pawn for us. I'll go +straight for Buck's house. You must ride to Sheriff Morris and tell +him that an honest man is up there in the power of Silent's gang." + +"But--" he began. + +She waved her hand to him, and spurring her horse to a furious gallop +raced off into the night. Her father stared after her for a few +moments, but then, as she had advised, rode for Gus Morris. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + + +THOSE WHO SEE IN THE DARK + +It was still early morning when Kate swung from her horse before the +house of Buck Daniels. Instinct seemed to lead her to the sick-room, +and when she reached it she paid not the slightest attention to the +old man and his wife, who sat nodding beside the bed. They started up +when they heard the challenging growl of Black Bart, which relapsed +into an eager whine of welcome as he recognized Kate. + +She saw nothing but the drawn white face of Dan and his blue pencilled +eyelids. She ran to him. Old Sam, hardly awake, reached out to stop +her. His wife held him back. + +"It's Delilah!" she whispered. "I seen her face!" + +Kate was murmuring soft, formless sounds which made the old man and +his wife look to each other with awe. They retreated towards the door +as if they had been found intruding where they had no right. + +They saw the fever-bright eyes of Dan open. They heard him murmur +petulantly, his glance wandering. Her hand passed across his forehead, +and then her touch lingered on the bandage which surrounded his left +shoulder. She cried out at that, and Dan's glance checked in its +wandering and fixed upon the face which leaned above him. They saw his +eyes brighten, widen, and a frown gradually contract his forehead. +Then his hand went up slowly and found hers. + +He whispered something. + +"What did he say?" murmured Sam. + +"I dunno," she answered. "I think it was 'Delilah!' See her shrink!" + +"Shut up!" cautioned Sam. "Ma, he's comin' to his senses!" + +There was no doubt of it now, for a meaning had come into his eyes. + +"Shall I take her away?" queried Sam in a hasty whisper. "He may do +the girl harm. Look at the yaller in his eyes!" + +"No," said his wife softly, "it's time for us to leave 'em alone." + +"But look at him now!" he muttered. "He's makin' a sound back in his +throat like the growl of a wolf! I'm afeard for the gal, ma!" + +"Sam, you're an old fool!" + +He followed her reluctantly from the room. + +"Now," said his wife, "we c'n leave the door a little open--jest +a crack--an' you c'n look through and tell when she's in any reel +danger." + +Sam obeyed. + +"Dan ain't sayin' a word," he said. "He's jest glarin' at her." + +"An' what's she doin'?" asked Mrs. Daniels. + +"She's got her arm around his shoulders. I never knew they could be +such a pile of music in a gal's voice, ma!" + +"Sam, you was always a fool!" + +"He's pushin' her away to the length of his arm." + +"An' she? An' she?" whispered Mrs. Daniels. + +"She's talkin' quick. The big wolf is standin' close to them an' +turnin' his head from one face to the other like he was wonderin' +which was right in the argyment." + +"The ways of lovers is as queer as the ways of the Lord, Sam!" + +"Dan has caught an arm up before his face, an' he's sayin' one word +over an' over. She's dropped on her knees beside the bed. She's +talkin'. Why does she talk so low, ma?" + +"She don't dare speak loud for fear her silly heart would bust. Oh, I +know, I know! What fools all men be! What fools! She's askin' him to +forgive her." + +"An' he's tryin' all his might not to," whispered Mrs. Daniels in an +awe-stricken voice. + +"Black Bart has put his head on the lap of the gal. You c'n hear him +whine! Dan looks at the wolf an' then at the girl. He seems sort of +dumbfoundered. She's got her one hand on the head of Bart. She's got +the other hand to her face, and she's weepin' into that hand. Martha, +she's give up tryin' to persuade him." + +There was a moment of silence. + +"He's reachin' out his hand for Black Bart. His fingers is on those of +the girl. They's both starin'." + +"Ay, ay!" she said. "An' what now?" + +But Sam closed the door and set his back to it, facing his wife. + +"I reckon the rest of it's jest like the endin' of a book, ma," he +said. + +"Men is all fools!" whispered Mrs. Daniels, but there were tears in +her eyes. + +Sam went out to put up Kate's horse in the stable. Mrs. Daniels sat in +the dining-room, her hands clasped in her lap while she watched the +grey dawn come up the east. When Sam entered and spoke to her, she +returned no answer. He shook his head as if her mood completely +baffled him, and then, worn out by the long watching, he went to bed. + +For a long time Mrs. Daniels sat without moving, with the same strange +smile transfiguring her. Then she heard a soft step pause at the +entrance to the room, and turning saw Kate. There was something in +their faces which made them strangely alike. A marvellous grace and +dignity came to Mrs. Daniels as she rose. + +"My dear!" she said. + +"I'm so happy!" whispered Kate. + +"Yes, dear! And Dan?" + +"He's sleeping like a child! Will you look at him? I think the fever's +gone!" + +They went hand in hand--like two girls, and they leaned above the bed +where Whistling Dan lay smiling as he slept. On the floor Black Bart +growled faintly, opened one eye on them, and then relapsed into +slumber. There was no longer anything to guard against in that house. + + * * * * * + +It was several days later that Hal Purvis, returning from his scouting +expedition, met no less a person that Sheriff Gus Morris at the mouth +of the canyon leading to the old Salton place. + +"Lucky I met you, Hal," said the genial sheriff. "I've saved you from +a wild-goose chase." + +"How's that?" + +"Silent has jest moved." + +"Where?" + +"He's taken the trail up the canyon an' cut across over the hills to +that old shanty on Bald-eagle Creek. It stands--" + +"I know where it is," said Purvis. "Why'd he move?" + +"Things was gettin' too hot. I rode over to tell him that the boys was +talkin' of huntin' up the canyon to see if they could get any clue of +him. They knowed from Joe Cumberland that the gang was once here." + +"Cumberland went to you when he got out of the valley?" queried Purvis +with a grin. + +"Straight." + +"And then where did Cumberland go?" + +"I s'pose he went home an' joined his gal." + +"He didn't," said Purvis drily. + +"Then where is he? An' who the hell cares where he is?" + +"They're both at Buck Daniels's house." + +"Look here, Purvis, ain't Buck one of your own men? Why, I seen him up +at the camp jest a while ago!" + +"Maybe you did, but the next time you call around he's apt to be +missin'." + +"D'you think--" + +"He's double crossed us. I not only seen the girl an' her father at +Buck's house, but I also seen a big dog hangin' around the house. +Gus, it was Black Bart, an' where that wolf is you c'n lay to it that +Whistlin' Dan ain't far away!" + +The sheriff stared at him in dumb amazement, his mouth open. + +"They's a price of ten thousand on the head of Whistlin' Dan," +suggested Purvis. + +The sheriff still seemed too astonished to understand. + +"I s'pose," said Purvis, "that you wouldn't care special for an easy +lump sum of ten thousand, what?" + +"In Buck Daniels's house!" burst out the sheriff. + +"Yep," nodded Purvis, "that's where the money is if you c'n get enough +men together to gather in Whistlin' Dan Barry." + +"D'you really think I'd get some boys together to round up Whistlin' +Dan? Why, Hal, you know there ain't no real reason for that price on +his head!" + +"D'you always wait for 'real reasons' before you set your fat hands on +a wad of money?" + +The sheriff moistened his lips. + +"Ten thousand dollars!" + +"Ten thousand dollars!" echoed Purvis. + +"By God, I'll do it! If I got him, the boys would forget all about +Silent. They're afraid of Jim, but jest the thought of Barry paralyzes +them! I'll start roundin' up the boys I need today. Tonight we'll do +our plannin'. Tomorrer mornin' bright an' early we'll hit the trail." + +"Why not go after him tonight?" + +"Because he'd have an edge on us. I got a hunch that devil c'n see in +the dark." + +He grinned apologetically for this strange idea, but Purvis nodded +with perfect sympathy, and then turned his horse up the canyon. The +sheriff rode home whistling. On ten thousand dollars more he would be +able to retire from this strenuous life. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + + +THE SONG OF THE UNTAMED + +Buck and his father were learning of a thousand crimes charged against +Dan. Wherever a man riding a black horse committed an outrage it was +laid to the account of this new and most terrible of long riders. +Two cowpunchers were found dead on the plains. Their half-emptied +revolvers lay close to their hands, and their horses were not far off. +In ordinary times it would have been accepted that they had killed +each other, for they were known enemies, but now men had room for one +thought only. And why should not a man with the courage to take an +outlaw from the centre of Elkhead be charged with every crime on the +range? Jim Silent had been a grim plague, but at least he was human. +This devil defied death. + +These were both sad and happy days for Kate. The chief cause of her +sadness, strangely enough, was the rapidly returning strength of +Dan. While he was helpless he belonged to her. When he was strong +he belonged to his vengeance on Jim Silent; and when she heard Dan +whistling softly his own wild, weird music, she knew its meaning as +she would have known the wail of a hungry wolf on a winter night. It +was the song of the untamed. She never spoke of her knowledge. She +took the happiness of the moment to her heart and closed her eyes +against tomorrow. + +Then came an evening when she watched Dan play with Black Bart--a +game of tag in which they darted about the room with a violence +which threatened to wreck the furniture, but running with such soft +footfalls that there was no sound except the rattle of Bart's claws +against the floor and the rush of their breath. They came to an abrupt +stop and Dan dropped into a chair while Black Bart sank upon his +haunches and snapped at the hand which Dan flicked across his face +with lightning movements. The master fell motionless and silent. His +eyes forgot the wolf. Rising, they rested on Kate's face. They rose +again and looked past her. + +She understood and waited. + +"Kate," he said at last, "I've got to start on the trail." + +Her smile went out. She looked where she knew his eyes were staring, +through the window and far out across the hills where the shadows +deepened and dropped slanting and black across the hollows. Far away +a coyote wailed. The wind which swept the hills seemed to her like a +refrain of Dan's whistling--the song and the summons of the untamed. + +"That trail will never bring you home," she said. + +There was a long silence. + +"You ain't cryin', honey?" + +"I'm not crying, Dan." + +"I got to go." + +"Yes." + +"Kate, you got a dyin' whisper in your voice." + +"That will pass, dear." + +"Why, honey, you _are_ cryin'!" + +He took her face between his hands, and stared into her misted eyes, +but then his glance wandered past her, through the window, out to the +shadowy hills. + +"You won't leave me now?" she pleaded. + +"I must!" + +"Give me one hour more!" + +"Look!" he said, and pointed. + +She saw Black Bart reared up with his forepaws resting on the +window-sill, while he looked into the thickening night with the eyes +of the hunter which sees in the dark. + +"The wolf knows, Kate," he said, "but I can't explain." + +He kissed her forehead, but she strained close to him and raised her +lips. + +She cried, "My whole soul is on them." + +"Not that!" he said huskily. "There's still blood on my lips an' I'm +goin' out to get them clean." + +He was gone through the door with the wolf racing before him. + +She stumbled after him, her arms outspread, blind with tears; and +then, seeing that he was gone indeed, she dropped into the chair, +buried her face against the place where his head had rested, and wept. +Far away the coyote wailed again, and this time nearer. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + + +THE COWARD + +Before the coyote cried again, three shadows glided into the night. +The lighted window in the house was like a staring eye that searched +after them, but Satan, with the wolf running before, vanished quickly +among the shadows of the hills. They were glad. They were loosed in +the void of the mountain-desert with no destiny save the will of the +master. They seemed like one being rather than three. The wolf was the +eyes, the horse the strong body to flee or pursue, and the man was the +brain which directed, and the power which struck. + +He had formulated no plan of action to free Buck and kill Silent. All +he knew was that he must reach the long riders at once, and he would +learn their whereabouts from Morris. He rode more slowly as he +approached the hotel of the sheriff. Lights burned at the dining-room +windows. Probably the host still sat at table with his guests, but it +was strange that they should linger over their meal so late. He had +hoped that he would be able to come upon Morris by surprise. Now he +must take him in the midst of many men. With Black Bart slinking at +his heels he walked softly across the porch and tiptoed through the +front room. + +The door to the dining-room was wide. Around the table sat a dozen +men, with the sheriff at their head. The latter, somewhat red of face, +as if from the effort of a long speech, was talking low and earnestly, +sometimes brandishing his clenched fist with such violence that it +made his flabby cheeks quiver. + +"We'll get to the house right after dawn," he was saying, "because +that's the time when most men are so thick-headed with sleep that--" + +"Not Whistling Dan Barry," said one of the men, shaking his head. "He +won't be thick-headed. Remember, I seen him work in Elkhead, when he +slipped through the hands of a roomful of us." + +A growl of agreement went around the table, and Black Bart in +sympathy, echoed the noise softly. + +"What's that?" called the sheriff, raising his head sharply. + +Dan, with a quick gesture, made Black Bart slink a pace back. + +"Nothin'," replied one of the men. "This business is gettin' on your +nerves, sheriff. I don't blame you. It's gettin' on mine." + +"I'm trustin' to you boys to stand back of me all through," said the +sheriff with a sort of whine, "but I'm thinkin' that we won't have no +trouble. When we see him we won't stop for no questions to be asked, +but turn loose with our six-guns an' shoot him down like a dog. He's +not human an' he don't deserve--Oh, God!" + +He started up from his chair, white faced, his hands high above his +head, staring at the apparition of Whistling Dan, who stood with two +revolvers covering the posse. Every man was on his feet instantly, +with arms straining stiffly up. The muzzles of revolvers are like the +eyes of some portraits. No matter from what angle you look at them, +they seem directed straight at you. And every cowpuncher in the room +was sure that he was the main object of Dan's aim. + +"Morris!" said Dan. + +"For God's sake, don't shoot!" screamed the sheriff. "I--" + +"Git down on your knees! Watch him, Bart!" + +As the sheriff sank obediently to his knees, the wolf slipped up to +him with a stealthy stride and stood half crouched, his teeth bared, +silent. No growl could have made Bart more terribly threatening. +Dan turned completely away from Morris so that he could keep a more +careful watch on the others. + +"Call off your wolf!" moaned Morris, a sob of terror in his voice. + +"I ought to let him set his teeth in you," said Dan, "but I'm goin' to +let you off if you'll tell me what I want to know." + +"Yes! Anything!" + +"Where's Jim Silent?" + +All eyes flashed towards Morris. The latter, as the significance of +the question came home to him, went even a sicklier white, like the +belly of a dead fish. His eyes moved swiftly about the circle of his +posse. Their answering glares were sternly forbidding. + +"Out with it!" commanded Dan. + +The sheriff strove mightily to speak, but only a ghastly whisper came: +"You got the wrong tip, Dan. I don't know nothin' about Silent. I'd +have him in jail if I did!" + +"Bart!" said Dan. + +The wolf slunk closer to the kneeling man. His hot breath fanned the +face of the sheriff and his lips grinned still farther back from the +keen, white teeth. + +"Help!" yelled Morris. "He's at the shanty up on Bald-eagle Creek." + +A rumble, half cursing and half an inarticulate snarl of brute rage, +rose from the cowpunchers. + +"Bart," called Dan again, and leaped back from the door, raced out to +Satan, and drove into the night at a dead gallop. + +Half the posse rushed after him. A dozen shots were pumped after the +disappearing shadowy figure. Two or three jumped into their saddles. +The others called them back. + +"Don't be an ass, Monte," said one. "You got a good hoss, but you +ain't fool enough to think he c'n catch Satan?" + +They trooped back to the dining-room, and gathered in a silent circle +around the sheriff, whose little fear-bright eyes went from face to +face. + +"Ah, this is the swine," said one, "that was guardin' our lives!" + +"Fellers," pleaded the sheriff desperately, "I swear to you that I +jest heard of where Silent was today. I was keepin' it dark until +after we got Whistling Dan. Then I was goin' to lead you--" + +The flat of a heavy hand struck with a resounding thwack across his +lips. He reeled back against the wall, sputtering the blood from his +split mouth. + +"Pat," said Monte, "your hoss is done for. Will you stay here an' see +that he don't get away? We'll do somethin' with him when we get back." + +Pat caught the sheriff by his shirt collar and jerked him to a chair. +The body of the fat man was trembling like shaken jelly. The posse +turned away. + +They could not overtake Whistling Dan on his black stallion, but they +might arrive before Silent and his gang got under way. Their numbers +were over small to attack the formidable long riders, but they wanted +blood. Before Whistling Dan reached the valley of Bald-eagle Creek +they were in the saddle and riding hotly in pursuit. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + + +CLOSE IN! + +In that time ruined shack towards which the posse and Dan Barry rode, +the outlaws sat about on the floor eating their supper when Hal +Purvis entered. He had missed the trail from the Salton place to the +Bald-eagle half a dozen times that day, and that had not improved his +bitter mood. + +"You been gone long enough," growled Silent. "Sit down an' chow an' +tell us what you know." + +"I don't eat with no damned traitors," said Purvis savagely. "Stan' up +an' tell us that you're a double crossin' houn', Buck Daniels!" + +"You better turn in an' sleep," said Buck calmly. "I've knowed men +before that loses their reason for want of sleep!" + +"Jim," said Purvis, turning sharply on the chief, "Barry is at Buck's +house!" + +"You lie!" said Buck. + +"Do I lie?" said Purvis, grinding his teeth. "I seen Black Bart +hangin' around your house." + +Jim Silent reached out a heavy paw and dropped it on the shoulder of +Buck. Their eyes met through a long moment, and then the glance of +Buck wavered and fell. + +"Buck," said Silent, "I like you. I don't want to believe what Purvis +says. Give me your word of honour that Whistlin' Dan--" + +"He's right, Jim," said Buck. + +"An' he dies like a yaller cur!" broke in Purvis, snarling. + +"No," said Silent, "when one of the boys goes back on the gang, they +pay _me_, not the rest of you! Daniels, take your gun and git down to +the other end of the room an' stand with your face to the wall. I'll +stay at this end. Keep your arms folded. Haines, you stand over there +an' count up to three. Then holler: 'Fire!' an' we'll turn an' start +shootin'. The rest of you c'n be judge if that's fair." + +"Too damned fair," said Kilduff. "I say: String him up an' drill the +skunk full of holes." + +Without a word Buck turned on his heel. + +"One moment," said Haines. + +"He ain't your meat, Lee," said Silent. "Jest keep your hand out of +this." + +"I only wish to ask him a question," said Haines. He turned to Buck: +"Do you mean to say that after Barry's wolf cut up your arm, you've +been giving Whistling Dan a shelter from the law--and from us?" + +"I give him a place to stay because he was damned near death," said +Buck. "An' there's one thing you'll answer for in hell, Haines, an' +that's ridin' off an' leavin' the man that got you out of Elkhead. He +was bleedin' to death." + +"Shot?" said Haines, changing colour. + +Silent broke in: "Buck, go take your place and say your prayers." + +"Stay where you are!" commanded Haines. "And the girl?" + +"He was lyin' sick in bed, ravin' about 'Delilah' an' 'Kate.' So I +come an' got the girl." + +Haines dropped his head. + +"An' when he was lyin' there," said Silent fiercely, "you could of +made an' end of him without half liftin' your hand, an' you didn't." + +"Silent," said Haines, "if you want to talk, speak to me." + +"What in hell do you mean, Lee?" + +"You can't get at Buck except through me." + +"Because that devil Barry got a bullet for your sake are you goin' +to--" + +"I've lived a rotten life," said Haines. + +"An' I suppose you think this is a pretty good way of dyin'?" sneered +Silent. + +"I have more cause to fight for Barry than Buck has," said Haines. + +"Lee, we've been pals too long." + +"Silent, I've hated you like a snake ever since I met you. But outlaws +can't choose their company." + +His tawny head rose. He stared haughtily around the circle of lowering +faces. + +"By God," said Silent, white with passion, "I'm beginnin' to think +you do hate me! Git down there an' take your place. You're first an' +Daniels comes next. Kilduff, you c'n count!" + +He stalked to the end of the room. Haines lingered one moment. + +"Buck," he said, "there's one chance in ten thousand that I'll make +this draw the quickest of the two. If I don't, you may live through +it. Tell Kate--" + +"Haines, git to your mark, or I'll start shootin'!" + +Haines turned and took his place. The others drew back along the walls +of the room. Kilduff took the lamp from the table and held it high +above his head. Even then the light was dim and uncertain and the +draughts set the flame wavering so that the place was shaken with +shadows. The moon sent a feeble shaft of light through the window. + +"One!" said Kilduff. + +The shoulders of Haines and Silent hunched slightly. + +"Two!" said Kilduff. + +"God," whispered someone. + +"Three. Fire!" + +They whirled, their guns exploding at almost the same instant, and +Silent lunged for the floor, firing twice as he fell. Haines's second +shot split the wall behind Silent. If the outlaw chief had remained +standing the bullet would have passed through his head. But as Silent +fired the third time the revolver dropped clattering from the hand of +Haines. Buck caught him as he toppled inertly forward, coughing blood. + +Silent was on his feet instantly. + +"Stand back!" he roared to his men, who crowded about the fallen long +rider. "Stand back in your places. I ain't finished. I'm jest started. +Buck, take your place!" + +"Boys!" pleaded Buck, "he's not dead, but he'll bleed to death +unless--" + +"Damn him, let him bleed. Stand up, Buck, or by God I'll shoot you +while you kneel there!" + +"_Shoot and be damned!_" + +He tore off his shirt and ripped away a long strip for a bandage. + +The revolver poised in Silent's hand. + +"Buck, I'm warnin' you for the last time!" + +"Fellers, it's murder an' damnation for all if you let Haines die this +way!" cried Buck. + +The shining barrel of the revolver dropped to a level. + +"I've given you a man's chance," said Silent, "an' now you'll have the +chance of--" + +The door at the side of the room jerked open and a revolver cracked. +The lamp shivered to a thousand pieces in the hands of Bill Kilduff. +All the room was reduced to a place of formless shadow, dimly lighted +by the shaft of moonlight. The voice of Jim Silent, strangely changed +and sharpened from his usual bass roar, shrilled over the sudden +tumult: "Each man for himself! _It's Whistling Dan!_" + +Terry Jordan and Bill Kilduff rushed at the dim figure, crouched to +the floor. Their guns spat fire, but they merely lighted the way to +their own destruction. Twice Dan's revolver spoke, and they dropped, +yelling. Pandemonium fell on the room. + +The long riders raced here and there, the revolvers coughing fire. For +an instant Hal Purvis stood framed against the pallid moonshine at the +window. He stiffened and pointed an arm toward the door. + +"The werewolf," he screamed. + +As if in answer to the call, Black Bart raced across the room. Twice +the revolver sounded from the hand of Purvis. Then a shadow leaped +from the floor. There was a flash of white teeth, and Purvis lurched +to one side and dropped, screaming terribly. The door banged. Suddenly +there was silence. The clatter of a galloping horse outside drew +swiftly away. + +"Dan!" + +"Here!" + +"Thank God!" + +"Buck, one got away! If it was Silent--Here! Bring some matches." + +Someone was dragging himself towards the door in a hopeless effort to +escape. Several others groaned. + +"You, there!" called Buck. "Stay where you are!" + +The man who struggled towards the door flattened himself against the +floor, moaning pitifully. + +"Quick," said Dan, "light a match. Morris's posse is at my heels. No +time. If Silent escaped--" + +A match flared in the hands of Buck. + +"Who's that? Haines!" + +"Let him alone, Dan! I'll tell you why later. There's Jordan and +Kilduff. That one by the door is Rhinehart." + +They ran from one to the other, greeted by groans and deep curses. + +"Who's that beneath the window?" + +"Too small for Silent. It's Purvis, and he's dead!" + +"Bart got him!" + +"No! It was fear that killed him. Look at his face!" + +"Bart, go out to Satan!" + +The wolf trotted from the room. + +"My God, Buck, I've done all this for nothin'! It was Silent that got +away!" + +"What's that?" + +Over the groans of the wounded came the sound of running horses, not +one, but many, then a call: "Close in! Close in!" + +"The posse!" said Dan. + +As he jerked open the door a bullet smashed the wood above his head. +Three horsemen were closing around Satan and Black Bart. He leaped +back into the room. + +"They've got Satan, Buck. We've got to try it on foot. Go through the +window." + +"They've got nothing on me. I'll stick with Haines." + +Dan jumped through the window, and raced to the shelter of a big rock. +He had hardly dropped behind it when four horsemen galloped around the +corner of the house. + +"Johnson and Sullivan," ordered the voice of Monte sharply, "watch +the window. They're lying low inside, but we've got Barry's horse and +wolf. Now we'll get him." + +"Come out or we'll burn the house down!" thundered a voice from the +other side. + +"We surrender!" called Buck within. + +A cheer came from the posse. Sullivan and Johnson ran for the window +they had been told to guard. The door on the other side of the house +slammed open. + +"It's a slaughter house!" cried one of the posse. + +Dan left the sheltering rock and raced around the house, keeping a +safe distance, and dodging from rock to rock. He saw Satan and Black +Bart guarded by two men with revolvers in their hands. He might have +shot them down, but the distance was too great for accurate gun-play. +He whistled shrilly. The two guards wheeled towards him, and as they +did so, Black Bart, leaping, caught one by the shoulder, whirling him +around and around with the force of the spring. The other fired at +Satan, who raced off towards the sound of the whistle. It was an easy +shot, but in the utter surprise of the instant the bullet went wide. +Before he could fire again Satan was coming to a halt beside Dan. + +"Help!" yelled the cattleman. "Whistling Dan!" + +The other guard opened fire wildly. Three men ran from the house. All +they saw was a black shadow which melted instantly into the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + + +FEAR + +Into the dark he rode. Somewhere in the mountains was Silent, and +now alone. In Dan's mouth the old salt taste of his own blood was +unforgotten. + +It was a wild chase. He had only the faintest clues to guide him, +yet he managed to keep close on the trail of the great outlaw. After +several days he rode across a tall red-roan stallion, a mere wreck of +a horse with lean sides and pendant head and glazed eye. It was a long +moment before Dan recognized Silent's peerless mount, Red Pete. The +outlaw had changed his exhausted horse for a common pony. The end of +the long trail must be near. + +The whole range followed that chase with breathless interest. It was +like the race of Hector and Achilles around the walls of Troy. And +when they met there would be a duel of giants. Twice Whistling Dan was +sighted. Once Jim Silent fought a running duel with a posse fresh from +Elkhead. The man hunters were alert, but it was their secret hope that +the two famous outlaws would destroy each other, but how the wild +chase would end no one could know. At last Buck Daniels rode to tell +Kate Cumberland strange news. + +When he stumbled into the ranch house, Kate and her father rose, +white-faced. There was an expression of waiting terror in their eyes. + +"Buck!" cried Joe. + +"Hush! Dad," said Kate. "It hasn't come yet! Buck, what has happened?" + +"The end of the world has come for Dan," he said. "That devil +Silent--" + +"Dan," cried old Joe, and rushed around the table to Buck. + +"Silent has dared Dan to meet him at three o'clock tomorrow afternoon +in Tully's saloon in Elkhead! He's held up four men in the last +twenty-four hours and told them that he'll be at Tully's tomorrow and +will expect Dan there!" + +"It isn't possible!" cried Kate. "That means that Silent is giving +himself up to the law!" + +Buck laughed bitterly. + +"The law will not put a hand on them if it thinks that they'll fight +it out together," he said. + +"There'll be a crowd in the saloon, but not a hand will stir to arrest +Silent till after the fight." + +"But Dan won't go to Tully's," broke in old Joe. "If Silent is crazy +enough to do such a thing, Dan won't be." + +"He will," said Kate. "I know!" + +"You've got to stop him," urged Buck. "You've got to get to Elkhead +and turn Dan back." + +"Ay," said Joe, "for even if he kills Silent, the crowd will tackle +him after the fight--a hundred against one." + +She shook her head. + +"You won't go?" + +"Not a step." + +"But Kate, don't you understand--?" + +"I couldn't turn Dan back. There is his chance to meet Silent. Do you +dream any one could turn him back?" + +The two men were mute. + +"You're right," said Buck at last. "I hoped for a minute that you +could do it, but now I remember the way he was in that dark shanty up +the Bald-eagle Creek. You can't turn a wolf from a trail, and Whistling +Dan has never forgotten the taste of his own blood." + +"Kate!" called her father suddenly. "What's the matter, honey?" + +With bowed head and a faltering step she was leaving the room. Buck +caught old Joe by the arm and held him back as he would have followed. + +"Let her be!" said Buck sharply. "Maybe she'll want to see you at +three o'clock tomorrow afternoon, but until then she'll want to be +alone. There'll be ghosts enough with her all the time. You c'n lay to +that." + +Joe Cumberland wiped his glistening forehead. + +"There ain't nothin' we c'n do, Buck, but sit an' wait." + +Buck drew a long breath. + +"What devil gave Silent that idea?" + +"_Fear_!" + +"Jim Silent don't know what fear is!" + +"Any one who's seen the yaller burn in Dan's eyes knows what fear is." + +Buck winced. + +Cumberland went on: "Every night Silent has been seein' them eyes that +glow yaller in the dark. They lie in wait for him in every shadow. +Between dark and dawn he dies a hundred deaths. He can't stand it no +more. He's goin' to die. Somethin' tells him that. But he wants to die +where they's humans around him, and when he dies he wants to pull Dan +down with him." + +They sat staring at each other for a time. + +"If he lives through that fight with Silent," said Buck sadly, "the +crowd will jump in on him. Their numbers'll make 'em brave." + +"An' then?" + +"Then maybe he'd like a friend to fight by his side," said Buck +simply. "So long, Joe!" + +The old man wrung his hand and then followed him out to the +hitching-rack where Buck's horse stood. + +"Ain't Dan got no friends among the crowd?" asked Cumberland. "Don't +they give him no thanks for catching the rest of Silent's gang?" + +"They give him lots of credit," said Buck. "An' Haines has said a lot +in favour of Dan, explainin' how the jail bustin' took place. Lee is +sure provin' himself a white man. He's gettin' well of his wounds +and it's said the Governor will pardon him. You see, Haines went bad +because the law done him dirt a long time ago, and the Governor is +takin' that into account." + +"But they'd still want to kill Dan?" + +"Half of the boys wouldn't," said Buck. "The other half is all wrought +up over the killings that's been happenin' on the range in the last +month. Dan is accused of about an even half of 'em, an' the friends of +dead men don't waste no time listenin' to arguments. They say Dan's an +outlawed man an' that they're goin' to treat him like one." + +"Damn them!" groaned Cumberland. "Don't Morris's confession make no +difference?" + +"Morris was lynched before he had a chance to swear to what he said in +Dan's favour. Kilduff an' Jordan an' Rhinehart might testify that Dan +wasn't never bought over by Silent, but they know they're done for +themselves, an' they won't try to help anybody else, particular the +man that put 'em in the hands of the law. Kilduff has swore that Dan +_was_ bribed by Silent, that he went after Silent not for revenge, but +to get some more money out of him, an' that the fight in the shanty up +at Bald-eagle Creek was because Silent refused to give Dan any more +money." + +"Then there ain't no hope," muttered Cumberland. "But oh, lad, it +breaks my heart to think of Kate! Dan c'n only die once, but every +minute is a death to her!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + + +DEATH + +Before noon of the next day Buck joined the crowd which had been +growing for hours around Tully's saloon. Men gave way before him, +whispering. He was a marked man--the friend of Whistling Dan Barry. +Cowpunchers who had known him all his life now avoided his eyes, but +caught him with side glances. He smiled grimly to himself, reading +their minds. He was more determined than ever to stand or fall with +Whistling Dan that day. + +There was not an officer of the law in sight. If one were present it +would be his manifest duty to apprehend the outlaws as soon as they +appeared, and the plan was to allow them to fight out their quarrel +and perhaps kill each other. + +Arguments began to rise among separate groups, where the crimes +attributed to Whistling Dan Barry were numbered and talked over. It +surprised Buck to discover the number who believed the stories which +he and Haines had told. They made a strong faction, though manifestly +in the minority. + +Hardly a man who did not, from time to time, nervously fumble the butt +of his six-gun. As three o'clock drew on the talk grew less and less. +It broke out now and again in little uneasy bursts. Someone would tell +a joke. Half hysterical laughter would greet it, and die suddenly, +as it began. These were all hard-faced men of the mountain-desert, +warriors of the frontier. What unnerved them was the strangeness of +the thing which was about to happen. The big wooden clock on the side +of the long barroom struck once for half-past two. All talk ceased. + +Men seemed unwilling to meet each other's eyes. Some of them drummed +lightly on the top of the bar and strove to whistle, but the only +sound that came through their dried lips was a whispering rush of +breath. A grey-haired cattle ranger commenced to hum a tune, very low, +but distinct. Finally a man rose, strode across the room, shook the +old fellow by the shoulder with brutal violence, and with a curse +ordered him to stop his "damned death song!" + +Everyone drew a long breath of relief. The minute hand crept on +towards three o'clock. Now it was twenty minutes, now fifteen, now +ten, now five; then a clatter of hoofs, a heavy step on the porch, and +the giant form of Jim Silent blocked the door. His hands rested on the +butts of his two guns. Buck guessed at the tremendous strength of that +grip. The eyes of the outlaw darted about the room, and every glance +dropped before his, with the exception of Buck's fascinated stare. + +For he saw a brand on the face of the great long rider. It lay in no +one thing. It was not the unusual hollowness of eyes and cheeks. It +was not the feverish brightness of his glance. It was something which +included all of these. It was the fear of death by night! His hands +fell away from the guns. He crossed the room to the bar and nodded his +head at the bartender. + +"Drink!" he said, and his voice was only a whisper without body of +sound. + +The bartender, with pasty face, round and blank, did not move either +his hand or his fascinated eyes. There was a twitch of the outlaw's +hand and naked steel gleamed. Instantly revolvers showed in every +hand. A youngster moaned. The sound seemed to break the charm. + +Silent put back his great head and burst into a deep-throated +laughter. The gun whirled in his hand and the butt crashed heavily on +the bar. + +"Drink, damn you!" he thundered. "Step up an' drink to the health of +Jim Silent!" + +The wavering line slowly approached the bar. Silent pulled out his +other gun and shoved them both across the bar. + +"Take 'em," he said. "I don't want 'em to get restless an' muss up +this joint." + +The bartender took them as if they were covered with some deadly +poison, and the outlaw stood unarmed! It came suddenly to Buck what +the whole manoeuvre meant. He gave away his guns in order to tempt +someone to arrest him. Better the hand of the law than the yellow +glare of those following eyes. Yet not a man moved to apprehend him. +Unarmed he still seemed more dangerous than six common men. + +The long rider jerked a whisky bottle upside down over a glass. Half +the contents splashed across the bar. He turned and faced the crowd, +his hand dripping with the spilled liquor. + +"Whose liquorin'?" he bellowed. + +Not a sound answered him. + +"Damn your yaller souls! Then all by myself I'll drink to--" + +He stopped short, his eyes wild, his head tilted back. One by one the +cowpunchers gave back, foot by foot, softly, until they stood close to +the opposite wall of the saloon. All the bar was left to Silent. The +whisky glass slipped from his hand and crashed on the floor. In his +face was the meaning of the sound he heard, and now it came to their +own ears--a whistle thin with distance, but clear. + +Only phrases at first, but now it rose more distinct, the song of the +untamed; the terror and beauty of the mountain-desert; a plea and a +threat. + +The clock struck, sharp, hurried, brazen--one, two, three! Before the +last quick, unmusical chime died out Black Bart stood in the entrance +to the saloon. His eyes were upon Jim Silent, who stretched out his +arms on either side and gripped the edge of the bar. Yet even when the +wolf glided silently across the room and crouched before the bandit, +at watch, his lips grinned back from the white teeth, the man had no +eyes for him. Instead, his stare held steadily upon that open door and +on his raised face there was still the terror of that whistling which +swept closer and closer. + +It ceased. A footfall crossed the porch. How different from the +ponderous stride of Jim Silent! This was like the padding step of the +panther. And Whistling Dan stood in the door. He did not fill it as +the burly shoulders of Silent had done. He seemed almost as slender as +a girl, and infinitely boyish in his grace--a strange figure, surely, +to make all these hardened fighters of the mountain-desert crouch, and +stiffen their fingers around the butts of their revolvers! His eyes +were upon Silent, and how they lighted! His face changed as the +face of the great god Pan must have altered when he blew into the +instrument of reeds and made perfect music, the first in the world. + +"Bart," said the gentle voice, "go out to Satan." + +The wolf turned and slipped from the room. It was a little thing, but, +to the men who saw it, it was terrible to watch an untamed beast obey +the voice of a man. + +Still with that light, panther-step he crossed the barroom, and now he +was looking up into the face of the giant. The huge long rider loomed +above Dan. That was not terror which set his face in written lines--it +was horror, such as a man feels when he stands face to face with the +unearthly in the middle of night. This was open daylight in a room +thronged with men, yet in it nothing seemed to live save the smile of +Whistling Dan. He drew out the two revolvers and slipped them onto the +bar. They stood unarmed, yet they seemed no less dangerous. + +Silent's arms crept closer to his sides. He seemed gathering himself +by degrees. The confidence in his own great size showed in his face, +and the blood-lust of battle in his eyes answered the yellow light in +Dan's. + +Dan spoke. + +"Silent, once you put a stain of blood on me. I've never forgot the +taste. It's goin' to be washed out today or else made redder. It was +here that you put the stain." + +He struck the long rider lightly across the mouth with the back of +his hand, and Silent lunged with the snarl of a beast. His blow spent +itself on thin air. He whirled and struck again. Only a low laughter +answered him. He might as well have battered away at a shadow. + +"Damnation!" he yelled, and leaped in with both arms outspread. + +The impetus of his rush drove them both to the floor, where they +rolled over and over, and before they stopped thin fingers were locked +about the bull neck of the bandit, and two thumbs driven into the +hollow of his throat. With a tremendous effort he heaved himself from +the floor, his face convulsed. + +He beat with both fists against the lowered head of Dan. He tore at +those hands. They were locked as if with iron. Only the laughter, the +low, continual laughter rewarded him. + +He screamed, a thick, horrible sound. He flung himself to the floor +again and rolled over and over, striving to crush the slender, +remorseless body. Once more he was on his feet, running hither and +thither, dragging Dan with him. His eyes swelled out; his face +blackened. He beat against the walls. He snapped at the wrists of Dan +like a beast, his lips flecked with a bloody froth. + +That bull-dog grip would not unlock. That animal, exultant laughter +ran on in demoniac music. In his great agony the outlaw rolled his +eyes in appeal to the crowd which surrounded the struggling two. Every +man seemed about to spring forward, yet they could not move. Some had +their fingers stiffly extended, as if in the act of gripping with +hands too stiff to close. + +Silent slipped to his knees. His head fell back, his discoloured +tongue protruding. Dan wrenched him back to his feet. One more +convulsive effort from the giant, and then his eyes glazed, his body +went limp. The remorseless hands unlocked. Silent fell in a shapeless +heap to the floor. + +Still no one moved. There was no sound except the deadly ticking of +the clock. The men stared fascinated at that massive, lifeless figure +on the floor. Even in death he was terrible. Then Dan's hand slid +inside his shirt, fumbled a moment, and came forth again bearing a +little gleaming circle of metal. He dropped it upon the body of Jim +Silent, and turning, walked slowly from the room. Still no one moved +to intercept him. Passing through the door he pushed within a few +inches of two men. They made no effort to seize him, for their eyes +were upon the body of the great lone rider. + +The moment Dan was gone the hypnotic silence which held the crowd, +broke suddenly. Someone stirred. Another cursed beneath his breath. +Instantly all was clamour and a running hither and thither. Buck +Daniels caught from the body of Jim Silent the small metal circle +which Dan had dropped. He stood dumbfounded at the sight of it, and +then raised his hand, and shouted in a voice which gathered the others +swiftly around him. They cursed deeply with astonishment, for what +they saw was the marshal's badge of Tex Calder. The number on it was +known throughout the mountain-desert, and seeing it, the worst of +Dan's enemies stammered, gaped, and could not speak. There were more +impartial men who could. In five minutes the trial of Whistling Dan +was under way. The jury was every cowpuncher present. The judge was +public opinion. It was a grey-haired man who finally leaped upon the +bar and summed up all opinion in a brief statement. + +"Whatever Whistlin' Dan has done before," he said, "this day he's done +a man-sized job in a man's way. Morris, before he died, said enough to +clear up most of this lad's past, particular about the letter from Jim +Silent that talked of a money bribe. Morris didn't have a chance to +swear to what he said, but a dying man speaks truth. Lee Haines had +cleared up most of the rest. We can't hold agin Dan what he done in +breakin' jail with Haines. Dan Barry was a marshal. He captured Haines +and then let the outlaw go. He had a right to do what he wanted as +long as he finally got Haines back. And Haines has told us that when +he was set free Barry said he would get him again. And Barry did get +him again. Remember that, and he got all the rest of Silent's gang, +and now there lies Jim Silent dead. They's two things to remember. The +first is that Whistlin' Dan has rid away without any shootin' irons on +his hip. That looks as if he's come to the end of his long trail. The +second is that he was a bunkie of Tex Calder, an' a man Tex could +trust for the avengin' of his death is good enough for me." + +There was a pause after this speech, and during the quiet the +cowpunchers were passing from hand to hand the marshal's badge which +Calder, as he died, had given to Dan. The bright small shield was a +more convincing proof than a hundred arguments. The bitterest of +Dan's enemies realized that the crimes of which he was accused were +supported by nothing stronger than blind rumour. The marshal's badge +and the dead body of Jim Silent kept them mute. So an illegal judge +and one hundred illegal jurymen found Whistling Dan "not guilty." + +Buck Daniels took horse and galloped for the Cumberland house with the +news of the verdict. He knew that Whistling Dan was there. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + + +THE WILD GEESE + +So when the first chill days of the late autumn came the four were +once more together, Dan, Kate, Black Bart, and Satan. Buck and old Joe +Cumberland made the background of their happiness. It was the latter's +request which kept the wedding a matter of the indefinite future. He +would assign no reason for his wish, but Kate guessed it. + +All was not well, she knew. Day after day, as the autumn advanced, +Dan went out with the wolf and the wild black stallion and ranged the +hills alone. She did not ask him where or why, for she understood that +to be alone was as necessary to him as sleep is to others. Yet she +could not explain it all and the cold fear grew in her. Sometimes she +surprised a look of infinite pity in the eyes of Buck or her father. +Sometimes she found them whispering and nodding together. At last on +an evening when the three sat before the fire in solemn silence and +Dan was away, they knew not where, among the hills, she could bear it +no longer. + +"Do you really think," she burst out, "that the old wildness is still +in Dan?" + +"Wild?" said her father gently. "Wild? I don't say he's still +wild--but why is he so late tonight, Kate? The ground's all covered +with snow. The wind's growin' sharper an' sharper. This is a time for +all reasonable folk to stay home an' git comfortable beside the fire. +But Dan ain't here. Where is he?" + +"Hush!" said Buck, and raised a hand for silence. + +Far away they heard the wail of a wolf crying to the moon. She rose +and went out on the porch of the house. The others followed her. +Outside they found nothing but the low moaning of the wind, and the +snow, silver glimmering where the moonlight fell upon it. Then they +heard the weird, inhuman whistling, and at last they saw Dan riding +towards the house. A short distance away he stopped Satan. Black Bart +dropped to his haunches and wailed again. Dan was staring upwards. + +"Look!" said Kate, and pointed. + +Across the white circle of the moon drove a flying wedge of wild +geese. The wail of the wolf died out. A faint honking was blown to +them by the wind, now a distant, jangling chorus, now a solitary sound +repeated like a call. + +Without a word the three returned to their seats close by the fire, +and sat silent, staring. Presently the rattle of the wolf's claws came +on the floor; then Dan entered with his soft step and stood behind +Kate's chair. They were used to his silent comings and goings. Black +Bart was slinking up and down the room with a restless step. His eyes +glowed from the shadow, and as Joe looked up to the face of Dan he +saw the same light repeated there, yellow and strange. Then, like the +wolf, Dan turned and commenced that restless pacing up and down, up +and down, a padding step like the fall of a panther's paw. + +"The wild geese--" he said suddenly, and then stopped. + +"They are flying south?" said Kate. + +"South!" he repeated. + +His eyes looked far away. The wolf slipped to his side and licked his +hand. + +"Kate, I'd like to follow the wild geese." + +Old Joe shaded his eyes and the big hands of Buck were locked +together. + +"Are you unhappy, Dan?" she said. + +"The snow is come," he muttered uneasily. + +He began pacing again with that singular step. + +"When I went out to Satan in the corral this evenin', I found him +standin' lookin' south." + +She rose and faced him with a little gesture of surrender. + +"Then you must follow the wild geese, Dan!" + +"You don't mind me goin', Kate?" + +"No." + +"But your eyes are shinin'!" + +"It's only the reflection of the firelight." + +Black Bart whined softly. Suddenly Dan straightened and threw up his +arms, laughing low with exultation. Buck Daniels shuddered and dropped +his head. + +"I am far behind," said Dan, "but I'll go fast." + +He caught her in his arms, kissed her eyes and lips, and then whirled +and ran from the room with that noiseless, padding step. + +"Kate!" groaned Buck Daniels, "you've let him go! We've all lost him +for ever!" + +A sob answered him. + +"Go call him back," pleaded Joe. "He will stay for your sake." + +She whispered: "I would rather call back the wild geese who flew +across the moon. And they are only beautiful when they are wild!" + +"But you've lost him, Kate, don't you understand?" + +"The wild geese fly north again in spring," said Buck, "and he'll--" + +"Hush!" she said. "Listen!" + +Far off, above the rushing of the wind, they heard the weird +whistling, a thrilling and unearthly music. It was sad with the beauty +of the night. It was joyous with the exultation of the wind. It might +have been the voice of some god who rode the northern storm south, +south after the wild geese, south with the untamed. + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Untamed, by Max Brand + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNTAMED *** + +***** This file should be named 10886-8.txt or 10886-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/8/8/10886/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Gene Smethers and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/10886-8.zip b/old/10886-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a8d545e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10886-8.zip diff --git a/old/10886.txt b/old/10886.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..53d654f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10886.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10497 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Untamed, by Max Brand + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Untamed + +Author: Max Brand + +Release Date: January 31, 2004 [EBook #10886] +[Last updated: March 17, 2011] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNTAMED *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Gene Smethers and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +THE UNTAMED + +BY MAX BRAND + + +1919 + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + +I. Pan of the Desert + +II. The Panther + +III. Silent Shoots + +IV. Something Yellow + +V. Four in the Air + +VI. Laughter + +VII. The Mute Messenger + +VIII. Red Writing + +IX. The Phantom Rider + +X. The Strength of Women + +XI. Silent Bluffs + +XII. Partners + +XIII. The Lone Riders Entertain + +XIV. Delilah + +XV. The Cross Roads + +XVI. The Three of us + +XVII. The Panther's Paw + +XVIII. Cain + +XIX. Real Men + +XX. One Trail Ends + +XXI. One Way Out + +XXII. The Woman's Way + +XXIII. Hell Starts + +XXIV. The Rescue + +XXV. The Long Ride + +XXVI. Black Bart Turns Nurse + +XXVII. Nobody Laughs + +XXVIII. Whistling Dan, Desperado + +XXIX. "Werewolf" + +XXX. "The Manhandling" + +XXXI. "Laugh, Damn it!" + +XXXII. Those who See in the Dark + +XXXIII. The Song of the Untamed + +XXXIV. The Coward + +XXXV. Close in! + +XXXVI. Fear + +XXXVII. Death + +XXXVIII. The Wild Geese + + + + +THE UNTAMED + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +PAN OF THE DESERT + +Even to a high-flying bird this was a country to be passed over +quickly. It was burned and brown, littered with fragments of rock, +whether vast or small, as if the refuse were tossed here after the +making of the world. A passing shower drenched the bald knobs of a +range of granite hills and the slant morning sun set the wet rocks +aflame with light. In a short time the hills lost their halo and +resumed their brown. The moisture evaporated. The sun rose higher and +looked sternly across the desert as if he searched for any remaining +life which still struggled for existence under his burning course. + +And he found life. Hardy cattle moved singly or in small groups and +browsed on the withered bunch grass. Summer scorched them, winter +humped their backs with cold and arched up their bellies with famine, +but they were a breed schooled through generations for this fight +against nature. In this junk-shop of the world, rattlesnakes were +rulers of the soil. Overhead the buzzards, ominous black specks +pendant against the white-hot sky, ruled the air. + +It seemed impossible that human beings could live in this +rock-wilderness. If so, they must be to other men what the lean, hardy +cattle of the hills are to the corn-fed stabled beeves of the States. + +Over the shoulder of a hill came a whistling which might have been +attributed to the wind, had not this day been deathly calm. It was fit +music for such a scene, for it seemed neither of heaven nor earth, +but the soul of the great god Pan come back to earth to charm those +nameless rocks with his wild, sweet piping. It changed to harmonious +phrases loosely connected. Such might be the exultant improvisations +of a master violinist. + +A great wolf, or a dog as tall and rough coated as a wolf, trotted +around the hillside. He paused with one foot lifted and lolling, +crimson tongue, as he scanned the distance and then turned to look +back in the direction from which he had come. The weird music changed +to whistled notes as liquid as a flute. The sound drew closer. A +horseman rode out on the shoulder and checked his mount. One could not +choose him at first glance as a type of those who fight nature in a +region where the thermometer moves through a scale of a hundred and +sixty degrees in the year to an accompaniment of cold-stabbing winds +and sweltering suns. A thin, handsome face with large brown eyes and +black hair, a body tall but rather slenderly made--he might have been +a descendant of some ancient family of Norman nobility; but could such +proud gentry be found riding the desert in a tall-crowned sombrero +with chaps on his legs and a red bandana handkerchief knotted around +his throat? That first glance made the rider seem strangely out of +place in such surroundings. One might even smile at the contrast, but +at the second glance the smile would fade, and at the third, it would +be replaced with a stare of interest. It was impossible to tell why +one respected this man, but after a time there grew a suspicion of +unknown strength in this lone rider, strength like that of a machine +which is stopped but only needs a spark of fire to plunge it into +irresistible action. Strangely enough, the youthful figure seemed in +tune with that region of mighty distances, with that white, cruel sun, +with that bird of prey hovering high, high in the air. + +It required some study to guess at these qualities of the rider, for +they were such things as a child feels more readily than a grown man; +but it needed no expert to admire the horse he bestrode. It was a +statue in black marble, a steed fit for a Shah of Persia! The stallion +stood barely fifteen hands, but to see him was to forget his size. His +flanks shimmered like satin in the sun. What promise of power in the +smooth, broad hips! Only an Arab poet could run his hand over that +shoulder and then speak properly of the matchless curve. Only an Arab +could appreciate legs like thin and carefully drawn steel below the +knees; or that flow of tail and windy mane; that generous breast with +promise of the mighty heart within; that arched neck; that proud head +with the pricking ears, wide forehead, and muzzle, as the Sheik said, +which might drink from a pint-pot. + +A rustling like dried leaves came from among the rocks and the hair +rose bristling around the neck of the wolflike dog. With outstretched +head he approached the rocks, sniffing, then stopped and turned +shining eyes upon his master, who nodded and swung from the saddle. It +was a little uncanny, this silent interchange of glances between the +beast and the man. The cause of the dog's anxiety was a long rattler +which now slid out from beneath a boulder, and giving its harsh +warning, coiled, ready to strike. The dog backed away, but instead of +growling he looked to the man. + +Cowboys frequently practise with their revolvers at snakes, but one of +the peculiarities of this rider was that he carried no gun, neither +six-shooter nor rifle. He drew out a short knife which might be used +to skin a beef or carve meat, though certainly no human being had ever +used such a weapon against a five-foot rattler. He stooped and rested +both hands on his thighs. His feet were not two paces from the poised +head of the snake. As if marvelling at this temerity, the big rattler +tucked back his head and sounded the alarm again. In response the +cowboy flashed his knife in the sun. Instantly the snake struck but +the deadly fangs fell a few inches short of the riding boots. At the +same second the man moved. No eye could follow the leap of his hand as +it darted down and fastened around the snake just behind the head. The +long brown body writhed about his wrist, with rattles clashing. He +severed the head deftly and tossed the twisting mass back on the +rocks. + +Then, as if he had performed the most ordinary act, he rubbed his +gloves in the sand, cleansed his knife in a similar manner, and +stepped back to his horse. Contrary to the rules of horse-nature, the +stallion had not flinched at sight of the snake, but actually advanced +a high-headed pace or two with his short ears laid flat on his +neck, and a sudden red fury in his eyes. He seemed to watch for an +opportunity to help his master. As the man approached after killing +the snake the stallion let his ears go forward again and touched his +nose against his master's shoulder. When the latter swung into the +saddle, the wolf-dog came to his side, reared, and resting his +forefeet on the stirrup stared up into the rider's face. The man +nodded to him, whereat, as if he understood a spoken word, the dog +dropped back and trotted ahead. The rider touched the reins and +galloped down the easy slope. The little episode had given the effect +of a three-cornered conversation. Yet the man had been as silent as +the animals. + +In a moment he was lost among the hills, but still his whistling came +back, fainter and fainter, until it was merely a thrilling whisper +that dwelt in the air but came from no certain direction. + +His course lay towards a road which looped whitely across the hills. +The road twisted over a low ridge where a house stood among a grove of +cottonwoods dense enough and tall enough to break the main force of +any wind. On the same road, a thousand yards closer to the rider of +the black stallion, was Morgan's place. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +THE PANTHER + +In the ranch house old Joseph Cumberland frowned on the floor as he +heard his daughter say: "It isn't right, Dad. I never noticed it +before I went away to school, but since I've come back I begin to feel +that it's shameful to treat Dan in this way." + +Her eyes brightened and she shook her golden head for emphasis. Her +father watched her with a faintly quizzical smile and made no reply. +The dignity of ownership of many thousand cattle kept the old +rancher's shoulders square, and there was an antique gentility about +his thin face with its white goatee. He was more like a quaint +figure of the seventeenth century than a successful cattleman of the +twentieth. + +"It _is_ shameful, Dad," she went on, encouraged by his silence, "or +you could tell me some reason." + +"Some reason for not letting him have a gun?" asked the rancher, still +with the quizzical smile. + +"Yes, yes!" she said eagerly, "and some reason for treating him in a +thousand ways as if he were an irresponsible boy." + +"Why, Kate, gal, you have tears in your eyes!" + +He drew her onto a stool beside him, holding both her hands, and +searched her face with eyes as blue and almost as bright as her own. +"How does it come that you're so interested in Dan?" + +"Why, Dad, dear," and she avoided his gaze, "I've always been +interested in him. Haven't we grown up together?" + +"Part ways you have." + +"And haven't we been always just like brother and sister?" + +"You're talkin' a little more'n sisterly, Kate." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Ay, ay! What do I mean! And now you're all red. Kate, I got an idea +it's nigh onto time to let Dan start on his way." + +He could not have found a surer way to drive the crimson from her face +and turn it white to the lips. + +"Dad!" + +"Well, Kate?" + +"You wouldn't send Dan away!" + +Before he could answer she dropped her head against his shoulder +and broke into great sobs. He stroked her head with his calloused, +sunburned hand and his eyes filmed with a distant gaze. + +"I might have knowed it!" he said over and over again; "I might have +knowed it! Hush, my silly gal." + +Her sobbing ceased with magic suddenness. + +"Then you won't send him away?" + +"Listen to me while I talk to you straight," said Joe Cumberland, +"and accordin' to the way you take it will depend whether Dan goes or +stays. Will you listen?" + +"Dear Dad, with all my heart!" + +"Humph!" he grunted, "that's just what I don't want. This what I'm +goin' to tell you is a queer thing--a mighty lot like a fairy tale, +maybe. I've kept it back from you years an' years thinkin' you'd find +out the truth about Dan for yourself. But bein' so close to him has +made you sort of blind, maybe! No man will criticize his own hoss." + +"Go on, tell me what you mean. I won't interrupt." + +He was silent for a moment, frowning to gather his thoughts. + +"Have you ever seen a mule, Kate?" + +"Of course!" + +"Maybe you've noticed that a mule is just as strong as a horse--" + +"Yes." + +"--but their muscles ain't a third as big?" + +"Yes, but what on earth--" + +"Well, Kate, Dan is built light an' yet he's stronger than the biggest +men around here." + +"Are you going to send him away simply because he's strong?" + +"It doesn't show nothin'," said the old man gently, "savin' that he's +different from the regular run of men--an' I've seen a considerable +pile of men, honey. There's other funny things about Dan maybe you +ain't noticed. Take the way he has with hosses an' other animals. The +wildest man-killin', spur-hatin' bronchos don't put up no fight when +them long legs of Dan settle round 'em." + +"Because they know fighting won't help them!" + +"Maybe so, maybe so," he said quietly, "but it's kind of queer, Kate, +that after most a hundred men on the best hosses in these parts had +ridden in relays after Satan an' couldn't lay a rope on him, Dan could +jest go out on foot with a halter an' come back in ten days leadin' +the wildest devil of a mustang that ever hated men." + +"It was a glorious thing to do!" she said. + +Old Cumberland sighed and then shook his head. + +"It shows more'n that, honey. There ain't any man but Dan that can sit +the saddle on Satan. If Dan should die, Satan wouldn't be no more use +to other men than a piece of haltered lightnin'. An' then tell me how +Dan got hold of that wolf, Black Bart, as he calls him." + +"It isn't a wolf, Dad," said Kate, "it's a dog. Dan says so himself." + +"Sure he says so," answered her father, "but there was a lone wolf +prowlin' round these parts for a considerable time an' raisin' Cain +with the calves an' the colts. An' Black Bart comes pretty close to a +description of the lone wolf. Maybe you remember Dan found his 'dog' +lyin' in a gully with a bullet through his shoulder. If he was a dog +how'd he come to be shot--" + +"Some brute of a sheep herder may have done it. What could it prove?" + +"It only proves that Dan is queer--powerful queer! Satan an' Black +Bart are still as wild as they ever was, except that they got one +master. An' they ain't got a thing to do with other people. Black +Bart'd tear the heart out of a man that so much as patted his head." + +"Why," she cried, "he'll let me do anything with him!" + +"Humph!" said Cumberland, a little baffled; "maybe that's because Dan +is kind of fond of you, gal, an' he has sort of introduced you to +his pets, damn 'em! That's just the pint! How is he able to make his +man-killers act sweet with you an' play the devil with everybody +else." + +"It wasn't Dan at all!" she said stoutly, "and he _isn't_ queer. Satan +and Black Bart let me do what I want with them because they know I +love them for their beauty and their strength." + +"Let it go at that," growled her father. "Kate, you're jest like your +mother when it comes to arguin'. If you wasn't my little gal I'd say +you was plain pig-headed. But look here, ain't you ever felt that Dan +is what I call him--different? Ain't you ever seen him get mad--jest +for a minute--an' watched them big brown eyes of his get all packed +full of yellow light that chases a chill up and down your back like a +wrigglin' snake?" + +She considered this statement in a little silence. + +"I saw him kill a rattler once," she said in a low voice. "Dan caught +him behind the head after he had struck. He did it with his bare hand! +I almost fainted. When I looked again he had cut off the head of the +snake. It was--it was terrible!" + +She turned to her father and caught him firmly by the shoulders. + +"Look me straight in the eye, Dad, and tell me just what you mean." + +"Why, Kate," said the wise old man, "you're beginnin' to see for +yourself what I'm drivin' at! Haven't you got somethin' else right on +the tip of your tongue?" + +"There was one day that I've never told you about," she said in a low +voice, looking away, "because I was afraid that if I told you, you'd +shoot Black Bart. He was gnawing a big beef bone and just for fun I +tried to take it away from him. He'd been out on a long trail with Dan +and he was very hungry. When I put my hand on the bone he snapped. +Luckily I had a thick glove on and he merely pinched my wrist. Also +I think he realized what he was doing for otherwise he'd have cut +through the glove as if it had been paper. He snarled fearfully and I +sprang back with a cry. Dan hadn't seen what happened, but he +heard the snarl and saw Black Bart's bared teeth. Then--oh, it was +terrible!" + +She covered her face. + +"Take your time, Kate," said Cumberland softly. + +"'Bart,' called Dan," she went on, "and there was such anger in his +face that I think I was more afraid of him than of the big dog. + +"Bart turned to him with a snarl and bared his teeth. When Dan saw +that his face turned--I don't know how to say it!" + +She stopped a moment and her hands tightened. + +"Back in his throat there came a sound that was almost like the snarl +of Black Bart. The wolf-dog watched him with a terror that was uncanny +to see, the hair around his neck fairly on end, his teeth still bared, +and his growl horrible. + +"'Dan!' I called, 'don't go near him!' + +"I might as well have called out to a whirlwind. He leaped. Black Bart +sprang to meet him with eyes green with fear. I heard the loud click +of his teeth as he snapped--and missed. Dan swerved to one side and +caught Black Bart by the throat and drove him into the dust, falling +with him. + +"I couldn't move. I was weak with horror. It wasn't a struggle between +a man and a beast. It was like a fight between a panther and a wolf. +Black Bart was fighting hard but fighting hopelessly. Those hands were +settling tighter on his throat. His big red tongue lolled out; his +struggles almost ceased. Then Dan happened to glance at me. What he +saw in my face sobered him. He got up, lifting the dog with him, and +flung away the lifeless weight of Bart. He began to brush the dust +from his clothes, looking down as if he were ashamed. He asked me if +the dog had hurt me when he snapped. I could not speak for a moment. +Then came the most horrible part. Black Bart, who must have been +nearly killed, dragged himself to Dan on his belly, choking and +whining, and licked the boots of his master!" + +"Then you _do_ know what I mean when I say Dan is--different?" + +She hesitated and blinked, as if she were shutting her eyes on a fact. +"I _don't_ know. I know that he's gentle and kind and loves you more +than you love him." Her voice broke a little. "Oh, Dad, you forget the +time he sat up with you for five days and nights when you got sick out +in the hills, and how he barely managed to get you back to the house +alive!" + +The old man frowned to conceal how greatly he was moved. + +"I haven't forgot nothin', Kate," he said, "an' everything is for his +own good. Do you know what I've been tryin' to do all these years?" + +"What?" + +"I've been tryin' to hide him from himself! Kate, do you remember how I found him?" + +"I was too little to know. I've heard you tell a little about it. He +was lost on the range. You found him twenty miles south of the house." + +"Lost on the range?" repeated her father softly. "I don't think he +could ever have been lost. To a hoss the corral is a home. To us our +ranch is a home. To Dan Barry the whole mountain-desert is a home! +This is how I found him. It was in the spring of the year when the +wild geese was honkin' as they flew north. I was ridin' down a gulley +about sunset and wishin' that I was closer to the ranch when I heard a +funny, wild sort of whistlin' that didn't have any tune to it that +I recognized. It gave me a queer feelin'. It made me think of fairy +stories--an' things like that! Pretty soon I seen a figure on the +crest of the hill. There was a triangle of geese away up overhead an' +the boy was walkin' along lookin' up as if he was followin' the trail +of the wild geese. + +"He was up there walkin' between the sunset an' the stars with his +head bent back, and his hands stuffed into his pockets, whistlin' as +if he was goin' home from school. An' such whistlin'." + +"Nobody could ever whistle like Dan," she said, and smiled. + +"I rode up to him, wonderin'," went on Cumberland. + +"'What're you doin' round here?' I says. + +"Says he, lookin' at me casual like over his shoulder: 'I'm jest +takin' a stroll an' whistlin'. Does it bother you, mister?' + +"'It doesn't bother me none,' says I. 'Where do you belong, sonny?' + +"'Me?' says he, lookin' sort of surprised, 'why, I belong around over +there!' An' he waved his hand careless over to the settin' sun. + +"There was somethin' about him that made my heart swell up inside of +me. I looked down into them big brown eyes and wondered--well, I don't +know what I wondered; but I remembered all at once that I didn't have +no son. + +"'Who's your folks?' says I, gettin' more an' more curious. + +"He jest looked at me sort of bored. + +"'Where does your folks live at?' says I. + +"'Oh, they live around here,' says he, an' he waved his hand again, +an' this time over towards the east. + +"Says I: 'When do you figure on reachin' home?' + +"'Oh, most any day,' says he. + +"An' I looked around at them brown, naked hills with the night comin' +down over them. Then I stared back at the boy an' there was something +that come up in me like hunger. You see, he was lost; he was alone; +the queer ring of his whistlin' was still in my ears; an' I couldn't +help rememberin' that I didn't have no son. + +"'Then supposin' you come along with me,' says I, 'an' I'll send you +home in a buckboard tomorrow?' + +"So the end of it was me ridin' home with the little kid sittin' up +before me, whistlin' his heart out! When I got him home I tried to +talk to him again. He couldn't tell me, or he wouldn't tell me where +his folks lived, but jest kept wavin' his hand liberal to half the +points of the compass. An' that's all I know of where he come from. I +done all I could to find his parents. I inquired and sent letters to +every rancher within a hundred miles. I advertised it through the +railroads, but they said nobody'd yet been reported lost. He was still +mine, at least for a while, an' I was terrible glad. + +"I give the kid a spare room. I sat up late that first night listenin' +to the wild geese honkin' away up in the sky an' wonderin' why I was +so happy. Kate, that night there was tears in my eyes when I thought +of how that kid had been out there on the hills walkin' along so happy +an' independent. + +"But the next mornin' he was gone. I sent my cowpunchers out to look +for him. + +"'Which way shall we ride?' they asked. + +"I don't know why, but I thought of the wild geese that Dan had seemed +to be followin'. + +"'Ride north,' I said. + +"An' sure enough, they rode north an' found him. After that I didn't +have no trouble with him about runnin' away--at least not durin' the +summer. An' all those months I kept plannin' how I would take care of +this boy who had come wanderin' to me. It seemed like he was sort of a +gift of God to make up for me havin' no son. And everythin' went well +until the next fall, when the geese began to fly south. + +"Sure enough, that was when Dan ran away again, and when I sent my +cowpunchers south after him, they found him and brought him back. It +seemed as if they'd brought back half the world to me, when I seen +him. But I saw that I'd have to put a stop to this runnin' away. I +tried to talk to him, but all he'd say was that he'd better be movin' +on. I took the law in my hands an' told him he had to be disciplined. +So I started thrashin' him with a quirt, very light. He took it as if +he didn't feel the whip on his shoulders, an' he smiled. But there +came up a yellow light in his eyes that made me feel as if a man was +standin' right behind me with a bare knife in his hand an' smilin' +jest like the kid was doin'. Finally I simply backed out of the room, +an' since that day there ain't been man or beast ever has put a hand +on Whistlin' Dan. To this day I reckon he ain't quite forgiven me." + +"Why!" she cried, "I have never heard him mention it!" + +"That's why I know he's not forgotten it. Anyway, Kate, I locked him +in his room, but he wouldn't promise not to run away. Then I got an +inspiration. You was jest a little toddlin' thing then. That day you +was cryin' an awful lot an' I suddenly thought of puttin' you in Dan's +room. I did it. I jest unlocked the door quick and then shoved you in +an' locked it again. First of all you screamed terrible hard. I was +afraid maybe you'd hurt yourself yellin' that way. I was about to take +you out again when all at once I heard Dan start whistlin' and pretty +quick your cryin' stopped. I listened an' wondered. After that I never +had to lock Dan in his room. I was sure he'd stay on account of you. +But now, honey, I'm gettin' to the end of the story, an' I'm goin' to +give you the straight idea the way I see it. + +"I've watched Dan like--like a father, almost. I think he loves me, +sort of--but I've never got over being afraid of him. You see I can't +forget how he smiled when I licked him! But listen to me, Kate, that +fear has been with me all the time--an' it's the only time I've ever +been afraid of any man. It isn't like being scared of a man, but of a +panther. + +"Now we'll jest nacherally add up all the points we've made about +Dan--the queer way I found him without a home an' without wantin' +one--that strength he has that's like the power of a mule compared +with a horse--that funny control he has over wild animals so that they +almost seem to know what he means when he simply looks at them (have +you noticed him with Black Bart and Satan?)--then there's the yellow +light that comes in his eyes when he begins to get real mad--you an' I +have both seen it only once, but we don't want to see it again! More +than this there's the way he handles either a knife or a gun. He +hasn't practiced much with shootin' irons, but I never seen him miss a +reasonable mark--or an unreasonable one either, for that matter. I've +spoke to him about it. He said: 'I dunno how it is. I don't see how +a feller can shoot crooked. It jest seems that when I get out a gun +there's a line drawn from the barrel to the thing I'm shootin' at. All +I have to do is to pull the trigger--almost with my eyes closed!' Now, +Kate, do you begin to see what these here things point to?" + +"Tell me what you see," she said, "and then I'll tell you what I think +of it all." + +"All right," he said. "I see in Dan a man who's different from the +common run of us. I read in a book once that in the ages when men +lived like animals an' had no weapons except sticks and stones, their +muscles must have been two or three times as strong as they are +now--more like the muscles of brutes. An' their hearin' an' their +sight an' their quickness an' their endurance was about three times +more than that of ordinary men. Kate, I think that Dan is one of those +men the book described! He knows animals because he has all the powers +that they have. An' I know from the way his eyes go yellow that he has +the fightin' instinct of the ancestors of man. So far I've kept him +away from other men. Which I may say is the main reason I bought Dan +Morgan's place so's to keep fightin' men away from our Whistlin' Dan. +So I've been hidin' him from himself. You see, he's my boy if he +belongs to anybody. Maybe when time goes on he'll get tame. But I +reckon not. It's like takin' a panther cub--or a wolf pup--an tryin' +to raise it for a pet. Some day it gets the taste of blood, maybe its +own blood, an' then it goes mad and becomes a killer. An' that's what +I fear, Kate. So far I've kept Dan from ever havin' a single fight, +but I reckon the day'll come when someone'll cross him, and then +there'll be a tornado turned loose that'll jest about wreck these +parts." + +Her anger had grown during this speech. Now she rose. + +"I won't believe you, Dad," she said. "I'd sooner trust our Dan than +any man alive. I don't think you're right in a single word!" + +"I was sure loco," sighed Cumberland, "to ever dream of convincin' a +woman. Let it drop, Kate. We're about to get rid of Morgan's place, +an' now I reckon there won't be any temptation near Dan. We'll see +what time'll do for him. Let the thing drop there. Now I'm goin' over +to the Bar XO outfit an' I won't be back till late tonight. There's +only one thing more. I told Morgan there wasn't to be any gun-play in +his place today. If you hear any shootin' go down there an' remind +Morgan to take the guns off'n the men." + +Kate nodded, but her stare travelled far away, and the thing she saw +was the yellow light burning in the eyes of Whistling Dan. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +SILENT SHOOTS + +It was a great day and also a sad one for Morgan. His general store +and saloon had been bought out by old Joe Cumberland, who declared +a determination to clear up the landscape, and thereby plunged the +cowpunchers in gloom. They partially forgave Cumberland, but only +because he was an old man. A younger reformer would have met armed +resistance. Morgan's place was miles away from the next oasis in the +desert and the closing meant dusty, thirsty leagues of added journey +to every man in the neighbourhood. The word "neighbourhood," of +course, covered a territory fifty miles square. + +If the day was very sad for this important reason, it was also very +glad, for rustling Morgan advertised the day of closing far and wide, +and his most casual patrons dropped all business to attend the big +doings. A long line of buckboards and cattle ponies surrounded the +place. Newcomers gallopped in every few moments. Most of them did not +stop to tether their mounts, but simply dropped the reins over the +heads of the horses and then went with rattling spurs and slouching +steps into the saloon. Every man was greeted by a shout, for one or +two of those within usually knew him, and when they raised a cry +the others joined in for the sake of good fellowship. As a rule he +responded by ordering everyone up to the bar. + +One man, however, received no more greeting than the slamming of the +door behind him. He was a tall, handsome fellow with tawny hair and a +little smile of habit rather than mirth upon his lips. He had ridden +up on a strong bay horse, a full two hands taller than the average +cattle pony, and with legs and shoulders and straight back that +unmistakably told of a blooded pedigree. When he entered the saloon +he seemed nowise abashed by the silence, but greeted the turned heads +with a wave of the hand and a good-natured "Howdy, boys!" A volley of +greetings replied to him, for in the mountain-desert men cannot be +strangers after the first word. + +"Line up and hit the red-eye," he went on, and leaning against the +bar as he spoke, his habitual smile broadened into one of actual +invitation. Except for a few groups who watched the gambling in the +corners of the big room, there was a general movement towards the bar. + +"And make it a tall one, boys," went on the genial stranger. "This is +the first time I ever irrigated Morgan's place, and from what I have +heard today about the closing I suppose it will be the last time. So +here's to you, Morgan!" + +And he waved his glass towards the bartender. His voice was well +modulated and his enunciation bespoke education. This, in connection +with his careful clothes and rather modish riding-boots, might have +given him the reputation of a dude, had it not been for several other +essential details of his appearance. His six-gun hung so low that he +would scarcely have to raise his hand to grasp the butt. He held his +whisky glass in his left hand, and the right, which rested carelessly +on his hip, was deeply sunburned, as if he rarely wore a glove. +Moreover, his eyes were marvellously direct, and they lingered a +negligible space as they touched on each man in the room. All of this +the cattlemen noted instantly. What they did not see on account of his +veiling fingers was that he poured only a few drops of the liquor into +his glass. + +In the meantime another man who had never before "irrigated" at +Morgan's place, rode up. His mount, like that of the tawny-haired +rider, was considerably larger and more finely built than the common +range horse. In three days of hard work a cattle pony might wear down +these blooded animals, but would find it impossible to either overtake +or escape them in a straight run. The second stranger, short-legged, +barrel-chested, and with a scrub of black beard, entered the barroom +while the crowd was still drinking the health of Morgan. He took a +corner chair, pushed back his hat until a mop of hair fell down his +forehead, and began to roll a cigarette. The man of the tawny hair +took the next seat. + +"Seems to be quite a party, stranger," said the tall fellow +nonchalantly. + +"Sure," growled he of the black beard, and after a moment he added: +"Been out on the trail long, pardner?" + +"Hardly started." + +"So'm I." + +"As a matter of fact, I've got a lot of hard riding before me." + +"So've I." + +"And some long riding, too." + +Perhaps it was because he turned his head suddenly towards the light, +but a glint seemed to come in the eyes of the bearded man. + +"Long rides," he said more amiably, "are sure hell on hosses." + +"And on men, too," nodded the other, and tilted back in his chair. + +The bearded man spoke again, but though a dozen cowpunchers were close +by no one heard his voice except the man at his side. One side of his +face remained perfectly immobile and his eyes stared straight before +him drearily while he whispered from a corner of his mouth: "How long +do you stay, Lee?" + +"Noon," said Lee. + +Once more the shorter man spoke in the manner which is learned in a +penitentiary: "Me too. We must be slated for the same ride, Lee. Do +you know what it is? It's nearly noon, and the chief ought to be +here." + +There was a loud greeting for a newcomer, and Lee took advantage of +the noise to say quite openly: "If Silent said he'll come, he'll be +here. But I say he's crazy to come to a place full of range riders, +Bill." + +"Take it easy," responded Bill. "This hangout is away off our regular +beat. Nobody'll know him." + +"His hide is his own and he can do what he wants with it," said Lee. +"I warned him before." + +"Shut up," murmured Bill, "Here's Jim now, and Hal Purvis with him!" + +Through the door strode a great figure before whom the throng at the +bar gave way as water rolls back from the tall prow of a ship. In his +wake went a little man with a face dried and withered by the sun and +small bright eyes which moved continually from side to side. Lee and +Bill discovered their thirst at the same time and made towards the +newcomers. + +They had no difficulty in reaching them. The large man stood with his +back to the bar, his elbows spread out on it, so that there was a +little space left on either side of him. No one cared to press too +close to this sombre-faced giant. Purvis stood before him and Bill and +Lee were instantly at his side. The two leaned on the bar, facing him, +yet the four did not seem to make a group set apart from the rest. + +"Well?" asked Lee. + +"I'll tell you what it is when we're on the road," said Jim Silent. +"Plenty of time, Haines." + +"Who'll start first?" asked Bill. + +"You can, Kilduff," said the other. "Go straight north, and go slow. +Then Haines will follow you. Purvis next. I come last because I got +here last. There ain't any hurry--What's this here?" + +"I tell you I seen it!" called an angry voice from a corner. + +"You must of been drunk an' seein' double, partner," drawled the +answer. + +"Look here!" said the first man, "I'm willin' to take that any way you +mean it!" + +"An' I'm willin'," said the other, "that you should take it any way +you damn please." + +Everyone in the room was grave except Jim Silent and his three +companions, who were smiling grimly. + +"By God, Jack," said the first man with ominous softness, "I'll take a +lot from you but when it comes to doubtin' my word----" + +Morgan, with popping eyes and a very red face, slapped his hand on +the bar and vaulted over it with more agility than his plumpness +warranted. He shouldered his way hurriedly through the crowd to the +rapidly widening circle around the two disputants. They stood with +their right hands resting with rigid fingers low down on their hips, +and their eyes, fixed on each other, forgot the rest of the world. +Morgan burst in between them. + +"Look here," he thundered, "it's only by way of a favour that I'm +lettin' you boys wear shootin' irons today because I promised old +Cumberland there wouldn't be no fuss. If you got troubles there's +enough room for you to settle them out in the hills, but there ain't +none at all in here!" + +The gleam went out of their eyes like four candles snuffed by the +wind. Obviously they were both glad to have the tension broken. Mike +wiped his forehead with a rather unsteady hand. + +"I ain't huntin' for no special brand of trouble," he said, "but Jack +has been ridin' the red-eye pretty hard and it's gotten into that +dried up bean he calls his brain." + +"Say, partner," drawled Jack, "I ain't drunk enough of the hot stuff +to make me fall for the line you've been handing out." + +He turned to Morgan. + +"Mike, here, has been tryin' to make me believe that he knew a feller +who could drill a dollar at twenty yards every time it was tossed up." + +The crowd laughed, Morgan loudest of all. + +"Did you anyways have Whistlin' Dan in mind?" he asked. + +"No, I didn't," said Mike, "an' I didn't say this here man I was +talkin' about could drill them every time. But he could do it two +times out of four." + +"Mike," said Morgan, and he softened his disbelief with his smile and +the good-natured clap on the shoulder, "you sure must of been drinkin' +when you seen him do it. I allow Whistlin' Dan could do that an' more, +but he ain't human with a gun." + +"How d'you know?" asked Jack, "I ain't ever seen him packin' a +six-gun." + +"Sure you ain't," answered Morgan, "but I have, an' I seen him use it, +too. It was jest sort of by chance I saw it." + +"Well," argued Mike anxiously, "then you allow it's possible if +Whistlin' Dan can do it. An' I say I seen a chap who could turn the +trick." + +"An' who in hell is this Whistlin' Dan?" asked Jim Silent. + +"He's the man that caught Satan, an' rode him," answered a bystander. + +"Some man if he can ride the devil," laughed Lee Haines. + +"I mean the black mustang that ran wild around here for a couple of +years. Some people tell tales about him being a wonder with a gun. But +Morgan's the only one who claims to have seen him work." + +"Maybe you did see it, and maybe you didn't," Morgan was saying to +Mike noncommittally, "but there's some pretty fair shots in this +room, which I'd lay fifty bucks no man here could hit a dollar with a +six-gun at twenty paces." + +"While they're arguin'," said Bill Kilduff, "I reckon I'll hit the +trail." + +"Wait a minute," grinned Jim Silent, "an' watch me have some fun with +these short-horns." + +He spoke more loudly: "Are you makin' that bet for the sake of +arguin', partner, or do you calculate to back it up with cold cash?" + +Morgan whirled upon him with a scowl, "I ain't pulled a bluff in my +life that I can't back up!" he said sharply. + +"Well," said Silent, "I ain't so flush that I'd turn down fifty bucks +when a kind Christian soul, as the preachers say, slides it into my +glove. Not me. Lead out the dollar, pal, an' kiss it farewell!" + +"Who'll hold the stakes?" asked Morgan. + +"Let your friend Mike," said Jim Silent carelessly, and he placed +fifty dollars in gold in the hands of the Irishman. Morgan followed +suit. The crowd hurried outdoors. + +A dozen bets were laid in as many seconds. Most of the men wished to +place their money on the side of Morgan, but there were not a few who +stood willing to risk coin on Jim Silent, stranger though he was. +Something in his unflinching eye, his stern face, and the nerveless +surety of his movements commanded their trust. + +"How do you stand, Jim?" asked Lee Haines anxiously. "Is it a safe +bet? I've never seen you try a mark like this one!" + +"It ain't safe," said Silent, "because I ain't mad enough to shoot my +best, but it's about an even draw. Take your pick." + +"Not me," said Haines, "if you had ten chances instead of one I might +stack some coin on you. If the dollar were stationary I know you could +do it, but a moving coin looks pretty small." + +"Here you are," called Morgan, who stood at a distance of twenty +paces, "are you ready?" + +Silent whipped out his revolver and poised it. "Let 'er go!" + +The coin whirled in the air. Silent fired as it commenced to fall--it +landed untouched. + +"As a kind, Christian soul," said Morgan sarcastically, "I ain't in +your class, stranger. Charity always sort of interests me when I'm on +the receivin' end!" + +The crowd chuckled, and the sound infuriated Silent. + +"Don't go back jest yet, partners," he drawled. "Mister Morgan, I got +one hundred bones which holler that I can plug that dollar the second +try." + +"Boys," grinned Morgan, "I'm leavin' you to witness that I hate to do +it, but business is business. Here you are!" + +The coin whirled again. Silent, with his lips pressed into a straight +line and his brows drawn dark over his eyes, waited until the coin +reached the height of its rise, and then fired--missed--fired again, +and sent the coin spinning through the air in a flashing semicircle. +It was a beautiful piece of gun-play. In the midst of the clamour of +applause Silent strode towards Morgan with his hand outstretched. + +"After all," he said. "I knowed you wasn't really hard of heart. It +only needed a little time and persuasion to make you dig for coin when +I pass the box." + +Morgan, red of face and scowling, handed over his late winnings and +his own stakes. + +"It took you two shots to do it," he said, "an' if I wanted to argue +the pint maybe you wouldn't walk off with the coin." + +"Partner," said Jim Silent gently, "I got a wanderin' hunch that +you're showin' a pile of brains by not arguin' this here pint!" + +There followed that little hush of expectancy which precedes trouble, +but Morgan, after a glance at the set lips of his opponent, swallowed +his wrath. + +"I s'pose you'll tell how you did this to your kids when +you're eighty," he said scornfully, "but around here, stranger, they +don't think much of it. Whistlin' Dan"--he paused, as if to calculate +how far he could safely exaggerate--"Whistlin' Dan can stand with +his back to the coins an' when they're thrown he drills four dollars +easier than you did one--an' he wouldn't waste three shots on one +dollar. He ain't so extravagant!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +SOMETHING YELLOW + +The crowd laughed again at the excitement of Morgan, and Silent's +mirth particularly was loud and long. + +"An' if you're still bent on charity," he said at last, "maybe we +could find somethin' else to lay a bet on!" + +"Anything you name!" said Morgan hotly. + +"I suppose," said Silent, "that you're some rider, eh?" + +"I c'n get by with most of 'em." + +"Yeh--I suppose you never pulled leather in your life?" + +"Not any hoss that another man could ride straight up." + +"Is that so? Well, partner, you see that roan over there?" + +"That tall horse?" + +"You got him. You c'n win back that hundred if you stick on his back +two minutes. D'you take it?" + +Morgan hesitated a moment. The big roan was footing it nervously here +and there, sometimes throwing up his head suddenly after the manner of +a horse of bad temper. However, the loss of that hundred dollars and +the humiliation which accompanied it, weighed heavily on the saloon +owner's mind. + +"I'll take you," he said. + +A high, thrilling whistle came faintly from the distance. + +"That fellow on the black horse down the road," said Lee Haines, "I +guess he's the one that can hit the four dollars? Ha! ha! ha!" + +"Sure," grinned Silent, "listen to his whistle! We'll see if we can +drag another bet out of the bar-keep if the roan doesn't hurt him too +bad. Look at him now!" + +Morgan was having a bad time getting his foot in the stirrup, for +the roan reared and plunged. Finally two men held his head and the +saloon-keeper swung into the saddle. There was a little silence. The +roan, as if doubtful that he could really have this new burden on his +back, and still fearful of the rope which had been lately tethering +him, went a few short, prancing steps, and then, feeling something +akin to freedom, reared straight up, snorting. The crowd yelled with +delight, and the sound sent the roan back to all fours and racing down +the road. He stopped with braced feet, and Morgan lurched forwards on +the neck, yet he struck to his seat gamely. Whistling Dan was not a +hundred yards away. + +Morgan yelled and swung the quirt. The response of the roan was +another race down the road at terrific speed, despite the pull of +Morgan on the reins. Just as the running horse reached Whistling Dan, +he stopped as short as he had done before, but this time with an added +buck and a sidewise lurch all combined, which gave the effect of +snapping a whip--and poor Morgan was hurled from the saddle like +a stone from a sling. The crowd waved their hats and yelled with +delight. + +"Look out!" yelled Jim Silent. "Grab the reins!" + +But though Morgan made a valiant effort the roan easily swerved past +him and went racing down the road. + +"My God," groaned Silent, "he's gone!" + +"Saddles!" called someone. "We'll catch him!" + +"Catch hell!" answered Silent bitterly. "There ain't a hoss on earth +that can catch him--an' now that he ain't got the weight of a rider, +he'll run away from the wind!" + +"Anyway there goes Dan on Satan after him!" + +"No use! The roan ain't carryin' a thing but the saddle." + +"Satan never seen the day he could make the roan eat dust, anyway!" + +"Look at 'em go, boys!" + +"There ain't no use," said Jim Silent sadly, "he'll wind his black for +nothin'--an' I've lost the best hoss on the ranges." + +"I believe him," whispered one man to a neighbour, "because I've got +an idea that hoss is Red Peter himself!" + +His companion stared at him agape. + +"Red Pete!" he said. "Why, pal, that's the hoss that Silent--" + +"Maybe it is an' maybe it ain't. But why should we ask too many +questions?" + +"Let the marshals tend to him. He ain't ever troubled this part of the +range." + +"Anyway, I'm goin' to remember his face. If it's really Jim Silent, I +got something that's worth tellin' to my kids when they grow up." + +They both turned and looked at the tall man with an uncomfortable awe. +The rest of the crowd swarmed into the road to watch the race. + +The black stallion was handicapped many yards at the start before Dan +could swing him around after the roan darted past with poor Morgan in +ludicrous pursuit. Moreover, the roan had the inestimable advantage +of an empty saddle. Yet Satan leaned to his work with a stout heart. +There was no rock and pitch to his gait, no jerk and labour to his +strides. Those smooth shoulders were corded now with a thousand lines +where the steel muscles whipped to and fro. His neck stretched out +a little--his ears laid back along the neck--his whole body settled +gradually and continually down as his stride lengthened. Whistling Dan +was leaning forward so that his body would break less wind. He laughed +low and soft as the air whirred into his face, and now and then he +spoke to his horse, no yell of encouragement, but a sound hardly +louder than a whisper. There was no longer a horse and rider--the two +had become one creature--a centaur--the body of a horse and the mind +of a man. + +For a time the roan increased his advantage, but quickly Satan began +to hold him even, and then gain. First inch by inch; then at every +stride the distance between them diminished. No easy task. The great +roan had muscle, heart, and that empty saddle; as well, perhaps, as a +thought of the free ranges which lay before him and liberty from the +accursed thraldom of the bit and reins and galling spurs. What he +lacked was that small whispering voice--that hand touching lightly now +and then on his neck--that thrill of generous sympathy which passes +between horse and rider. He lost ground steadily and more and more +rapidly. Now the outstretched black head was at his tail, now at his +flank, now at his girth, now at his shoulder, now they raced nose and +nose. Whistling Dan shifted in the saddle. His left foot took the +opposite stirrup. His right leg swung free. + +The big roan swerved--the black in response to a word from his rider +followed the motion--and then the miracle happened. A shadow plunged +through the air; a weight thudded on the saddle of the roan; an iron +hand jerked back the reins. + +Red Pete hated men and feared them, but this new weight on his back +was different. It was not the pressure on the reins which urged him to +slow up; he had the bit in his teeth and no human hand could pull down +his head; but into the blind love, blind terror, blind rage which +makes up the consciousness of a horse entered a force which he had +never known before. He realized suddenly that it was folly to attempt +to throw off this clinging burden. He might as well try to jump out of +his skin. His racing stride shortened to a halting gallop, this to a +sharp trot, and in a moment more he was turned and headed back for +Morgan's place. The black, who had followed, turned at the same time +like a dog and followed with jouncing bridle reins. Black Bart, with +lolling red tongue, ran under his head, looking up to the stallion now +and again with a comical air of proprietorship, as if he were showing +the way. + +It was very strange to Red Pete. He pranced sideways a little and +shook his head up and down in an effort to regain his former temper, +but that iron hand kept his nose down, now, and that quiet voice +sounded above him--no cursing, no raking of sharp spurs to torture his +tender flanks, no whir of the quirt, but a calm voice of authority and +understanding. Red Pete broke into an easy canter and in this fashion +they came up to Morgan in the road. Red Pete snorted and started to +shy, for he recognized the clumsy, bouncing weight which had insulted +his back not long before; but this quiet voiced master reassured him, +and he came to a halt. + +"That red devil has cost me a hundred bones and all the skin on my +knees," groaned Morgan, "and I can hardly walk. Damn his eyes. But +say, Dan"--and his eyes glowed with an admiration which made him +momentarily forget his pains--"that was some circus stunt you done +down the road there--that changin' of saddles on the run, I never seen +the equal of it!" + +"If you got hurt in the fall," said Dan quietly, overlooking the +latter part of the speech, "why don't you climb onto Satan. He'll take +you back." + +Morgan laughed. + +"Say, kid, I'd take a chance with Satan, but there ain't any hospital +for fools handy." + +"Go ahead. He won't stir a foot. Steady, Satan!" + +"All right," said Morgan, "every step is sure like pullin' teeth!" + +He ventured closer to the black stallion, but was stopped short. Black +Bart was suddenly changed to a green-eyed devil, his hair bristling +around his shoulders, his teeth bared, and a snarl that came from the +heart of a killer. Satan also greeted his proposed rider with ears +laid flat back on his neck and a quivering anger. + +"If I'm goin' to ride Satan," declared Morgan, "I got to shoot the dog +first and then blindfold the hoss." + +"No you don't," said Dan. "No one else has ever had a seat on Satan, +but I got an idea he'll make an exception for a sort of temporary +cripple. Steady, boy. Here you, Bart, come over here an' keep your +face shut!" + +The dog, after a glance at his master, moved reluctantly away, keeping +his eyes upon Morgan. Satan backed away with a snort. He stopped at +the command of Dan, but when Morgan laid a hand on the bridle and +spoke to him he trembled with fear and anger. The saloon-keeper turned +away. + +"Thankin' you jest the same, Dan," he said, "I think I c'n walk back. +I'd as soon ride a tame tornado as that hoss." + +He limped on down the road with Dan riding beside him. Black Bart +slunk at his heels, sniffing. + +"Dan, I'm goin' to ask you a favour--an' a big one; will you do it for +me?" + +"Sure," said Whistling Dan. "Anything I can." + +"There's a skunk down there with a bad eye an' a gun that jumps out +of its leather like it had a mind of its own. He picked me for fifty +bucks by nailing a dollar I tossed up at twenty yards. Then he gets a +hundred because I couldn't ride this hoss of his. Which he's made a +plumb fool of me, Dan. Now I was tellin' him about you--maybe I was +sort of exaggeratin'--an' I said you could have your back turned when +the coins was tossed an' then pick off four dollars before they hit +the ground. I made it a bit high, Dan?" + +His eyes were wistful. + +"Nick four round boys before they hit the dust?" said Dan. "Maybe I +could, I don't know. I can't try it, anyway, Morgan, because I told +Dad Cumberland I'd never pull a gun while there was a crowd aroun'." + +Morgan sighed; he hesitated, and then: "But you promised you'd do me a +favour, Dan?" + +The rider started. + +"I forgot about that--I didn't think----" + +"It's only to do a shootin' trick," said Morgan eagerly. "It ain't +pullin' a gun on any one. Why, lad, if you'll tell me you got a ghost +of a chance, I'll bet every cent in my cash drawer on you agin that +skunk! You've give me your word, Dan." + +Whistling Dan shrugged his shoulders. + +"I've given you my word," he said, "an' I'll do it. But I guess Dad +Cumberland'll be mighty sore on me." + +A laugh rose from the crowd at Morgan's place, which they were nearing +rapidly. It was like a mocking comment on Dan's speech. As they came +closer they could see money changing hands in all directions. + +"What'd you do to my hoss?" asked Jim Silent, walking out to meet +them. + +"He hypnotized him," said Hal Purvis, and his lips twisted over yellow +teeth into a grin of satisfaction. + +"Git out of the saddle damn quick," growled Silent. "It ain't nacheral +he'd let you ride him like he was a plough-hoss. An' if you've tried +any fancy stunts, I'll----" + +"Take it easy," said Purvis as Dan slipped from the saddle without +showing the slightest anger. "Take it easy. You're a bum loser. When +I seen the black settle down to his work," he explained to Dan with +another grin, "I knowed he'd nail him in the end an' I staked twenty +on you agin my friend here! That was sure a slick change of hosses you +made." + +There were other losers. Money chinked on all sides to an +accompaniment of laughter and curses. Jim Silent was examining the +roan with a scowl, while Bill Kilduff and Hal Purvis approached Satan +to look over his points. Purvis reached out towards the bridle when a +murderous snarl at his feet made him jump back with a shout. He stood +with his gun poised, facing Black Bart. + +"Who's got any money to bet this damn wolf lives more'n five seconds?" +he said savagely. + +"I have," said Dan. + +"Who in hell are you? What d'you mean by trailing this man-killer +around?" + +He turned to Dan with his gun still poised. + +"Bart ain't a killer," said Dan, and the gentleness of his voice was +oil on troubled waters, "but he gets peeved when a stranger comes nigh +to the hoss." + +"All right this time," said Purvis, slowly restoring his gun to its +holster, "but if this wolf of yours looks cross-eyed at me agin he'll +hit the long trail that ain't got any end, savvy?" + +"Sure," said Dan, and his soft brown eyes smiled placatingly. + +Purvis kept his right hand close to the butt of his gun and his eyes +glinted as if he expected an answer somewhat stronger than words. +At this mild acquiesence he turned away, sneering. Silent, having +discovered that he could find no fault with Dan's treatment of his +horse, now approached with an ominously thin-lipped smile. Lee Haines +read his face and came to his side with a whisper: "Better cut out the +rough stuff, Jim. This chap hasn't hurt anything but your cash, and +he's already taken water from Purvis. I guess there's no call for you +to make any play." + +"Shut your face, Haines," responded Silent, in the same tone. "He's +made a fool of me by showin' up my hoss, an' by God I'm goin' to give +him a man-handlin' he'll never forgit." + +He whirled on Morgan. + +"How about it, bar-keep, is this the dead shot you was spillin' so +many words about?" + +Dan, as if he could not understand the broad insult, merely smiled at +him with marvellous good nature. + +"Keep away from him, stranger," warned Morgan. "Jest because he rode +your hoss you ain't got a cause to hunt trouble with him. He's been +taught not to fight." + +Silent, still looking Dan over with insolent eyes, replied: "He sure +sticks to his daddy's lessons. Nice an' quiet an' house broke, ain't +he? In my part of the country they dress this kind of a man in gal's +clothes so's nobody'll ever get sore at him an' spoil his pretty face. +Better go home to your ma. This ain't any place for you. They's men +aroun' here." + +There was another one of those grimly expectant hushes and then a +general guffaw; Dan showed no inclination to take offence. He merely +stared at brawny Jim Silent with a sort of childlike wonder. + +"All right," he said meekly, "if I ain't wanted around here I figger +there ain't any cause why I should stay. You don't figger to be peeved +at me, do you?" + +The laughter changed to a veritable yell of delight. Even Silent +smiled with careless contempt. + +"No, kid," he answered, "if I was peeved at you, you'd learn it +without askin' questions." + +He turned slowly away. + +"Maybe I got jaundice, boys," he said to the crowd, "but it seems to +me I see something kind of yellow around here!" + +The delightful subtlety of this remark roused another side-shaking +burst of merriment. Dan shook his head as if the mystery were beyond +his comprehension, and looked to Morgan for an explanation. The +saloon-keeper approached him, struggling with a grin. + +"It's all right, Dan," he said. "Don't let 'em rile you." + +"You ain't got any cause to fear that," said Silent, "because it can't +be done." + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +FOUR IN THE AIR + +Dan looked from Morgan to Silent and back again for understanding. +He felt that something was wrong, but what it was he had not the +slightest idea. For many years old Joe Cumberland had patiently taught +him that the last offence against God and man was to fight. The old +cattleman had instilled in him the belief that if he did not cross the +path of another, no one would cross his way. The code was perfect +and satisfying. He would let the world alone and the world would not +trouble him. The placid current of his life had never come to "white +waters" of wrath. + +Wherefore he gazed bewildered about him. They were laughing--they were +laughing unpleasantly at him as he had seen men laugh at a fiery young +colt which struggled against the rope. It was very strange. They could +not mean harm. Therefore he smiled back at them rather uncertainly. +Morgan slapped at his shoulder by way of good-fellowship and to +hearten him, but Dan slipped away under the extended hand with a +motion as subtle and swift as the twist of a snake when it flees for +its hole. He had a deep aversion for contact with another man's body. +He hated it as the wild horse hates the shadow of the flying rope. + +"Steady up, pal," said Morgan, "the lads mean no harm. That tall man +is considerable riled; which he'll now bet his sombrero agin you when +it comes to shootin'." + +He turned back to Silent. + +"Look here, partner," he said, "this is the man I said could nail the +four dollars before they hit the dust. I figger you don't think how it +can be done, eh?" + +"Him?" said Silent in deep disgust. "Send him back to his ma before +somebody musses him all up! Why, he don't even pack a gun!" + +Morgan waited a long moment so that the little silence would make his +next speech impressive. + +"Stranger," he said, "I've still got somewhere in the neighbourhood of +five hundred dollars in that cash drawer. An' every cent of it hollers +that Dan can do what I said." + +Silent hesitated. His code was loose, but he did not like to take +advantage of a drunk or a crazy man. However, five hundred dollars was +five hundred dollars. Moreover that handsome fellow who had just taken +water from Hal Purvis and was now smiling foolishly at his own shame, +had actually ridden Red Peter. The remembrance infuriated Silent. + +"Hurry up," said Morgan confidently. "I dunno what you're thinkin', +stranger. Which I'm kind of deaf an' I don't understand the way +anything talks except money." + +"Corral that talk, Morgan!" called a voice from the crowd, "you're +plumb locoed if you think any man in the world can get away with a +stunt like that! Pick four in the air!" + +"You keep your jaw for yourself," said Silent angrily, "if he wants to +donate a little more money to charity, let him do it. Morgan, I've got +five hundred here to cover your stake." + +"Make him give you odds, Morgan," said another voice, "because----" + +A glance from Silent cut the suggestion short. After that there was +little loud conversation. The stakes were large. The excitement made +the men hush the very tones in which they spoke. Morgan moistened his +white lips. + +"You c'n see I'm not packin' any shootin' irons," said Dan. "Has +anybody got any suggestions?" + +Every gun in the crowd was instantly at his service. They were +heartily tempted to despise Dan, but as one with the courage to +attempt the impossible, they would help him as far as they could. He +took their guns one after the other, weighed them, tried the action, +and handed them back. It was almost as if there were a separate +intelligence in the ends of his fingers which informed him of the +qualities of each weapon. + +"Nice gun," he said to the first man whose revolver he handled, "but I +don't like a barrel that's quite so heavy. There's a whole ounce too +much in the barrel." + +"What d'you mean?" asked the cowpuncher. "I've packed that gun for +pretty nigh eight years!" + +"Sorry," said Dan passing on, "but I can't work right with a top-heavy +gun." + +The next weapon he handed back almost at once. + +"What's the matter with that?" asked the owner aggressively. + +"Cylinder too tight," said Dan decisively, and a moment later to +another man, "Bad handle. I don't like the feel of it." + +Over Jim Silent's guns he paused longer than over most of the rest, +but finally he handed them back. The big man scowled. + +Dan looked back to him in gentle surprise. + +"You see," he explained quietly, "you got to handle a gun like a +horse. If you don't treat it right it won't treat you right. That's +all I know about it. Your gun ain't very clean, stranger, an' a gun +that ain't kept clean gets off feet." + +Silent glanced at his weapons, cursed softly, and restored them to the +holsters. + +"Lee," he muttered to Haines, who stood next to him, "what do you +think he meant by that? D' you figger he's got somethin' up his +sleeve, an' that's why he acts so like a damned woman?" + +"I don't know," said Haines gravely, "he looks to me sort of +queer--sort of different--damned different, chief!" + +By this time Dan had secured a second gun which suited him. He whirled +both guns, tried their actions alternately, and then announced that he +was ready. In the dead silence, one of the men paced off the twenty +yards. + +Dan, with his back turned, stood at the mark, shifting his revolvers +easily in his hands, and smiling down at them as if they could +understand his caress. + +"How you feelin', Dan?" asked Morgan anxiously. + +"Everything fine," he answered. + +"Are you gettin' weak?" + +"No, I'm all right." + +"Steady up, partner." + +"Steady up? Look at my hand!" + +Dan extended his arm. There was not a quiver in it. + +"All right, Dan. When you're shootin', remember that I got pretty +close to everything I own staked on you. There's the stranger gettin' +his four dollars ready." + +Silent took his place with the four dollars in his hand. + +"Are you ready?" he called. + +"Let her go!" said Dan, apparently without the least excitement. + +Jim Silent threw the coins, and he threw them so as to increase his +chances as much as possible. A little snap of his hand gave them a +rapid rotary motion so that each one was merely a speck of winking +light. He flung them high, for it was probable that Whistling Dan +would wait to shoot until they were on the way down. The higher he +threw them the more rapidly they would be travelling when they crossed +the level of the markman's eye. + +As a shout proclaimed the throwing of the coins, Dan whirled, and it +seemed to the bystanders that a revolver exploded before he was fully +turned; but one of the coins never rose to the height of the throw. +There was a light "cling!" and it spun a dozen yards away. Two more +shots blended almost together; two more dollars darted away in +twinkling streaks of light. One coin still fell, but when it was a +few inches from the earth a six-shooter barked again and the fourth +dollar glanced sidewise into the dust. It takes long to describe the +feat. Actually, the four shots consumed less than a second of time. + +"That last dollar," said Dan, and his soft voice was the first sound +out of the silence, "wasn't good. It didn't ring true. Counterfeit?" + +It seemed that no one heard his words. The men were making a wild +scramble for the dollars. They dived into the dust for them, rising +white of face and clothes to fight and struggle over their prizes. +Those dollars with the chips and neat round holes in them would +confirm the truth of a story that the most credulous might be tempted +to laugh or scorn. A cowpuncher offered ten dollars for one of the +relics--but none would part with a prize. + +The moment the shooting was over Dan stepped quietly back and restored +the guns to the owners. The first man seized his weapon carelessly. He +was in the midst of his rush after one of the chipped coins. The other +cowpuncher received his weapon almost with reverence. + +"I'm thankin' you for the loan," said Dan, "an here's hopin' you +always have luck with the gun." + +"Luck?" said the other. "I sure _will_ have luck with it. I'm goin' +to oil her up and put her in a glass case back home, an' when I get +grandchildren I'm goin' to point out that gun to 'em and tell 'em what +men used to do in the old days. Let's go in an' surround some red-eye +at my expense." + +"No thanks," answered Dan, "I ain't drinkin'." + +He stepped back to the edge of the circle and folded his arms. It was +as if he had walked out of the picture. He suddenly seemed to be aloof +from them all. + +Out of the quiet burst a torrent of curses, exclamations, and shouts. +Chance drew Jim Silent and his three followers together. + +"My God!" whispered Lee Haines, with a sort of horror in his voice, +"it wasn't human! Did you see? Did you see?" + +"Am I blind?" asked Hal Purvis, "an' think of me walkin' up an' +bracin' that killer like he was a two-year-old kid! I figger that's +the nearest I ever come to a undeserved grave, an' I've had some close +calls! 'That last dollar wasn't good! It didn't ring true,' says he +when he finished. I never seen such nerve!" + +"You're wrong as hell," said Silent, "a _woman_ can shoot at a target, +but it takes a cold _nerve_ to shoot at a man--an' this feller is +yellow all through!" + +"Is he?" growled Bill Kilduff, "well, I'd hate to take him by +surprise, so's he'd forget himself. He gets as much action out of a +common six-gun as if it was a gatling. He was right about that last +dollar, too. It was pure--lead!" + +"All right, Haines," said Silent. "You c'n start now any time, an' +the rest of us'll follow on the way I said. I'm leavin' last. I got a +little job to finish up with the kid." + +But Haines was staring fixedly down the road. + +"I'm not leaving yet," said Haines. "Look!" + +He turned to one of the cowpunchers. + +"Who's the girl riding up the road, pardner?" + +"That calico? She's Kate Cumberland--old Joe's gal." + +"I like the name," said Haines. "She sits the saddle like a man!" + +Her pony darted off from some imaginary object in the middle of the +road, and she swayed gracefully, following the sudden motion. Her +mount came to the sudden halt of the cattle pony and she slipped to +the ground before Morgan could run out to help. Even Lee Haines, who +was far quicker, could not reach her in time. + +"Sorry I'm late," said Haines. "Shall I tie your horse?" + +The fast ride had blown colour to her face and good spirits into her +eyes. She smiled up to him, and as she shook her head in refusal her +eyes lingered a pardonable moment on his handsome face, with the stray +lock of tawny hair fallen low across his forehead. She was used to +frank admiration, but this unembarrassed courtesy was a new world to +her. She was still smiling when she turned to Morgan. + +"You told my father the boys wouldn't wear guns today." + +He was somewhat confused. + +"They seem to be wearin' them," he said weakly, and his eyes wandered +about the armed circle, pausing on the ominous forms of Hal Purvis, +Bill Kilduff, and especially Jim Silent, a head taller than the rest. +He stood somewhat in the background, but the slight sneer with which +he watched Whistling Dan dominated the entire picture. + +"As a matter of fact," went on Morgan, "it would be a ten man job to +take the guns away from this crew. You can see for yourself." + +She glanced about the throng and started. She had seen Dan. + +"How did he come here?" + +"Oh, Dan?" said Morgan, "he's all right. He just pulled one of the +prettiest shootin' stunts I ever seen." + +"But he promised my father--" began Kate, and then stopped, flushing. + +If her father was right in diagnosing Dan's character, this was the +most critical day in his life, for there he stood surrounded by armed +men. If there were anything wild in his nature it would be brought out +that day. She was almost glad the time of trial had come. + +She said: "How about the guns, Mr. Morgan?" + +"If you want them collected and put away for a while," offered Lee +Haines, "I'll do what I can to help you!" + +Her smile of thanks set his blood tingling. His glance lingered a +little too long, a little too gladly, and she coloured slightly. + +"Miss Cumberland," said Haines, "may I introduce myself? My name is +Lee." + +She hesitated. The manners she had learned in the Eastern school +forbade it, but her Western instinct was truer and stronger. Her hand +went out to him. + +"I'm very glad to know you, Mr. Lee." + +"All right, stranger," said Morgan, who in the meantime had been +shifting from one foot to the other and estimating the large chances +of failure in this attempt to collect the guns, "if you're going to +help me corral the shootin' irons, let's start the roundup." + +The girl went with them. They had no trouble in getting the weapons. +The cold blue eye of Lee Haines was a quick and effective persuasion. + +When they reached Jim Silent he stared fixedly upon Haines. Then he +drew his guns slowly and presented them to his comrade, while his eyes +shifted to Kate and he said coldly: "Lady, I hope I ain't the last one +to congratulate you!" + +She did not understand, but Haines scowled and coloured. Dan, in the +meantime, was swept into the saloon by an influx of the cowpunchers +that left only Lee Haines outside with Kate. She had detained him with +a gesture. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +LAUGHTER + +"Mr. Lee," she said, "I am going to ask you to do me a favour. Will +you?" + +His smile was a sufficient answer, and it was in her character that +she made no pretext of misunderstanding it. + +"You have noticed Dan among the crowd?" she asked, "Whistling Dan?" + +"Yes," he said, "I saw him do some very nice shooting." + +"It's about him that I want to speak to you. Mr. Lee, he knows very +little about men and their ways. He is almost a child among them. You +seem--stronger--than most of the crowd here. Will you see that if +trouble comes he is not imposed upon?" + +She flushed a little, there was such a curious yearning in the eyes of +the big man. + +"If you wish it," he said simply, "I will do what I can." + +As he walked beside her towards her horse, she turned to him abruptly. + +"You are very different from the men I have met around here," she +said. + +"I am glad," he answered. + +"Glad?" + +"If you find me different, you will remember me, whether for better or +worse." + +He spoke so earnestly that she grew grave. He helped her to the saddle +and she leaned a little to study him with the same gentle gravity. + +"I should like to see you again, Mr. Lee," she said, and then in a +little outburst, "I should like to see you a _lot!_ Will you come to +my house sometime?" + +The directness, the sudden smile, made him flinch. His voice was a +trifle unsteady when he replied. + +"I _shall!_" He paused and his hand met hers. "If it is possible." + +Her eyebrows raised a trifle. + +"Is it so hard to do?" + +"Do not ask me to explain," he said, "I am riding a long way." + +"Oh, a 'long-rider'!" she laughed, "then of course--" She stopped +abruptly. It may have been imagination, but he seemed to start when +she spoke the phrase by which outlaws were known to each other. He was +forcing his eyes to meet hers. + +He said slowly: "I am going on a long journey. Perhaps I will come +back. If I am able to, I shall." + +He dropped his hand from hers and she remained silent, guessing at +many things, and deeply moved, for every woman knows when a man speaks +from his soul. + +"You will not forget me?" + +"I shall never forget you," she answered quietly. "Good-bye, Mr. Lee!" + +Her hand touched his again, she wheeled, and rode away. He remained +standing with the hand she had grasped still raised. And after a +moment, as he had hoped, she turned in the saddle and waved to him. +His eyes were downward and he was smiling faintly when he re-entered +the saloon. + +Silent sat at a table with his chin propped in his hand--his left +hand, of course, for that restless right hand must always be free. He +stared across the room towards Whistling Dan. The train of thoughts +which kept those ominous eyes so unmoving must be broken. He sat down +at the side of his chief. + +"What the hell?" said the big man, "ain't you started yet?" + +"Look here, Jim," said Haines cautiously, "I want you to lay off on +this kid, Whistling Dan. It won't meant anything to you to raise the +devil with him." + +"I tell you," answered Silent, "it'll please me more'n anything in the +world to push that damned girl face of his into the floor." + +"Silent, I'm asking a personal favour of you!" + +The leader turned upon him that untamed stare. Haines set his teeth. + +"Haines," came the answer, "I'll stand more from you than from any man +alive. I know you've got guts an' I know you're straight with me. +But there ain't anything can keep me from manhandlin' that kid over +there." He opened and shut his fingers slowly. "I sort of yearn to get +at him!" + +Haines recognized defeat. + +"But you haven't another gun hidden on you, Jim? You won't try to +shoot him up?" + +"No," said Silent. "If I had a gun I don't know--but I haven't a gun. +My hands'll be enough!" + +All that could be done now was to get Whistling Dan out of the saloon. +That would be simple. A single word would suffice to send the timid +man helter-skelter homewards. + +The large, lazy brown eyes turned up to Haines as the latter +approached. + +"Dan," he said, "hit for the timbers--get on your way--there's danger +here for you!" + +To his astonishment the brown eyes did not vary a shade. + +"Danger?" he repeated wonderingly. + +"Danger! Get up and get out if you want to save your hide!" + +"What's the trouble?" said Dan, and his eyes were surprised, but not +afraid. + +"The biggest man in this room is after your blood." + +"Is he?" said Dan wonderingly. "I'm sorry I don't feel like leavin', +but I'm not tired of this place yet." + +"Friend," said Haines, "if that tall man puts his hands on you, he'll +break you across his knee like a rotten stick of wood!" + +It was too late. Silent evidently guessed that Haines was urging his +quarry to flee. + +"Hey!" he roared, so that all heads turned towards him, "you over +there." + +Haines stepped back, sick at heart. He knew that it would be folly to +meet his chief hand to hand, but he thought of his pledge to Kate, and +groaned. + +"What do you want of me?" asked Dan, for the pointed arm left no doubt +as to whom Silent intended. + +"Get up when you're spoke to" cried Silent. "Ain't you learned no +manners? An' git up quick!" + +Dan rose, smiling his surprise. + +"Your friend has a sort of queer way of talkin'," he said to Haines. + +"Don't stan' there like a fool. Trot over to the bar an' git me a jolt +of red-eye. I'm dry!" thundered Silent. + +"Sure!" nodded Whistling Dan amiably, "glad to!" and he went +accordingly towards the bar. + +The men about the room looked to each other with sick smiles. +There was an excuse for acquiescence, for the figure of Jim Silent +contrasted with Whistling Dan was like an oak compared with a sapling. +Nevertheless such bland cowardice as Dan was showing made their flesh +creep. He asked at the bar for the whisky, and Morgan spoke as Dan +filled a glass nearly to the brim. + +"Dan," he whispered rapidly, "I got a gun behind the bar. Say the word +an' I'll take the chance of pullin' it on that big skunk. Then you +make a dive for the door. Maybe I can keep him back till you get on +Satan." + +"Why should I beat it?" queried Dan, astonished. "I'm jest beginnin' +to get interested in your place. That tall feller is sure a queer one, +ain't he?" + +With the same calm and wide-eyed smile of inquiry he turned away, +taking the glass of liquor, and left Morgan to stare after him with a +face pale with amazement, while he whispered over and over to himself: +"Well, I'll be damned! Well, I'll be damned!" + +Dan placed the liquor before Silent. The latter sat gnawing his lips. + +"What in hell do you mean?" he said. "Did you only bring one glass? +Are you too damn good to drink with me? Then drink by yourself, you +white-livered coyote!" + +He dashed the glass of whisky into Dan's face. Half blinded by the +stinging liquor, the latter fell back a pace, sputtering, and wiping +his eyes. Not a man in the room stirred. The same sick look was on +each face. But the red devil broke loose in Silent's heart when he saw +Dan cringe. He followed the thrown glass with his clenched fist. Dan +stood perfectly still and watched the blow coming. His eyes were wide +and wondering, like those of a child. The iron-hard hand struck him +full on the mouth, fairly lifted him from his feet, and flung him +against the wall with such violence that he recoiled again and fell +forward onto his knees. Silent was making beast noises in his throat +and preparing to rush on the half-prostrate figure. He stopped short. + +Dan was laughing. At least that chuckling murmur was near to a laugh. +Yet there was no mirth in it. It had that touch of the maniacal in it +which freezes the blood. Silent halted in the midst of his rush, with +his hands poised for the next blow. His mouth fell agape with an odd +expression of horror as Dan stared up at him. That hideous chuckling +continued. The sound defied definition. And from the shadow in which +Dan was crouched his brown eyes blazed, changed, and filled with +yellow fires. + +"God!" whispered Silent, and at that instant the ominous crouched +animal with the yellow eyes, the nameless thing which had been +Whistling Dan a moment before, sprang up and forward with a leap like +that of a panther. + +Morgan stood behind the bar with a livid face and a fixed smile. His +fingers still stiffly clutched the whisky bottle from which the last +glass had been filled. Not another man in the room stirred from his +place. Some sat with their cards raised in the very act of playing. +Some had stopped midway a laugh. One man had been tying a bootlace. +His body did not rise. Only his eyes rolled up to watch. + +Dan darted under the outstretched arms of Silent, fairly heaved him up +from the floor and drove him backwards. The big man half stumbled and +half fell, knocking aside two chairs. He rushed back with a shout, but +at sight of the white face with the thin trickle of blood falling from +the lips, and at the sound of that inhuman laughter, he paused again. + +Once more Dan was upon him, his hands darting out with motions too +fast for the eye to follow. Jim Silent stepped back a half pace, +shifted his weight, and drove his fist straight at that white face. +How it happened not a man in the room could tell, but the hand did not +strike home. Dan had swerved aside as lightly as a wind-blown feather +and his fist rapped against Silent's ribs with a force that made the +giant grunt. + +Some of the horror was gone from his face and in its stead was baffled +rage. He knew the scientific points of boxing, and he applied them. +His eye was quick and sure. His reach was whole inches longer than his +opponent's. His strength was that of two ordinary men. What did it +avail him? He was like an agile athlete in the circus playing tag with +a black panther. He was like a child striking futilely at a wavering +butterfly. Sometimes this white-faced, laughing devil ducked under +his arms. Sometimes a sidestep made his blows miss by the slightest +fraction of an inch. + +And for every blow he struck four rained home against him. It was +impossible! It could not be! Silent telling himself that he dreamed, +and those dancing fists crashed into his face and body like +sledgehammers. There was no science in the thing which faced him. Had +there been trained skill the second blow would have knocked Silent +unconscious, and he knew it, but Dan made no effort to strike a +vulnerable spot. He hit at anything which offered. + +Still he laughed as he leaped back and forth. Perhaps mere weight of +rushing would beat the dancing will-o'-the-wisp to the floor. Silent +bored in with lowered head and clutched at his enemy. Then he roared +with triumph. His outstretched hand caught Dan's shirt as the latter +flicked to one side. Instantly they were locked in each other's arms! +The most meaning part of the fight followed. + +The moment after they grappled, Silent shifted his right arm from its +crushing grip on Dan's body and clutched at the throat. The move was +as swift as lightning, but the parry of the smaller man was still +quicker. His left hand clutched Silent by the wrist, and that mighty +sweep of arm was stopped in mid-air! They were in the middle of the +room. They stood perfectly erect and close together, embraced. Their +position had a ludicrous resemblance to the posture of dancers, but +their bodies were trembling with effort. With every ounce of power in +his huge frame Silent strove to complete his grip at the throat. +He felt the right arm of Dan tightening around him closer, closer, +closer! It was not a bulky arm, but it seemed to be made of linked +steel which was shrinking into him, and promised to crush his very +bones. The strength of this man seemed to increase. It was limitless. +His breath came struggling under that pressure and the blood thundered +and raged in his temples. If he could only get at that soft throat! + +But his struggling right hand was held in a vice of iron. Now his numb +arm gave way, slowly, inevitably. He ground his teeth and cursed. His +curse was half a prayer. For answer there was the unearthly chuckle +just below his ear. His hand was moved back, down, around! He was +helpless as a child in the arms of its father--no, helpless as a sheep +in the constricting coils of a python. + +An impulse of frantic horror and shame and fear gave him redoubled +strength for an instant. He tore himself clear and reeled back. Dan +planted two smashes on Silent's snarling mouth. A glance showed the +large man the mute, strained faces around the room. The laughing devil +leaped again. Then all pride slipped like water from the heart of Jim +Silent, and in its place there was only icy fear, fear not of a man, +but of animal power. He caught up a heavy chair and drove it with all +his desperate strength at Dan. + +It cracked distinctly against his head and the weight of it fairly +drove him into the floor. He fell with a limp thud on the boards. +Silent, reeling and blind, staggered to and fro in the centre of the +room. Morgan and Lee Haines reached Dan at the same moment and kneeled +beside him. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +THE MUTE MESSENGER + +Almost at once Haines raised a hand and spoke to the crowd: "He's all +right, boys. Badly cut across the head and stunned, but he'll live." + +There was a deep gash on the upper part of the forehead. If the +cross-bar of the chair had not broken, the skull might have been +injured. The impact of the blow had stunned him, and it might be many +minutes before his senses returned. + +As the crowd closed around Dan, a black body leaped among them, +snarling hideously. They sprang back with a yell from the rush of this +green-eyed fury; but Black Bart made no effort to attack them. He sat +crouching before the prostrate body, licking the deathly white face, +and growling horribly, and then stood over his fallen master and +stared about the circle. Those who had seen a lone wolf make its stand +against a pack of dogs recognized the attitude. Then without a sound, +as swiftly as he had entered the room, he leaped through the door and +darted off up the road. Satan, for the first time deserted by this +wolfish companion, turned a high head and neighed after him, but he +raced on. + +The men returned to their work over Dan's body, cursing softly. There +was a hair-raising unearthliness about the sudden coming and departure +of Black Bart. Jim Silent and his comrades waited no longer, but took +to their saddles and galloped down the road. + +Within a few moments the crowd at Morgan's place began to thin out. +Evening was coming on, and most of them had far to ride. They might +have lingered until midnight, but this peculiar accident damped their +spirits. Probably not a hundred words were spoken from the moment +Silent struck Dan to the time when the last of the cattlemen took to +the saddle. They avoided each other's eyes as if in shame. In a short +time only Morgan remained working over Dan. + +In the house of old Joe Cumberland his daughter sat fingering the keys +of the only piano within many miles. The evening gloom deepened as she +played with upward face and reminiscent eyes. The tune was uncertain, +weird--for she was trying to recall one of those nameless airs which +Dan whistled as he rode through the hills. There came a patter of +swift, light footfalls in the hall, and then a heavy scratching at the +door. + +"Down, Bart!" she called, and went to admit him to the room. + +The moment she turned the handle the door burst open and Bart fell in +against her. She cried out at sight of the gleaming teeth and eyes, +but he fawned about her feet, alternately whining and snarling. + +"What is it, boy?" she asked, gathering her skirts close about her +ankles and stepping back, for she never was without some fear of this +black monster. "What do you want, Bart?" + +For reply he stood stock still, raised his nose, and emitted a long +wail, a mournful, a ghastly sound, with a broken-hearted quaver at the +end. Kate Cumberland shrank back still farther until the wall blocked +her retreat. Black Bart had never acted like this before. He followed +her with a green light in his eyes, which shone phosphorescent and +distinct through the growing shadows. And most terrible of all was +the sound which came deep in his throat as if his brute nature was +struggling to speak human words. She felt a great impulse to cry out +for help, but checked herself. He was still crouching about her feet. +Obviously he meant no harm to her. + +He turned and ran towards the door, stopped, looked back to her, and +made a sound which was nearer to the bark of a dog than anything he +had ever uttered. She made a step after him. He whined with delight +and moved closer to the door. Now she stopped again. He whirled and +ran back, caught her dress in his teeth, and again made for the door, +tugging her after him. + +At last she understood and followed him. When she went towards the +corral to get her horse, he planted himself in front of her and +snarled so furiously that she gave up her purpose. She was beginning +to be more and more afraid. A childish thought came to her that +perhaps this brute was attempting to lure her away from the house, as +she had seen coyotes lure dogs, and then turn his teeth against her. +Nevertheless she followed. Something in the animal's eagerness moved +her deeply. When he led her out to the road he released her dress and +trotted ahead a short distance, looking back and whining, as if to beg +her to go faster. For the first time the thought of Dan came into her +mind. Black Bart was leading her down the road towards Morgan's place. +What if something had happened to Dan? + +She caught a breath of sharp terror and broke into a run. Bart yelped +his pleasure. Yet a cold horror rose in her heart as she hurried. Had +her father after all been right? What power had Dan, if he needed her, +to communicate with this mute beast and send him to her? As she ran +she wished for the day, the warm, clear sun--for these growing shadows +of evening bred a thousand ghostly thoughts. Black Bart was running +backwards and forwards before her as if he half entreated and half +threatened her. + +Her heart died within her as she came in sight of Morgan's place. +There was only one horse before it, and that was the black stallion. +Why had the others gone so soon? Breathless, she reached the door of +the saloon. It was very dim within. She could make out only formless +shades at first. Black Bart slid noiselessly across the floor. She +followed him with her eyes, and now she saw a figure stretched +straight out on the floor while another man kneeled at his side. She +ran forward with a cry. + +Morgan rose, stammering. She pushed him aside and dropped beside Dan. +A broad white bandage circled his head. His face was almost as pale as +the cloth. Her touches went everywhere over that cold face, and she +moaned little syllables that had no meaning. He lived, but it seemed +to her that she had found him at the legended gates of death. + +"Miss Kate!" said Morgan desperately. + +"You murderer!" + +"You don't think that _I_ did that?" + +"It happened in your place--you had given Dad your word!" + +Still she did not turn her head. + +"Won't you hear me explain? He's jest in a sort of a trance. He'll +wake up feelin' all right. Don't try to move him tonight. I'll go out +an' put his hoss up in the shed. In the mornin' he'll be as good as +new. Miss Kate, won't you listen to me?" + +She turned reluctantly towards him. Perhaps he was right and Dan would +waken from his swoon as if from a healthful sleep. + +"It was that big feller with them straight eyes that done it," began +Morgan. + +"The one who was sneering at Dan?" + +"Yes." + +"Weren't there enough boys here to string him up?" + +"He had three friends with him. It would of taken a hundred men to lay +hands on one of those four. They were all bad ones. I'm goin' to tell +you how it was, because I'm leavin' in a few minutes and ridin' south, +an' I want to clear my trail before I start. This was the way it +happened--" + +His back was turned to the dim light which fell through the door. She +could barely make out the movement of his lips. All the rest of his +face was lost in shadow. As he spoke she sometimes lost his meaning +and the stir of his lips became a nameless gibbering. The grey gloom +settled more deeply round the room and over her heart while he talked. +He explained how the difference had risen between the tall stranger +and Whistling Dan. How Dan had been insulted time and again and borne +it with a sort of childish stupidity. How finally the blow had been +struck. How Dan had crouched on the floor, laughing, and how a yellow +light gathered in his eyes. + +At that, her mind went blank. When her thoughts returned she stood +alone in the room. The clatter of Morgan's galloping horse died +swiftly away down the road. She turned to Dan. Black Bart was crouched +at watch beside him. She kneeled again--lowered her head--heard the +faint but steady breathing. He seemed infinitely young--infinitely +weak and helpless. The whiteness of the bandage stared up at her like +an eye through the deepening gloom. All the mother in her nature came +to her eyes in tears. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +RED WRITING + +He stirred. + +"Dan--dear!" + +"My head," he muttered, "it sort of aches, Kate, as if--" + +He was silent and she knew that he remembered. + +"You're all right now, honey. I've come here to take care of you--I +won't leave you. Poor Dan!" + +"How did you know?" he asked, the words trailing. + +"Black Bart came for me." + +"Good ol' Bart!" + +The great wolf slunk closer, and licked the outstretched hand. + +"Why, Kate, I'm on the floor and it's dark. Am I still in Morgan's +place? Yes, I begin to see clearer." + +He made an effort to rise, but she pressed him back. + +"If you try to move right away you may get a fever. I'm going back +to the house, and I'll bring you down some blankets. Morgan says you +shouldn't attempt to move for several hours. He says you've lost a +great deal of blood and that you mustn't make any effort or ride a +horse till tomorrow." + +Dan relaxed with a sigh. + +"Kate." + +"Yes, honey." + +Her hand travelled lightly as blown snow across his forehead. He +caught it and pressed the coolness against his cheek. + +"I feel as if I'd sort of been through a fire. I seem to be still +seein' red." + +"Dan, it makes me feel as if I never knew you! Now you must forget all +that has happened. Promise me you will!" + +He was silent for a moment and then he sighed again. + +"Maybe I can, Kate. Which I feel, though, as if there was somethin' +inside me writ--writ in red letters--I got to try to read the writin' +before I can talk much." + +She barely heard him. Her hand was still against his face. A deep awe +and content was creeping through her, so that she began to smile and +was glad that the dark covered her face. She felt abashed before him +for the first time in her life, and there was a singular sense of +shame. It was as if some door in her inner heart had opened so that +Dan was at liberty to look down into her soul. There was terror in +this feeling, but there was also gladness. + +"Kate." + +"Yes--honey!" + +"What were you hummin'?" + +She started. + +"I didn't know I was humming, Dan." + +"You were, all right. It sounded sort of familiar, but I couldn't +figger out where I heard it." + +"I know now. It's one of your own tunes." + +Now she felt a tremor so strong that she feared he would notice it. + +"I must go back to the house, Dan. Maybe Dad has returned. If he has, +perhaps he can arrange to have you carried back tonight." + +"I don't want to think of movin', Kate. I feel mighty comfortable. +I'm forgettin' all about that ache in my head. Ain't that queer? Why, +Kate, what in the world are you laughin' about?" + +"I don't know, Dan. I'm just happy!" + +"Kate." + +"Yes?" + +"I like you pretty much." + +"I'm so glad!" + +"You an' Black Bart, an' Satan--" + +"Oh!" Her tone changed. + +"Why are you tryin' to take your hand away, Kate?" + +"Don't you care for me any more than for your horse--and your dog?" + +He drew a long breath, puzzled. + +"It's some different, I figger." + +"Tell me!" + +"If Black Bart died--" + +The wolf-dog whined, hearing his name. + +"Good ol' Bart! Well, if Black Bart died maybe I'd some day have +another dog I'd like almost as much." + +"Yes." + +"An' if Satan died--even Satan!--maybe I could sometime like another +hoss pretty well--if he was a pile like Satan! But if you was to +die--it'd be different, a considerable pile different." + +"Why?" + +His pauses to consider these questions were maddening. + +"I don't know," he muttered at last. + +Once more she was thankful for the dark to hide her smile. + +"Maybe you know the reason, Kate?" + +Her laughter was rich music. His hold on her hand relaxed. He was +thinking of a new theme. When he laughed in turn it startled her. She +had never heard that laugh before. + +"What is it, Dan?" + +"He was pretty big, Kate. He was bigger'n almost any man I ever seen! +It was kind of funny. After he hit me I was almost glad. I didn't hate +him--" + +"Dear Dan!" + +"I didn't hate him--I jest nacherally wanted to kill him--and wantin' +to do that made me glad. Isn't that funny, Kate?" + +He spoke of it as a chance traveller might point out a striking +feature of the landscape to a companion. + +"Dan, if you really care for me you must drop the thought of him." + +His hand slipped away. + +"How can I do that? That writin' I was tellin' you about--" + +"Yes?" + +"It's about him!" + +"Ah!" + +"When he hit me the first time--" + +"I won't hear you tell of it!" + +"The blood come down my chin--jest a little trickle of it. It was +warm, Kate. That was what made me hot all through." + +Her hands fell limp, cold, lifeless. + +"It's as clear as the print in a book. I've got to finish him. That's +the only way I can forget the taste of my own blood." + +"Dan, listen to me!" + +He laughed again, in the new way. She remembered that her father had +dreaded the very thing that had come to Dan--this first taste of his +own powers--this first taste (she shuddered) of blood! + +"Dan, you've told me that you like me. You have to make a choice now, +between pursuing this man, and me." + +"You don't understand," he explained carefully. "I _got_ to follow +him. I can't help it no more'n Black Bart can help howlin' when he +sees the moon." + +He fell silent, listening. Far across the hills came the plaintive +wail of a coyote--that shrill bodiless sound. Kate trembled. + +"Dan!" + +Outside, Satan whinnied softly like a call. She leaned and her lips +touched his. He thrust her away almost roughly. + +"They's blood on my lips, Kate! I can't kiss you till they're clean." + +He turned his head. + +"You must listen to me, Dan!" + +"Kate, would you talk to the wind?" + +"Yes, if I loved the wind!" + +He turned his head. + +She pleaded: "Here are my hands to cover your eyes and shut out the +thoughts of this man you hate. Here are my lips, dear, to tell you +that I love you unless this thirst for killing carries you away from +me. Stay with me! Give me your heart to keep gentle!" + +He said nothing, but even through the dark she was aware of a struggle +in his face, and then, through the gloom, she began to see his +eyes more clearly. They seemed to be illuminated by a light from +within--they changed--there was a hint of yellow in the brown. And she +spoke again, blindly, passionately. + +"Give me your promise! It is so easy to do. One little word will make +you safe. It will save you from yourself." + +Still he answered nothing. Black Bart came and crouched at his head +and stared at her fixedly. + +"Speak to me!" + +Only the yellow light answered her. Cold fear fought in her heart, but +love still struggled against it. + +"For the last time--for God's sake, Dan!" + +Still that silence. She rose, shaking and weak. The changeless eyes +followed her. Only fear remained now. She backed towards the door, +slowly, then faster, and faster. At the threshold she whirled and +plunged into the night. + +Up the road she raced. Once she stumbled and fell to her knees. She +cried out and glanced behind her, breathing again when she saw that +nothing followed. At the house she made no pause, though she heard the +voice of her father singing. She could not tell him. He should be the +last in all the world to know. She went to her room and huddled into +bed. + +Presently a knock came at her door, and her father's voice asked if +she were ill. She pleaded that she had a bad headache and wished to be +alone. He asked if she had seen Dan. By a great effort she managed to +reply that Dan had ridden to a neighbouring ranch. Her father left +the door without further question. Afterwards she heard him in the +distance singing his favourite mournful ballads. It doubled her sense +of woe and brought home the clinging fear. She felt that if she could +weep she might live, but otherwise her heart would burst. And after +hours and hours of that torture which burns the name of "woman" in the +soul of a girl, the tears came. The roosters announced the dawn before +she slept. + +Late the next morning old Joe Cumberland knocked again at her door. He +was beginning to fear that this illness might be serious. Moreover, he +had a definite purpose in rousing her. + +"Yes?" she called, after the second knock. + +"Look out your window, honey, down to Morgan's place. You remember I +said I was goin' to clean up the landscape?" + +The mention of Morgan's place cleared the sleep from Kate's mind and +it brought back the horror of the night before. Shivering she slipped +from her bed and went to the window. Morgan's place was a mass of +towering flames! + +She grasped the window-sill and stared again. It could not be. It must +be merely another part of the nightmare, and no reality. Her father's +voice, high with exultation, came dimly to her ears, but what she saw +was Dan as he had laid there the night before, hurt, helpless, too +weak to move! + +"There's the end of it," Joe Cumberland was saying complacently +outside her door. "There ain't goin' to be even a shadow of the saloon +left nor nothin' that's in it. I jest travelled down there this +mornin' and touched a match to it!" + +Still she stared without moving, without making a sound. She was +seeing Dan as he must have wakened from a swoonlike sleep with the +smell of smoke and the heat of rising flames around him. She saw him +struggle, and fail to reach his feet. She almost heard him cry out--a +sound drowned easily by the roar of the fire, and the crackling of the +wood. She saw him drag himself with his hands across the floor, only +to be beaten back by a solid wall of flame. Black Bart crouched beside +him and would not leave his doomed master. Fascinated by the raging +fire the black stallion Satan would break from the shed and rush into +the flames!--and so the inseparable three must have perished together! + +"Why don't you speak, Kate?" called her father. + +"Dan!" she screamed, and pitched forward to the floor. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +THE PHANTOM RIDER + +In the daytime the willows along the wide, level river bottom seemed +an unnatural growth, for they made a streak of yellow-green across +the mountain-desert when all other verdure withered and died. After +nightfall they became still more dreary. Even when the air was calm +there was apt to be a sound as of wind, for the tenuous, trailing +branches brushed lightly together, making a guarded whispering like +ghosts. + +In a small clearing among these willows sat Silent and his companions. +A fifth member had just arrived at this rendezvous, answered the quiet +greeting with a wave of his hand, and was now busy caring for his +horse. Bill Kilduff, who had a natural inclination and talent for +cookery, raked up the deft dying coals of the fire over which he had +cooked the supper, and set about preparing bacon and coffee for the +newcomer. The latter came forward, and squatted close to the cook, +watching the process with a careful eye. He made a sharp contrast with +the rest of the group. From one side his profile showed the face of +a good-natured boy, but when he turned his head the flicker of the +firelight ran down a scar which gleamed in a jagged semi-circle from +his right eyebrow to the corner of his mouth. This whole side of his +countenance was drawn by the cut, the mouth stretching to a perpetual +grimace. When he spoke it was as if he were attempting secrecy. The +rest of the men waited in patience until he finished eating. Then +Silent asked: "What news, Jordan?" + +Jordan kept his regretful eyes a moment longer on his empty coffee +cup. + +"There ain't a pile to tell," he answered at last. "I suppose you +heard about what happened to the chap you beat up at Morgan's place +the other day?" + +"Who knows that _I_ beat him up?" asked Silent sharply. + +"Nobody," said Jordan, "but when I heard the description of the man +that hit Whistling Dan with the chair, I knew it was Jim Silent." + +"What about Barry?" asked Haines, but Jordan still kept his eyes upon +the chief. + +"They was sayin' pretty general," he went on, "that you _needed_ that +chair, Jim. Is that right?" + +The other three glanced covertly to each other. Silent's hand bunched +into a great fist. + +"He went loco. I had to slam him. Was he hurt bad?" + +"The cut on his head wasn't much, but he was left lyin' in the saloon +that night, an' the next mornin' old Joe Cumberland, not knowin' that +Whistlin' Dan was in there, come down an' touched a match to the old +joint. She went up in smoke an' took Dan along." + +No one spoke for a moment. Then Silent cried out: "Then what was that +whistlin' I've heard down the road behind us?" + +Bill Kilduff broke into rolling bass laughter, and Hal Purvis chimed +in with a squeaking tenor. + +"We told you all along, Jim," said Purvis, as soon as he could control +his voice, "that there wasn't any whistlin' behind us. We know you +got powerful good hearin', Jim, but we all figger you been makin' +somethin' out of nothin'. Am I right, boys?" + +"You sure are," said Kilduff, "I ain't heard a thing." + +Silent rolled his eyes angrily from face to face. + +"I'm kind of sorry the lad got his in the fire. I was hopin' maybe +we'd meet agin. There's nothin' I'd rather do than be alone five +minutes with Whistlin' Dan." + +His eyes dared any one to smile. The men merely exchanged glances. +When he turned away they grinned broadly. Hal Purvis turned and caught +Bill Kilduff by the shoulder. + +"Bill," he said excitedly, "if Whistlin' Dan is dead there ain't any +master for that dog!" + +"What about him?" growled Kilduff. + +"I'd like to try my hand with him," said Purvis, and he moistened his +tight lips. "Did you see the black devil when he snarled at me in +front of Morgan's place?" + +"He sure didn't look too pleasant." + +"Right. Maybe if I had him on a chain I could change his manners some, +eh?" + +"How?" + +"A whip every day, damn him--a whip every time he showed his teeth at +me. No eats till he whined and licked my hand." + +"He'd die first. I know that kind of a dog--or a wolf." + +"Maybe he'd die. Anyway I'd like to try my hand with him. Bill, I'm +goin' to get hold of him some of these days if I have to ride a +hundred miles an' swim a river!" + +Kilduff grunted. + +"Let the damn wolf be. You c'n have him, I say. What I'm thinkin' +about is the hoss. Hal, do you remember the way he settled to his +stride when he lighted out after Red Pete?" + +Purvis shrugged his shoulders. + +"You're a fool, Bill. Which no man but Barry could ever ride that +hoss. I seen it in his eye. He'd cash in buckin'. He'd fight you like +a man." + +Kilduff sighed. A great yearning was in his eyes. + +"Hal," he said softly, "they's some men go around for years an' +huntin' for a girl whose picture is in their bean, cached away +somewhere. When they see her they jest nacherally goes nutty. Hal, I +don't give a damn for women folk, but I've travelled around a long +time with a picture of a hoss in my brain, an' Satan is the hoss." + +He closed his eyes. + +"I c'n see him now. I c'n see them shoulders--an' that head--an', my +God! them eyes--them fire eatin' eyes! Hal, if a man was to win the +heart of that hoss he'd lay down his life for you--he'd run himself +plumb to death! I won't never sleep tight till I get the feel of them +satin sides of his between my knees." + +Lee Haines heard them speak, but he said nothing. His heart also +leaped when he heard of Whistling Dan's death, but he thought neither +of the horse nor the dog. He was seeing the yellow hair and the blue +eyes of Kate Cumberland. He approached Jordan and took a place beside +him. + +"Tell me some more about it, Terry," he asked. + +"Some more about what?" + +"About Whistling Dan's death--about the burning of the saloon," said +Haines. + +"What the hell! Are you still thinkin' about that?" + +"I certainly am." + +"Then I'll trade you news," said Terry Jordan, lowering his voice so +that it would not reach the suspicious ear of Jim Silent. "I'll tell +you about the burnin' if you'll tell me something about Barry's fight +with Silent!" + +"It's a trade," answered Haines. + +"All right. Seems old Joe Cumberland had a hunch to clean up the +landscape--old fool! so he jest up in the mornin' an' without sayin' a +word to any one he downs to the saloon and touches a match to it. When +he come back to his house he tells his girl, Kate, what he done. With +that she lets out a holler an' drops in a faint." + +Haines muttered. + +"What's the matter?" asked Terry, a little anxiously. + +"Nothin," said Haines. "She fainted, eh? Well, good!" + +"Yep. She fainted an' when she come to, she told Cumberland that Dan +was in the saloon, an' probably too weak to get out of the fire. They +started for the place on the run. When they got there all they found +was a pile of red hot coals. So everyone figures that he went up in +the flames. That's all I know. Now what about the fight?" + +Lee Haines sat with fixed eyes. + +"There isn't much to say about the fight," he said at last. + +"The hell there isn't," scoffed Terry Jordan. "From what I heard, this +Whistling Dan simply cut loose and raised the devil more general than +a dozen mavericks corralled with a bunch of yearlings." + +"Cutting loose is right," said Haines. "It wasn't a pleasant thing to +watch. One moment he was about as dangerous as an eighteen-year-old +girl. The next second he was like a panther that's tasted blood. +That's all there was to it, Terry. After the first blow, he was all +over the chief. You know Silent's a bad man with his hands?" + +"I guess we all know that," said Jordan, with a significant smile. + +"Well," said Haines, "he was like a baby in the hands of Barry. I +don't like to talk about it--none of us do. It makes the flesh creep." + +There was a loud crackling among the underbrush several hundred yards +away. It drew closer and louder. + +"Start up your works agin, will you, Bill?" called Silent. "Here comes +Shorty Rhinehart, an' he's overdue." + +In a moment Shorty swung from his horse and joined the group. He +gained his nickname from his excessive length, being taller by an inch +or two than Jim Silent himself, but what he gained in height he lost +in width. Even his face was monstrously long, and marked with such sad +lines that the favourite name of "Shorty" was affectionately varied to +"Sour-face" or "Calamity." Silent went to him at once. + +"You seen Hardy?" he asked. + +"I sure did," said Rhinehart, "an' it's the last time I'll make that +trip to him, you can lay to that." + +"Did he give you the dope?" + +"No." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I jest want you to know that this here's my last trip to Elkhead--on +_any_ business." + +"Why?" + +"I passed three marshals on the street, an' I knew them all. They was +my friends, formerly. One of them was--" + +"What did they do?" + +"I waved my hand to them, glad an' familiar. They jest grunted. One of +them, he looked up an' down the street, an' seein' that no one was in +sight, he come up to me an' without shakin' hands he says: 'I'm some +surprised to see you in Elkhead, Shorty.' 'Why,' says I, 'the town's +all right, ain't it?' 'It's all right,' he says, 'but you'd find it a +pile more healthier out on the range.'" + +"What in hell did he mean by that?" growled Silent. + +"He simply meant that they're beginnin' to think a lot more about +us than they used to. We've been pullin' too many jobs the last six +months." + +"You've said all that before, Shorty. I'm runnin' this gang. Tell me +about Hardy." + +"I'm comin' to that. I went into the Wells Fargo office down by the +railroad, an' the clerk sent me back to find Hardy in the back room, +where he generally is. When he seen me he changed colour. I'd jest +popped my head through the door an' sung out: 'Hello, Hardy, how's the +boy?' He jumped up from the desk an' sung out so's his clerk in the +outside room could hear: 'How are you, lad?' an' he pulled me quick +into the room an' locked the door behind me. + +"'Now what in hell have you come to Elkhead for?' says he. + +"'For a drink' says I, never battin' an eye. + +"'You've come a damn long ways,' says he. + +"'Sure,' says I, 'that's one reason I'm so dry. Will you liquor, pal?' + +"He looked like he needed a drink, all right. He begun loosening his +shirt collar. + +"'Thanks, but I ain't drinkin', says he. 'Look here, Shorty, are you +loco to come ridin' into Elkhead this way?' + +"'I'm jest beginnin' to think maybe I am,' says I. + +"'Shorty,' he says in a whisper, 'they're beginnin' to get wise to the +whole gang--includin' me.' + +"'Take a brace,' says I. 'They ain't got a thing on you, Hardy.' + +"'That don't keep 'em from thinkin' a hell of a pile,' says he, 'an' +I tell you, Shorty, I'm jest about through with the whole works. It +ain't worth it--not if there was a million in it. Everybody is gettin' +wise to Silent, an' the rest of you. Pretty soon hell's goin' to bust +loose.' + +"'You've been sayin' that for two years,' says I. + +"He stopped an' looked at me sort of thoughtful an' pityin'. Then he +steps up close to me an' whispers in that voice: 'D'you know who's on +Silent's trail now? Eh?' + +"'No, an' I don't give a damn,' says I, free an' careless. + +"'Tex Calder!' says he." + +Silent started violently, and his hand moved instinctively to his +six-gun. + +"Did he say Tex Calder?" + +"He said no less," answered Shorty Rhinehart, and waited to see his +news take effect. Silent stood with head bowed, scowling. + +"Tex Calder's a fool," he said at last. "He ought to know better'n to +take to _my_ trail." + +"He's fast with his gun," suggested Shorty. + +"Don't I know that?" said Silent. "If Alvarez, an' Bradley, an' +Hunter, an' God knows how many more could come up out of their graves, +they'd tell jest how quick he _is_ with a six-gun. But I'm the one man +on the range that's faster." + +Shorty was eloquently mute. + +"I ain't askin' you to take my word for it," said Jim Silent. "Now +that he's after me, I'm glad of it. It had to come some day. The +mountains ain't big enough for both of us to go rangin' forever. We +had to lock horns some day. An' I say, God help Tex Calder!" + +He turned abruptly to the rest of the men. + +"Boys, I got somethin' to tell you that Shorty jest heard. Tex Calder +is after us." + +There came a fluent outburst of cursing. + +Silent went on: "I know jest how slick Calder is. I'm bettin' on +my draw to be jest the necessary half a hair quicker. He may die +shootin'. I don't lay no bets that I c'n nail him before he gets his +iron out of its leather, but I say he'll be shootin' blind when he +dies. Is there any one takin' that bet?" + +His eyes challenged them one after another. Their glances travelled +past Silent as if they were telling over and over to themselves the +stories of those many men to whom Tex Calder had played the part of +Fate. The leader turned back to Shorty Rhinehart. + +"Now tell me what he had to say about the coin." + +"Hardy says the shipment's delayed. He don't know how long." + +"How'd it come to be delayed?" + +"He figures that Wells Fargo got a hunch that Silent was layin' for +the train that was to carry it." + +"Will he let us know when it _does_ come through?" + +"I asked him, an' he jest hedged. He's quitting on us cold." + +"I was a fool to send you, Shorty. I'm goin' myself, an' if Hardy +don't come through to me--" + +He broke off and announced to the rest of his gang that he intended to +make the journey to Elkhead. He told Haines, who in such cases usually +acted as lieutenant, to take charge of the camp. Then he saddled his +roan. + +In the very act of pulling up the cinch of his saddle, Silent stopped +short, turned, and raised a hand for quiet. The rest were instantly +still. Hal Purvis leaned his weazened face towards the ground. In this +manner it was sometimes possible to detect far-off sounds which to one +erect would be inaudible. In a moment, however, he straightened up, +shaking his head. + +"What is it?" whispered Haines. + +"Shut up," muttered Silent, and the words were formed by the motion of +his lips rather than through any sound. "That damned whistling again." + +Every face changed. At a rustling in a near-by willow, Terry Jordan +started and then cursed softly to himself. That broke the spell. + +"It's the whisperin' of the willows," said Purvis. + +"You lie," said Silent hoarsely. "I hear the sound growing closer." + +"Barry is dead," said Haines. + +Silent whipped out his revolver--and then shoved it back into the +holster. + +"Stand by me, boys," he pleaded. "It's his ghost come to haunt me! You +can't hear it, because he ain't come for you." + +They stared at him with a fascinated horror. + +"How do you know it's him?" asked Shorty Rhinehart. + +"There ain't no sound in the whole world like it. It's a sort of cross +between the singing of a bird an' the wailin' of the wind. It's the +ghost of Whistlin' Dan." + +The tall roan raised his head and whinnied softly. It was an unearthly +effect--as if the animal heard the sound which was inaudible to all +but his master. It changed big Jim Silent into a quavering coward. +Here were five practised fighters who feared nothing between heaven +and hell, but what could they avail him against a bodiless spirit? The +whistling stopped. He breathed again, but only for a moment. + +It began again, and this time much louder and nearer. Surely the +others must hear it now, or else it was certainly a ghost. The men sat +with dilated eyes for an instant, and then Hal Purvis cried, "I heard +it, chief! If it's a ghost, it's hauntin' me too!" + +Silent cursed loudly in his relief. + +"It ain't a ghost. It's Whistlin' Dan himself. An' Terry Jordan has +been carryin' us lies! What in hell do you mean by it?" + +"I ain't been carryin' you lies," said Jordan, hotly. "I told you +what I heard. I didn't never say that there was any one seen his dead +body!" + +The whistling began to die out. A babble of conjecture and exclamation +broke out, but Jim Silent, still sickly white around the mouth, swung +up into the saddle. + +"That Whistlin' Dan I'm leavin' to you, Haines," he called. "I've had +his blood onct, an' if I meet him agin there's goin' to be another +notch filed into my shootin' iron." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +THE STRENGTH OF WOMEN + +He rode swiftly into the dark of the willows, and the lack of noise +told that he was picking his way carefully among the bended branches. + +"It seems to me," said Terry Jordan, "which I'm not suggestin' +anything--but it seems to me that the chief was in a considerable +hurry to leave the camp." + +"He was," said Hal Purvis, "an' if you seen that play in Morgan's +place you wouldn't be wonderin' why. If I was the chief I'd do the +same." + +"Me speakin' personal," remarked Shorty Rhinehart, "I ain't layin' out +to be no man-eater like the chief, but I ain't seen the man that'd +make me take to the timbers that way. I don't noways expect there _is_ +such a man!" + +"Shorty," said Haines calmly, "we all knows that you're quite a man, +but you and Terry are the only ones of us who are surprised that +Silent slid away. The rest of us who saw this Whistling Dan in action +aren't a bit inclined to wonder. Suppose you were to meet a black +panther down here in the willows?" + +"I wouldn't give a damn if I had my Winchester with me." + +"All right, Terry, but suppose the panther," broke in Hal Purvis, +"could sling shootin' irons as well as you could--maybe _that'd_ make +you partic'ler pleased." + +"It ain't possible," said Terry. + +"Sure it ain't," grinned Purvis amiably, "an' this Barry ain't +possible, either. Where you going, Lee?" + +Haines turned from his task of saddling his mount. + +"Private matter. Kilduff, you take my place while I'm gone. I may be +back tomorrow night. The chief isn't apt to return so soon." + +A few moments later Haines galloped out of the willows and headed +across the hills towards old Joe Cumberland's ranch. He was +remembering his promise to Kate, to keep Dan out of danger. He had +failed from that promise once, but that did not mean that he had +forgotten. He looked up to the yellow-bright mountain stars, and they +were like the eyes of good women smiling down upon him. He guessed +that she loved Barry and if he could bring her to Whistling Dan she +might have strength enough to take the latter from Silent's trail. The +lone rider knew well enough that to bring Dan and Kate together was +to surrender his own shadowy hopes, but the golden eyes of the sky +encouraged him. So he followed his impulse. + +Haines could never walk that middle path which turns neither to the +right nor the left, neither up nor down. He went through life with +a free-swinging stride, and as the result of it he had crossed the +rights of others. He might have lived a lawful life, for all his +instincts were gentle. But an accident placed him in the shadow of the +law. He waited for his legal trial, but when it came and false witness +placed him behind the bars, the revolt came. Two days after his +confinement, he broke away from his prison and went to the wilds. +There he found Jim Silent, and the mountain-desert found another to +add to its list of great outlaws. + +Morning came as he drew close to the house, and now his reminiscences +were cut short, for at a turn of the road he came upon Kate galloping +swiftly over the hills. He drew his horse to a halt and raised his +hand. She followed suit. They sat staring. If she had remembered his +broken promise and started to reproach, he could have found answer, +but her eyes were big with sorrow alone. He put out his hand without a +word. She hesitated over it, her eyes questioning him mutely, and then +with the ghost of a smile she touched his fingers. + +"I want to explain," he said huskily. + +"What?" + +"You remember I gave you my word that no harm would come to Barry?" + +"No man could have helped him." + +"You don't hold it against me?" + +A gust of wind moaned around them. She waved her arm towards the +surrounding hills and her laugh blended with the sound of the wind, +it was so faint. He watched her with a curious pang. She seemed among +women what that morning was to the coming day--fresh, cool, aloof. It +was hard to speak the words which would banish the sorrow from her +eyes and make them brilliant with hope and shut him away from her +thoughts with a barrier higher than mountains, and broader than seas. + +"I have brought you news," he said at last, reluctantly. + +She did not change. + +"About Dan Barry." + +Ay, she changed swiftly enough at that! He could not meet the fear and +question of her glance. He looked away and saw the red rim of the sun +pushing up above the hills. And colour poured up the throat of Kate +Cumberland, up even to her forehead beneath the blowing golden hair. + +Haines jerked his sombrero lower on his head. A curse tumbled up to +his lips and he had to set his teeth to keep it back. + +"But I have heard his whistle." + +Her lips moved but made no sound. + +"Five other men heard him." + +She cried out as if he had hurt her, but the hurt was happiness. He +knew it and winced, for she was wonderfully beautiful. + +"In the willows of the river bottom, a good twenty miles south," he +said at last, "and I will show you the way, if you wish." + +He watched her eyes grow large with doubt. + +"Can you trust me?" he asked. "I failed you once. Can you trust me +now?" + +Her hand went out to him. + +"With all my heart," she said. "Let us start!" + +"I've given my horse a hard ride. He must have some rest." + +She moaned softly in her impatience, and then: "We'll go back to the +house and you can stable your horse there until you're ready to start. +Dad will go with us." + +"Your father cannot go," he said shortly. + +"Cannot?" + +"Let's start back for the ranch," he said, "and I'll tell you +something about it as we go." + +As they turned their horses he went on: "In order that you may reach +Whistling Dan, you'll have to meet first a number of men who are +camping down there in the willows." + +He stopped. It became desperately difficult for him to go on. + +"I am one of those men," he said, "and another of them is the one whom +Whistling Dan is following." + +She caught her breath and turned abruptly on him. + +"What are you, Mr. Lee?" + +Very slowly he forced his eyes up to meet her gaze. + +"In that camp," he answered indirectly, "your father wouldn't be +safe!" + +It was out at last! + +"Then you are--" + +"Your friend." + +"Forgive me. You _are_ my friend!" + +"The man whom Dan is following," he went on, "is the leader. If he +gives the command four practised fighters pit themselves against +Barry." + +"It is murder!" + +"You can prevent it," he said. "They know Barry is on the trail, but I +think they will do nothing unless he forces them into trouble. And he +will force them unless you stop him. No other human being could take +him off that trail." + +"I know! I know!" she muttered. "But I have already tried, and he will +not listen to me!" + +"But he will listen to you," insisted Haines, "when you tell him that +he will be fighting not one man, but six." + +"And if he doesn't listen to me?" + +Haines shrugged his shoulders. + +"Can't you promise that these men will not fight with him?" + +"I cannot." + +"But I shall plead with them myself." + +He turned to her in alarm. + +"No, you must not let them dream you know who they are," he warned, +"for otherwise--" + +Again that significant shrug of the shoulders. + +He explained: "These men are in such danger that they dare not take +chances. You are a woman, but if they feel that you suspect them you +will no longer be a woman in their eyes." + +"Then what must I do?" + +"I shall ride ahead of you when we come to the willows, after I have +pointed out the position of our camp. About an hour after I have +arrived, for they must not know that I have brought you, you will ride +down towards the camp. When you come to it I will make sure that it +is I who will bring you in. You must pretend that you have simply +blundered upon our fire. Whatever you do, never ask a question while +you are there--and I'll be your warrant that you will come off safely. +Will you try?" + +He attempted no further persuasion and contented himself with merely +meeting the wistful challenge of her eyes. + +"I will," she said at last, and then turning her glance away she +repeated softly, "I will." + +He knew that she was already rehearsing what she must say to Whistling +Dan. + +"You are not afraid?" + +She smiled. + +"Do you really trust me as far as this?" + +With level-eyed tenderness that took his breath, she answered: "An +absolute trust, Mr. Lee." + +"My name," he said in a strange voice, "is Lee Haines." + +Of one accord they stopped their horses and their hands met. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +SILENT BLUFFS + +The coming of the railroad had changed Elkhead from a mere crossing of +the ways to a rather important cattle shipping point. Once a year it +became a bustling town whose two streets thronged with cattlemen with +pockets burdened with gold which fairly burned its way out to the open +air. At other times Elkhead dropped back into a leaden-eyed sleep. + +The most important citizen was Lee Hardy, the Wells Fargo agent. +Office jobs are hard to find in the mountain-desert, and those who +hold them win respect. The owner of a swivel-chair is more lordly +than the possessor of five thousand "doggies." Lee Hardy had such +a swivel-chair. Moreover, since large shipments of cash were often +directed by Wells Fargo to Elkhead, Hardy's position was really more +significant than the size of the village suggested. As a crowning +stamp upon his dignity he had a clerk who handled the ordinary routine +of work in the front room, while Hardy set himself up in state in +a little rear office whose walls were decorated by two brilliant +calendars and the coloured photograph of a blond beauty advertising a +toilet soap. + +To this sanctuary he retreated during the heat of the day, while in +the morning and evening he loitered on the small porch, chatting with +passers-by. Except in the hottest part of the year he affected a soft +white collar with a permanent bow tie. The leanness of his features, +and his crooked neck with the prominent Adam's apple which stirred +when he spoke, suggested a Yankee ancestry, but the faded blue eyes, +pathetically misted, could only be found in the mountain-desert. + +One morning into the inner sanctum of this dignitary stepped a man +built in rectangles, a square face, square, ponderous shoulders, and +even square-tipped fingers. Into the smiling haze of Hardy's face his +own keen black eye sparkled like an electric lantern flashed into a +dark room. He was dressed in the cowboy's costume, but there was no +Western languor in his make-up. Everything about him was clear cut +and precise. He had a habit of clicking his teeth as he finished a +sentence. In a word, when he appeared in the doorway Lee Hardy woke +up, and before the stranger had spoken a dozen words the agent was +leaning forward to be sure that he would not miss a syllable. + +"You're Lee Hardy, aren't you?" said he, and his eyes gave the +impression of a smile, though his lips did not stir after speaking. + +"I am," said the agent. + +"Then you're the man I want to see. If you don't mind--" + +He closed the door, pulled a chair against it, and then sat down, and +folded his arms. Very obviously he meant business. Hardy switched his +position in his chair, sitting a little more to the right, so that the +edge of the seat would not obstruct the movement of his hand towards +the holster on his right thigh. + +"Well," he said good naturedly, "I'm waitin'." + +"Good," said the stranger, "I won't keep you here any longer than is +necessary. In the first place my name is Tex Calder." + +Hardy changed as if a slight layer of dust had been sifted over his +face. He stretched out his hand. + +"It's great to see you, Calder," he said, "of course I've heard +about you. Everyone has. Here! I'll send over to the saloon for some +red-eye. Are you dry?" + +He rose, but Calder waved him back to the swivel-chair. + +"Not dry a bit," he said cheerily. "Not five minutes ago I had a drink +of--water." + +"All right," said Hardy, and settled back into his chair. + +"Hardy, there's been crooked work around here." + +"What in hell--" + +"Get your hand away from that gun, friend." + +"What the devil's the meaning of all this?" + +"That's very well done," said Calder. "But this isn't the stage. Are +we going to talk business like friends?" + +"I've got nothing agin you," said Hardy testily, and his eyes followed +Calder's right hand as if fascinated. "What do you want to say? I'll +listen. I'm not very busy." + +"That's exactly it," smiled Tex Calder, "I want you to get busier." + +"Thanks." + +"In the first place I'll be straight with you. Wells Fargo hasn't sent +me here." + +"Who has?" + +"My conscience." + +"I don't get your drift." + +Through a moment of pause Calder's eyes searched the face of Hardy. + +"You've been pretty flush for some time." + +"I ain't been starvin'." + +"There are several easy ways for you to pick up extra money." + +"Yes?" + +"For instance, you know all about the Wells Fargo money shipments, and +there are men around here who'd pay big for what you could tell them." + +The prominent Adam's apple rose and fell in Hardy's throat. + +"You're quite a joker, ain't you Calder? Who, for instance?" + +"Jim Silent." + +"This is like a story in a book," grinned Hardy. "Go on. I suppose +I've been takin' Silent's money?" + +The answer came like the click of a cocked revolver. + +"You have!" + +"By God, Calder--" + +"Steady! I have some promising evidence, partner. Would you like to +hear part of it?" + +"This country has its share of the world's greatest liars," said +Hardy, "I don't care what you've heard." + +"That saves my time. Understand me straight. I can slap you into a +lock-up, if I want to, and then bring in that evidence. I'm not going +to do it. I'm going to use you as a trap and through you get some of +the worst of the lone riders." + +"There's nothin' like puttin' your hand on the table." + +"No, there isn't. I'll tell you what you're to do." + +"Thanks." + +The marshal drove straight on. + +"I've got four good men in this town. Two of them will always be +hanging around your office. Maybe you can get a job for them here, eh? +I'll pay the salaries. You simply tip them off when your visitors are +riders the government wants, see? You don't have to lift a hand. You +just go to the door as the visitor leaves, and if he's all right you +say: 'So long, we'll be meeting again before long.' But if he's a man +I want, you say 'Good-bye.' That's all. My boys will see that it is +good-bye." + +"Go on," said the agent, "and tell the rest of the story. It starts +well." + +"Doesn't it?" agreed Calder, "and the way it concludes is with you +reaching over and shaking hands with me and saying 'yes'!" + +He leaned forward. The twinkle was gone from his eyes and he extended +his hand to Hardy. The latter reached out with an impulsive gesture, +wrung the proffered hand, and then slipping back into his chair broke +into hysterical laughter. + +"The real laugh," said Calder, watching his man narrowly, "will be on +the long riders." + +"Tex," said the agent. "I guess you have the dope. I won't say +anything except that I'm glad as hell to be out of the rotten business +at last. Once started I couldn't stop. I did one 'favour' for these +devils, and after that they had me in their power. I haven't slept for +months as I'm going to sleep tonight!" + +He wiped his face with an agitated hand. + +"A week ago," he went on, "I knew you were detailed on this work. I've +been sweating ever since. Now that you've come--why, I'm glad of it!" + +A faint sneer touched Calder's mouth and was gone. + +"You're a wise man," he said. "Have you seen much of Jim Silent +lately?" + +Hardy hesitated. The role of informer was new. + +"Not directly." + +Calder nodded. + +"Now put me right if I go off the track. The way I understand it, Jim +Silent has about twenty gun fighters and long riders working in gangs +under him and combining for big jobs." + +"That's about it." + +"The inside circle consists of Silent; Lee Haines, a man who went +wrong because the law did _him_ wrong; Hal Purvis, a cunning devil; +and Bill Kilduff, a born fighter who loves blood for its own sake." + +"Right." + +"Here's something more. For Jim Silent, dead or alive, the government +will pay ten thousand dollars. For each of the other three it pays +five thousand. The notices aren't out yet, but they will be in a few +days. Hardy, if you help me bag these men, you'll get fifty per cent +of the profits. Are you on?" + +The hesitancy of Hardy changed to downright enthusiasm. + +"Easy money, Tex. I'm your man, hand and glove." + +"Don't get optimistic. This game isn't played yet, and unless I make +the biggest mistake of my life we'll be guessing again before we land +Silent. I've trailed some fast gunmen in my day, and I have an idea +that Silent will be the hardest of the lot; but if you play your end +of the game we may land him. I have a tip that he's lying out in the +country near Elkhead. I'm riding out alone to get track of him. As I +go out I'll tell my men that you're O.K. for this business." + +He hesitated a moment with his hand on the door knob. + +"Just one thing more, Hardy. I heard a queer tale this morning about +a fight in a saloon run by a man named Morgan. Do you know anything +about it?" + +"No." + +"I was told of a fellow who chipped four dollars thrown into the air +at twenty yards." + +"That's a lie." + +"The man who talked to me had a nicked dollar to prove his yarn." + +"The devil he did!" + +"And after the shooting this chap got into a fight with a tall man +twice his size and fairly mopped up the floor with him. They say it +wasn't a nice thing to watch. He is a frail man, but when the fight +started he turned into a tiger." + +"Wish I'd seen it." + +"The tall man tallies to a hair with my description of Silent." + +"You're wrong. I know what Silent can do with his hands. No one could +beat him up. What's the name of the other?" + +"Barry. Whistling Dan Barry." + +Calder hesitated. + +"Right or wrong, I'd like to have this Barry with me. So long." + +He was gone as he had come, with a nod and a flash of the keen, black +eyes. Lee Hardy stared at the door for some moments, and then went +outside. The warm light of the sun had never been more welcome to him. +Under that cheering influence he began to feel that with Tex Calder +behind him he could safely defy the world. + +His confidence received a shock that afternoon when a heavy step +crossed the outside room, and his door opening without a preliminary +knock, he looked up into the solemn eyes of Jim Silent. The outlaw +shook his head when Hardy offered him a chair. + +"What's the main idea of them two new men out in your front room, +Lee?" he asked. + +"Two cowpunchers that was down on their luck. I got to stand in with +the boys now and then." + +"I s'pose so. Shorty Rhinehart in here to see you, Lee?" + +"Yep." + +"You told him that the town was gettin' pretty hot." + +"It is." + +"You said you had no dope on when that delayed shipment was comin' +through?" + +Hardy made lightning calculations. A half truth would be the best way +out. + +"I've just got the word you want. It come this morning." + +Silent's expression changed and he leaned a little closer. + +"It's the nineteenth. Train number 89. Savvy? Seven o'clock at +Elkhead!" + +"How much? Same bunch of coin?" + +"Fifty thousand!" + +"That's ten more." + +"Yep. A new shipment rolled in with the old one. No objections?" + +Silent grinned. + +"Any other news, Lee?" + +"Shorty told you about Tex Calder?" + +"He did. Seen him around here?" + +The slightest fraction of a second in hesitation. + +"No." + +"Was that the straight dope you give Shorty?" + +"Straighter'n hell. They're beginnin' to talk, but I guess I was jest +sort of panicky when I talked with Shorty." + +"This Tex Calder----" + +"What about him?" This with a trace of suspicion. + +"He's got a long record." + +"So've you, Jim." + +Once more that wolflike grin which had no mirth. + +"So long, Lee. I'll be on the job. Lay to that." + +He turned towards the door. Hardy followed him. A moment more, in a +single word, and the job would be done. Five thousand dollars for a +single word! It warmed the very heart of Lee Hardy. + +Silent, as he moved away, seemed singularly thoughtful. He hesitated a +moment with bowed head at the door--then whirled and shoved a six-gun +under the nose of Hardy. The latter leaped back with his arms thrust +above his head, straining at his hands to get them higher. + +"My God, Jim!" + +"You're a low-down, lyin' hound!" + +Hardy's tongue clove to the roof of his mouth. + +"Damn you, d'you hear me?" + +"Yes! For God's sake, Jim, don't shoot!" + +"Your life ain't worth a dime!" + +"Give me one more chance an' I'll play square!" + +A swift change came over the face of Silent, and then Hardy went hot +with terror and anger. The long rider had known nothing. The gun play +had been a mere bluff, but he had played into the hands of Silent, and +now his life was truly worth nothing. + +"You poor fool," went on Silent, his voice purring with controlled +rage. "You damn blind fool! D'you think you could double cross me an' +get by with it?" + +"Give me a chance, Jim. One more chance, one more chance!" + +Even in his terror he remembered to keep his voice low lest those in +the front room should hear. + +"Out with it, if you love livin'!" + +"I--I can't talk while you got that gun on me!" + +Silent not only lowered his gun, but actually returned it to the +holster. Nothing could more clearly indicate his contempt, and Hardy, +in spite of his fear, crimsoned with shame. + +"It was Tex Calder," he said at last. + +Silent started a little and his eyes narrowed again. + +"What of him?" + +"He came here a while ago an' tried to make a deal with me." + +"An' made it!" said Silent ominously. + +No gun pointed at him this time, but Hardy jerked his hands once more +above his head and cowered against the wall. + +"So help me God he didn't, Jim." + +"Get your hands down." + +He lowered his hands slowly. + +"I told him I didn't know nothin' about you." + +"What about that train? What about that shipment?" + +"It's jest the way I told you, except that it's on the eighteenth +instead of the nineteenth." + +"I'm goin' to believe you. If you double cross me I'll have your hide. +Maybe they'll get me, but there'll be enough of my boys left to get +you. You can lay to that. How much did they offer you, Lee? How much +am I worth to the little old U.S.A.?" + +"I--I--it wasn't the money. I was afraid to stick with my game any +longer." + +The long rider had already turned towards the door, making no effort +to keep his face to the agent. The latter, flushing again, moved his +hand towards his hip, but stopped the movement. The last threat of +Silent carried a deep conviction with it. He knew that the faith of +lone riders to each other was an inviolable bond. Accordingly he +followed at the heels of the other man into the outside room. + +"So long, old timer," he called, slapping Silent on the shoulder, +"I'll be seein' you agin before long." + +Calder's men looked up with curious eyes. Hardy watched Silent swing +onto his horse and gallop down the street. Then he went hurriedly +back to his office. Once inside he dropped into the big swivel-chair, +buried his face in his arms, and wept like a child. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +PARTNERS + +Dust powdered his hat and clothes as Tex Calder trotted his horse +north across the hills. His face was a sickly grey, and his black +hair might have been an eighteenth century wig, so thoroughly was it +disguised. It had been a long ride. Many a long mile wound back behind +him, and still the cattle pony, with hanging head, stuck to its task. +Now he was drawing out on a highland, and below him stretched the +light yellow-green of the willows of the bottom land. He halted his +pony and swung a leg over the horn of his saddle. Then he rolled a +cigarette, and while he inhaled it in long puffs he scanned the trees +narrowly. Miles across, and stretching east and west farther than his +eye could reach, extended the willows. Somewhere in that wilderness +was the gang of Jim Silent. An army corps might have been easily +concealed there. + +If he was not utterly discouraged in the beginning of his search, it +was merely because the rangers of the hills and plains are taught +patience almost as soon as they learn to ride a horse. He surveyed the +yellow-green forest calmly. In the west the low hanging sun turned +crimson and bulged at the sides into a clumsy elipse. He started down +the slope at the same dog-trot which the pony had kept up all day. +Just before he reached the skirts of the trees he brought his horse to +a sudden halt and threw back his head. It seemed to him that he heard +a faint whistling. + +He could not be sure. It was so far off and unlike any whistling he +had ever heard before, that he half guessed it to be the movement of a +breeze through the willows, but the wind was hardly strong enough to +make this sound. For a full five minutes he listened without moving +his horse. Then came the thing for which he waited, a phrase of melody +undoubtedly from human lips. + +What puzzled him most was the nature of the music. As he rode closer +to the trees it grew clearer. It was unlike any song he had ever +heard. It was a strange improvisation with a touch of both melancholy +and savage exultation running through it. Calder found himself nodding +in sympathy with the irregular rhythm. + +It grew so clear at last that he marked with some accuracy the +direction from which it came. If this was Silent's camp, it must be +strongly guarded, and he should approach the place more cautiously +than he could possibly do on a horse. Accordingly he dismounted, threw +the reins over the pony's head, and started on through the willows. +The whistling became louder and louder. He moved stealthily from tree +to tree, for he had not the least idea when he would run across a +guard. The whistling ceased, but the marshal was now so near that he +could follow the original direction without much trouble. In a few +moments he might distinguish the sound of voices. If there were two or +three men in the camp he might be able to surprise them and make his +arrest. If the outlaws were many, at least he could lie low near +the camp and perhaps learn the plans of the gang. He worked his way +forward more and more carefully. At one place he thought a shadowy +figure slipped through the brush a short distance away. He poised his +gun, but lowered it again after a moment's thought. It must have +been a stir of shadows. No human being could move so swiftly or so +noiselessly. + +Nevertheless the sight gave him such a start that he proceeded with +even greater caution. He was crouched close to the ground. Every inch +of it he scanned carefully before he set down a foot, fearful of the +cracking of a fallen twig. Like most men when they hunt, he began to +feel that something followed him. He tried to argue the thought out of +his brain, but it persisted, and grew stronger. Half a dozen times he +whirled suddenly with his revolver poised. At last he heard a stamp +which could come from nothing but the hoof of a horse. The sound +dispelled his fears. In another moment he would be in sight of the +camp. + +"Do you figger you'll find it?" asked a quiet voice behind him. + +He turned and looked into the steady muzzle of a Colt. Behind that +revolver was a thin, handsome face with a lock of jet black hair +falling over the forehead. Calder knew men, and now he felt a strange +absence of any desire to attempt a gun-play. + +"I was just taking a stroll through the willows," he said, with a +mighty attempt at carelessness. + +"Oh," said the other. "It appeared to me you was sort of huntin' for +something. You was headed straight for my hoss." + +Calder strove to find some way out. He could not. There was no waver +in the hand that held that black gun. The brown eyes were decidedly +discouraging to any attempt at a surprise. He felt helpless for the +first time in his career. + +"Go over to him, Bart," said the gentle voice of the stranger. "Stand +fast!" + +The last two words, directed to Calder came, with a metallic hardness, +for the marshal started as a great black dog slipped from behind a +tree and slunk towards him. This was the shadow which moved more +swiftly and noiselessly than a human being. + +"Keep back that damned wolf," he said desperately. + +"He ain't goin' to hurt you," said the calm voice. "Jest toss your gun +to the ground." + +There was nothing else for it. Calder dropped his weapon with the butt +towards Whistling Dan. + +"Bring it here, Bart," said the latter. + +The big animal lowered his head, still keeping his green eyes upon +Calder, took up the revolver in his white fangs, and glided back to +his master. + +"Jest turn your back to me, an' keep your hands clear of your body," +said Dan. + +Calder obeyed, sweating with shame. He felt a hand pat his pockets +lightly in search for a hidden weapon, and then, with his head +slightly turned, he sensed the fact that Dan was dropping his revolver +into its holster. He whirled and drove his clenched fist straight at +Dan's face. + +What happened then he would never forget to the end of his life. +Calder's weapon still hung in Dan's right hand, but the latter made no +effort to use it. He dropped the gun, and as Calder's right arm shot +out, it was caught at the wrist, and jerked down with a force that +jarred his whole body. + +"Down, Bart!" shouted Dan. The great wolf checked in the midst of his +leap and dropped, whining with eagerness, at Calder's feet. At the +same time the marshal's left hand was seized and whipped across his +body. He wrenched away with all his force. He might as well have +struggled with steel manacles. He was helpless, staring into eyes +which now glinted with a yellow light that sent a cold wave tingling +through his blood. + +The yellow gleam died; his hands were loosed; but he made no move to +spring at Dan's throat. Chill horror had taken the place of his shame, +and the wolf-dog still whined at his feet with lips grinned back from +the long white teeth. + +"Who in the name of God are you?" he gasped, and even as he spoke +the truth came to him--the whistling--the panther-like speed of +hand--"Whistling Dan Barry." + +The other frowned. + +"If you didn't know my name why were you trailin' me?" + +"I wasn't after you," said Calder. + +"You was crawlin' along like that jest for fun? Friend, I figger to +know you. You been sent out by the tall man to lay for me." + +"What tall man?" asked Calder, his wits groping. + +"The one that swung the chair in Morgan's place," said Dan. "Now +you're goin' to take me to your camp. I got something to say to him." + +"By the Lord!" cried the marshal, "you're trailing Silent." + +Dan watched him narrowly. It was hard to accuse those keen black eyes +of deceit. + +"I'm trailin' the man who sent you out after me," he asserted with a +little less assurance. + +Calder tore open the front of his shirt and pushed back one side of +it. Pinned there next to his skin was his marshal's badge. + +He said: "My name's Tex Calder." + +It was a word to conjure with up and down the vast expanse of the +mountain-desert. Dan smiled, and the change of expression made him +seem ten years younger. + +"Git down, Bart. Stand behind me!" The dog obeyed sullenly. "I've +heard a pile of men talk about you, Tex Calder." Their hands and their +eyes met. There was a mutual respect in the glances. "An' I'm a pile +sorry for this." + +He picked up the gun from the ground and extended it butt first to the +marshal, who restored it slowly to the holster. It was the first time +it had ever been forced from his grasp. + +"Who was it you talked about a while ago?" asked Dan. + +"Jim Silent." + +Dan instinctively dropped his hand back to his revolver. + +"The tall man?" + +"The one you fought with in Morgan's place." + +The unpleasant gleam returned to Dan's eyes. + +"I thought there was only one reason why he should die, but now I see +there's a heap of 'em." + +Calder was all business. + +"How long have you been here?" he asked. + +"About a day." + +"Have you seen anything of Silent here among the willows?" + +"No." + +"Do you think he's still here?" + +"Yes." + +"Why?" + +"I dunno. I'll stay here till I find him among the trees or he breaks +away into the open." + +"How'll you know when he leaves the willows?" + +Whistling Dan was puzzled. + +"I dunno," he answered. "Somethin' will tell me when he gets far away +from me--he an' his men." + +"It's an inner sense, eh? Like the smell of the bloodhound?" said +Calder, but his eyes were strangely serious. + +"This day's about done," he went on. "Have you any objections to me +camping with you here?" + +Not a cowpuncher within five hundred miles but would be glad of such +redoubted company. They went back to Calder's horse. + +"We can start for my clearing," said Dan. "Bart'll bring the hoss. +Fetch him in." + +The wolf took the dangling bridle reins and led on the cowpony. Calder +observed his performance with starting eyes, but he was averse to +asking questions. In a few moments they came out on a small open +space. The ground was covered with a quantity of dried bunch grass +which a glorious black stallion was cropping. Now he tossed up his +head so that some of his long mane fell forward between his ears and +at sight of Calder his ears dropped back and his eyes blazed, but when +Dan stepped from the willows the ears came forward again with a +whinny of greeting. Calder watched the beautiful animal with all the +enthusiasm of an expert horseman. Satan was untethered; the saddle and +bridle lay in a corner of the clearing; evidently the horse was a pet +and would not leave its master. He spoke gently and stepped forward to +caress the velvet shining neck, but Satan snorted and started away, +trembling with excitement. + +"How can you keep such a wild fellow as this without hobbling him?" +asked Calder. + +"He ain't wild," said Dan. + +"Why, he won't let me put a hand on him." + +"Yes, he will. Steady, Satan!" + +The stallion stood motionless with the veritable fires of hell in his +eyes as Calder approached. The latter stopped. + +"Not for me," he said. "I'd rather rub the moustache of the lion in +the zoo than touch that black devil!" + +Bart at that moment led in the cowpony and Calder started to remove +the saddle. He had scarcely done so and hobbled his horse when he was +startled by a tremendous snarling and snorting. He turned to see the +stallion plunging hither and thither, striking with his fore-hooves, +while around him, darting in and out under the driving feet, sprang +the great black wolf, his teeth clashing like steel on steel. In +another moment they might sink in the throat of the horse! Calder, +with an exclamation of horror, whipped out his revolver, but checked +himself at the very instant of firing. The master of the two animals +stood with arms folded, actually smiling upon the fight! + +"For God's sake!" cried the marshal. "Shoot the damned wolf, man, or +he'll have your horse by the throat!" + +"Leave 'em be," said Dan, without turning his head. "Satan an' Black +Bart ain't got any other dogs an' hosses to run around with. They's +jest playing a little by way of exercise." + +Calder stood agape before what seemed the incarnate fury of the pair. +Then he noticed that those snapping fangs, however close they came, +always missed the flesh of the stallion, and the driving hoofs never +actually endangered the leaping wolf. + +"Stop 'em!" he cried at last. "It makes me nervous to watch that sort +of play. It isn't natural!" + +"All right," said Dan. "Stop it, boys." + +He had not raised his voice, but they ceased their wild gambols +instantly, the stallion, with head thrown high and arched tail and +heaving sides, while the wolf, with lolling red tongue, strolled +calmly towards his master. + +The latter paid no further attention to them, but set about kindling a +small fire over which to cook supper. Calder joined him. The marshal's +mind was too full for speech, but now and again he turned a long +glance of wonder upon the stallion or Black Bart. In the same silence +they sat under the last light of the sunset and ate their supper. +Calder, with head bent, pondered over the man of mystery and his two +tamed animals. Tamed? Not one of the three was tamed, the man least of +all. + +He saw Dan pause from his eating to stare with wide, vacant eyes among +the trees. The wolf-dog approached, looked up in his master's face, +whined softly, and getting no response went back to his place and lay +down, his eyes never moving from Dan. Still he stared among the trees. +The gloom deepened, and he smiled faintly. He began to whistle, a low, +melancholy strain so soft that it blended with the growing hush of the +night. Calder listened, wholly overawed. That weird music seemed an +interpretation of the vast spaces of the mountains, of the pitiless +desert, of the limitless silences, and the whistler was an +understanding part of the whole. + +He became aware of a black shadow behind the musician. It was Satan, +who rested his nose on the shoulder of the master. Without ceasing his +whistling Dan raised a hand, touched the small muzzle, and Satan went +at once to a side of the clearing and lay down. It was almost as if +the two had said good-night! Calder could stand it no longer. + +"Dan, I've got to talk to you," he began. + +The whistling ceased; the wide brown eyes turned to him. + +"Fire away--partner." + +Ay, they had eaten together by the same fire--they had watched the +coming of the night--they had shaken hands in friendship--they were +partners. He knew deep in his heart that no human being could ever +be the actual comrade of this man. This lord of the voiceless desert +needed no human companionship; yet as the marshal glanced from the +black shadow of Satan to the gleaming eyes of Bart, and then to +the visionary face of Barry, he felt that he had been admitted by +Whistling Dan into the mysterious company. The thought stirred him +deeply. It was as if he had made an alliance with the wandering wind. +Why he had been accepted he could not dream, but he had heard the word +"partner" and he knew it was meant. After all, stranger things +than this happen in the mountain-desert, where man is greater and +convention less. A single word has been known to estrange lifelong +comrades; a single evening beside a camp-fire has changed foes to +partners. Calder drew his mind back to business with a great effort. + +"There's one thing you don't know about Jim Silent. A reward of ten +thousand dollars lies on his head. The notices aren't posted yet." + +Whistling Dan shrugged his shoulders. + +"I ain't after money," he answered. + +Calder frowned. He did not appreciate a bluff. + +"Look here," he said, "if we kill him, because no power on earth will +take him alive--we'll split the money." + +"If you lay a hand on him," said Dan, without emotion, "we won't be +friends no longer, I figger." + +Calder stared. + +"If you don't want to get him," he said, "why in God's name are you +trailing him this way?" + +Dan touched his lips. "He hit me with his fist." + +He paused, and spoke again with a drawling voice that gave his words +an uncanny effect. + +"My blood went down from my mouth to my chin. I tasted it. Till I get +him there ain't no way of me forgettin' him." + +His eyes lighted with that ominous gleam. + +"That's why no other man c'n put a hand on him. He's laid out all for +me. Understand?" + +The ring of the question echoed for a moment through Calder's mind. + +"I certainly do," he said with profound conviction, "and I'll never +forget it." He decided on a change of tactics. "But there are other +men with Jim Silent and those men will fight to keep you from getting +to him." + +"I'm sorry for 'em," said Dan gently. "I ain't got nothin' agin any +one except the big man." + +Calder took a long breath. + +"Don't you see," he explained carefully, "if you shoot one of these +men you are simply a murderer who must be apprehended by the law and +punished." + +"It makes it bad for me, doesn't it?" said Dan. "An' I hope I won't +have to hurt more'n one or two of 'em. You see,"--he leaned forward +seriously towards Calder--"I'd only shoot for their arms or their +legs. I wouldn't spoil them altogether." + +Calder threw up his hands in despair. Black Bart snarled at the +gesture. + +"I can't listen no more," said Dan. "I got to start explorin' the +willows pretty soon." + +"In the dark?" exclaimed Calder. + +"Sure. Black Bart'll go with me. The dark don't bother him." + +"I'll go along." + +"I'd rather be alone. I might meet him." + +"Any way you want," said Calder, "but first hear my plan--it doesn't +take long to tell it." + +The darkness thickened around them while he talked. The fire died +out--the night swallowed up their figures. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +THE LONE RIDERS ENTERTAIN + +When Lee Haines rode into Silent's camp that evening no questions were +asked. Questions were not popular among the long riders. He did not +know more than the names of half the men who sat around the smoky +fire. They were eager to forget the past, and the only allusions +to former times came in chance phrases which they let fall at rare +intervals. When they told an anecdote they erased all names by +instinct. They would begin: "I heard about a feller over to the Circle +Y outfit that was once ridin'--" etc. As a rule they themselves were +"that feller over to the Circle Y outfit." Accordingly only a few +grunts greeted Haines and yet he was far and away the most popular man +in the group. Even solemn-eyed Jim Silent was partial to the handsome +fellow. + +"Heard the whistling today?" he asked. + +Purvis shook his head and Terry Jordan allowed "as how it was most +uncommon fortunate that this Barry feller didn't start his noise." +After this Haines ate his supper in silence, his ear ready to catch +the first sound of Kate's horse as it crashed through the willows and +shrubs. Nevertheless it was Shorty Rhinehart who sprang to his feet +first. + +"They's a hoss there comin' among the willows!" he announced. + +"Maybe it's Silent," remarked Haines casually. + +"The chief don't make no such a noise. He picks his goin'," answered +Hal Purvis. + +The sound was quite audible now. + +"They's been some crooked work," said Rhinehart excitedly. "Somebody's +tipped off the marshals about where we're lyin'." + +"All right," said Haines quietly, "you and I will investigate." + +They started through the willows. Rhinehart was cursing beneath his +breath. + +"Don't be too fast with your six-gun," warned Haines. + +"I'd rather be too early than too late." + +"Maybe it isn't a marshal. If a man were looking for us he'd be a fool +to come smashing along like that." + +He had scarcely spoken when Kate came into view. + +"A girl, by God!" said Rhinehart, with mingled relief and disgust. + +"Sure thing," agreed Haines. + +"Let's beat it back to the camp." + +"Not a hope. She's headed straight for the camp. We'll take her in and +tell her we're a bunch from the Y Circle X outfit headed north. She'll +never know the difference." + +"Good idea," said Rhinehart, and he added with a chuckle, "it's been +nigh three months since I've talked to a piece of calico." + +"Hey, there!" called Haines, and he stepped out with Rhinehart before +her horse. + +"Oh!" cried Kate, reining up her horse sharply. "Who are you?" + +"A beaut!" muttered Rhinehart in devout admiration. + +"We're from the Y Circle X outfit," said Haines glibly, "camping over +here for the night. Are you lost, lady?" + +"I guess I am. I thought I could get across the willows before the +night fell. I'm trying to find a man who rode in this direction." + +"Come on into the camp," said Haines easily. "Maybe some of the boys +can put you on his track. What sort of a looking fellow is he?" + +"Rides a black horse and whistles a good deal. His name is Barry. They +call him Whistling Dan." + +"By God!" whispered Rhinehart in the ear of Haines. + +"Shut up!" answered Haines in the same tone. "Are you afraid of a +girl?" + +"I've trailed him south this far," went on Kate, "and a few miles away +from here I lost track of him. I think he may have gone on across the +willows." + +"Haven't seen him," said Rhinehart amiably. "But come on to the camp, +lady. Maybe one of the boys has spotted him on the way. What's your +name?" + +"Kate Cumberland," she answered. + +He removed his hat with a broad grin and reached up a hand to her. + +"I'm most certainly glad to meet you, an' my name's Shorty. This here +is Lee. Want to come along with us?" + +"Thank you. I'm a little worried." + +"'S all right. Don't get worried. We'll show you the way out. Just +follow us." + +They started back through the willows, Kate following half a dozen +yards behind. + +"Listen here, Shorty," said Haines in a cautious voice. "You heard her +name?" + +"Sure." + +"Well, that's the daughter of the man that raised Whistling Dan. I +saw her at Morgan's place. She's probably been tipped off that he's +following Silent, but she has no idea who we are." + +"Sure she hasn't. She's a great looker, eh, Lee?" + +"She'll do, I guess. Now get this: The girl is after Whistling Dan, +and if she meets him she'll persuade him to come back to her father's +place. She'll take him off our trail, and I guess none of us'll be +sorry to know that he's gone, eh?" + +"I begin to follow you, Lee. You've always had the head!" + +"All right. Now we'll get Purvis to tell the girl that he's heard a +peculiar whistling around here this evening. We'll advise her to stick +around and go out when she hears the whistling again. That way she'll +meet him and head him off, savvy?" + +"Right," said Rhinehart. + +"Then beat it ahead as fast as you can and wise up the boys." + +"That's me--specially about their bein' Y Circle X fellers, eh?" + +He chuckled and made ahead as fast as his long legs could carry him. +Haines dropped back beside Kate. + +"Everything goes finely," he assured her. "I told Rhinehart what to +do. He's gone ahead to the camp. Now all you have to do is to keep +your head. One of the boys will tell you that we've heard some +whistling near the camp this evening. Then I'll ask you to stay around +for a while in case the whistling should sound again, do you see? +Remember, never ask a question!" + +It was even more simple than Haines had hoped. Silent's men suspected +nothing. After all, Kate's deception was a small affair, and her +frankness, her laughter, and her beauty carried all before her. + +The long riders became quickly familiar with her, but through their +rough talk, the Westerners' reverence for a woman ran like a thread of +gold over a dark cloth. Her fear lessened and almost passed away while +she listened to their talk and watched their faces. The kindly human +nature which had lain unexpressed in most of them for months together +burst out torrent-like and flooded about her with a sense of security +and power. These were conquerors of men, fighters by instinct and +habit, but here they sat laughing and chattering with a helpless girl, +and not a one of them but would have cut the others' throats rather +than see her come to harm. The roughness of their past and the dread +of their future they laid aside like an ugly cloak while they showed +her what lies in the worst man's heart--a certain awe of woman. Their +manners underwent a sudden change. Polite words, rusted by long +disuse, were resurrected in her honour. Tremendous phrases came +labouring forth. There was a general though covert rearranging of +bandanas, and an interchange of self-conscious glances. Haines alone +seemed impervious to her charm. + +The red died slowly along the west. There was no light save the +flicker of the fire, which played on Kate's smile and the rich gold of +her hair, or caught out of the dark one of the lean, hard faces which +circled her. Now and then it fell on the ghastly grin of Terry Jordan +and Kate had to clench her hand to keep up her nerve. + +It was deep night when Jim Silent rode into the clearing. Shorty +Rhinehart and Hal Purvis went to him quickly to explain the presence +of the girl and the fact that they were all members of the Y Circle +X outfit. He responded with nods while his gloomy eyes held fast on +Kate. When they presented him as the boss, Jim, he replied to her +good-natured greeting in a voice that was half grunt and half growl. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +DELILAH + +Haines muttered at Kate's ear: "This is the man. Now keep up your +courage." + +"He doesn't like this," went on Haines in the same muffled voice, "but +when he understands just why you're here I think he'll be as glad as +any of us." + +Silent beckoned to him and he went to the chief. + +"What about the girl?" asked the big fellow curtly. + +"Didn't Rhinehart tell you?" + +"Rhinehart's a fool and so are the rest of them. Have you gone loco +too, Haines, to let a girl come here?" + +"Where's the harm?" + +"Why, damn it, she's marked every man here." + +"I let her in because she is trying to get hold of Whistling Dan." + +"Which no fool girl c'n take that feller off the trail. Nothin' but +lead can do that." + +"I tell you," said Haines, "the boy's in love with her. I watched them +at Morgan's place. She can twist him around her finger." + +A faint light broke the gloom of Silent's face. + +"Yaller hair an' blue eyes. They c'n do a lot. Maybe you're right. +What's that?" His voice had gone suddenly husky. + +A russet moon pushed slowly up through the trees. Its uncertain light +fell across the clearing. For the first time the thick pale smoke of +the fire was visible, rising straight up until it cleared the tops of +the willows, and then caught into swift, jagging lines as the soft +wind struck it. A coyote wailed from the distant hills, and before +his complaint was done another sound came through the hushing of the +willows, a melancholy whistling, thin with distance. + +"We'll see if that's the man you want," suggested Haines. + +"I'll go along," said Shorty Rhinehart. + +"And me too," said a third. The whole group would have accompanied +them, but the heavy voice of Jim Silent cut in: "You'll stay here, all +of you except the girl and Lee." + +They turned back, muttering, and Kate followed Haines into the +willows. + +"Well?" growled Bill Kilduff. + +"What I want to know--" broke in Terry Jordan. + +"Go to hell with your questions," said Silent, "but until you go there +you'll do what I say, understand?" + +"Look here, Jim," said Hal Purvis, "are you a king an' we jest your +slaves, maybe?" + +"You're goin' it a pile too hard," said Shorty Rhinehart. + +Every one of these speeches came sharply out while they glared at +Jim Silent. Hands were beginning to fall to the hip and fingers were +curving stiffly as if for the draw. Silent leaned his broad shoulders +against the side of his roan and folded his arms. His eyes went round +the circle slowly, lingering an instant on each face. Under that cold +stare they grew uneasy. To Shorty Rhinehart it became necessary to +push back his hat and scratch his forehead. Terry Jordan found a +mysterious business with his bandana. Every one of them had occasion +to raise his hand from the neighbourhood of his six-shooter. Silent +smiled. + +"A fine, hard crew you are," he said sarcastically at last. "A great +bunch of long riders, lettin' a slip of a yaller-haired girl make +fools of you. You over there--you, Shorty Rhinehart, you'd cut the +throat of a man that looked crosswise at the Cumberland girl, wouldn't +you? An' you, Purvis, you're aching to get at me, ain't you? An' +you're still thinkin' of them blue eyes, Jordan?" + +Before any one could speak he poured in another volley between wind +and water: "One slip of a girl can make fools out of five long riders? +No, you ain't long riders. All you c'n handle is hobby hosses!" + +"What do you want us to do?" growled swarthy Bill Kilduff. + +"Keep your face shut while I'm talkin', that's what I want you to do!" + +There was a devil of rage in his eyes. His folded arms tugged at each +other, and if they got free there would be gun play. The four men +shrank, and he was satisfied. + +"Now I'll tell you what we're goin' to do," he went on. "We're goin' +out after Haines an' the girl. If they come up with this Whistlin' Dan +we're goin' to surround him an' fill him full of lead, while they're +talkin'." + +"Not for a million dollars!" burst in Hal Purvis. + +"Not in a thousan' years!" echoed Terry Jordan. + +Silent turned his watchful eyes from one to the other. They were ready +to fight now, and he sensed it at once. + +"Why?" he asked calmly. + +"It ain't playin' square with the girl," announced Rhinehart. + +"Purvis," said Silent, for he knew that the opposition centred in the +figure of the venomous little gun fighter; "if you seen a mad dog +that was runnin' straight at you, would you be kep' from shootin' it +because a pretty girl hollered out an' asked you not to?" + +Their eyes shifted rapidly from one to another, seeking a way out, and +finding none. + +"An' is there any difference between this hero Whistlin' Dan an' a mad +dog?" + +Still they were mute. + +"I tell you, boys, we got a better chance of dodgin' lightnin' an' +puttin' a bloodhound off our trail than we have of gettin' rid of this +Whistlin' Dan. An' when he catches up with us--well, all I'm askin' is +that you remember what he done to them four dollars before they hit +the dust?" + +"The chief's right," growled Kilduff, staring down at the ground. +"It's Whistlin' Dan or us. The mountains ain't big enough to hold him +an' us!" + + * * * * * + +Before Whistling Dan the great wolf glided among the trees. For a full +hour they had wandered through the willows in this manner, and Dan had +made up his mind to surrender the search when Bart, returning from +one of his noiseless detours, sprang out before his master and whined +softly. Dan turned, loosening his revolver in the holster, and +followed Bart through the soft gloom of the tree shadows and the +moonlight. His step was almost as silent as that of the slinking +animal which went before. At last the wolf stopped and raised his +head. Almost instantly Dan saw a man and a woman approaching through +the willows. The moonlight dropped across her face. He recognized +Kate, with Lee Haines walking a pace before her. + +"Stand where you are," he said. + +Haines leaped to one side, his revolver flashing in his hand. Dan +stepped out before them while Black Bart slunk close beside him, +snarling softly. + +He seemed totally regardless of the gun in Haines's hand. His manner +was that of a conqueror who had the outlaw at his mercy. + +"You," he said, "walk over there to the side of the clearing." + +"Dan!" cried Kate, as she went to him with extended arms. + +He stopped her with a gesture, his eyes upon Haines, who had moved +away. + +"Watch him, Bart," said Dan. + +The black wolf ran to Haines and crouched snarling at his feet. The +outlaw restored his revolver to his holster and stood with his arms +folded, his back turned. Dan looked to Kate. At the meeting of their +eyes she shrank a little. She had expected a difficult task in +persuading him, but not this hard aloofness. She felt suddenly as if +she were a stranger to him. + +"How do you come here--with him?" + +"He is my friend!" + +"You sure pick a queer place to go walkin' with him." + +"Hush, Dan! He brought me here to find you!" + +"_He_ brought you here?" + +"Don't you understand?" + +"When I want a friend like him, I'll go huntin' for him myself; an' +I'll pack a gun with me!" + +That flickering yellow light played behind Dan's eyes. + +"I looked into his face--an' he stared the other way." + +She made a little imploring gesture, but his hand remained on his +hips, and there was no softening of his voice. + +"What fetched you here?" + +Every word was like a hand that pushed her farther away. + +"Are you dumb, Kate? What fetched you here?" + +"I have come to bring you home, Dan." + +"I'm home now." + +"What do you mean?" + +"There's the roof of my house," he jerked his hand towards the sky, +"the mountain passes are my doors--an' the earth is my floor." + +"No! no! We are waiting for you at the ranch." + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Dan, this wild trail has no end." + +"Maybe, but I know that feller can show me the way to Jim Silent, an' +now----" + +He turned towards Haines as he spoke, but here a low, venomous snarl +from Black Bart checked his words. Kate saw him stiffen--his lips +parted to a faint smile--his head tilted back a little as if he +listened intently, though she could hear nothing. She was not a yard +from him, and yet she felt a thousand miles away. His head turned full +upon her, and she would never forget the yellow light of his eyes. + +"Dan!" she cried, but her voice was no louder than a whisper. + +"Delilah!" he said, and leaped back into the shade of the willows. + +Even as he sprang she saw the flash of the moonlight on his drawn +revolver, and fire spat from it twice, answered by a yell of pain, +the clang of a bullet on metal, and half a dozen shots from the woods +behind her. + +That word "Delilah!" rang in her brain to the exclusion of all the +world. Vaguely she heard voices shouting--she turned a little and saw +Haines facing her with his revolver in his hand, but prevented from +moving by the wolf who crouched snarling at his feet. The order of his +master kept him there even after that master was gone. Now men ran out +into the clearing. A keen whistle sounded far off among the willows, +and the wolf leaped away from his prisoner and into the shadows on the +trail of Dan. + + * * * * * + +Tex Calder prided himself on being a light sleeper. Years spent in +constant danger enabled him to keep his sense of hearing alert even +when he slept. He had never been surprised. It was his boast that he +never would be. Therefore when a hand dropped lightly on his shoulder +he started erect from his blankets with a curse and grasped his +revolver. A strong grip on his wrist paralysed his fingers. Whistling +Dan leaned above him. + +"Wake up," said the latter. + +"What the devil--" breathed the marshal. "You travel like a cloud +shadow, Dan. You make no sound." + +"Wake up and talk to me." + +"I'm awake all right. What's happened?" + +There was a moment of silence while Dan seemed to be trying for +speech. + +Black Bart, at the other side of the clearing, pointed his nose at +the yellow moon and wailed. He was very close, but the sound was so +controlled that it seemed to come at a great distance from some wild +spirit wandering between earth and heaven. + +Instead of speaking Dan jumped to his feet and commenced pacing up and +down, up and down, a rapid, tireless stride; at his heels the wolf +slunk, with lowered head and tail. The strange fellow was in some +great trouble, Calder could see, and it stirred him mightily to know +that the wild man had turned to him for help. Yet he would ask no +questions. + +When in doubt the cattleman rolls a cigarette, and that was what +Calder did. He smoked and waited. At last the inevitable came. + +"How old are you, Tex?" + +"Forty-four." + +"That's a good deal. You ought to know something." + +"Maybe." + +"About women?" + +"Ah!" said Calder. + +"Bronchos is cut out chiefly after one pattern," went on Dan. + +"They's chiefly jest meanness. Are women the same--jest cut after one +pattern?" + +"What pattern, Dan?" + +"The pattern of Delilah! They ain't no trust to be put in 'em?" + +"A good many of us have found that out." + +"I thought one woman was different from the rest." + +"We all think that. Woman in particular is divine; woman in general +is--hell!" + +"Ay, but this one--" He stopped and set his teeth. + +"What has she done?" + +"She--" he hesitated, and when he spoke again his voice did not +tremble; there was a deep hurt and wonder in it: "She double-crossed +me!" + +"When? Do you mean to say you've met a woman tonight out here among +the willows?--Where--how----" + +"Tex----!" + +"Ay, Dan." + +"It's--it's hell!" + +"It is now. But you'll forget her! The mountains, the desert, and +above all, time--they'll cure you, my boy." + +"Not in a whole century, Tex." + +Calder waited curiously for the explanation. It came. + +"Jest to think of her is like hearing music. Oh, God, Tex, what c'n I +do to fight agin this here cold feelin' at my heart?" + +Dan slipped down beside the marshal and the latter dropped a +sympathetic hand over the lean, brown fingers. They returned the +pressure with a bone-crushing grip. + +"Fight, Dan! It will make you forget her." + +"Her skin is softer'n satin, Tex." + +"Ay, but you'll never touch it again, Dan." + +"Her eyes are deeper'n a pool at night an' her hair is all gold like +ripe corn." + +"You'll never look into her eyes again, Dan, and you'll never touch +the gold of that hair." + +"God!" + +The word was hardly more than a whisper, but it brought Black Bart +leaping to his feet. + +Dan spoke again: "Tex, I'm thankin' you for listenin' to me; I wanted +to talk. Bein' silent was burnin' me up. There's one thing more." + +"Fire it out, lad." + +"This evenin' I told you I hated no man but Jim Silent." + +"Yes." + +"An' now they's another of his gang. Sometime--when she's standin' +by--I'm goin' to take him by the throat till he don't breathe no more. +Then I'll throw him down in front of her an' ask her if she c'n kiss +the life back into his lips!" + +Calder was actually shaking with excitement, but he was wise enough +not to speak. + +"Tex!" + +"Ay, lad." + +"But when I've choked his damned life away----" + +"Yes?" + +"Ay, lad." + +"There'll be five more that seen her shamin' me. Tex--all hell is +bustin' loose inside me!" + +For a moment Calder watched, but that stare of cold hate mastered him. +He turned his head. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +THE CROSS ROADS + +As Black Bart raced away in answer to Dan's whistle, Kate recovered +herself from the daze in which she stood and with a sob ran towards +the willows, calling the name of Dan, but Silent sprang after her, and +caught her by the arm. She cried out and struggled vainly in his grip. + +"Don't follow him, boys!" called Silent. "He's a dog that can bite +while he runs. Stand quiet, girl!" + +Lee Haines caught him by the shoulder and jerked Silent around. His +hand held the butt of his revolver, and his whole arm trembled with +eagerness for the draw. + +"Take your hand from her, Jim!" he said. + +Silent met his eye with the same glare and while his left hand still +held Kate by both her wrists his right dropped to his gun. + +"Not when you tell me, Lee!" + +"Damn you, I say let her go!" + +"By God, Haines, I stand for too much from you!" + +And still they did not draw, because each of them knew that if the +crisis came it would mean death to them both. Bill Kilduff jumped +between them and thrust them back. + +He cried, "Ain't we got enough trouble without roundin' up work at +home? Terry Jordan is shot through the arm." + +Kate tugged at the restraining hand of Silent, not in an attempt to +escape, but in order to get closer to Haines. + +"Was this your friendship?" she said, her voice shaking with hate and +sorrow, "to bring me here as a lure for Whistling Dan? Listen to me, +all of you! He's escaped you now, and he'll come again. Remember him, +for he shan't forget you!" + +"You hear her?" said Silent to Haines. + +"Is this what you want me to turn loose?" + +"Silent," said Haines, "it isn't the girl alone you've double crossed. +You've crooked me, and you'll pay me for it sooner or later!" + +"Day or night, winter or summer, I'm willing to meet you an' fight it +out. Rhinehart and Purvis, take this girl back to the clearing!" + +They approached, Purvis still staring at the hand from which only a +moment before his gun had been knocked by the shot of Whistling Dan. +It was a thing which he could not understand--he had not yet lost a +most uncomfortable sense of awe. Haines made no objection when they +went off, with Kate walking between them. He knew, now that his blind +anger had left him, that it was folly to draw on a fight while the +rest of Silent's men stood around them. + +"An' the rest of you go back to the clearin'. I got somethin' to talk +over with Lee," said Silent. + +The others obeyed without question, and the leader turned back to his +lieutenant. For a moment longer they remained staring at each other. +Then Silent moved slowly forward with outstretched hand. + +"Lee," he said quietly, "I'm owin' you an apology an' I'm man enough +to make it." + +"I can't take your hand, Jim." + +Silent hesitated. + +"I guess you got cause to be mad, Lee," he said. "Maybe I played too +quick a hand. I didn't think about double crossin' you. I only seen +a way to get Whistlin' Dan out of our path, an' I took it without +rememberin' that you was the safeguard to the girl." + +Haines eyed his chief narrowly. + +"I wish to God I could read your mind," he said at last, "but I'll +take your word that you did it without thinking." + +His hand slowly met Silent's. + +"An' what about the girl now, Lee?" + +"I'll send her back to her father's ranch. It will be easy to put her +on the right way." + +"Don't you see no reason why you can't do that?" + +"Are you playing with me?" + +"I'm talkin' to you as I'd talk to myself. If she's loose she'll +describe us all an' set the whole range on our trail." + +Haines stared. + +Silent went on: "If we can't turn her loose, they's only one thing +left--an' that's to take her with us wherever we go." + +"On your honour, do you see no other way out?" + +"Do you?" + +"She may promise not to speak of it." + +"There ain't no way of changin' the spots of a leopard, Lee, an' there +ain't no way of keepin' a woman's tongue still." + +"How can we take a girl with us." + +"It ain't goin' to be for long. After we pull the job that comes on +the eighteenth, we'll blow farther south an' then we'll let her go." + +"And no harm will come to her while she's with us?" + +"Here's my hand on it, Lee." + +"How can she ride with us?" + +"She won't go as a woman. I've thought of that. I brought out a new +outfit for Purvis from Elkhead--trousers, chaps, shirts, an' all. He's +small. They'll near fit the girl." + +"There isn't any other way, Jim?" + +"I leave it to you. God knows I don't want to drag any damn calico +aroun' with us." + +As they went back towards their clearing they arranged the details. +Silent would take the men aside and explain his purpose to them. +Haines could inform the girl of what she must do. Just before they +reached the camp Silent stopped short and took Haines by the shoulder. + +"They's one thing I can't make out, Lee, an' that's how Whistlin' Dan +made his getaway. I'd of bet a thousand bones that he would be dropped +before he could touch his shootin' irons. An' then what happened? Hal +Purvis jest flashed a gun--and that feller shot it out'n his hand. +I never seen a draw like that. His hand jest seemed to twitch--I +couldn't follow the move he made--an' the next second his gun went +off." + +He stared at Lee with a sort of fascinated horror. + +"Silent," said Haines, "can you explain how the lightning comes down +out of the sky?" + +"Of course not." + +"Then don't ask me to explain how Whistling Dan made his getaway. One +minute I heard him talkin' with the girl. The next second there was +two shots and when I whirled he was gone. But he'll come back, Jim. +We're not through with him. He slipped away from you and your men like +water out of a sieve, but we won't slip away from him the same way." + +Silent stared on again with bowed head. + +"He liked the girl, Lee?" + +"Any one could see that." + +"Then while she's with us he'll go pretty slow. Lee, that's another +reason why she's got to stay with us. My frien', it's time we was +moving out from the willows. The next time he comes up with us he +won't be numb in the head. He'll be thinkin' fast an' he'll be +shootin' a damn sight faster. We got two jobs ahead of us--first to +get that Wells Fargo shipment, and then to get Whistling Dan. There +ain't room enough in the whole world for him and me." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +THE THREE OF US + +In the clearing of Whistling Dan and Tex Calder the marshal had turned +into his blankets once more. There was no thought of sleep in Dan's +mind. When the heavy breathing of the sleeper began he rose and +commenced to pace up and down on the farther side of the open space. +Two pairs of glowing eyes followed him in every move. Black Bart, who +trailed him up and down during the first few turns he made, now sat +down and watched his master with a wistful gaze. The black stallion, +who lay more like a dog than a horse on the ground, kept his ears +pricked forwards, as if expecting some order. Once or twice he +whinnied very softly, and finally Dan sat down beside Satan, his +shoulders leaned against the satiny side and his arms flung out along +the stallion's back. Several times he felt hot breath against his +cheek as the horse turned a curious head towards him, but he paid no +attention, even when the stallion whinnied a question in his ear. In +his heart was a numb, strange feeling which made him weak. He was even +blind to the fact that Black Bart at last slipped into the shadows of +the willows. + +Presently something cold touched his chin. He found himself staring +into the yellow-green eyes of Black Bart, who panted from his run, and +now dropped from his mouth something which fell into Dan's lap. It +was the glove of Kate Cumberland. In the grasp of his long nervous +fingers, how small it was!; and yet the hand which had wrinkled the +leather was strong enough to hold the heart of a man. He slipped and +caught the shaggy black head of Bart between his hands. The wolf +knew--in some mysterious way he knew! + +The touch of sympathy unnerved him. All his sorrow and his weakness +burst on his soul in a single wave. A big tear struck the shining nose +of the wolf. + +"Bart!" he whispered. "Did you figger on plumb bustin' my heart, pal?" + +To avoid those large melancholy eyes, Bart pressed his head inside of +his master's arms. + +"Delilah!" whispered Dan. + +After that not a sound came from the three, the horse, the dog, or +the man. Black Bart curled up at the feet of his master and seemed to +sleep, but every now and then an ear raised or an eye twitched open. +He was on guard against a danger which he did not understand. The +horse, also, with a high head scanned the circling willows, alert; but +the man for whom the stallion and the wolf watched gave no heed to +either. There was a vacant and dreamy expression in his eye as if he +was searching his own inner heart and found there the greatest enemy +of all. All night they sat in this manner, silent, moveless; the +animals watching against the world, the man watching against himself. +Before dawn he roused himself suddenly, crossed to the sleeping +marshal, and touched him on the arm. + +"It's time we hit the trail," he said, as Calder sat up in the +blanket. + +"What's happened? Isn't it our job to comb the willows?" + +"Silent ain't in the willows." + +Calder started to his feet. + +"How do you know?" + +"They ain't close to us, that's all I know." + +Tex smiled incredulously. + +"I suppose," he said good humouredly, "that your _instinct_ brought you +this message?" + +"Instinct?" repeated Dan blankly, "I dunno." + +Calder grew serious. + +"We'll take a chance that you may be right. At least we can ride down +the river bank and see if there are any fresh tracks in the sand. If +Silent started this morning I have an idea he'll head across the river +and line out for the railroad." + +In twenty minutes their breakfast was eaten and they were in the +saddle. The sun had not yet risen when they came out of the willows to +the broad shallow basin of the river. In spring, when the snow of the +mountains melted, that river filled from bank to bank with a yellow +torrent; at the dry season of the year it was a dirty little creek +meandering through the sands. Down the bank they rode at a sharp trot +for a mile and a half until Black Bart, who scouted ahead of them at +his gliding wolf-trot, came to an abrupt stop. Dan spoke to Satan and +the stallion broke into a swift gallop which left the pony of Tex +Calder labouring in the rear. When they drew rein beside the wolf, +they found seven distinct tracks of horses which went down the bank +of the river and crossed the basin. Calder turned with a wide-eyed +amazement to Dan. + +"You're right again," he said, not without a touch of vexation in his +voice; "but the dog stopped at these tracks. How does he know we are +hunting for Silent's crew?" + +"I dunno," said Dan, "maybe he jest suspects." + +"They can't have a long start of us," said Calder. "Let's hit the +trail. Well get them before night." + +"No," said Dan, "we won't." + +"Why won't we?" + +"I've seen Silent's hoss, and I've ridden him. If the rest of his gang +have the same kind of hoss flesh, you c'n never catch him with that +cayuse of yours." + +"Maybe not today," said Calder, "but in two days we'll run him down. +Seven horses can't travel as two in a long chase." + +They started out across the basin, keeping to the tracks of Silent's +horses. It was the marshal's idea that the outlaws would head on a +fairly straight line for the railroad and accordingly when they lost +the track of the seven horses they kept to this direction. Twice +during the day they verified their course by information received once +from a range rider and once from a man in a dusty buck-board. Both of +these had sighted the fast travelling band, but each had seen it pass +an hour or two before Calder and Dan arrived. Such tidings encouraged +the marshal to keep his horse at an increasing speed; but in the +middle of the afternoon, though black Satan showed little or no signs +of fatigue, the cattle-pony was nearly blown and they were forced to +reduce their pace to the ordinary dog-trot. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +THE PANTHER'S PAW + +Evening came and still they had not sighted the outlaws. As dark fell +they drew near a house snuggled away among a group of cottonwoods. +Here they determined to spend the night, for Calder's pony was now +almost exhausted. A man of fifty came from the house in answer to +their call and showed them the way to the horse-shed. While they +unsaddled their horses he told them his name was Sam Daniels, yet +he evinced no curiosity as to the identity of his guests, and they +volunteered no information. His eyes lingered long and fondly over the +exquisite lines of Satan. From behind, from the side, and in front, he +viewed the stallion while Dan rubbed down the legs of his mount with +a care which was most foreign to the ranges. Finally the cattleman +reached out a hand toward the smoothly muscled shoulders. + +It was Calder who stood nearest and he managed to strike up Daniels's +extended arm and jerk him back from the region of danger. + +"What'n hell is that for?" exclaimed Daniels. + +"That horse is called Satan," said Calder, "and when any one save his +owner touches him he lives up to his name and raises hell." + +Before Daniels could answer, the light of his lantern fell upon Black +Bart, hitherto half hidden by the deepening shadows of the night, +but standing now at the entrance of the shed. The cattleman's teeth +clicked together and he slapped his hand against his thigh in a reach +for the gun which was not there. + +"Look behind you," he said to Calder. "A wolf!" + +He made a grab for the marshal's gun, but the latter forestalled him. + +"Go easy, partner," he said, grinning, "that's only the running +mate of the horse. He's not a wolf, at least not according to his +owner--and as for being wild--look at that!" + +Bart had stalked calmly into the shed and now lay curled up exactly +beneath the feet of the stallion. + +The two guests received a warmer welcome from Sam Daniels' wife when +they reached the house. Their son, Buck, had been expected home +for supper, but it was too late for them to delay the meal longer. +Accordingly they sat down at once and the dinner was nearly over when +Buck, having announced himself with a whoop as he rode up, entered, +banging the door loudly behind him. He greeted the strangers with a +careless wave of the hand and sat down at the table. His mother placed +food silently before him. No explanations of his tardiness were asked +and none were offered. The attitude of his father indicated clearly +that the boy represented the earning power of the family. He was a big +fellow with broad, thick wrists, and a straight black eye. When he had +eaten, he broke into breezy conversation, and especially of a vicious +mustang he had ridden on a bet the day before. + +"Speakin' of hosses, Buck," said his father, "they's a black out in +the shed right now that'd make your eyes jest nacherally pop out'n +their sockets. No more'n fifteen hands, but a reg'lar picture. Must be +greased lightnin'." + +"I've heard talk of these streaks of greased lightnin'," said Buck, +with a touch of scorn, "but I'll stack old Mike agin the best of +them." + +"An' there's a dog along with the hoss--a dog that's the nearest to a +wolf of any I ever seen." + +There was a sudden change in Buck--a change to be sensed rather than +definitely noted with the eye. It was a stiffening of his body--an +alertness of which he was at pains to make no show. For almost +immediately he began to whistle softly, idly, his eyes roving +carelessly across the wall while he tilted back in his chair. Dan +dropped his hand close to the butt of his gun. Instantly, the eyes of +Buck flashed down and centered on Dan for an instant of keen scrutiny. +Certainly Buck had connected that mention of the black horse and the +wolf-dog with a disturbing idea. + +When they went to their room--a room in which there was no bed and +they had to roll down their blankets on the floor--Dan opened the +window and commenced to whistle one of his own wild tunes. It seemed +to Calder that there was a break in that music here and there, and a +few notes grouped together like a call. In a moment a shadowy figure +leaped through the window, and Black Bart landed on the floor with +soft padding feet. + +Recovering from his start Calder cursed softly. + +"What's the main idea?" he asked. + +Dan made a signal for a lower tone. + +"There ain't no idea," he answered, "but these Daniels people--do you +know anything about them?" + +"No. Why?" + +"They interest me, that's all." + +"Anything wrong?" + +"I guess not." + +"Why did you whistle for this infernal wolf? It makes me nervous to +have him around. Get out, Bart." + +The wolf turned a languid eye upon the marshal. + +"Let him be," said Dan. "I don't feel no ways nacheral without havin' +Bart around." + +The marshal made no farther objections, and having rolled himself in +his blankets was almost immediately asleep and breathing heavily. The +moment Dan heard his companion draw breath with a telltale regularity, +he sat up again in his blankets. Bart was instantly at his side. He +patted the shaggy head lightly, and pointed towards the door. + +"Guard!" he whispered. + +Then he lay down and was immediately asleep. Bart crouched at his feet +with his head pointed directly at the door. + +In other rooms there was the sound of the Daniels family going to +bed--noises distinctly heard throughout the flimsy frame of the house. +After that a deep silence fell which lasted many hours, but in that +darkest moment which just precedes the dawn, a light creaking came up +the hall. It was very faint and it occurred only at long intervals, +but at the first sound Black Bart raised his head from his paws and +stared at the door with those glowing eyes which see in the dark. + +Now another sound came, still soft, regular. There was a movement of +the door. In the pitch dark a man could never have noticed it, but it +was plainly visible to the wolf. Still more visible, when the door +finally stood wide, was the form of the man who stood in the opening. +In one hand he carried a lantern thoroughly hooded, but not so well +wrapped that it kept back a single ray which flashed on a revolver. +The intruder made a step forward, a step as light as the fall of +feathers, but it was not half so stealthy as the movement of Black +Bart as he slunk towards the door. He had been warned to watch that +door, but it did not need a warning to tell him that a danger was +approaching the sleeping master. In the crouched form of the man, in +the cautious step, he recognized the unmistakable stalking of one who +hunts. Another soft step the man made forward. + +Then, with appalling suddenness, a blacker shadow shot up from the +deep night of the floor, and white teeth gleamed before the stranger's +face. He threw up his hand to save his throat. The teeth sank into +his arm--a driving weight hurled him against the wall and then to +the floor--the revolver and the lantern dropped clattering, and the +latter, rolling from its wrapping, flooded the room with light. But +neither man nor wolf uttered a sound. + +Calder was standing, gun in hand, but too bewildered to act, while +Dan, as if he were playing a part long rehearsed, stood covering the +fallen form of Buck Daniels. + +"Stand back from him, Bart!" he commanded. + +The wolf slipped off a pace, whining with horrible eagerness, for he +had tasted blood. Far away a shout came from Sam Daniels. Dan lowered +his gun. + +"Stand up," he ordered. + +The big fellow picked himself up and stood against the wall with the +blood streaming down his right arm. Still he said nothing and his keen +eyes darted from Calder to Whistling Dan. + +"Give me a strip of that old shirt over there, will you, Tex?" said +Dan, "an' keep him covered while I tie up his arm." + +Before Calder could move, old Daniels appeared at the door, a heavy +Colt in his hand. For a moment he stood dumbfounded, but then, with a +cry, jerked up his gun--a quick movement, but a fraction of a second +too slow, for the hand of Dan darted out and his knuckles struck the +wrist of the old cattleman. The Colt rattled on the floor. He lunged +after his weapon, but the voice of Buck stopped him short. + +"The game's up, Dad," he growled, "that older feller is Tex Calder." + +The name, like a blow in the face, straightened old Daniels and left +him white and blinking. Whistling Dan turned his back on the father +and deftly bound up the lacerated arm of Buck. + +"In the name o' God, Buck," moaned Sam, "what you been tryin' to do in +here?" + +"What you'd do if you had the guts for it. That's Tex Calder an' this +is Dan Barry. They're on the trail of big Jim. I wanted to put 'em off +that trail." + +"Look here," said Calder, "how'd you know us?" + +"I've said my little say," said Buck sullenly, "an' you'll get no more +out of me between here an' any hell you can take me to." + +"He knew us when his father talked about Satan an' Black Bart," said +Dan to Tex. "Maybe he's one of Silent's." + +"Buck, for God's sake tell 'em you know nothin' of Silent," cried old +Daniels. "Boy, boy, it's hangin' for you if they get you to Elkhead +an' charge you with that!" + +"Dad, you're a fool," said Buck. "I ain't goin' down on my knees to +'em. Not me." + +Calder, still keeping Buck covered with his gun, drew Dan a little to +one side. + +"What can we do with this fellow, Dan?" he said. "Shall we give up the +trail and take him over to Elkhead?" + +"An' break the heart of the ol' man?" + +"Buck is one of the gang, that's certain." + +"Get Silent an' there won't be no gang left." + +"But we caught this chap in red blood--" + +"He ain't very old, Tex. Maybe he could change. I think he ain't been +playin' Silent's game any too long." + +"We can't let him go. It isn't in reason to do that." + +"I ain't thinkin' of reason. I'm thinkin' of old Sam an' his wife." + +"And if we turn him loose?" + +"He'll be your man till he dies." + +Calder scowled. + +"The whole range is filled with these silent partners of the +outlaws--but maybe you're right, Dan. Look at them now!" + +The father was standing close to his son and pouring out a torrent of +appeal--evidently begging him in a low voice to disavow any knowledge +of Silent and his crew, but Buck shook his head sullenly. He had given +up hope. Calder approached them. + +"Buck," he said, "I suppose you know that you could be hung for what +you've tried to do tonight. If the law wouldn't hang you a lynching +party would. No jail would be strong enough to keep them away from +you." + +Buck was silent, dogged. + +"But suppose we were to let you go scot free?" + +Buck started. A great flush covered his face. + +"I'm taking the advice of Dan Barry in doing this," said Calder. +"Barry thinks you could go straight. Tell me man to man, if I give you +the chance will you break loose from Silent and his gang?" + +A moment before, Buck had been steeled for the worst, but this sudden +change loosened all the bonds of his pride. He stammered and choked. +Calder turned abruptly away. + +"Dan," he said, "here's the dawn, and it's time for us to hit the +trail." + +They rolled their blankets hastily and broke away from the gratitude +which poured like water from the heart of old Sam. They were in their +saddles when Buck came beside Dan. His pride, his shame, and his +gratitude broke his voice. + +"I ain't much on words," he said, "but it's you I'm thankin'!" + +His hand reached up hesitatingly, and Dan caught it in a firm grip. + +"Why," he said gently, "even Satan here stumbles now an' then, but +that ain't no reason I should get rid of him. Good luck--partner!" + +He shook the reins and the stallion leaped off after Calder's trotting +pony. Buck Daniels stood motionless looking after them, and his eyes +were very dim. + +For an hour Dan and Tex were on the road before the sun looked over +the hills. Calder halted his horse to watch. + +"Dan," he said at last, "I used to think there were only two ways of +handling men--one with the velvet touch and one with the touch of +steel. Mine has been the way of steel, but I begin to see there's a +third possibility--the touch of the panther's paw--the velvet with the +steel claws hid beneath. That's your way, and I wonder if it isn't the +best. I think Buck Daniels would be glad to die for you!" + +He turned directly to Dan. + +"But all this is aside from the point, which is that the whole country +is full of these silent partners of the outlaws. The law plays a lone +hand in the mountain-desert." + +"You've played the lone hand and won twenty times," said Dan. + +"Ay, but the twenty-first time I may fail. The difference between +success and failure in this country is just the length of time it +takes to pull a trigger--and Silent is fast with a gun. He's the root +of the outlaw power. We may kill a hundred men, but till he's gone +we've only mowed the weeds, not pulled them. But what's the use of +talking? One second will tell the tale when I stand face to face with +Jim Silent and we go for our six-guns. And somewhere between that +rising sun and those mountains I'll find Jim Silent and the end of +things for one of us." + +He started his cattle-pony into a sudden gallop, and they drove on +into the bright morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +CAIN + +Hardly a score of miles away, Jim Silent and his six companions topped +a hill. He raised his hand and the others drew rein beside him. Kate +Cumberland shifted her weight a little to one side of the saddle to +rest and looked down from the crest on the sweep of country below. A +mile away the railroad made a streak of silver light across the brown +range and directly before them stood the squat station-house with +red-tiled roof. Just before the house, a slightly broader streak of +that gleaming light showed the position of the siding rails. She +turned her head towards the outlaws. They were listening to the final +directions of their chief, and the darkly intent faces told their own +story. She knew, from what she had gathered of their casual hints, +that this was to be the scene of the train hold-up. + +It seemed impossible that this little group of men could hold the +great fabric of a train with all its scores of passengers at their +mercy. In spite of herself, half her heart wished them success. There +was Terry Jordan forgetful of the wound in his arm; Shorty Rhinehart, +his saturnine face longer and more calamitous than ever; Hal Purvis, +grinning and nodding his head; Bill Kilduff with his heavy jaw set +like a bull dog's; Lee Haines, with a lock of tawny hair blowing over +his forehead, smiling faintly as he listened to Silent as if he heard +a girl tell a story of love; and finally Jim Silent himself, huge, +solemn, confident. She began to feel that these six men were worth six +hundred. + +She hated them for some reasons; she feared them for others; but the +brave blood of Joe Cumberland was thick in her and she loved the +danger of the coming moment. Their plans were finally agreed upon, +their masks arranged, and after Haines had tied a similar visor over +Kate's face, they started down the hill at a swinging gallop. + +In front of the house of the station-agent they drew up, and while the +others were at their horses, Lee Haines dismounted and rapped loudly +at the door. It was opened by a grey-bearded man smoking a pipe. +Haines covered him. He tossed up his hands and the pipe dropped from +his mouth. + +"Who's in the house here with you?" asked Haines. + +"Not a soul!" stammered the man. "If you're lookin' for money you c'n +run through the house. You won't find a thing worth takin'." + +"I don't want money. I want you," said Haines; and immediately +explained, "you're perfectly safe. All you have to do is to be +obliging. As for the money, you just throw open that switch and flag +the train when she rolls along in a few moments. We'll take care of +the rest. You don't have to keep your hands up." + +The hands came down slowly. For a brief instant the agent surveyed +Haines and the group of masked men who sat their horses a few paces +away, and then without a word he picked up his flag from behind the +door and walked out of the house. Throughout the affair he never +uttered a syllable. Haines walked up to the head of the siding with +him while he opened the switch and accompanied him back to the point +opposite the station-house to see that he gave the "stop" signal +correctly. In the meantime two of the other outlaws entered the little +station, bound the telegrapher hand and foot, and shattered his +instrument. That would prevent the sending of any call for help after +the hold-up. Purvis and Jordan (since Terry could shoot with his left +hand in case of need) went to the other side of the track and lay down +against the grade. It was their business to open fire on the tops +of the windows as the train drew to a stop. That would keep the +passengers inside. The other four were distributed along the side +nearest to the station-house. Shorty Rhinehart and Bill Kilduff were +to see that no passengers broke out from the train and attempted a +flank attack. Haines would attend to having the fire box of the engine +flooded. For the cracking of the safe, Silent carried the stick of +dynamite. + +Now the long wait began. There is a dreamlike quality about bright +mornings in the open country, and everything seemed unreal to Kate. +It was impossible that tragedy should come on such a day. The moments +stole on. She saw Silent glance twice at his watch and scowl. +Evidently the train was late and possibly they would give up the +attempt. Then a light humming caught her ear. + +She held her breath and listened again. It was unmistakable--a slight +thing--a tremor to be felt rather than heard. She saw Haines peering +under shaded eyes far down the track, and following the direction of +his gaze she saw a tiny spot of haze on the horizon. The tiny puff of +smoke developed to a deeper, louder note. The station-agent took his +place on the track. + +Now the train bulked big, the engine wavering slightly to the +unevenness of the road bed. The flag of the station-agent moved. Kate +closed her eyes and set her teeth. There was a rumbling and puffing +and a mighty grinding--a shout somewhere--the rattle of a score of +pistol shots--she opened her eyes to see the train rolling to a stop +on the siding directly before her. + +Kilduff and Shorty Rhinehart, crouching against the grade, were +splintering the windows one by one with nicely placed shots. The +baggage-cars were farther up the siding than Silent calculated. He and +Haines now ran towards the head of the train. + +The fireman and engineer jumped from their cab, holding their arms +stiffly above their heads; and Haines approached with poised revolver +to make them flood the fire box. In this way the train would be +delayed for some time and before it could send out the alarm the +bandits would be far from pursuit. Haines had already reached the +locomotive and Silent was running towards the first baggage-car when +the door of that car slid open and at the entrance appeared two men +with rifles at their shoulders. As they opened fire Silent pitched to +the ground. Kate set her teeth and forced her eyes to stay open. + +Even as the outlaw fell his revolver spoke and one of the men threw up +his hands with a yell and pitched out of the open door. His companion +still kept his post, pumping shots at the prone figure. Twice more the +muzzle of Silent's gun jerked up and the second man crumpled on the +floor of the car. + +A great hissing and a jetting cloud of steam announced that Haines +had succeeded in flooding the fire box. Silent climbed into the first +baggage-car, stepping, as he did so, on the limp body of the Wells +Fargo agent, who lay on the road bed. A moment later he flung out the +body of the second messenger. The man flopped on the ground heavily, +face downwards, and then--greatest horror of all!--dragged himself +to his hands and knees and began to crawl laboriously. Kate ran and +dropped to her knees beside him. + +"Are you hurt badly?" she pleaded. "Where? Where?" + +He sagged to the ground and lay on his left side, breathing heavily. + +"Where is the wound?" she repeated. + +He attempted to speak, but only a bloody froth came to his lips. That +was sufficient to tell her that he had been shot through the lungs. + +She tore open his shirt and found two purple spots high on the chest, +one to the right, and one to the left. From that on the left ran a +tiny trickle of blood, but that on the right was only a small puncture +in the midst of a bruise. He was far past all help. + +"Speak to me!" she pleaded. + +His eyes rolled and then checked on her face. + +"Done for," he said in a horrible whisper, "that devil done me. +Kid--cut out--this life. I've played this game--myself--an' now--I'm +goin'--to hell for it!" + +A great convulsion twisted his face. + +"What can I do?" cried Kate. + +"Tell the world--I died--game!" + +His body writhed, and in the last agony his hand closed hard over +hers. It was like a silent farewell, that strong clasp. + +A great hand caught her by the shoulder and jerked her to her feet. + +"The charge is goin' off! Jump for it!" shouted Silent in her ear. + +She sprang up and at the same time there was a great boom from within +the car. The side bulged out--a section of the top lifted and fell +back with a crash--and Silent ran back into the smoke. Haines, Purvis, +and Kilduff were instantly at the car, taking the ponderous little +canvas sacks of coin as their chief handed them out. + +Within two minutes after the explosion ten small sacks were deposited +in the saddlebags on the horses which stood before the station-house. +Silent's whistle called in Terry Jordan and Shorty Rhinehart--a sharp +order forced Kate to climb into her saddle--and the train robbers +struck up the hillside at a racing pace. A confused shouting rose +behind them. Rifles commenced to crack where some of the passengers +had taken up the weapons of the dead guards, but the bullets flew +wide, and the little troop was soon safely out of range. + +On the other side of the hill-top they changed their course to the +right. For half an hour the killing pace continued, and then, as there +was not a sign of immediate chase, the lone riders drew down to a +soberer pace. Silent called: "Keep bunched behind me. We're headed for +the old Salton place--an' a long rest." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +REAL MEN + +Some people pointed out that Sheriff Gus Morris had never made a +single important arrest in the ten years during which he had held +office, and there were a few slanderers who spoke insinuatingly of the +manner in which the lone riders flourished in Morris's domain. These +"knockers," however, were voted down by the vast majority, who swore +that the sheriff was the finest fellow who ever threw leg over saddle. +They liked him for his inexhaustible good-nature, the mellow baritone +in which he sang the range songs at any one's request, and perhaps +more than all, for the very laxness with which he conducted his work. +They had had enough of the old school of sheriffs who lived a few +months gun in hand and died fighting from the saddle. The office had +never seemed desirable until Gus Morris ran for it and smiled his way +to a triumphant election. + +Before his career as an office-holder began, he ran a combined general +merchandise store, saloon, and hotel. That is to say, he ran the +hostelry in name. The real executive head, general manager, clerk, +bookkeeper, and cook, and sometimes even bartender was his daughter, +Jacqueline. She found the place only a saloon, and a poorly patronized +one at that. Her unaided energy gradually made it into a hotel, +restaurant, and store. Even while her father was in office he spent +most of his time around the hotel; but no matter how important he +might be elsewhere, in his own house he had no voice. There the only +law was the will of Jacqueline. + +Out of the stable behind this hostelry Dan and Tex Calder walked on +the evening of the train robbery. They had reached the place of the +hold-up a full two hours after Silent's crew departed; and the fireman +and engineer had been working frantically during the interim to clean +out the soaked fire box and get up steam again. Tex looked at the two +dead bodies, spoke to the conductor, and then cut short the voluble +explanations of a score of passengers by turning his horse and riding +away, followed by Dan. All that day he was gloomily silent. It was a +shrewd blow at his reputation, for the outlaws had actually carried +out the robbery while he was on their trail. Not till they came out of +the horse-shed after stabling their horses did he speak freely. + +"Dan," he said, "do you know anything about Sheriff Gus Morris?" + +"No" + +"Then listen to this and salt every word away. I'm an officer of the +law, but I won't tell that to Morris. I hope he doesn't know me. If he +does it will spoil our game. I am almost certain he is playing a close +hand with the lone riders. I'll wager he'd rather see a stick of +dynamite than a marshal. Remember when we get in that place that we're +not after Jim Silent or any one else. We're simply travelling cowboys. +No questions. I expect to learn something about the location of +Silent's gang while we're here, but we'll never find out except by +hints and chance remarks. We have to watch Morris like hawks. If he +suspects us he'll find a way to let Silent know we're here and then +the hunters will be hunted." + +In the house they found a dozen cattlemen sitting down at the table in +the dining-room. As they entered the room the sheriff, who sat at the +head of the table, waved his hand to them. + +"H'ware ye, boys?" he called. "You'll find a couple of chairs right in +the next room. Got two extra plates, Jac?" + +As Dan followed Tex after the chairs he noticed the sheriff beckon +to one of the men who sat near him. As they returned with the chairs +someone was leaving the room by another door. + +"Tex," he said, as they sat down side by side, "when we left the +dining-room for the chairs, the sheriff spoke to one of the boys and +as we came back one of them was leavin' through another door. D'you +think Morris knew you when you came in?" + +Calder frowned thoughtfully and then shook his head. + +"No," he said in a low voice. "I watched him like a hawk when we +entered. He didn't bat an eye when he saw me. If he recognized me he's +the greatest actor in the world, bar none! No, Dan, he doesn't know us +from Adam and Abel." + +"All right," said Dan, "but I don't like somethin' about this +place--maybe it's the smell of the air. Tex, take my advice an' keep +your gun ready for the fastest draw you ever made." + +"Don't worry about me," smiled Calder. "How about yourself?" + +"Hello," broke in Jacqueline from the end of the table. "Look who +we've picked in the draw!" + +Her voice was musical, but her accent and manner were those of a girl +who has lived all her life among men and has caught their ways--with +an exaggeration of that self-confidence which a woman always feels +among Western men. Her blue eyes were upon Dan. + +"Ain't you a long ways from home?" she went on. + +The rest of the table, perceiving the drift of her badgering, broke +into a rumbling bass chuckle. + +"Quite a ways," said Dan, and his wide brown eyes looked seriously +back at her. + +A yell of delight came from the men at this naive rejoinder. Dan +looked about him with a sort of childish wonder. Calder's anxious +whisper came at his side: "Don't let them get you mad, Dan!" +Jacqueline, having scored so heavily with her first shot, was by no +means willing to give up her sport. + +"With them big eyes, for a starter," she said, "all you need is long +hair to be perfect. Do your folks generally let you run around like +this?" + +Every man canted his ear to get the answer and already they were +grinning expectantly. + +"I don't go out much," returned the soft voice of Dan, "an' when I do, +I go with my friend, here. He takes care of me." + +Another thunder of laughter broke out. Jacqueline had apparently +uncovered a tenderfoot, and a rare one even for that absurd species. A +sandy-haired cattle puncher who sat close to Jacqueline now took the +cue from the mistress of the house. + +"Ain't you a bit scared when you get around among real men?" he asked, +leering up the table towards Dan. + +The latter smiled gently upon him. + +"I reckon maybe I am," he said amiably. + +"Then you must be shakin' in your boots right now," said the other +over the sound of the laughter. + +"No, said Dan," "I feel sort of comfortable." + +The other replied with a frown that would have intimidated a balky +horse. + +"What d'you mean? Ain't you jest said men made you sort of--nervous?" + +He imitated the soft drawl of Dan with his last words and raised +another yell of delight from the crowd. Whistling Dan turned his +gentle eyes upon Jacqueline. + +"Pardon me, ma'am," he began. + +An instant hush fell on the men. They would not miss one syllable of +the delightful remarks of this rarest of all tenderfoots, and the +prelude of this coming utterance promised something that would eclipse +all that had gone before. + +"Talk right out, Brown-eyes," said Jacqueline, wiping the tears of +delight from her eyes. "Talk right out as if you was a man. _I_ won't +hurt you." + +"I jest wanted to ask," said Dan, "if these are real men?" + +The ready laughter started, checked, and died suddenly away. The +cattlemen looked at each other in puzzled surprise. + +"Don't they look like it to you, honey?" asked Jacqueline curiously. + +Dan allowed his eyes to pass lingeringly around the table from face to +face. + +"I dunno," he said at last, "they look sort of queer to me." + +"For God's sake cut this short, Dan," pleaded Tex Calder in an +undertone. "Let them have all the rope they want. Don't trip up our +party before we get started." + +"Queer?" echoed Jacqueline, and there was a deep murmur from the men. + +"Sure," said Dan, smiling upon her again, "they all wear their guns so +awful high." + +Out of the dead silence broke the roar of the sandy-haired man: +"What'n hell d'you mean by that?" + +Dan leaned forward on one elbow, his right hand free and resting on +the edge of the table, but still his smile was almost a caress. + +"Why," he said, "maybe you c'n explain it to me. Seems to me that all +these guns is wore so high they's more for ornament than use." + +"You damned pup--" began Sandy. + +He stopped short and stared with a peculiar fascination at Dan, who +started to speak again. His voice had changed--not greatly, for its +pitch was the same and the drawl was the same--but there was a purr +in it that made every man stiffen in his chair and make sure that his +right hand was free. The ghost of his former smile was still on his +lips, but it was his eyes that seemed to fascinate Sandy. + +"Maybe I'm wrong, partner," he was saying, "an' maybe you c'n prove +that _your_ gun ain't jest ornamental hardware?" + +What followed was very strange. Sandy was a brave man and everyone at +that table knew it. They waited for the inevitable to happen. They +waited for Sandy's lightning move for his gun. They waited for the +flash and the crack of the revolver. It did not come. There followed a +still more stunning wonder. + +"You c'n see," went on that caressing voice of Dan, "that everyone +is waitin' for you to demonstrate--which the lady is most special +interested." + +And still Sandy did not move that significant right hand. It remained +fixed in air a few inches above the table, the fingers stiffly spread. +He moistened his white lips. Then--most strange of all!--his eyes +shifted and wandered away from the face of Whistling Dan. The others +exchanged incredulous glances. The impossible had happened--Sandy had +taken water! The sheriff was the first to recover, though his forehead +was shining with perspiration. + +"What's all this stuff about?" he called. "Hey, Sandy, quit pickin' +trouble with the stranger!" + +Sandy seized the loophole through which to escape with his honour. He +settled back in his chair. + +"All right, gov'nor," he said, "I won't go spoilin' your furniture. I +won't hurt him." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +ONE TRAIL ENDS + +But this deceived no one. They had seen him palpably take water. A +moment of silence followed, while Sandy stared whitefaced down at the +table, avoiding all eyes; but all the elements of good breeding exist +under all the roughness of the West. It was Jacqueline who began with +a joke which was rather old, but everyone appreciated it--at that +moment--and the laughter lasted long enough to restore some of the +colour to Sandy's face. A general rapid fire of talk followed. + +"How did you do it?" queried Calder. "I was all prepared for a +gun-play." + +"Why, you seen I didn't do nothin'." + +"Then what in the world made Sandy freeze while his hand was on the +way to his gun?" + +"I dunno," sighed Dan, "but when I see his hand start movin' I sort of +wanted his blood--I _wanted_ him to keep right on till he got hold of +his gun--and maybe he seen it in my eyes an' that sort of changed his +mind." + +"I haven't the least doubt that it did," said Calder grimly. + +At the foot of the table Jacqueline's right-hand neighbour was saying: +"What happened, Jac?" + +"Don't ask me," she replied. "All I know is that I don't think any +less of Sandy because he backed down. I saw that stranger's face +myself an' I'm still sort of weak inside." + +"How did he look?" + +"I dunno. Jest--jest _hungry_. Understand?" + +She was silent for a time, but she was evidently thinking hard. At +last she turned to the same man. + +"Did you hear Brown-eyes say that the broad-shouldered feller next to +him was his friend?" + +"Sure. I seen them ride in together. That other one looks like a hard +nut, eh?" + +She returned no answer, but after a time her eyes raised slowly and +rested for a long moment on Dan's face. It was towards the end of +the meal when she rose and went towards the kitchen. At the door +she turned, and Dan, though he was looking down at his plate, was +conscious that someone was observing him. He glanced up and the moment +his eyes met hers she made a significant backward gesture with her +hand. He hesitated a moment and then shoved back his chair. Calder was +busy talking to a table mate, so he walked out of the house without +speaking to his companion. He went to the rear of the house and as he +had expected she was waiting for him. + +"Brown-eyes," she said swiftly, "that feller who sat beside you--is he +your partner?" + +"I dunno," said Dan evasively, "why are you askin'?" + +Her breath was coming audibly as if from excitement. + +"Have you got a fast hoss?" + +"There ain't no faster." + +"Believe me, he can't go none too fast with you tonight. Maybe they're +after you, too." + +"Who?" + +"I can't tell you. Listen to me, Brown-eyes. Go get your hoss an' feed +him the spur till you're a hundred miles away, an' even then don't +stop runnin'." + +He merely stared at her curiously. + +She stamped. + +"Don't stop to talk. If they're after him and you're his partner, they +probably want you, too." + +"I'll stay aroun'. If they're curious about me, I'll tell 'em my +name--I'll even spell it for 'em. Who are they?" + +"They are--hell--that's all." + +"I'd like to see 'em. Maybe _they're_ real men." + +"They're devils. If I told you their names you'd turn stiff." + +"I'll take one chance. Tell me who they are." + +"I don't dare tell you." + +She hesitated. + +"I _will_ tell you! You've made a fool out of me with them big baby +eyes. Jim Silent is in that house!" + +He turned and ran, but not for the horse-shed; he headed straight for +the open door of the house. + + * * * * * + +In the dining-room two more had left the table, but the rest, +lingering over their fresh filled coffee cups, sat around telling +tales, and Tex Calder was among them. He was about to push back his +chair when the hum of talk ceased as if at a command. The men on the +opposite side of the table were staring with fascinated eyes at the +door, and then a big voice boomed behind him: "Tex Calder, stan' up. +You've come to the end of the trail!" + +He whirled as he rose, kicking down the chair behind him, and stood +face to face with Jim Silent. The great outlaw was scowling; but his +gun was in its holster and his hands rested lightly on his hips. It +was plain for all eyes to see that he had come not to murder but to +fight a fair duel. Behind him loomed the figure of Lee Haines scarcely +less imposing. + +All eternity seemed poised and waiting for the second when one of the +men would make the move for his gun. Not a breath was drawn in the +room. Hands remained frozen in air in the midst of a gesture. Lips +which had parted to speak did not close. The steady voice of the clock +broke into the silence--a dying space between every tick. For the +second time in his life Tex Calder knew fear. + +He saw no mere man before him, but his own destiny. And he knew that +if he stood before those glaring eyes another minute he would become +like poor Sandy a few minutes before--a white-faced, palsied coward. +The shame of the thought gave him power. + +"Silent," he said, "there's a quick end to the longest trail, +because--" + +His hand darted down. No eye could follow the lightning speed with +which he whipped out his revolver and fanned it, but by a mortal +fraction of a second the convulsive jerk of Silent's hand was faster +still. Two shots followed--they were rather like one drawn-out report. +The woodwork splintered above the outlaw's head; Tex Calder seemed to +laugh, but his lips made no sound. He pitched forward on his face. + +"He fired that bullet," said Silent, "after mine hit him." + +Then he leaped back through the door. + +"Keep 'em back one minute, Lee, an' then after me!" he said as he ran. +Haines stood in the door with folded arms. He knew that no one would +dare to move a hand. + +Two doors slammed at the same moment--the front door as Silent leaped +into the safety of the night, and the rear door as Whistling Dan +rushed into the house. He stood at the entrance from the kitchen to +the dining-room half crouched, and swaying from the suddenness with +which he had checked his run. He saw the sprawled form of Tex Calder +on the floor and the erect figure of Lee Haines just opposite him. + +"For God's sake!" screamed Gus Morris, "don't shoot, Haines! He's done +nothin'. Let him go!" + +"My life--or his!" said Haines savagely. "He's not a man--he's a +devil!" + +Dan was laughing low--a sound like a croon. + +"Tex," he said, "I'm goin' to take him alive for you!" + +As if in answer the dying man stirred on the floor. Haines went for +his gun, a move almost as lightning swift as that of Jim Silent, but +now far, far too late. The revolver was hardly clear of its holster +when Whistling Dan's weapon spoke. Haines, with a curse, clapped his +left hand over his wounded right forearm, and then reached after his +weapon as it clattered to the floor. Once more he was too late. Dan +tossed his gun away with a snarl like the growl of a wolf; cleared the +table at a leap, and was at Haines's throat. The bandit fought back +desperately, vainly. One instant they struggled erect, swaying, the +next Haines was lifted bodily, and hurled to the floor. He writhed, +but under those prisoning hands he was helpless. + +The sheriff headed the rush for the scene of the struggle, but Dan +stopped them. + +"All you c'n do," he said, "is to bring me a piece of rope." + +Jacqueline came running with a stout piece of twine which he twisted +around the wrists of Haines. Then he jerked the outlaw to his feet, +and stood close, his face inhumanly pale. + +"If he dies," he said, pointing with a stiff arm back at the prostrate +figure of Tex Calder, "you--you'll burn alive for it!" + +The sheriff and two of the other men turned the body of Calder on his +back. They tore open his shirt, and Jacqueline leaned over him with +a basin of water trying to wipe away the ever recurrent blood which +trickled down his breast. Dan brushed them away and caught the head of +his companion in his arms. + +"Tex!" he moaned, "Tex! Open your eyes, partner, I got him for you. I +got him alive for you to look at him! Wake up!" + +As if in obedience to the summons the eyes of Calder opened wide. The +lids fluttered as if to clear his vision, but even then his gaze was +filmed with a telltale shadow. + +"Dan--Whistling Dan," he said, "I'm seeing you a long, long ways off. +Partner, I'm done for." + +The whole body of Dan stiffened. + +"Done? Tex, you can't be! Five minutes ago you sat at that there +table, smilin' an' talkin'!" + +"It doesn't take five minutes. Half a second can take a man all the +way to hell!" + +"If you're goin', pal, if you goin', Tex, take one comfort along with +you! I got the man who killed you! Come here!" + +He pulled the outlaw to his knees beside the dying marshal whose face +had lighted wonderfully. He strained his eyes painfully to make out +the face of his slayer. Then he turned his head. + +He said: "The man who killed me was Jim Silent." + +Dan groaned and leaned close to Calder. + +"Then I'll follow him to the end--" he began. + +The feeble accent of Calder interrupted him. + +"Not that way. Come close to me. I can't hear my own voice, hardly." + +Dan bowed his head. A whisper murmured on for a moment, broken here +and there as Dan nodded his head and said, "Yes!" + +"Then hold up your hand, your right hand," said Calder at last, +audibly. + +Dan obeyed. + +"You swear it?" + +"So help me God!" + +"Then here's the pledge of it!" + +Calder fumbled inside his shirt for a moment, and then withdrawing his +hand placed it palm down in that of Dan. The breath of the marshal was +coming in a rattling gasp. + +He said very faintly: "I've stopped the trails of twenty men. It took +the greatest of them all to get me. He got me fair. He beat me to the +draw!" + +He stopped as if in awe. + +"He played square--he's a better man than I. Dan, when you get him, +do it the same way--face to face--with time for him to think of hell +before he gets there. Partner, I'm going. Wish me luck." + +"Tex--partner--good luck!" + +It seemed as if that parting wish was granted, for Calder died with a +smile. + +When Dan rose slowly Gus Morris stepped up and laid a hand on his +arm: "Look here, there ain't no use of bein' sad for Tex Calder. His +business was killin' men, an' his own time was overdue." + +Dan turned a face that made Morris wince. + +"What's the matter?" he asked, with an attempt at bluff good nature. +"Do you hate everyone because one man is dead? I'll tell you what I'll +do. I'll loan you a buckboard an' a pair of hosses to take Tex back to +Elkhead. As for this feller Haines, I'll take care of him." + +"I sure need a buckboard," said Dan slowly, "but I'll get the loan +from a--white man!" + +He turned his back sharply on the sheriff and asked if any one else +had a wagon they could lend him. One of the men had stopped at +Morris's place on his way to Elkhead. He immediately proposed that +they make the trip together. + +"All right," said Morris carelessly. "I won't pick trouble with a +crazy man. Come with me, Haines." + +He turned to leave the room. + +"Wait!" said Dan. + +Haines stopped as though someone had seized him by the shoulder. + +"What the devil is this now?" asked Morris furiously. "Stranger, d'you +think you c'n run the world? Come on with me, Haines!" + +"He stays with me," said Dan. + +"By God," began Morris, "if I thought--" + +"This ain't no place for you to begin thinkin'," said the man who had +offered his buckboard to Dan. "This feller made the capture an' he's +got the right to take him into Elkhead if he wants. They's a reward on +the head of Lee Haines." + +"The arrest is made in my county," said Morris stoutly, "an' I've got +the say as to what's to be done with a prisoner." + +"Morris," said Haines earnestly, "if I'm taken to Elkhead it'll be +simply a matter of lynching. You know the crowd in that town." + +"Right--right," said Morris, eagerly picking up the word. "It'd be +plain lynchin'--murder--" + +Dan broke in: "Haines, step over here behind me!" + +For one instant Haines hesitated, and then obeyed silently. + +"This is contempt of the law and an officer of the law," said Morris. +"An" I'll see that you get fined so that--" + +"Better cut it short there, sheriff," said one of the men. "I wouldn't +go callin' the attention of folks to the way Jim Silent walked into +your own house an' made his getaway without you tryin' to raise a +hand. Law or no law, I'm with this stranger." + +"Me too," said another; "any man who can fan a gun like him don't need +no law." + +The sheriff saw that the tide of opinion had set strongly against him +and abandoned his position with speed if not with grace. Dan ordered +Haines to walk before him outside the house. They faced each other in +the dim moonlight. + +"I've got one question to ask you," he said. + +"Make it short," said Haines calmly. "I've got to do my talking before +the lynching crowd." + +"You can answer it in one word. Does Kate Cumberland--what is she to +you?" + +Lee Haines set his teeth. + +"All the world," he said. + +Even in the dim light he saw the yellow glow of Dan's eyes and he +felt as if a wolf stood there trembling with eagerness to leap at his +throat. + +"An' what are you to her?" + +"No more than the dirt under her feet!" + +"Haines, you lie!" + +"I tell you that if she cared for me as much as she does for the horse +she rides on, I'd let the whole world know if I had to die for it the +next moment." + +Truth has a ring of its own. + +"Haines, if I could hear that from her own lips, I'd let you go free. +If you'll show me the way to Kate, I'll set you loose the minute I see +her." + +"I can't do it. I've given my faith to Silent and his men. Where she +is, they are." + +"Haines, that means death for you." + +"I know it." + +Another plan had come to Dan as they talked. He took Haines inside +again and coming out once more, whistled for Bart. The wolf appeared +as if by magic through the dark. He took out Kate's glove, which the +wolf had brought to him in the willows, and allowed him to smell it. +Bart whined eagerly. If he had that glove he would range the hills +until he found its owner, directed to her by that strange instinct +of the wild things. If Kate still loved him the glove would be more +eloquent than a thousand messages. And if she managed to escape, the +wolf would guide her back to his master. + +He sat on his heels, caught the wolf on either side of the shaggy +head, and stared into the glow of the yellow green eyes. It was as if +the man were speaking to the wolf. + +At last, as if satisfied, he drew a deep breath, rose, and dropped the +glove. It was caught in the flashing teeth. For another moment Bart +stood whining and staring up to the face of his master. Then he +whirled and fled out into the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +ONE WAY OUT + +In a room of the Salton place, on the evening of the next day after +Calder's death, sat Silent, with Kilduff, Rhinehart, and Jordan about +him. Purvis was out scouting for the news of Haines, whose long +absence commenced to worry the gang. Several times they tried to +induce Kate to come out and talk with them, but she was resolute +in staying alone in the room which they had assigned to her. +Consequently, to while away the time, Bill Kilduff produced his mouth +organ and commenced a dolorous ballad. He broke short in the midst of +it and stared at the door. The others followed the direction of his +eyes and saw Black Bart standing framed against the fading daylight. +They started up with curses; Rhinehart drew his gun. + +"Wait a minute," ordered Silent. + +"Damn it!" exclaimed Jordan, "don't you see Whistling Dan's wolf? If +the wolf's here, Dan isn't far behind." + +Silent shook his head. + +"If there's goin' to be any shootin' of that wolf leave it to Hal +Purvis. He's jest nacherally set his heart on it. An' Whistlin' Dan +ain't with the wolf. Look! there's a woman's glove hangin' out of his +mouth. He picked that up in the willows, maybe, an' followed the girl +here. Watch him!" + +The wolf slunk across the room to the door which opened on Kate's +apartment. Kate threw the door open--cried out at the sight of +Bart--and then snatched up the glove he let drop at her feet. + +"No cause for gettin' excited," said Silent. "Whistlin' Dan ain't +comin' here after the wolf." + +For answer she slammed the door. + +At the same moment Hal Purvis entered. He stepped directly to Silent, +and stood facing him with his hands resting on his hips. His smile was +marvellously unpleasant. + +"Well," said the chief, "what's the news? You got eloquent eyes, Hal, +but I want words." + +"The news is plain hell," said Purvis, "Haines--" + +"What of him?" + +"He's in Elkhead!" + +"Elkhead?" + +"Whistling Dan got him at Morris's place and took him in along with +the body of Tex Calder. Jim, you got to answer for it to all of us. +You went to Morris's with Lee. You come away without him and let him +stay behind to be nabbed by that devil Whistlin' Dan." + +"Right," said Kilduff, and his teeth clicked. "Is that playin' fair?" + +"Boys," said Silent solemnly, "if I had knowed that Whistlin' Dan was +there, I'd of never left Haines to stay behind. Morris said nothin' +about Calder havin' a runnin' mate. Me an' Haines was in the upstairs +room an' about suppertime up came a feller an' told us that Tex Calder +had jest come into the dinin'-room. That was all. Did Whistlin' Dan +get Lee from behind?" + +"He got him from the front. He beat Lee to the draw so bad that Haines +hardly got his gun out of its leather!" + +"The feller that told you that lied," said Silent. "Haines is as fast +with his shootin' iron as I am--almost!" + +The rest of the outlaws nodded to each other significantly. + +Purvis went on without heeding the interruption. "After I found out +about the fight I swung towards Elkhead. About five miles out of town +I met up with Rogers, the deputy sheriff at Elkhead. I thought you had +him fixed for us, Jim?" + +"Damn his hide, I did. Is he playing us dirt now?" + +"A frosty mornin' in December was nothin' to the way he talked." + +"Cut all that short," said Rhinehart, "an' let's know if Rogers is +goin' to be able to keep the lynching party away from Haines!" + +"He says he thinks it c'n be done for a couple of days," said Purvis, +"but the whole range is risin'. All the punchers are ridin' into +Elkhead an' wantin' to take a look at the famous Lee Haines. Rogers +says that when enough of 'em get together they'll take the law in +their own hands an' nothin' can stop 'em then." + +"Why don't the rotten dog give Haines a chance to make a getaway?" +asked Silent. "Ain't we paid him his share ever since we started +workin' these parts?" + +"He don't dare take the chance," said Purvis. "He says the boys are +talkin' mighty strong. They want action. They've put up a guard all +around the jail an' they say that if Haines gets loose they'll string +up Rogers. Everyone's wild about the killin' of Calder. Jim, ol' +Saunderson, he's put up five thousand out of his own pocket to raise +the price on your head!" + +"An' this Whistlin' Dan," said Silent. "I s'pose they're makin' a hero +out of him?" + +"Rogers says every man within ten miles is talkin' about him. The +whole range'll know of him in two days. He made a nice play when he +got in. You know they's five thousand out on Haines's head. It was +offered to him by Rogers as soon as Dan brought Lee in. What d'you +think he done? Pocketed the cheque? No, he grabbed it, an' tore it up +small: 'I ain't after no blood money,' he says." + +"No," said Silent. "He ain't after no money--he's after me!" + +"Tomorrow they bury Calder. The next day Whistlin' Dan'll be on our +trail again--an' he'll be playin' the same lone hand. Rogers offered +him a posse. He wouldn't take it." + +"They's one pint that ain't no nearer bein' solved," said Bill Kilduff +in a growl, "an' that's how you're goin' to get Haines loose. Silent, +it's up to you. Which you rode away leavin' him behind." + +Silent took one glance around that waiting circle. Then he nodded. + +"It's up to me. Gimme a chance to think." + +He started walking up and down the room, muttering. At last he stopped +short. + +"Boys, it can be done! They's nothin' like talkin' of a woman to make +a man turn himself into a plumb fool, an' I'm goin' to make a fool out +of Whistlin' Dan with this girl Kate!" + +"But how in the name of God c'n you make her go out an' talk to him?" +said Rhinehart. + +"Son," answered Silent, "they's jest one main trouble with you--you +talk a hell of a pile too much. When I've done this I'll tell you how +it was figgered out!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +THE WOMAN'S WAY + +It was a day later, in the morning, that a hand knocked at Kate's door +and she opened it to Jim Silent. He entered, brushing off the dust of +a long journey. + +"Good-mornin', Miss Cumberland." + +He extended a hand which she overlooked. + +"You still busy hatin' me?" + +"I'm simply--surprised that you have come in here to talk to me." + +"You look as if you seen somethin' in my face?" he said suspiciously. +"What is it? Dirt?" + +He brushed a hand across his forehead. + +"Whatever it is," she answered, "you can't rub it away." + +"I'm thinkin' of givin' you a leave of absence--if you'll promise to +come back." + +"Would you trust my honour?" + +"In a pinch like this," he said amiably, "I would. But here's my +business. Lee Haines is jailed in Elkhead. The man that put him behind +the bars an' the only one that can take him out agin is Whistlin' Dan. +An' the one person who can make Dan set Lee loose is you. Savvy? Will +you go an' talk with Dan? This wolf of his would find him for you." + +She shook her head. + +"Why not?" cried Silent in a rising voice. + +"The last time he saw me," she said, "he had reason to think that I +tried to betray him because of Lee Haines. If I went to him now to +plead for Haines he'd be sure that I was what he called me--Delilah!" + +"Is that final?" + +"Absolutely!" + +"Now get me straight. They's a crowd of cowpunchers gatherin' in +Elkhead, an' today or tomorrow they'll be strong enough to take the +law into their own hands and organize a little lynchin' bee, savvy?" + +She shuddered. + +"It ain't pleasant, is it, the picture of big, good-lookin' Lee +danglin' from the end of a rope with the crowd aroun' takin' pot-shots +at him? No, it ain't, an' you're goin' to stop it. You're goin' to +start from here in fifteen minutes with your hoss an' this wolf, after +givin' me your promise to come back when you've seen Whistlin' Dan. +You're goin' to make Dan go an' set Lee loose." + +She smiled in derision. + +"If Dan did that he'd be outlawed." + +"You won't stir?" + +"Not a step!" + +"Well, kid, for everything that happens to Lee somethin' worse will +happen to someone in the next room. Maybe you'd like to see him?" + +He opened the door and she stepped into the entrance. Almost opposite +her sat old Joe Cumberland with his hands tied securely behind his +back. At sight of her he rose with a low cry. She turned on big Silent +and whipped the six-gun from his hip. He barely managed to grasp her +wrist and swing the heavy revolver out of line with his body. + +"You little fiend," he snarled, "drop the gun, or I'll wring your +neck." + +"I don't fear you," she said, never wincing under the crushing grip on +her wrists, "you murderer!" + +He said, calmly repossessing himself of his gun, "Now take a long look +at your father an' repeat all the things you was just saying' to me." + +She stared miserably at her father. When Silent caught Kate's hand +Cumberland had started forward, but Kilduff and Rhinehart held him. + +"What is it, Kate," he cried. "What does it mean?" + +She explained it briefly: "This is Jim Silent!" + +He remained staring at her with open mouth as if his brain refused to +admit what his ear heard. + +"There ain't no use askin' questions how an' why she's here," said +Silent. "This is the pint. Lee Haines is behind the bars in Elkhead. +Whistlin' Dan put him there an' maybe the girl c'n persuade Dan to +bring him out again. If she don't--then everything the lynchin' gang +does to Haines we're goin' to do to you. Git down on your ol' knees, +Cumberland, an' beg your daughter to save your hide!" + +The head of Kate dropped down. + +"Untie his hands," she said. "I'll talk with Dan." + +"I knew you'd see reason," grinned Silent. + +"Jest one minute," said Cumberland. "Kate, is Lee Haines one of +Silent's gang?" + +"He is." + +"An' Dan put him behind the bars?" + +"Yes." + +"If Dan takes him out again the boy'll be outlawed, Kate." + +"Cumberland," broke in Kilduff savagely, "here's your call to stop +thinkin' about Whistlin' Dan an' begin figgerin' for yourself." + +"Don't you see?" said Kate, "it's your death these cowards mean." + +Cumberland seemed to grow taller, he stood so stiffly erect with his +chin high like a soldier. + +"You shan't make no single step to talk with Dan!" + +"Can't you understand that it's _you_ they threaten?" she cried. + +"I understan' it all," he said evenly. "I'm too old to have a young +man damned for my sake." + +"Shut him up!" ordered Silent. "The old fool!" + +The heavy hand of Terry Jordan clapped over Joe's mouth effectually +silenced him. He struggled vainly to speak again and Kate turned to +Silent to shut out the sight. + +"Tell your man to let him go," she said, "I will do what you wish." + +"That's talkin' sense," said Silent. "Come out with me an' I'll saddle +your hoss. Call the wolf." + +He opened the door and in response to her whistle Black Bart trotted +out and followed them out to the horse shed. There the outlaw quickly +saddled Kate's pony. + +He said: "Whistlin' Dan is sure headin' back in this direction because +he's got an idea I'm somewhere near. Bart will find him on the way." + +Silent was right. That morning Dan had started back towards Gus +Morris's place, for he was sure that the outlaws were camped in that +neighbourhood. A little before noon he veered half a mile to the right +towards a spring which welled out from a hillside, surrounded by a +small grove of willows. Having found it, he drank, and watered Satan, +then took off the saddle to ease the stallion, and lay down at a +little distance for a ten-minute siesta, one of those half wakeful +sleeps the habit of which he had learned from his wolf. + +He was roused from the doze by a tremendous snorting and snarling and +found Black Bart playing with Satan. It was their greeting after +an absence, and they dashed about among the willows like creatures +possessed. Dan brought horse and dog to a motionless stand with a +single whistle, and then ran out to the edge of the willows. Down the +side of the hill rode Kate at a brisk gallop. In a moment she saw him +and called his name, with a welcoming wave of her arm. Now she was off +her horse and running to him. He caught her hands and held her for +an instant far from him like one striving to draw out the note of +happiness into a song. They could not speak. + +At last: "I knew you'd find a way to come." + +"They let me go, Dan." + +He frowned, and her eyes faltered from his. + +"They sent me to you to ask you--to free Lee Haines!" + +He dropped her hands, and she stood trying to find words to explain, +and finding none. + +"To free Haines?" he repeated heavily. + +"It is Dad," she cried. "They have captured him, and they are holding +him. They keep him in exchange for Haines." + +"If I free Haines they'll outlaw me. You know that, Kate?" + +She made a pace towards him, but he retreated. + +"What can I do?" she pleaded desperately. "It is for my father--" + +His face brightened as he caught at a new hope. + +"Show me the way to Silent's hiding place and I'll free your father +an' reach the end of this trail at the same time, Kate!" + +She blenched pitifully. It was hopeless to explain. + +"Dan--honey--I can't!" + +She watched him miserably. + +"I've given them my word to come back alone." + +His head bowed. Out of the willows came Satan and Black Bart and stood +beside him, the stallion nosing his shoulder affectionately. + +"Dan, dear, won't you speak to me? Won't you tell me that you try to +understand?" + +He said at last: "Yes. I'll free Lee Haines." + +The fingers of his right hand trailed slowly across the head of Black +Bart. His eyes raised and looked past her far across the running +curves of the hills, far away to the misty horizon. + +"Kate--" + +"Dan, you _do_ understand?" + +"I didn't know a woman could love a man the way you do Lee Haines. +When I send him back to you tell him to watch himself. I'm playin' +your game now, but if I meet him afterwards, I'll play my own." + +All she could say was: "Will you listen to me no more, Dan?" + +"Here's where we say good-bye." + +He took her hand and his eyes were as unfathomable as a midnight sky. +She turned to her horse and he helped her to the saddle with a steady +hand. + +That was all. He went back to the willows, his right arm resting on +the withers of Black Satan as if upon the shoulder of a friend. As she +reached the top of the hill she heard a whistling from the willows, a +haunting complaint which brought the tears to her eyes. She spurred +her tired horse to escape the sound. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + +HELL STARTS + +Between twilight and dark Whistling Dan entered Elkhead. He rose in +the stirrups, on his toes, stretching the muscles of his legs. He was +sensing his strength. So the pianist before he plays runs his fingers +up and down the keys and sees that all is in tune and the touch +perfect. + +Two rival saloons faced each other at the end of the single street. +At the other extremity of the lane stood the house of deputy sheriff +Rogers, and a little farther was the jail. A crowd of horses stood in +front of each saloon, but from the throngs within there came hardly a +sound. The hush was prophetic of action; it was the lull before the +storm. Dan slowed his horse as he went farther down the street. + +The shadowy figure of a rider showed near the jail. He narrowed his +eyes and looked more closely. Another, another, another horseman +showed--four in sight on his side of the jail and probably as many +more out of his vision. Eight cattlemen guarded the place from which +he must take Lee Haines, and every one of the eight, he had no doubt, +was a picked man. Dan pulled up Satan to a walk and commenced to +whistle softly. It was like one of those sounds of the wind, a thing +to guess at rather than to know, but the effect upon Satan and Black +Bart was startling. + +The ears of the stallion dropped flat on his neck. He began to slink +along with a gliding step which was very like the stealthy pace of +Black Bart, stealing ahead. His footfall was as silent as if he had +been shod with felt. Meantime Dan ran over a plan of action. He saw +very clearly that he had little time for action. Those motionless +guards around the jail made his task difficult enough, but there was a +still greater danger. The crowds in the two saloons would be starting +up the street for Haines before long. Their silence told him that. + +A clatter of hoofs came behind him. He did not turn his head, but his +hand dropped down to his revolver butt. The fast riding horseman swept +and shot on down the street, leaving a pungent though invisible cloud +of dust behind him. He stopped in front of Rogers's house and darted +up the steps and through the door. Acting upon a premonition, Dan +dismounted a short distance from Rogers's house and ran to the door. +He opened it softly and found himself in a narrow hall dimly lighted +by a smoking lamp. Voices came from the room to his right. + +"What d'you mean, Hardy?" the deputy sheriff was saying. + +"Hell's startin'!" + +"There's a good many kinds of hell. Come out with it, Lee. I ain't no +mind reader." + +"They're gettin' ready for the big bust!" + +"What big bust?" + +"It ain't no use bluffin'. Ain't Silent told you that I'm on the +inside of the game?" + +"You fool!" cried Rogers. "Don't use that name!" + +Dan slipped a couple of paces down the hall and flattened himself +against the wall just as the door opened. Rogers looked out, drew a +great breath of relief, and went back into the room. Dan resumed his +former position. + +"Now talk fast!" said Rogers. + +"About time for you to drop that rotten bluff. Why, man, I could even +tell you jest how much you've cost Jim Silent." + +Rogers growled: "Tell me what's up." + +"The boys are goin' for the jail tonight. They'll get out Haines an' +string him up." + +"It's comin' to him. He's played a hard game for a long time." + +"An' so have you, Rogers, for a damn long time!" + +Rogers swallowed the insult, apparently. + +"What can I do?" he asked plaintively. "I'm willin' to give Silent and +his gang a square deal." + +"You should of done something while they was only a half-dozen +cowpunchers in town. Now the town's full of riders an' they're all +after blood." + +"An' my blood if they don't get Haines!" broke in the deputy sheriff. + +Hardy grunted. + +"They sure are," he said. "I've heard 'em talk, an' they mean +business. All of 'em. But how'd you answer to Jim Silent, Rogers? If +you let 'em get Haines--well, Haines is Silent's partner an' Jim'll +bust everything wide to get even with you." + +"I c'n explain," said Rogers huskily. "I c'n show Silent how I'm +helpless." + +Footsteps went up and down the room. + +"If they start anything," said Rogers, "I'll mark down the names of +the ringleaders and I'll give 'em hell afterwards. That'll soothe Jim +some." + +"You won't know 'em. They'll wear masks." + +Dan opened the door and stepped into the room. Rogers started up with +a curse and gripped his revolver. + +"I never knew you was so fond of gun play," said Dan. "Maybe that gun +of yours would be catchin' cold if you was to leave it out of the +leather long?" + +The sheriff restored his revolver slowly to the holster, glowering. + +"An' Rogers won't be needin' you for a minute or two," went on Dan to +Hardy. + +They seemed to fear even his voice. The Wells Fargo agent vanished +through the door and clattered down the steps. + +"How long you been standin' at that door?" said Rogers, gnawing his +lips. + +"Jest for a breathin' space," said Dan. + +Rogers squinted his eyes to make up for the dimness of the lamplight. + +"By God!" he cried suddenly. "You're Whistlin' Dan Barry!" + +He dropped into his chair and passed a trembling hand across his +forehead. + +He stammered: "Maybe you've changed your mind an' come back for that +five thousand?" + +"No, I've come for a man, not for money." + +"A man?" + +"I want Lee Haines before the crowd gets him." + +"Would you really try to take Haines out?" asked Rogers with a touch +of awe. + +"Are there any guards in the jail?" + +"Two. Lewis an' Patterson." + +"Give me a written order for Haines." + +The deputy wavered. + +"If I do that I'm done for in this town!" + +"Maybe. I want the key for Haines's handcuffs." + +"Go over an' put your hoss up in the shed behind the jail," said +Rogers, fighting for time, "an' when you come back I'll have the order +written out an' give it to you with the key." + +"Why not come over with me now?" + +"I got some other business." + +"In five minutes I'll be back," said Dan, and left the house. + +Outside he whistled to Satan, and the stallion trotted up to him. He +swung into the saddle and rode to the jail. There was not a guard in +sight. He rode around to the other side of the building to reach the +stable. Still he could not sight one of those shadowy horsemen who +had surrounded the place a few minutes before. Perhaps the crowd had +called in the guards to join the attack. + +He put Satan away in the stable and as he led him into a stall he +heard a roar of many voices far away. Then came the crack of half +a dozen revolvers. Dan set his teeth and glanced quickly over the +half-dozen horses in the little shed. He recognized the tall bay of +Lee Haines at once and threw on its back the saddle which hung on a +peg directly behind it. As he drew up the cinch another shout came +from the street, but this time very close. + +When he raced around the jail he saw the crowd pouring into the house +of the deputy sheriff. He ran on till he came to the outskirts of the +mob. Every man was masked, but in the excitement no one noticed that +Dan's face was bare. Squirming his way through the press, Dan reached +the deputy's office. It was almost filled. Rogers stood on a chair +trying to argue with the cattlemen. + +"No more talk, sheriff," thundered one among the cowpunchers, "we've +had enough of your line of talk. Now we want some action of our own +brand. For the last time: Are you goin' to order Lewis an' Patterson +to give up Haines, or are you goin' to let two good men die fightin' +for a damn lone rider?" + +"What about the feller who's goin' to take Lee Haines out of Elkhead?" +cried another. + +The crowd yelled with delight. + +"Yes, where is he? What about him?" + +Rogers, glancing down from his position on the chair, stared into the +brown eyes of Whistling Dan. He stretched out an arm that shook with +excitement. + +"That feller there!" he cried, "that one without a mask! Whistlin' Dan +Barry is the man!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + + +THE RESCUE + +The throng gave back from Dan, as if from the vicinity of a panther. +Dan faced the circle of scowling faces, smiling gently upon them. + +"Look here, Barry," called a voice from the rear of the crowd, "why +do you want to take Haines away? Throw in your cards with us. We need +you." + +"If it's fightin' you want," cried a joker, "maybe Lewis an' Patterson +will give us all enough of it at the jail." + +"I ain't never huntin' for trouble," said Dan. + +"Make your play quick," said another. "We got no time to waste even on +Dan Barry. Speak out, Dan. Here's a lot of good fellers aimin' to take +out Haines an' give him what's due him--no more. Are you with us?" + +"I'm not." + +"Is that final?" + +"It is." + +"All right. Tie him up, boys. There ain't no other way!" + +"Look out!" shouted a score of voices, for a gun flashed in Dan's +hand. + +He aimed at no human target. The bullet shattered the glass lamp into +a thousand shivering and tinkling splinters. Thick darkness blotted +the room. Instantly thereafter a blow, a groan, and the fall of a +body; then a confused clamour. + +"He's here!" + +"Give up that gun, damn you!" + +"You got the wrong man!" + +"I'm Bill Flynn!" + +"Guard the door!" + +"Lights, for God's sake!" + +"Help!" + +A slender figure leaped up against the window and was dimly outlined +by the starlight outside. There was a crash of falling glass, and as +two or three guns exploded the figure leaped down outside the house. + +"Follow him!" + +"Who was that?" + +"Get a light! Who's got a match?" + +Half the men rushed out of the room to pursue that fleeing figure. The +other half remained to see what had happened. It seemed impossible +that Whistling Dan had escaped from their midst. Half a dozen sulphur +matches spurted little jets of blue flame and discovered four men +lying prone on the floor, most of them with the wind trampled from +their bodies, but otherwise unhurt. One of them was the sheriff. + +He lay with his shoulders propped against the wall. His mouth was a +mass of blood. + +"Who got you, Rogers?" + +"Where's Barry?" + +"The jail, the jail!" groaned Rogers. "Barry has gone for the jail!" + +Revolvers rattled outside. + +"He's gone for Haines," screamed the deputy. "Go get him, boys!" + +"How can he get Haines? He ain't got the keys." + +"He has, you fools! When he shot the lights out he jumped for me and +knocked me off the chair. Then he went through my pockets and got the +keys. Get on your way! Quick!" + +The lynchers, yelling with rage, were already stamping from the room. + +With the jangling bunch of keys in one hand and his revolver in the +other, Dan started full speed for the jail as soon as he leaped down +from the window. By the time he had covered half the intervening +distance the first pursuers burst out of Rogers's house and opened +fire after the shadowy fugitive. He whirled and fired three shots high +in the air. No matter how impetuous, those warning shots would make +the mob approach the jail with some caution. + +On the door of the jail he beat furiously with the bunch of keys. + +"What's up? Who's there?" cried a voice within. + +"Message from Rogers. Hell's started! He's sent me with the keys!" + +The door jerked open and a tall man, with a rifle slung across one +arm, blocked the entrance. + +"What's the message?" he asked. + +"This!" said Dan, and drove his fist squarely into the other's face. + +He fell without a cry and floundered on the floor, gasping. Dan picked +him up and shoved him through the door, bolting it behind him. +A narrow hall opened before him and ran the length of the small +building. He glanced into the room on one side. It was the kitchen and +eating-room in one. He rushed into the one on the other side. Two men +were there. One was Haines, sitting with his hands manacled. The other +was the second guard, who ran for Dan, whipping his rifle to his +shoulder. As flame spurted from the mouth of the gun, Dan dived at the +man's knees and brought him to the floor with a crash. He rose quickly +and leaned over the fallen man, who lay without moving, his arms +spread wide. He had struck on his forehead when he dropped. He was +stunned for the moment, but not seriously hurt. Dan ran to Haines, who +stood with his hands high above his head. Far away was the shout of +the coming crowd. + +"Shoot and be damned!" said Haines sullenly. + +For answer Dan jerked down the hands of the lone rider and commenced +to try the keys on the handcuffs. There were four keys. The fourth +turned the lock. Haines shouted as his hands fell free. + +"After me!" cried Dan, and raced for the stable. + +As they swung into their saddles outside the shed, the lynchers raced +their horses around the jail. + +"Straightaway!" called Dan. "Through the cottonwoods and down the +lane. After me. Satan!" + +The stallion leaped into a full gallop, heading straight for a tall +group of cottonwoods beyond which was a lane fenced in with barbed +wire. Half a dozen of the pursuers were in a position to cut them off, +and now rushed for the cottonwoods, yelling to their comrades to join +them. A score of lights flashed like giant fireflies as the lynchers +opened fire. + +"They've blocked the way!" groaned Haines. + +Three men had brought their horses to a sliding stop in front of the +cottonwoods and their revolvers cracked straight in the faces of Dan +and Haines. There was no other way for escape. Dan raised his revolver +and fired twice, aiming low. Two of the horses reared and pitched +to the ground. The third rider had a rifle at his shoulder. He was +holding his fire until he had drawn a careful bead. Now his gun +spurted and Dan bowed far over his saddle as if he had been struck +from behind. + +Before the rifleman could fire again Black Bart leaped high in the +air. His teeth closed on the shoulder of the lyncher and the man +catapulted from his saddle to the ground. With his yell in their ears, +Dan and Haines galloped through the cottonwoods, and swept down the +lane. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + + +THE LONG RIDE + +A cheer of triumph came from the lynchers. In fifty yards the +fugitives learned the reason, for they glimpsed a high set of bars +blocking the lane. Dan pulled back beside Haines. + +"Can the bay make it?" he called. + +"No. I'm done for." + +For answer Dan caught the bridle of Lee's horse close to the bit. They +were almost to the bars. A dark shadow slid up and over them. It was +Black Bart, with his head turned to look back even as he jumped, as if +he were setting an example which he bid them follow. Appallingly high +the bars rose directly in front of them. + +"Now!" called Dan to the tall bay, and jerked up on the bit. + +Satan rose like a swallow to the leap. The bay followed in gallant +imitation. For an instant they hung poised in air. Then Satan pitched +to the ground, landing safely and lightly on four cat-like feet. A +click and a rattle behind them--the bay was also over, but his hind +hoofs had knocked down the top bar. He staggered, reeled far to +one side, but recovering, swept on after Satan and Dan. A yell of +disappointment rang far behind. + +Glancing back Haines saw the foremost of the pursuers try to imitate +the feat of the fugitives, but even with the top bar down he failed. +Man and horse pitched to the ground. + +For almost a mile the lane held straight on, and beyond stretched +the open country. They were in that free sweep of hills before the +pursuers remounted beyond the bars. In daytime a mile would have been +a small handicap, but with the night and the hills to cover their +flight, and with such mounts as Satan and the tall bay, they were +safe. In half an hour all sound of them died out, and Haines, +following Dan's example, slowed his horse to an easy gallop. + +The long rider was puzzled by his companion's horsemanship, for Dan +rode leaning far to the right of his saddle, with his head bowed. +Several times Haines was on the verge of speaking, but he refrained. +He commenced to sing in the exultation of freedom. An hour before he +had been in the "rat-trap" with a circle of lynchers around him, and +only two terror-stricken guards to save him from the most horrible of +deaths. Then came Fate and tore him away and gave him to the liberty +of the boundless hills. Fate in the person of this slender, sombre +man. He stared at Dan with awe. + +At the top of a hill his companion drew rein, reeling in the saddle +with the suddenness of the halt. However, in such a horseman, this +could not be. It must be merely a freak feature of his riding. + +"Move," said Dan, his breath coming in pants. "Line out and get to +her." + +"To who?" said Haines, utterly bewildered. + +"Delilah!" + +"What?" + +"Damn you, she's waitin' for you." + +"In the name of God, Barry, why do you talk like this after you've +saved me from hell?" + +He stretched out his hand eagerly, but Dan reined Satan back. + +"Keep your hand. I hate you worse'n hell. There ain't room enough in +the world for us both. If you want to thank me do it by keepin' out of +my path. Because the next time we meet you're goin' to die, Haines. +It's writ in a book. Now feed your hoss the spur and run for Kate +Cumberland. But remember--I'm goin' to get you again if I can." + +"Kate--" began Haines. "She sent you for me?" + +Only the yellow blazing eyes made answer and the wail of a coyote far +away on the shadowy hill. + +"Kate!" cried Haines again, but now there was a world of new meaning +in his voice. He swung his horse and spurred down the slope. + +At the next hill-crest he turned in the saddle, saw the motionless +rider still outlined against the sky, and brought the bay to a halt. +He was greatly troubled. For a reason mysterious and far beyond the +horizon of his knowledge, Dan was surrendering Kate Cumberland to him. + +"He's doing it while he still loves her," muttered Haines, "and am I +cur enough to take her from him after he has saved me from God knows +what?" + +He turned his horse to ride back, but at that moment he caught +the weird, the unearthly note of Dan's whistling. There was both +melancholy and gladness in it. The storm wind running on the hills and +exulting in the blind terror of the night had such a song as this to +sing. + +"If he was a man," Haines argued briefly with himself, "I'd do it. But +he isn't a man. He's a devil. He has no more heart than the wolf which +owns him as master. Shall I give a girl like Kate Cumberland to that +wild panther? She's mine--all mine!" + +Once more he turned his horse and this time galloped steadily on into +the night. + +When Haines dropped out of sight, Dan's whistling stopped. He looked +up to the pitiless glitter of the stars. He looked down to the sombre +sweep of black hills. The wind was like a voice saying over and over +again: "Failure." Everything was lost. + +He slipped from the saddle and took off his coat. From his left +shoulder the blood welled slowly, steadily. He tore a strip from his +shirt and attempted to make a bandage, but he could not manage it with +one hand. + +The world thronged with hostile forces eager to hunt him to the death. +He needed all his strength, and now that was ebbing from a wound which +a child could have staunched for him, but where could he find even a +friendly child? Truly all was lost! The satyr or the black panther +once had less need of man's help than had Dan, but now he was hurt in +body and soul. That matchless co-ordination of eye with hand and foot +was gone. He saw Kate smiling into the eyes of Haines; he imagined +Bill Kilduff sitting on the back of Satan, controlling all that +glorious force and speed; he saw Hal Purvis fighting venomously with +Bart for the mastery which eventually must belong to the man. + +He turned to the wild pair. Vaguely they sensed a danger threatening +their master, and their eyes mourned for his hurt. He buried his face +on the strong, smooth shoulder of Satan, and groaned. There came the +answering whinny and the hot breath of the horse against the side of +his face. There was the whine of Black Bart behind him, then the rough +tongue of the wolf touched the dripping fingers. Then he felt a hot +gust of the wolf's breath against his hand. + +Too late he realized what that meant. He whirled with a cry of +command, but the snarl of Black Bart cut it short. The wolf stood +bristling, trembling with eagerness for the kill, his great white +fangs gleaming, his snarl shrill and guttural with the frenzy of his +desire, for he had tasted blood. Dan understood as he stared into the +yellow green fury of the wolf's eyes, yet he felt no fear, only a +glory in the fierce, silent conflict. He could not move the fingers of +his left hand, but those of his right curved, stiffened. He desired +nothing more in the world than the contact with that great, bristling +black body, to leap aside from those ominous teeth, to set his fingers +in the wolf's throat. Reason might have told him the folly of such a +strife, but all that remained in his mind was the love of combat--a +blind passion. His eyes glowed like those of the wolf, yellow fire +against the green. Black Bart crouched still lower, gathering himself +for the spring, but he was held by the man's yellow gleaming eyes. +They invited the battle. Fear set its icy hand on the soul of the +wolf. + +The man seemed to tower up thrice his normal height. His voice rang, +harsh, sudden, unlike the utterance of man or beast: "_Down!_" + +Fear conquered Black Bart. The fire died from his eyes. His body sank +as if from exhaustion. He crawled on his belly to the feet of his +master and whined an unutterable submission. + +And then that hand, warm and wet with the thing whose taste set the +wolf's heart on fire with the lust to kill, was thrust against his +nose. He leaped back with bared teeth, growling horribly. The eyes +commanded him back, commanded him relentlessly. He howled dismally to +the senseless stars, yet he came; and once more that hand was thrust +against his nose. He licked the fingers. + +That blood-lust came hotter than before, but his fear was greater. +He licked the strange hand again, whining. Then the master kneeled. +Another hand, clean, and free from that horrible warm, wet sign of +death, fell upon his shaggy back. The voice which he knew of old came +to him, blew away the red mist from his soul, comforted him. + +"Poor Bart!" said the voice, and the hand went slowly over his head. +"It weren't your fault." + +The stallion whinnied softly. A deep growl formed in the throat of the +wolf, a mighty effort at speech. And now, like a gleam of light in a +dark room, Dan remembered the house of Buck Daniels. There, at least, +they could not refuse him aid. He drew on his coat, though the +effort set him sweating with agony, got his foot in the stirrup with +difficulty, and dragged himself to the saddle. Satan started at a +swift gallop. + +"Faster, Satan! Faster, partner!" + +What a response! The strong body settled a little closer to the +earth as the stride increased. The rhythm of the pace grew quicker, +smoother. There was no adequate phrase to describe the matchless +motion. And in front--always just a little in front with the plunging +forefeet of the horse seeming to threaten him at every stride, ran +Black Bart with his head turned as if he were the guard and guide of +the fugitive. + +Dan called and Black Bart yelped in answer. Satan tossed up his +head and neighed as he raced along. The two replies were like human +assurances that there was still a fighting chance. + +The steady loss of blood was telling rapidly now. He clutched the +pommel, set his teeth, and felt oblivion settle slowly and surely upon +him. As his senses left him he noted the black outlines of the next +high range of hills, a full ten miles away. + +He only knew the pace of Satan never slackened. There seemed no effort +in it. He was like one of those fabled horses, the offspring of the +wind, and like the wind, tireless, eternal of motion. + +A longer oblivion fell upon Dan. As he roused from it he found +himself slipping in the saddle. He struggled desperately to grasp the +saddlehorn and managed to draw himself up again; but the warning was +sufficient to make him hunt about for some means of making himself +more secure in the saddle. It was a difficult task to do anything +with only one hand, but he managed to tie his left arm to the +bucking-strap. If the end came, at least he was sure to die in the +saddle. Vaguely he was aware as he looked around that the black hills +were no longer in the distance. He was among them. + +On went Satan. His breath was coming more and more laboured. It seemed +to Dan's dim consciousness that some of the spring was gone from that +glorious stride which swept on and on with the slightest undulation, +like a swallow skimming before the wind; but so long as strength +remained he knew that Satan would never falter in his pace. As the +delirium swept once more shadow-like on his brain, he allowed himself +to fall forward, and wound his fingers as closely as possible in the +thick mane. His left arm jerked horribly against the bonds. Black +night swallowed him once more. + +Only his invincible heart kept Satan going throughout that last +stretch. His ears lay flat on his neck, lifting only when the master +muttered and raved in his fever. Foam flew back against his throat +and breast. His breath came shorter, harder, with a rasp; but the +gibbering voice of his rider urged him on, faster, and faster. They +topped a small hill, and a little to the left and a mile away, rose +a group of cottonwoods, and Dan, recovering consciousness, knew the +house of Buck. He also knew that his last moment of consciousness was +come. Surges of sleepy weakness swept over his brain. He could never +guide Satan to the house. + +"Bart!" he called feebly. + +The wolf whining, dropped back beside him. Dan pointed his right arm +straight ahead. Black Bart leaped high into the air and his shrill +yelp told that he had seen the cottonwoods and the house. + +Dan summoned the last of his power and threw the reins over the head +of Satan. + +"Take us in, Bart," he said, and twisting his fingers into Satan's +mane fell across the saddlehorn. + +Satan, understanding the throwing of the reins as an order to halt, +came to a sharp stop, and the body of the senseless rider sagged to +one side. Black Bart caught the reins. They were bitter and salt with +blood of the master. + +He tugged hard. Satan whinnied his doubt, and the growl of Black Bart +answered, half a threat. In a moment more they were picking their way +through the brush towards the house of Buck Daniels. + +Satan was far gone with exhaustion. His head drooped; his legs +sprawled with every step; his eyes were glazed. Yet he staggered on +with the great black wolf pulling at the reins. There was the salt +taste of blood in the mouth of Black Bart; so he stalked on, saliva +dripping from his mouth, and his eyes glazed with the lust to kill. +His furious snarling was the threat which urged on the stallion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + + +BLACK BART TURNS NURSE + +It was old Mrs. Daniels who woke first at the sound of scratching and +growling. She roused her husband and son, and all three went to the +door, Buck in the lead with his six-gun in his hand. At sight of the +wolf he started back and raised the gun, but Black Bart fawned about +his feet. + +"Don't shoot--it's a dog, an' there's his master!" cried Sam. "By the +Lord, they's a dead man tied on that there hoss!" + +Dan lay on Satan, half fallen from the saddle, with his head hanging +far down, only sustained by the strength of the rein. The stallion, +wholly spent, stood with his legs braced, his head low, and his breath +coming in great gasps. The family ran to the rescue. Sam cut the rein +and Buck lowered the limp body in his arms. + +"Buck, is he dead?" whispered Mrs. Daniels. + +"I don't feel no heart beat," said Buck. "Help me fetch him into the +house, Dad!" + +"Look out for the hoss!" cried Sam. + +Buck started back with his burden just in time, for Satan, +surrendering to his exhaustion, pitched to the ground, and lay with +sprawling legs like a spent dog rather than a horse. + +"Let the hoss be," said Buck. "Help me with the man. He's hurt bad." + +Mrs. Daniels ran ahead and lighted a lamp. They laid the body +carefully upon a bed. It made a ghastly sight, the bloodless face with +the black hair fallen wildly across the forehead, the mouth loosely +open, and the lips black with dust. + +"Dad!" said Buck. "I think I've seen this feller. God knows if he's +livin' or dead." + +He dropped to his knees and pressed his ear over Dan's heart. + +"I can't feel no motion. Ma, get that hand mirror--" + +She had it already and now held it close to the lips of the wounded +man. When she drew it away their three heads drew close together. + +"They's a mist on it! He's livin'!" cried Buck. + +"It ain't nothing," said Sam. "The glass ain't quite clear, that's +all." + +Mrs. Daniels removed the last doubt by running her finger across the +surface of the glass. It left an unmistakable mark. + +They wasted no moment then. They brought hot and cold water, washed +out his wound, cleansed away the blood; and while Mrs. Daniels and her +husband fixed the bandage, Buck pounded and rubbed the limp body to +restore the circulation. In a few minutes his efforts were rewarded by +a great sigh from Dan. + +He shouted in triumph, and then: "By God, it's Whistlin' Dan Barry." + +"It is!" said Sam. "Buck, they's been devils workin' tonight. It sure +took more'n one man to nail him this way." + +They fell to work frantically. There was a perceptible pulse, the +breathing was faint but steady, and a touch of colour came in the +face. + +"His arm will be all right in a few days," said Mrs. Daniels, "but he +may fall into a fever. He's turnin' his head from side to side and +talkin'. What's he sayin', Buck?" + +"He's sayin': 'Faster, Satan.'" + +"That's the hoss," interpreted Sam. + +"'Hold us straight, Bart!' That's what he's sayin' now." + +"That's the wolf." + +"'An' it's all for Delilah!' Who's Delilah, Dad?" + +"Maybe it's some feller Dan knows." + +"Some feller?" repeated Mrs. Daniels with scorn. "It's some worthless +girl who got Whistlin' Dan into this trouble." + +Dan's eyes opened but there was no understanding in them. + +"Haines, I hate you worse'n hell!" + +"It's Lee Haines who done this!" cried Sam. + +"If it is, I'll cut out his heart!" + +"It can't be Haines," broke in Mrs. Daniels. "Old man Perkins, didn't +he tell us that Haines was the man that Whistlin' Dan Barry had +brought down into Elkhead? How could Haines do this shootin' while he +was in jail?" + +"Ma," said Sam, "you watch Whistlin' Dan. Buck an' me'll take care of +the hoss--that black stallion. He's pretty near all gone, but he's +worth savin'. What I don't see is how he found his way to us. It's +certain Dan didn't guide him all the way." + +"How does the wind find its way?" said Buck. "It was the wolf that +brought Dan here, but standin' here talkin' won't tell us how. Let's +go out an' fix up Satan." + +It was by no means an easy task. As they approached the horse he +heaved himself up, snorting, and stood with legs braced, and pendant +head. Even his eyes were glazed with exhaustion, but behind them +it was easy to guess the dauntless anger which raged against these +intruders. Yet he would have been helpless against them. It was Black +Bart who interfered at this point. He stood before them, his hair +bristling and his teeth bared. + +Sam suggested: "Leave the door of the house open an' let him hear +Whistlin' Dan's voice." + +It was done. At once the delirious voice of Dan stole out to them +faintly. The wolf turned his head to Satan with a plaintive whine, as +if asking why the stallion remained there when that voice was audible. +Then he raced for the open door and disappeared into the house. + +"Hurry in, Buck!" called Sam. "Maybe the wolf'll scare Ma!" + +They ran inside and found Black Bart on the bed straddling the body of +Whistling Dan, and growling at poor Mrs. Daniels, who crouched in a +corner of the room. It required patient work before he was convinced +that they actually meant no harm to his master. + +"What's the reason of it?" queried Sam helplessly. "The damn wolf let +us take Dan off the hoss without makin' any fuss." + +"Sure he did," assented Buck, "but he ain't sure of me yet, an' every +time he comes near me he sends the cold chills up my back." + +Having decided that he might safely trust them to touch Dan's body, +the great wolf went the round and sniffed them carefully, his hair +bristling and the forbidding growl lingering in his throat. In the end +he apparently decided that they might be tolerated, though he must +keep an eye upon their actions. So he sat down beside the bed and +followed with an anxious eye every movement of Mrs. Daniels. The men +went back to the stallion. He still stood with legs braced far apart, +and head hanging low. Another mile of that long race and he would have +dropped dead beneath his rider. + +Nevertheless at the coming of the strangers he reared up his head a +little and tried to run away. Buck caught the dangling reins near +the bit. Satan attempted to strike out with his forehoof. It was a +movement as clumsy and slow as the blow of a child, and Buck easily +avoided it. Realizing his helplessness Satan whinnied a heart-breaking +appeal for help to his unfailing friend, Black Bart. The wail of the +wolf answered dolefully from the house. + +"Good Lord," groaned Buck. "Now we'll have that black devil on our +hands again." + +"No, we won't," chuckled Sam, "the wolf won't leave Dan. Come on +along, old hoss." + +Nevertheless it required hard labour to urge and drag the stallion +to the stable. At the end of that time they had the saddle off and a +manger full of fodder before him. They went back to the house with the +impression of having done a day's work. + +"Which it shows the fool nature of a hoss," moralized Sam. "That +stallion would be willin' to lay right down and die for the man +that's jest rode him up to the front door of death, but he wishes +everlastingly that he had the strength to kick the daylight out of you +an' me that's been tryin' to take care of him. You jest write this +down inside your brain, Buck: a hoss is like a woman. They jest +nacherally ain't no reason in 'em!" + +They found Dan in a heavy sleep, his breath coming irregularly. Mrs. +Daniels stated that it was the fever which she had feared and she +offered to sit up with the sick man through the rest of that night. +Buck lifted her from the chair and took her place beside the bed. + +"No one but me is goin' to take care of Whistlin' Dan," he stated. + +So the vigil began, with Buck watching Dan, and Black Bart alert, +suspicious, ready at the first wrong move to leap at the throat of +Buck. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + + +NOBODY LAUGHS + +That night the power which had sent Dan into Elkhead, Jim Silent, +stood his turn at watch in the narrow canyon below the old Salton +place. In the house above him sat Terry Jordan, Rhinehart, and Hal +Purvis playing poker, while Bill Kilduff drew a drowsy series of airs +from his mouth-organ. His music was getting on the nerves of the other +three, particularly Jordan and Rhinehart, for Purvis was winning +steadily. + +"Let up!" broke out Jordan at last, pounding on the table with his +fist. "Your damn tunes are gettin' my goat. Nobody can think while +you're hittin' it up like that. This ain't no prayer meetin', Bill." + +For answer Kilduff removed the mouth-organ to take a deep breath, +blinked his small eyes, and began again in a still higher key. + +"Go slow, Terry," advised Rhinehart in a soft tone. "Kilduff ain't +feelin' none too well tonight." + +"What's the matter with him?" growled the scar-faced man, none too +anxious to start an open quarrel with the formidable Kilduff. + +Rhinehart jerked his thumb over his shoulder. + +"The gal in there. He don't like the game the chief has been workin' +with her." + +"Neither do I," said Purvis, "but I'd do worse than the chief done to +get Lee Haines back." + +"Get Haines back?" said Kilduff, his voice ominously deep. "There +ain't no chance of that. If there was I wouldn't have no kick against +the chief for what he's done to Kate." + +"Maybe there's _some_ chance," suggested Rhinehart. + +"Chance, hell!" cried Kilduff. "One man agin a whole town full? I say +all that Jim has done is to get Whistlin' Dan plugged full of lead." + +"Well," said Purvis, "if that's done, ain't the game worth while?" + +The rest of the men chuckled and even Kilduff smiled. + +"Old Joe Cumberland is sure takin' it hard," said "Calamity" +Rhinehart. "All day he's been lightin' into the girl." + +"The funny part," mused Purvis, "is that the old boy really means it. +I think he'd of sawed off his right hand to keep her from goin' to +Whistlin' Dan." + +"An' her sittin' white-faced an' starin' at nothin' an' tryin' to +comfort _him!_" rumbled Kilduff, standing up under the stress of his +unwonted emotion. "My God, she was apologizin' for what she done, an' +tryin' to cheer him up, an' all the time her heart was bustin'." + +He pulled out a violently coloured bandana and wiped his forehead. + +"When we all get down to hell," he said, "they'll be quite a little +talkin' done about this play of Jim's--you c'n lay to that." + +"Who's that singin' down the canyon?" asked Jordan. "It sounds +like--" + +He would not finish his sentence as if he feared to prove a false +prophet. They rose as one man and stared stupidly at one another. + +"Haines!" broke out Rhinehart at last. + +"It ain't no ways possible!" said Kilduff. "And yet--by God, it is!" + +They rushed for the door and made out two figures approaching, one on +horseback, and the other on foot. + +"Haines!" called Purvis, his shrill voice rising to a squeak with his +excitement. + +"Here I am!" rang back the mellow tones of the big lone rider, and in +a moment he and Jim Silent entered the room. + +Glad faces surrounded him. There was infinite wringing of his hand and +much pounding on the back. Kilduff and Rhinehart pushed him back into +a chair. Jordan ran for a flask of whisky, but Haines pushed the +bottle away. + +"I don't want anything on my breath," he said, "because I have to talk +to a woman. Where's Kate?" + +The men glanced at each other uneasily. + +"She's here, all right," said Silent hastily. "Now tell us how you got +away." + +"Afterwards," said Haines. "But first Kate." + +"What's your hurry to see her?" said Kilduff. + +Haines laughed exultantly. + +"You're jealous, Bill! Why, man, she sent for me! Sent Whistling Dan +himself for me." + +"Maybe she did," said Kilduff, "but that ain't no partic'lar sign I'm +jealous. Tell us about the row in Elkhead." + +"That's it," said Jordan. "We can't wait, Lee." + +"Just one word explains it," said Haines. "Barry!" + +"What did he do?" This from every throat at once. + +"Broke into the jail with all Elkhead at his heels flashing their +six-guns--knocked down the two guards--unlocked my bracelets (God +knows where he got the key!)--shoved me onto the bay--drove away with +me--shot down two men while his wolf pulled down a third--made my +horse jump a set of bars as high as my head--and here I am!" + +There was a general loosening of bandanas. The eyes of Jim Silent +gleamed. + +"And all Elkhead knows that he's the man who took you out of jail?" he +asked eagerly. + +"Right. He's put his mark on them," responded Haines, "but the girl, +Jim!" + +"By God!" said Silent. "I've got him! The whole world is agin him--the +law an' the outlaws. He's done for!" + +He stopped short. + +"Unless you're feelin' uncommon grateful to him for what he done for +you, Lee?" + +"He told me he hated me like hell," said Haines. "I'm grateful to him +as I'd be to a mountain lion that happened to do me a good turn. Now +for Kate!" + +"Let him see her," said Silent. "That's the quickest way. Call her +out, Haines. We'll take a little walk while you're with her." + +The moment they were gone Haines rushed to the door and knocked +loudly. It was opened at once and Kate stood before him. She winced at +sight of him. + +"It's I, Kate!" he cried joyously. "I've come back from the dead." + +She stepped from the room and closed the door behind her. + +"What of Dan? Tell me! Was--was he hurt?" + +"Dan?" he repeated with an impatient smile. "No, he isn't hurt. He +pulled me through--got me out of jail and safe into the country. He +had to drop two or three of the boys to do it." + +Her head fell back a little and in the dim light, for the first time, +he saw her face with some degree of clearness, and started at its +pallor. + +"What's the matter, Kate--dear?" he said anxiously. + +"What of Dan?" she asked faintly. + +"I don't know. He's outlawed. He's done for. The whole range will be +against him. But why are you so worried about him, Kate?--when he told +me that you loved me--" + +She straightened. + +"Love? _You?_" + +His face lengthened almost ludicrously. + +"But why--Dan came for me--he said you sent him--he--" he broke down, +stammering, utterly confused. + +"This is why I sent him!" she answered, and throwing open the door +gestured to him to enter. + +He followed her and saw the lean figure of old Joe Cumberland lying on +a blanket close to the wall. + +"That's why!" she whispered. + +"How does he come here?" + +"Ask the devil in his human form! Ask your friend, Jim Silent!" + +He walked into the outer room with his head low. He found the others +already returned. Their carefully controlled grins spoke volumes. + +"Where's Silent?" he asked heavily. + +"He's gone," said Jordan. + +Hal Purvis took Haines to one side. + +"Take a brace," he urged. + +"She hates me, Hal," said the big fellow sadly. "For God's sake, was +there no other way of getting me out?" + +"Not one! Pull yourself together, Lee. There ain't no one for you to +hold a spite agin. Would you rather be back in Elkhead dangling from +the end of a rope?" + +"It seems to have been a sort of--joke," said Haines. + +"Exactly. But at that sort of a joke nobody laughs!" + +"And Whistling Dan Barry?" + +"He's done for. We're all agin him, an' now even the rangers will +help us hunt him down. Think it over careful, Haines. You're agin him +because you want the girl. I want that damned wolf of his, Black Bart. +Kilduff would rather get into the saddle of Satan than ride to heaven. +An' Jim Silent won't never rest till he sees Dan lyin' on the ground +with a bullet through his heart. Here's four of us. Each of us want +something that belongs to him, from his life to his dog. Haines, I'm +askin' you man to man, was there any one ever born who could get away +from four men like us?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + + +WHISTLING DAN, DESPERADO + +It was an urgent business which sent Silent galloping over the hills +before dawn. When the first light came he was close to the place +of Gus Morris. He slowed his horse to a trot, but after a careful +reconnoitring, seeing no one stirring around the sheriff's house, he +drew closer and commenced to whistle a range song, broken here and +there with a significant phrase which sounded like a signal. Finally a +cloth was waved from a window, and Silent, content, turned his back on +the house, and rode away at a walk. + +Within half an hour the pounding of a horse approached from behind. +The plump sheriff came to a halt beside him, jouncing in the saddle +with the suddenness of the stop. + +"What's up?" he called eagerly. + +"Whistlin' Dan." + +"What's new about him? I know they're talkin' about that play he made +agin Haines. They's some says he's a faster man than you, Jim!" + +"They say too damned much!" snarled Silent. "This is what's new. +Whistlin' Dan Barry--no less--has busted open the jail at Elkhead an' +set Lee Haines free." + +The sheriff could not speak. + +"I fixed it, Gus. I staged the whole little game." + +"_You_ fixed it with Whistlin' Dan?" + +"Don't ask me how I worked it. The pint is that he did the job. He got +into the jail while the lynchers was guardin' it, gettin' ready for a +rush. They opened fire. It was after dark last night. Haines an' Dan +made a rush for it from the stable on their hosses. They was lynchers +everywhere. Haines didn't have no gun. Dan wouldn't trust him with +one. He did the shootin' himself. He dropped two of them with two +shots. His devil of a wolf-dog brung down another." + +"Shootin' at night?" + +"Shootin' at night," nodded Silent. "An" now, Gus, they's only one +thing left to complete my little game--an' that's to get Whistlin' Dan +Barry proclaimed an outlaw an' put a price on his head, savvy?" + +"Why d'you hate him so?" asked Morris curiously. + +"Morris, why d'you hate smallpox?" + +"Because a man's got no chance fightin' agin it." + +"Gus, that's why I hate Whistlin' Dan, but I ain't here to argue. I +want you to get Dan proclaimed an outlaw." + +The sheriff scowled and bit his lip. + +"I can't do it, Jim." + +"Why the hell can't you?" + +"Don't go jumpin' down my throat. It ain't human to double cross +nobody the way you're double crossin' that kid. He's clean. He fights +square. He's jest done you a good turn. I can't do it, Jim." + +There was an ominous silence. + +"Gus," said the outlaw, "how many thousand have I given you?" + +The sheriff winced. + +"I dunno," he said, "a good many, Jim." + +"An' now you're goin' to lay down on me?" + +Another pause. + +"People are gettin' pretty excited nowadays," went on Silent +carelessly. "Maybe they'd get a lot more excited if they was to know +jest how much I've paid you, Gus." + +The sheriff struck his forehead with a pudgy hand. + +"When a man's sold his soul to the devil they ain't no way of buyin' +it back." + +"When you're all waked up," said Silent soothingly, "they ain't no +more reasonable man than you, Gus. But sometimes you get to seein' +things cross-eyed. Here's my game. What do you think they'd do in +Elkhead if a letter came for Dan Barry along about now?" + +"The boys must be pretty hot," said the sheriff. "I suppose the +letter'd be opened." + +"It would," said the outlaw. "You're sure a clever feller, Gus. You +c'n see a white hoss in the sunlight. Now what d'you suppose they'd +think if they opened a letter addressed to Dan Barry and read +something like this: + +"'Dear Dan: You made great play for L.H. None of us is going to +forget it. Maybe the thing for you to do is to lay low for a while. +Then join us any time you want to. We all think nobody could of worked +that stunt any smoother than you done. The rest of the boys say that +two thousand ain't enough for the work you've done. They vote that you +get an extra thousand for it. I'm agreeable about that, and when you +get short of cash just drop up and see us--you know where. + +"'That's a great bluff you've made about being on my trail. Keep it +up. It'll fool everybody for a while. They'll think, maybe, that what +you did for L.H. was because he was your personal friend. They won't +suspect that you're now one of us. Adios, + "'J.S.'" + +Silent waited for the effect of this missive to show in Morris's face. + +"Supposin' they was to read a letter like that, Gus. D'you think maybe +it'd sort of peeve them?" + +"He'd be outlawed inside of two days!" + +"Right. Here's the letter. An' you're goin' to see that it's delivered +in Elkhead, Morris." + +The sheriff looked sombrely on the little square of white. + +"I sort of think," he said at last, "that this here's the death +warrant for Whistlin' Dan Barry." + +"So do I," grinned Silent, considerably thirsty for action. "That's +your chance to make one of your rarin', tarin' speeches. Then you hop +into the telegraph office an' send a wire to the Governor askin' that +a price be put on the head of the bloodthirsty desperado, Dan Barry, +commonly known as Whistlin' Dan." + +"It's like something out of a book," said the sheriff slowly. "It's +like some damned horror story." + +"The minute you get the reply to that telegram swear in forty deputies +and announce that they's a price on Barry's head. So long, Gus. This +little play'll make the boys figger you're the most efficient sheriff +that never pulled a gun." + +He turned his horse, laughing loudly, and the sheriff, with that +laughter in his ears, rode back towards his hotel with a downward +head. + + * * * * * + +All day at the Daniels's house the fever grew perceptibly, and that +night the family held a long consultation. + +"They's got to be somethin' done," said Buck. "I'm goin' to ride into +town tomorrow an' get ahold of Doc Geary." + +"There ain't no use of gettin' that fraud Geary," said Mrs. Daniels +scornfully. "I think that if the boy c'n be saved I c'n do it as well +as that doctor. But there ain't no doctor c'n help him. The trouble +with Dan ain't his wound--it's his mind that's keepin' him low." + +"His mind?" queried old Sam. + +"Listen to him now. What's all that talkin' about Delilah?" + +"If it ain't Delilah it's Kate," said Buck. "Always one of the two +he's talkin' about. An' when he talks of them his fever gets worse. +Who's Delilah, an' who's Kate?" + +"They's one an' the same person," said Mrs. Daniels. "It do beat all +how blind men are!" + +"Are we now?" said her husband with some heat. "An' what good would it +do even if we knowed that they was the same?" + +"Because if we could locate the girl they's a big chance she'd bring +him back to reason. She'd make his brain quiet, an' then his body'll +take care of itself, savvy?" + +"But they's a hundred Kates in the range," said Sam. "Has he said her +last name, Buck, or has he given you any way of findin' out where she +lives?" + +"There ain't no way," brooded Buck, "except that when he talks about +her sometimes he speaks of Lee Haines like he wanted to kill him. +Sometimes he's dreamin' of havin' Lee by the throat. D'you honest +think that havin' the girl here would do any good, ma?" + +"Of course it would," she answered. "He's in love, that poor boy is, +an' love is worse than bullets for some men. I don't mean you or Sam. +Lord knows you wouldn't bother yourselves none about a woman." + +Her eyes challenged them. + +"He talks about Lee havin' the girl?" asked Sam. + +"He sure does," said Buck, "which shows that he's jest ravin'. How +could Lee have the girl, him bein' in jail at Elkhead?" + +"But maybe Lee had her before Whistlin' Dan got him at Morris's place. +Maybe she's up to Silent's camp now." + +"A girl in Jim Silent's camp?" repeated Buck scornfully. "Jim'd as +soon have a ton of lead hangin' on his shoulders." + +"Would he though?" broke in Mrs. Daniels. "You're considerable young, +Buck, to be sayin' what men'll do where they's women concerned. Where +is this camp?" + +"I dunno," said Buck evasively. "Maybe up in the hills. Maybe at the +old Salton place. If I thought she was there, I'd risk goin' up and +gettin' her--with her leave or without it!" + +"Don't be talkin' fool stuff like that," said his mother anxiously. +"You ain't goin' near Jim Silent agin, Buck!" + +He shrugged his shoulders, with a scowl, and turned away to go back to +the bedside of Whistling Dan. + +In the morning Buck was hardly less haggard than Dan. His mother, with +clasped hands and an anxious face, stood at the foot of the bed, +but her trouble was more for her son than for Dan. Old Sam was out +saddling Buck's horse, for they had decided that the doctor must be +brought from Elkhead at once. + +"I don't like to leave him," growled Buck. "I misdoubt what may be +happenin' while I'm gone." + +"Don't look at me like that," said his mother. "Why, Buck, a body +would think that if he dies while you're gone you'll accuse your +father an' mother of murder." + +"Don't be no minute away from him," urged Buck, "that's all I ask." + +"Cure his brain," said his mother monotonously, "an' his body'll take +care of itself. Who's that talkin' with your dad outside?" + +Very faintly they caught the sound of voices, and after a moment the +departing clatter of a galloping horse. Old Sam ran into the house +breathless. + +"Who was it? What's the matter, pa?" asked his wife, for the old +cowpuncher's face was pale even through his tan. + +"Young Seaton was jest here. He an' a hundred other fellers is combin' +the range an' warnin' everyone agin that Dan Barry. The bullet in his +shoulder--he got it while he was breaking jail with Lee Haines. An' he +shot down the hosses of two men an' his dog pulled down a third one." + +"Busted jail with Lee Haines!" breathed Buck. "It ain't no ways +nacheral. Which Dan hates Lee Haines!" + +"He was bought off by Jim Silent," said old Sam. "They opened a letter +in Elkhead, an' the letter told everything. It was signed "J.S." an' +it thanked Dan for gettin' "L.H." free." + +"It's a lie!" said Buck doggedly. + +"Buck! Sam!" cried Mrs. Daniels, seeing the two men of her family +glaring at each other with something like hate in their eyes. "Sam, +have you forgot that this lad has eat your food in your house?" + +Sam turned as crimson as he had been pale before. + +"I forgot," he muttered. "I was scared an' forgot!" + +"An' maybe you've forgot that I'd be swingin' on the end of a rope in +Elkhead if it wasn't for Dan Barry?" suggested Buck. + +"Buck," said his father huskily, "I'm askin' your pardon. I got sort +of panicky for a minute, that's all. But what are we goin' to do with +him? If he don't get help he'll be a dead man quick. An' you can't go +to Elkhead for the doctor. They'd doctor Dan with six-guns, that's +what they'd do." + +"What could of made him do it?" said Mrs. Daniels, wiping a sudden +burst of tears from her eyes. + +"Oh, God," said Buck. "How'd I know why he done it? How'd I know why +he turned me loose when he should of took me to Elkhead to be lynched +by the mob there? The girl's the only thing to help him outside of a +doctor. I'm goin' to get the girl." + +"Where?" + +"I dunno. Maybe I'll try the old Salton place." + +"And take her away from Jim Silent?" broke in his father. "You might +jest as well go an' shoot yourse'f before startin'. That'll save your +hoss the long ride, an' it'll bring you to jest the same end." + +"Listen!" said Buck, "they's the wolf mournin'!" + +"Buck, you're loco!" + +"Hush, pa!" whispered Mrs. Daniels. + +She caught the hand of her brawny son. + +"Buck, I'm no end proud of you, lad. If you die, it's a good death! +Tell me, Buck dear, have you got a plan?" + +He ground his big hand across his forehead, scowling. + +"I dunno," he said, drawing a long breath. "I jest know that I got to +get the girl. Words don't say what I mean. All I know is that I've got +to go up there an' get that girl, and bring her back so's she can save +Dan, not from the people that's huntin' him, but from himself." + +"There ain't no way of changin' you?" said his father. + +"Pa," said Mrs. Daniels, "sometimes you're a plumb fool!" + +Buck was already in the saddle. He waved farewell, but after he set +his face towards the far-away hills he never turned his head. Behind +him lay the untamed three. Before him, somewhere among those naked, +sunburned hills, was the woman whose love could reclaim the wild. + +A dimness came before his eyes. He attempted to curse at this +weakness, but in place of the blasphemy something swelled in his +throat, and a still, small music filled his heart. And when at last +he was able to speak his lips framed a vow like that of the old +crusaders. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + + +"WEREWOLF" + +Buck's cattle pony broke from the lope into a steady dog-trot. Now and +then Buck's horse tossed his head high and jerked his ears quickly +back and forth as if he were trying to shake off a fly. As a matter of +fact he was bothered by his master's whistling. The only sound which +he was accustomed to hear from the lips of his rider was a grunted +curse now and then. This whistling made the mustang uneasy. + +Buck himself did not know what the music meant, but it brought into +his mind a thought of strong living and of glorious death. He had +heard it whistled several times by Dan Barry when the latter lay +delirious. It seemed to Buck, while he whistled this air, that the +spirit of Dan travelled beside him, nerving him to the work which lay +ahead, filling the messenger with his own wild strength. + +As Buck dropped into a level tract of country he caught sight of a +rider coming from the opposite direction. As they drew closer the +other man swung his mount far to one side. Buck chuckled softly, +seeing that the other evidently desired to pass without being +recognized. The chuckle died when the stranger changed direction and +rode straight for Buck. The latter pulled his horse to a quick stop +and turned to face the on-comer. He made sure that his six-gun was +loose in the holster, for it was always well to be prepared for the +unusual in these chance meetings in the mountain-desert. + +"Hey, Buck!" called the galloping horseman. + +The hand of Daniels dropped away from his revolver, for he recognized +the voice of Hal Purvis, who swiftly ranged alongside. + +"What's the dope?" asked Buck, producing his tobacco and the +inevitable brown papers. + +"Jest lookin' the landscape over an' scoutin' around for news," +answered Purvis. + +"Pick up anything?" + +"Yeh. Ran across some tenderfoot squatters jest out of Elkhead." + +Buck grunted and lighted his cigarette. + +"Which you've been sort of scarce around the outfit lately," went on +Purvis. + +"I'm headin' for the bunch now," said Buck. + +"D'you bring along that gun of mine I left at your house?" + +"Didn't think of it." + +"Let's drop back to your house an' get it. Then I'll ride up to the +camp with you." + +Buck drew a long puff on his cigarette. He drew a quick mental picture +of Purvis entering the house, finding Dan, and then-- + +"Sure," he said, "you c'n go back to the house an' ask pa for the gun, +if you want to. I'll keep on for the hills." + +"What's your hurry? It ain't more'n three miles back to your house. +You won't lose no time to speak of." + +"It ain't time I'm afraid of losin'," said Buck significantly. + +"Then what the devil is it? I can't afford to leave that gun." + +"All right," said Buck, forcing a grin of derision, "so long, Hal." + +Purvis frowned at him with narrowing eyes. + +"Spit it out, Buck. What's the matter with me goin' back for that gun? +Ain't I apt to find it?" + +"Sure. That's the point. You're apt to find _lots_ of guns. Here's +what I mean, Hal. Some of the cowpunchers are beginnin' to think I'm a +little partial to Jim Silent's crowd. An' they're watchin' my house." + +"The hell!" + +"You're right. It is. That's one of the reasons I'm beatin' it for the +hills." + +He started his horse to a walk. "But of course if you're bound to have +that gun, Hal--" + +Purvis grinned mirthlessly, his lean face wrinkling to the eyes, and +he swung his horse in beside Buck. + +"Anyway," said Buck, "I'm glad to see you ain't a fool. How's things +at the camp?" + +"Rotten. They's a girl up there--" + +"A girl?" + +"You look sort of pleased. Sure they's a girl. Kate Cumberland, she's +the one. She seen us hold up the train, an' now we don't dare let +her go. She's got enough evidence to hang us all if it came to a +show-down." + +"Kate! Delilah." + +"What you sayin'?" + +"I say it's damn queer that Jim'll let a girl stay at the camp." + +"Can't be helped. She's makin' us more miserable than a whole army of +men. We had her in the house for a while, an' then Silent rigged up +the little shack that stands a short ways--" + +"I know the one you mean." + +"She an' her dad is in that. We have to guard 'em at night. She ain't +had no good word for any of us since she's been up there. Every time +she looks at a feller she makes you feel like you was somethin' +low-down--a snake, or somethin'." + +"D'you mean to say none of the boys please her?" asked Buck curiously. +He understood from Dan's delirious ravings that the girl was in love +with Lee Haines and had deserted Barry for the outlaw. "Say, ain't +Haines goodlookin' enough to please her?" + +Purvis laughed unpleasantly. + +"He'd like to be, but he don't quite fit her idea of a man. We'd all +like to be, for that matter. She's a ravin' beauty, Buck. One of these +blue-eyed, yaller-haired kind, see, with a voice like silk. Speakin' +personal, I'm free to admit she's got me stopped." + +Buck drew so hard on the diminishing butt of his cigarette that he +burned his fingers. + +"Can't do nothin' with her?" he queried. + +"What you grinnin' about?" said Purvis hotly. "D'you think _you'd_ +have any better luck with her?" + +Buck chuckled. + +"The trouble with you fellers," he said complacently, "is that you're +all too damned afraid of a girl. You all treat 'em like they was +queens an' you was their slaves. They like a master." + +The thin lips of Purvis curled. + +"You're quite a man, ain't you?" + +"Man enough to handle any woman that ever walked." + +Purvis broke into loud laughter. + +"That's what a lot of us thought," he said at last, "but she breaks +all the rules. She's got her heart set on another man, an' she's that +funny sort that don't never love twice. Maybe you'll guess who the man +is?" + +Buck frowned thoughtfully to cover his growing excitement. + +"Give it up, Buck," advised Purvis. "The feller she loves is Whistlin' +Dan Barry. You wouldn't think no woman would look without shiverin' +at that hell-raiser. But she's goin' on a hunger strike on account of +him. Since yesterday she wouldn't eat none. She says she'll starve +herself to death unless we turn her loose. The hell of it is that she +will. I know it an' so does the rest of the boys." + +"Starve herself to death?" said Buck exuberantly. "Wait till I get +hold of her!" + +"_You?_" + +"Me!" + +Purvis viewed him with compassion. + +"Me bein' your friend, Buck," he said, "take my tip an' don't try no +fool stunts around that girl. Which she once belongs to Whistlin' Dan +Barry an' therefore she's got the taboo mark on her for any other man. +Everything he's ever owned is different, damned different!" + +His voice lowered to a tone which was almost awe. + +"Speakin' for myself, I don't hanker after his hoss like Bill Kilduff; +or his girl, like Lee Haines; or his life, like the chief. All I want +is a shot at that wolf-dog, that Black Bart!" + +"You look sort of het up, Hal." + +"He come near puttin' his teeth into my leg down at Morgan's place the +day Barry cleaned up the chief." + +"Why, any dog is apt to take a snap at a feller." + +"This ain't a dog. It's a wolf. An' Whistlin' Dan--" he stopped. + +"You look sort of queer, Hal. What's up?" + +"You won't think I'm loco?" + +"No." + +"They's some folks away up north that thinks a man now an' then turns +into a wolf." + +Buck nodded and shrugged his shoulders. A little chill went up and +down his back. + +"Here's my idea, Buck. I've been thinkin'--no, it's more like dreamin' +than thinkin'--that Dan Barry is a wolf turned into a man, an' Black +Bart is a man turned into a wolf." + +"Hal, you been drinkin'." + +"Maybe." + +"What made you think--" began Buck, but the long rider put spurs to +his horse and once more broke into a fast gallop. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + + +"THE MANHANDLING" + +It was close to sunset time when they reached the old Salton place, +where they found Silent sitting on the porch with Haines, Kilduff, +Jordan, and Rhinehart. They stood up at sight of the newcomers and +shouted a welcome. Buck waved his hand, but his thoughts were not for +them. The music he had heard Dan whistle formed in his throat. It +reached his lips not in sound but as a smile. + +At the house he swung from the saddle and shook hands with Jim Silent. +The big outlaw retained Buck's fingers. + +"You're comin' in mighty late," he growled, "Didn't you get the +signal?" + +Buck managed to meet the searching eyes. + +"I was doin' better work for you by stayin' around the house," he +said. + +"How d'you mean?" + +"I stayed there to pick up things you might want to know. It wasn't +easy. The boys are beginnin' to suspect me." + +"The cowpunchers is gettin' so thick around those parts," broke in +Purvis, "that Buck wouldn't even let me go back to his house with him +to get my gun." + +The keen eyes of Silent never left the face of Daniels. + +"Don't you know that Gus Morris gives us all the news we need, Buck?" + +Rhinehart and Jordan, who were chatting together, stopped to listen. +Buck smiled easily. + +"I don't no ways doubt that Morris tells you all he knows," he said, +"but the pint is that he don't know everything." + +"How's that?" + +"The rangers is beginnin' to look sidewise an' whisper when Morris +is around. He's played his game with us too long, an' the boys are +startin' to think. Thinkin' is always dangerous." + +"You seem to have been doin' some tall thinkin' yourself," said Silent +drily; "you guess the cowpunchers are goin' on our trail on their own +hook?" + +"There ain't no doubt of it." + +"Where'd you hear it?" + +"Young Seaton." + +"He's one of them?" + +"Yes." + +"I'll remember him. By the way, I see you got a little token of +Whistlin' Dan on your arm." + +He pointed to the bandage on Buck's right forearm. + +"It ain't nothin'," said Buck, shrugging his shoulders. "The cuts are +all healin' up. The arm's as good as ever now." + +"Anyway," said Silent, "you got somethin' comin' to you for the play +you made agin that devil." + +He reached into his pocket, drew out several twenty dollar gold pieces +(money was never scarce with a lone rider) and passed them to Buck. +The latter received the coin gingerly, hesitated, and then returned it +to the hand of the chief. + +"What the hell's the matter?" snarled the big outlaw. "Ain't it +enough?" + +"I don't want no money till I earn it," said Buck. + +"Life's gettin' too peaceful for you, eh?" grinned Silent. + +"Speakin' of peace," chimed in Purvis, with a liberal wink at the rest +of the gang, "Buck allows he's the boy who c'n bring the dove o' the +same into this camp. He says he knows the way to bring the girl over +there to see reason." + +Buck followed the direction of Purvis's eyes and saw Kate sitting on a +rock at a little distance from the shanty in which she lived with her +father. She made a pitiful figure, her chin cupped in her hand, and +her eyes staring fixedly down the valley. He was recalled from her by +the general laughter of the outlaws. + +"You fellers laugh," he said complacently, "because you don't know no +more about women than a cow knows about pictures." + +"What do you think we should do with her, Solomon?" Buck met the cold +blue eye of Haines. + +"Maybe I ain't Solomon," he admitted genially, "but I don't need no +million wives to learn all there is to know about women." + +"Don't make a fool of yourself, Buck," said Silent. "There ain't no +way of movin' that damn girl. She's gone on a hunger strike an' she'll +die in it. We can't send her out of the valley. It's hell to have her +dyin' on our hands here. But there ain't no way to make her change her +mind. I've tried pleadin' with her--I've even offered her money. It +don't do no good. Think of that!" + +"Sure it don't," sneered Buck. "Why, you poor bunch of yearlin' +calves, she don't need no coaxin'. What she needs is a manhandlin'. +She wants a master, that's what she wants." + +"I suppose," said Haines, "you think you're man enough to change her?" + +"None of that!" broke in Silent. "D'you really think you could do +somethin' with her, Buck?" + +"Can I do somethin' with her?" repeated Buck scornfully. "Why, boys, +there ain't nothin' I can't do with a woman." + +"Is it because of your pretty face or your winnin' smile?" growled the +deep bass of Bill Kilduff. + +"Both!" said Buck, promptly. "The wilder they are the harder they fall +for me. I've had a thirty-year old maverick eatin' out of my hand like +she'd been trained for it all her life. The edyoucated ones say I'm +'different'; the old maids allow that I'm 'naive'; the pretty ones +jest say I'm a 'man,' but they spell the word with capital letters." + +"Daniels, you're drunk," said Haines. + +"Am I? It'll take a better man than you to make me sober, Haines!" + +The intervening men jumped back, but the deep voice of Silent rang +out like a pistol shot: "Don't move for your six-guns, or you'll be +playin' agin me!" + +Haines transferred his glare to Silent, but his hand dropped from his +gun. Daniels laughed. + +"I ain't no mile post with a hand pointin' to trouble," he said +gently. "All I say is that the girl needs excitement. Life's so damned +dull for her that she ain't got no interest in livin'." + +"If you're fool enough to try," said Silent, "go ahead. What are you +plannin' to do?" + +"You'll learn by watchin'," grinned Buck, taking the reins of his +horse. "I'm goin' to ask the lady soft an' polite to step up to her +cabin an' pile into some ham an' eggs. If she don't want to I'll rough +her up a little, an' she'll love me for it afterwards!" + +"The way she loves a snake!" growled Kilduff. + +"By God, Silent," said Haines, his face white with emotion, "if Buck +puts a hand on her I'll--" + +"Act like a man an' not like a damn fool boy," said Silent, dropping a +heavy hand on the shoulder of his lieutenant. "He won't hurt her none, +Lee. I'll answer for that. Come on, Buck. Speakin' personal, I wish +that calico was in hell." + +Leading his horse, Buck followed Silent towards the girl. She did not +move when they approached. Her eyes still held far down the valley. +The steps of the big outlaw were shorter and shorter as they drew +close to the girl. Finally he stopped and turned to Buck with a +gesture of resignation. + +"Look at her! This is what she's been doin' ever since yesterday. +Buck, it's up to you to make good. There she is!" + +"All right," said Buck, "it's about time for you amachoors to exit an' +leave the stage clear for the big star. Now jest step back an' take +notes on the way I do it. In fifteen minutes by the clock she'll be +eatin' out of my hand." + +Silent, expectant but baffled, retired a little. Buck removed his hat +and bowed as if he were in a drawing-room. + +"Ma'am," he said, "I got the honour of askin' you to side-step up to +the shanty with me an' tackle a plate of ham an' eggs. Are you on?" + +To this Chesterfieldian outpouring of the heart, she responded with a +slow glance which started at Buck's feet, travelled up to his face, +and then returned to the purple distance down the canyon. In spite of +himself the tell-tale crimson flooded Buck's face. Far away he caught +the muffled laughter of the outlaws. He replaced his hat. + +"Don't make no mistake," he went on, his gesture including the bandits +in the background, and Silent particularly, "I ain't the same sort as +these other fellers. I c'n understand the way you feel after bein' +herded around with a lot of tin horns like these. I'm suggestin' +that you take a long look at me an' notice the difference between an +imitation an' a real man." + +She did look at him. She even smiled faintly, and the smile made +Buck's face once more grow very hot. His voice went hard. + +"For the last time, I'm askin' if you'll go up to the cabin." + +There was both wonder and contempt in her smile. + +In an instant he was in his saddle. He swung far to one side and +caught her in his arms. Vaguely he heard the yell of excitement from +the outlaws. All he was vividly conscious of was the white horror of +her face. She fought like a wildcat. She did not cry out. She struck +him full in the face with the strength of a man, almost. He prisoned +her with a stronger grip, and in so doing nearly toppled from the +saddle, for his horse reared up, snorting. + +A gun cracked twice and two bullets hummed close to his head. From +the corner of his eye he was aware of Silent and Rhinehart flinging +themselves upon Lee Haines, who struggled furiously to fire again. He +drove his spurs deep and the cattle pony started a bucking course for +the shanty. + +"Dan!" he muttered at her ear. + +The yells of the men drowned his voice. She managed to jerk her right +arm free and struck him in the face. He shook her furiously. + +"For Whistling Dan!" he said more loudly. "He's dying!" + +She went rigid in his arms. + +"Don't speak!" he panted. "Don't let them know!" + +The outlaws were running after them, laughing and waving their hats. + +"Dan!" + +"_Faint, you fool!_" + +Her eyes widened with instant comprehension. Every muscle of her body +relaxed; her head fell back; she was a lifeless burden in his arms. +Buck dismounted from the saddle before the shanty. He was white, +shaking, but triumphant. Rhinehart and Purvis and Jordan ran up to +him. Silent and Kilduff were still struggling with Haines in the +distance. + +Rhinehart dropped his head to listen at her breast for the heartbeat. + +"She's dead!" cried Jordan. + +"You're a fool," said Buck calmly. "She's jest fainted, an' when she +comes to, she'll begin tellin' me what a wonderful man I am." + +"She ain't dead," said Rhinehart, raising his head from her heart, +"but Haines'll kill you for this, Buck!" + +"Kate!" cried an agonized voice from the shanty, and old white-haired +Joe Cumberland ran towards them. + +"Jest a little accident happened to your daughter," explained Buck. +"Never mind. I c'n carry her in all right. You fellers stay back. A +crowd ain't no help. Ain't no cause to worry, Mr. Cumberland. She +ain't hurt!" + +He hastened on into the shanty and laid her on the bunk within. Her +father hurried about to bathe her face and throat. Buck pushed the +other three men out of the room. + +"She ain't hurt," he said calmly, "she's jest a little fussed up. +Remember I said in fifteen minutes I'd have her eatin' out of my hand. +I've still got ten minutes of that time. When the ten minutes is up +you all come an' take a look through that window. If you don't see the +girl eatin' at that table, I'll chaw up my hat." + +He crowded them through the door and shut it behind them. A cry of joy +came from old Joe Cumberland and Buck turned to see Kate sitting up on +the bunk. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + + +"LAUGH, DAMN IT!" + +She brushed her father's anxious arms aside and ran to Buck. + +"Shut up!" said Buck. "Talk soft. Better still, don't say nothin'!" + +"Kate," stammered her father, "what has happened?" + +"Listen an' you'll learn," said Buck. "But get busy first. I got to +get you out of here tonight. You'll need strength for the work ahead +of you. You got to eat. Get me some eggs. Eggs and ham. Got 'em? Good. +You, there!" (This to Joe.) "Rake down them ashes. On the jump, Kate. +Some wood here. I got only ten minutes!" + +In three minutes the fire was going, and the eggs in the pan, while +Joe set out some tin dishes on the rickety table, under orders from +Buck, making as much noise as possible. While they worked Buck talked. +By the time Kate's plate was ready his tale was done. He expected +hysterics. She was merely white and steady-eyed. + +"You're ready?" he concluded. + +"Yes." + +"Then begin by doin' what I say an' ask no questions. Silent an' his +crew'll be lookin' through the window over there pretty soon. You got +to be eatin' an' appearin' to enjoy talkin' to me. Get that an' don't +forget it. Mix in plenty of smiles. Cumberland, you get back into the +shadow an' stay there. Don't never come out into the light. Your face +tells more'n a whole book, an' believe me, Jim Silent is a quick +reader." + +Joe retreated to a corner of the room into which the light of the lamp +did not penetrate. + +"Sit down at that table!" ordered Buck, and he placed a generous +portion of fried eggs and ham before her. + +"I can't eat. Is Dan--" + +"I hear 'em at the window!" + +He slipped onto a box on the opposite side of the table and leaned +towards her, supporting his chin in his hands. Kate began to eat +hurriedly. + +"No! no!" advised Buck. "You eat as if you was scared. You want to be +slow an' deliberate. Watch out! They've moved the board that covers +the window!" + +For he saw a group of astonished faces outside. + +"Smile at me!" + +Her response made even Buck forget her pallor. Outside the house there +was a faint buzz of whispers. + +"Keep it up!" + +"I'll do my best," she said faintly. + +Buck leaned back and burst into uproarious laughter. + +"That's a good one!" he cried, slamming the broad palm of his hand +against the table so that the tin dishes jumped. "I never heard the +beat of it!" And in a whispered tone aside: "_Laugh, damn it!_" + +Her laughter rang true enough, but it quavered perilously close to a +sob towards the close. + +"I always granted Jim Silent a lot of sense," he said, "an' has he +really left you alone all this time? Damn near died of homesickness, +didn't you?" + +She laughed again, more confidently this time. The board was suddenly +replaced at the window. + +"Now I got to go out to them," he said. "After what Silent has seen +he'll trust me with you. He'll let me come back." + +She dropped her soft hands over his clenched fist. + +"It will be soon? Minutes are greater than hours." + +"I ain't forgot. Tonight's the time." + +Before he reached the door she ran to him. Two arms went round his +neck, two warm lips fluttered against his. + +"God bless you!" she whispered. + +Buck ran for the door. Outside he stood bareheaded, breathing deeply. +His face was hot with shame and delight, and he had to walk up and +down for a moment before he could trust himself to enter the ranch +house. When he finally did so he received a greeting which made him +think himself a curiosity rather than a man. Even Jim Silent regarded +him with awe. + +"Buck," said Jordan, "you don't never need to work no more. All you +got to do is to walk into a town, pick out the swellest heiress, an' +marry her." + +"The trouble with girls in town," said Buck, "is that there ain't no +room for a man to operate. You jest nacherally can't ride a hoss into +a parlour." + +Lee Haines drew Buck a little to one side. + +"What message did you bring to her, Buck?" he said. + +"What d'you mean?" + +"Look here, friend, these other boys are too thick-headed to +understand Kate Cumberland, but I know her kind." + +"You're a little peeved, ain't you Lee?" grinned Buck. "It ain't my +fault that she don't like you." + +Haines ground his teeth. + +"It was a very clever little act that you did with her, but it +couldn't quite deceive me. She was too pale when she laughed." + +"A jealous feller sees two things for every one that really happens, +Lee." + +"Who was the message from?" + +"Did she ever smile at you like she done at me?" + +"Was it from Dan Barry that you brought word?" + +"Did she ever let her eyes go big an' soft when she looked at you?" + +"Damn you." + +"Did she ever lean close to you, so's you got the scent of her hair, +Lee?" + +"I'll kill you for this, Daniels!" + +"When I left she kissed me good-bye, Lee." + +In spite of his bravado, Buck was deeply anxious. He watched Haines +narrowly. Only two men in the mountain-desert would have had a chance +against this man in a fight, and Buck knew perfectly well that he was +not one of the two. + +"Watch yourself, Daniels," said Haines. "I know you're lying and I'm +going to keep an eye on you." + +"Thanks," grinned Buck. "I like to have a friend watchin' out for me." + +Haines turned on his heel and went back to the card table, where Buck +immediately joined the circle. + +"Wait a minute, Lee," said Silent. "Ain't it your turn to stand guard +on the Cumberlands tonight?" + +"Right--O," answered Haines cheerfully, and rose from the table. + +"Hold on," said Buck. "Are you goin' to spoil all the work I done +today with that girl?" + +"What's the matter?" asked Silent. + +"Everything's the matter! Are you goin' to put a man she hates out +there watchin' her." + +"Damn you, Daniels," said Haines fiercely, "you're rolling up a long +account, but it only takes a bullet to collect that sort of a bill!" + +"If it hadn't been for Haines, would the girl's father be here?" asked +Buck. "Besides, she don't like blonds." + +"What type does she like?" asked Silent, enjoying the quarrel between +his lieutenant and the recruit. + +"Likes 'em with dark hair an' eyes," said Buck calmly. "Look at me, +for instance!" + +Even Haines smiled, though his lips were white with anger. + +"D'you want to stand guard over her yourself?" said the chief. + +"Sure," grinned Buck, "maybe she'd come out an' pass the time o' night +with me." + +"Go ahead and take the job," nodded Silent. "I got an idea maybe she +will." + +"Silent," warned Haines, "hasn't it occurred to you that there's +something damned queer about the ease with which Buck slid into the +favour of the girl?" + +"Well?" + +"All his talk about manhandling her is bunk. He had some message for +her. I saw him speak to her when she was struggling in his arms. Then +she conveniently fainted." + +Silent turned on Buck. + +"Is that straight?" + +"It is," said Daniels easily. + +The outlaws started and their expectant grins died out. + +"By God, Buck!" roared Silent, "if you're double crossin' me--but I +ain't goin' to be hasty now. What happened? Tell it yourself! What did +you say to her?" + +"While she was fightin' with me," said Buck, "she hollered: 'Let me +go!' I says: 'I'll see you in hell first!' Then she fainted." + +The roar of laughter drowned Haines's further protest. + +"You win, Buck," said Silent. "Take the job." + +As Buck started for the door Haines called to him: + +"Hold on, Buck, if you're aboveboard you won't mind giving your word +to see that no one comes up the valley and that you'll be here in the +morning?" + +The words set a swirling blackness before Buck's eyes. He turned +slowly. + +"That's reasonable," said Silent. "Speak up, Daniels." + +"All right," said Buck, his voice very low. "I'll be here in the +morning, and I'll see that no one comes up the valley." + +There was the slightest possible emphasis on the word "up." + +On a rock directly in front of the shanty Buck took up his watch. The +little house behind him was black. Presently he heard the soft call of +Kate: "Is it time?" + +His eyes wandered to the ranch house. He could catch the drone of many +voices. He made no reply. + +"Is it time?" she repeated. + +Still he would not venture a reply, however guarded. She called a +third time, and when he made no response he heard her voice break to +a moan of hopelessness. And yet he waited, waited, until the light in +the ranch house went out, and there was not a sound. + +"Kate!" he said, gauging his voice carefully so that it could not +possibly travel to the ranch house, which all the while he carefully +scanned. + +For answer the front door of the shanty squeaked. + +"Back!" he called. "Go back!" + +The door squeaked again. + +"They're asleep in the ranch house," she said. "Aren't we safe?" + +"S--sh!" he warned. "Talk low! They aren't all asleep. There's one in +the ranch house who'll never take his eyes off me till morning." + +"What can we do?" + +"Go out the back way. You won't be seen if you're careful. Haines has +his eyes on me, not you. Go for the stable. Saddle your horses. Then +lead them out and take the path on the other side of the house. Don't +mount them until you're far below the house. Go slow all the way. +Sounds travel far up this canyon." + +"Aren't you coming with us?" + +"No." + +"But when they find us gone?" + +"Think of Dan--not me!" + +"God be merciful to you!" + +In a moment the back door of the shanty creaked. They must be opening +it by inches. When it was wide they would run for the stable. He +wished now that he had warned Kate to walk, for a slow moving object +catches the eye more seldom than one which travels fast. If Lee Haines +was watching at that moment his attention must be held to Buck for one +all important minute. He stood up, rolled a cigarette swiftly, and +lighted it. The spurt and flare of the match would hold even the most +suspicious eye for a short time, and in those few seconds Kate and her +father might pass out of view behind the stable. + +He sat down again. A muffled sneeze came from the ranch house and Buck +felt his blood run cold. The forgotten cigarette between his fingers +burned to a dull red and then went out. In the stable a horse stamped. +He leaned back, locked his hands idly behind his head, and commenced +to whistle. Now there was a snort, as of a horse when it leaves the +shelter of a barn and takes the first breath of open air. + +All these sounds were faint, but to Buck, straining his ears in an +agony of suspense, each one came like the blast of a trumpet. Next +there was a click like that of iron striking against rock. Evidently +they were leading the horses around on the far side of the house. +With a trembling hand he relighted his cigarette and waited, waited, +waited. Then he saw them pass below the house! They were dimly +stalking figures in the night, but to Buck it seemed as though they +walked in the blaze of ten thousand searchlights. He held his breath +in expectancy of that mocking laugh from the house--that sharp command +to halt--that crack of the revolver. + +Yet nothing happened. Now he caught the click of the horses' iron +shoes against the rocks farther and farther down the valley. Still no +sound from the ranch house. They were safe! + +It was then that the great temptation seized on Buck. + +It would be simple enough for him to break away. He could walk to the +stable, saddle his horse, and tear past the ranch house as fast as his +pony could gallop. By the time the outlaws were ready for the pursuit, +he would be a mile or more away, and in the hills such a handicap was +enough. One thing held him. It was frail and subtle like the invisible +net of the enchanter--that word he had passed to Jim Silent, to see +that nothing came up the valley and to appear in the ranch house at +sunrise. + +In the midst of his struggle, strangely enough, he began to whistle +the music he had learned from Dan Barry, the song of The Untamed, +those who hunt for ever, and are for ever hunted. When his whistling +died away he touched his hand to his lips where Kate had kissed him, +and then smiled. The sun pushed up over the eastern hills. + +When he entered the ranch house the big room was a scene of much arm +stretching and yawning as the outlaws dressed. Lee Haines was already +dressed. Buck smiled ironically. + +"I say, Lee," he said, "you look sort of used up this mornin', eh?" + +The long rider scowled. + +"I'd make a guess you've not had much sleep, Haines," went on Buck. +"Your eyes is sort of hollow." + +"Not as hollow as your damned lying heart!" + +"Drop that!" commanded Silent. "You hold a grudge like a woman, Lee! +How was the watch, Buck? Are you all in?" + +"Nothin' come up the valley, an' here I am at sunrise," said Buck. "I +reckon that speaks for itself." + +"It sure does," said Silent, "but the gal and her father are kind of +slow this mornin'. The old man generally has a fire goin' before dawn +is fairly come. There ain't no sign of smoke now." + +"Maybe he's sleepin' late after the excitement of yesterday," said +Bill Kilduff. "You must of thrown some sensation into the family, +Buck." + +The eyes of Haines had not moved from the face of Buck. + +"I think I'll go over and see what's keeping them so late in bed," he +said, and left the house. + +"He takes it pretty hard," said Jordan, his scarred face twisted with +Satanic mirth, "but don't go rubbin' it into him, Buck, or you'll be +havin' a man-sized fight on your hands. I'd jest about as soon mix +with the chief as cross Haines. When he starts the undertaker does the +finishin'!" + +"Thanks for remindin' me," said Buck drily. Through the window he saw +Haines throw open the door of the shanty. + +The outcry which Buck expected did not follow. For a long moment the +long rider stood there without moving. Then he turned and walked +slowly back to the house, his head bent, his forehead gathered in a +puzzled frown. + +"What's the matter, Lee?" called Silent as his lieutenant entered the +room again. "You look sort of sick. Didn't she have a bright mornin' +smile for you?" + +Haines raised his head slowly. The frown was not yet gone. + +"They aren't there," he announced. + +His eyes shifted to Buck. Everyone followed his example, Silent +cursing softly. + +"As a joker, Lee," said Buck coldly, "you're some Little Eva. I s'pose +they jest nacherally evaporated durin' the night, maybe?" + +"Haines," said Silent sharply, "are you serious?" + +The latter nodded. + +"Then by God, Buck, you'll have to say a lot in a few words. Lee, you +suspected him all the time, but I was a fool!" + +Daniels felt the colour leaving his face, but help came from the +quarter from which he least expected it. + +"Jim, don't draw!" cried Haines. + +The eyes of the chief glittered like the hawk's who sees the field +mouse scurrying over the ground far below. + +"He ain't your meat, Lee," he said. "It's me he's double crossed." + +"Chief," said Haines, "last night while he watched the shanty, I +watched _him!_" + +"Well?" + +"I saw him keep his post in front of the cabin all night without +moving. And he was wide awake all the time." + +"Then how in hell--" + +"The back door of the cabin!" said Kilduff suddenly. + +"By God, that's it! They sneaked out there and then went down on the +other side of the house." + +"If I had let them go," interposed Buck, "do you suppose I'd be here?" + +The keen glance of Silent moved from Buck to Haines, and then back +again. He turned his back on them. + +The quiet which had fallen on the room was now broken by the usual +clatter of voices, cursing, and laughter. In the midst of it Haines +stepped close to Buck and spoke in a guarded voice. + +"Buck," he said, "I don't know how you did it, but I have an idea--" + +"Did what?" + +The eyes of Haines were sad. + +"I was a clean man, once," he said quietly, "and you've done a clean +man's work!" + +He put out his hand and that of Buck's advanced slowly to meet it. + +"Was it for Dan or Kate that you did it?" + +The glance of Buck roamed far away. + +"I dunno," he said softly. "I think it was to save my own rotten +soul!" + +On the other side of the room Silent beckoned to Purvis. + +"What is it?" asked Hal, coming close. + +"Speak low," said Silent. "I'm talking to you, not to the crowd. +I think Buck is crooked as hell. I want you to ride down to the +neighbourhood of his house. Scout around it day and night. You may see +something worth while." + +Meanwhile, in that utter blackness which precedes the dawn, Kate and +her father reached the mouth of the canyon. + +"Kate," said old Joe in a tremulous voice, "if I was a prayin' man I'd +git down on my knees an' thank God for deliverin' you tonight." + +"Thank Buck Daniels, who's left his life in pawn for us. I'll go +straight for Buck's house. You must ride to Sheriff Morris and tell +him that an honest man is up there in the power of Silent's gang." + +"But--" he began. + +She waved her hand to him, and spurring her horse to a furious gallop +raced off into the night. Her father stared after her for a few +moments, but then, as she had advised, rode for Gus Morris. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + + +THOSE WHO SEE IN THE DARK + +It was still early morning when Kate swung from her horse before the +house of Buck Daniels. Instinct seemed to lead her to the sick-room, +and when she reached it she paid not the slightest attention to the +old man and his wife, who sat nodding beside the bed. They started up +when they heard the challenging growl of Black Bart, which relapsed +into an eager whine of welcome as he recognized Kate. + +She saw nothing but the drawn white face of Dan and his blue pencilled +eyelids. She ran to him. Old Sam, hardly awake, reached out to stop +her. His wife held him back. + +"It's Delilah!" she whispered. "I seen her face!" + +Kate was murmuring soft, formless sounds which made the old man and +his wife look to each other with awe. They retreated towards the door +as if they had been found intruding where they had no right. + +They saw the fever-bright eyes of Dan open. They heard him murmur +petulantly, his glance wandering. Her hand passed across his forehead, +and then her touch lingered on the bandage which surrounded his left +shoulder. She cried out at that, and Dan's glance checked in its +wandering and fixed upon the face which leaned above him. They saw his +eyes brighten, widen, and a frown gradually contract his forehead. +Then his hand went up slowly and found hers. + +He whispered something. + +"What did he say?" murmured Sam. + +"I dunno," she answered. "I think it was 'Delilah!' See her shrink!" + +"Shut up!" cautioned Sam. "Ma, he's comin' to his senses!" + +There was no doubt of it now, for a meaning had come into his eyes. + +"Shall I take her away?" queried Sam in a hasty whisper. "He may do +the girl harm. Look at the yaller in his eyes!" + +"No," said his wife softly, "it's time for us to leave 'em alone." + +"But look at him now!" he muttered. "He's makin' a sound back in his +throat like the growl of a wolf! I'm afeard for the gal, ma!" + +"Sam, you're an old fool!" + +He followed her reluctantly from the room. + +"Now," said his wife, "we c'n leave the door a little open--jest +a crack--an' you c'n look through and tell when she's in any reel +danger." + +Sam obeyed. + +"Dan ain't sayin' a word," he said. "He's jest glarin' at her." + +"An' what's she doin'?" asked Mrs. Daniels. + +"She's got her arm around his shoulders. I never knew they could be +such a pile of music in a gal's voice, ma!" + +"Sam, you was always a fool!" + +"He's pushin' her away to the length of his arm." + +"An' she? An' she?" whispered Mrs. Daniels. + +"She's talkin' quick. The big wolf is standin' close to them an' +turnin' his head from one face to the other like he was wonderin' +which was right in the argyment." + +"The ways of lovers is as queer as the ways of the Lord, Sam!" + +"Dan has caught an arm up before his face, an' he's sayin' one word +over an' over. She's dropped on her knees beside the bed. She's +talkin'. Why does she talk so low, ma?" + +"She don't dare speak loud for fear her silly heart would bust. Oh, I +know, I know! What fools all men be! What fools! She's askin' him to +forgive her." + +"An' he's tryin' all his might not to," whispered Mrs. Daniels in an +awe-stricken voice. + +"Black Bart has put his head on the lap of the gal. You c'n hear him +whine! Dan looks at the wolf an' then at the girl. He seems sort of +dumbfoundered. She's got her one hand on the head of Bart. She's got +the other hand to her face, and she's weepin' into that hand. Martha, +she's give up tryin' to persuade him." + +There was a moment of silence. + +"He's reachin' out his hand for Black Bart. His fingers is on those of +the girl. They's both starin'." + +"Ay, ay!" she said. "An' what now?" + +But Sam closed the door and set his back to it, facing his wife. + +"I reckon the rest of it's jest like the endin' of a book, ma," he +said. + +"Men is all fools!" whispered Mrs. Daniels, but there were tears in +her eyes. + +Sam went out to put up Kate's horse in the stable. Mrs. Daniels sat in +the dining-room, her hands clasped in her lap while she watched the +grey dawn come up the east. When Sam entered and spoke to her, she +returned no answer. He shook his head as if her mood completely +baffled him, and then, worn out by the long watching, he went to bed. + +For a long time Mrs. Daniels sat without moving, with the same strange +smile transfiguring her. Then she heard a soft step pause at the +entrance to the room, and turning saw Kate. There was something in +their faces which made them strangely alike. A marvellous grace and +dignity came to Mrs. Daniels as she rose. + +"My dear!" she said. + +"I'm so happy!" whispered Kate. + +"Yes, dear! And Dan?" + +"He's sleeping like a child! Will you look at him? I think the fever's +gone!" + +They went hand in hand--like two girls, and they leaned above the bed +where Whistling Dan lay smiling as he slept. On the floor Black Bart +growled faintly, opened one eye on them, and then relapsed into +slumber. There was no longer anything to guard against in that house. + + * * * * * + +It was several days later that Hal Purvis, returning from his scouting +expedition, met no less a person that Sheriff Gus Morris at the mouth +of the canyon leading to the old Salton place. + +"Lucky I met you, Hal," said the genial sheriff. "I've saved you from +a wild-goose chase." + +"How's that?" + +"Silent has jest moved." + +"Where?" + +"He's taken the trail up the canyon an' cut across over the hills to +that old shanty on Bald-eagle Creek. It stands--" + +"I know where it is," said Purvis. "Why'd he move?" + +"Things was gettin' too hot. I rode over to tell him that the boys was +talkin' of huntin' up the canyon to see if they could get any clue of +him. They knowed from Joe Cumberland that the gang was once here." + +"Cumberland went to you when he got out of the valley?" queried Purvis +with a grin. + +"Straight." + +"And then where did Cumberland go?" + +"I s'pose he went home an' joined his gal." + +"He didn't," said Purvis drily. + +"Then where is he? An' who the hell cares where he is?" + +"They're both at Buck Daniels's house." + +"Look here, Purvis, ain't Buck one of your own men? Why, I seen him up +at the camp jest a while ago!" + +"Maybe you did, but the next time you call around he's apt to be +missin'." + +"D'you think--" + +"He's double crossed us. I not only seen the girl an' her father at +Buck's house, but I also seen a big dog hangin' around the house. +Gus, it was Black Bart, an' where that wolf is you c'n lay to it that +Whistlin' Dan ain't far away!" + +The sheriff stared at him in dumb amazement, his mouth open. + +"They's a price of ten thousand on the head of Whistlin' Dan," +suggested Purvis. + +The sheriff still seemed too astonished to understand. + +"I s'pose," said Purvis, "that you wouldn't care special for an easy +lump sum of ten thousand, what?" + +"In Buck Daniels's house!" burst out the sheriff. + +"Yep," nodded Purvis, "that's where the money is if you c'n get enough +men together to gather in Whistlin' Dan Barry." + +"D'you really think I'd get some boys together to round up Whistlin' +Dan? Why, Hal, you know there ain't no real reason for that price on +his head!" + +"D'you always wait for 'real reasons' before you set your fat hands on +a wad of money?" + +The sheriff moistened his lips. + +"Ten thousand dollars!" + +"Ten thousand dollars!" echoed Purvis. + +"By God, I'll do it! If I got him, the boys would forget all about +Silent. They're afraid of Jim, but jest the thought of Barry paralyzes +them! I'll start roundin' up the boys I need today. Tonight we'll do +our plannin'. Tomorrer mornin' bright an' early we'll hit the trail." + +"Why not go after him tonight?" + +"Because he'd have an edge on us. I got a hunch that devil c'n see in +the dark." + +He grinned apologetically for this strange idea, but Purvis nodded +with perfect sympathy, and then turned his horse up the canyon. The +sheriff rode home whistling. On ten thousand dollars more he would be +able to retire from this strenuous life. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + + +THE SONG OF THE UNTAMED + +Buck and his father were learning of a thousand crimes charged against +Dan. Wherever a man riding a black horse committed an outrage it was +laid to the account of this new and most terrible of long riders. +Two cowpunchers were found dead on the plains. Their half-emptied +revolvers lay close to their hands, and their horses were not far off. +In ordinary times it would have been accepted that they had killed +each other, for they were known enemies, but now men had room for one +thought only. And why should not a man with the courage to take an +outlaw from the centre of Elkhead be charged with every crime on the +range? Jim Silent had been a grim plague, but at least he was human. +This devil defied death. + +These were both sad and happy days for Kate. The chief cause of her +sadness, strangely enough, was the rapidly returning strength of +Dan. While he was helpless he belonged to her. When he was strong +he belonged to his vengeance on Jim Silent; and when she heard Dan +whistling softly his own wild, weird music, she knew its meaning as +she would have known the wail of a hungry wolf on a winter night. It +was the song of the untamed. She never spoke of her knowledge. She +took the happiness of the moment to her heart and closed her eyes +against tomorrow. + +Then came an evening when she watched Dan play with Black Bart--a +game of tag in which they darted about the room with a violence +which threatened to wreck the furniture, but running with such soft +footfalls that there was no sound except the rattle of Bart's claws +against the floor and the rush of their breath. They came to an abrupt +stop and Dan dropped into a chair while Black Bart sank upon his +haunches and snapped at the hand which Dan flicked across his face +with lightning movements. The master fell motionless and silent. His +eyes forgot the wolf. Rising, they rested on Kate's face. They rose +again and looked past her. + +She understood and waited. + +"Kate," he said at last, "I've got to start on the trail." + +Her smile went out. She looked where she knew his eyes were staring, +through the window and far out across the hills where the shadows +deepened and dropped slanting and black across the hollows. Far away +a coyote wailed. The wind which swept the hills seemed to her like a +refrain of Dan's whistling--the song and the summons of the untamed. + +"That trail will never bring you home," she said. + +There was a long silence. + +"You ain't cryin', honey?" + +"I'm not crying, Dan." + +"I got to go." + +"Yes." + +"Kate, you got a dyin' whisper in your voice." + +"That will pass, dear." + +"Why, honey, you _are_ cryin'!" + +He took her face between his hands, and stared into her misted eyes, +but then his glance wandered past her, through the window, out to the +shadowy hills. + +"You won't leave me now?" she pleaded. + +"I must!" + +"Give me one hour more!" + +"Look!" he said, and pointed. + +She saw Black Bart reared up with his forepaws resting on the +window-sill, while he looked into the thickening night with the eyes +of the hunter which sees in the dark. + +"The wolf knows, Kate," he said, "but I can't explain." + +He kissed her forehead, but she strained close to him and raised her +lips. + +She cried, "My whole soul is on them." + +"Not that!" he said huskily. "There's still blood on my lips an' I'm +goin' out to get them clean." + +He was gone through the door with the wolf racing before him. + +She stumbled after him, her arms outspread, blind with tears; and +then, seeing that he was gone indeed, she dropped into the chair, +buried her face against the place where his head had rested, and wept. +Far away the coyote wailed again, and this time nearer. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + + +THE COWARD + +Before the coyote cried again, three shadows glided into the night. +The lighted window in the house was like a staring eye that searched +after them, but Satan, with the wolf running before, vanished quickly +among the shadows of the hills. They were glad. They were loosed in +the void of the mountain-desert with no destiny save the will of the +master. They seemed like one being rather than three. The wolf was the +eyes, the horse the strong body to flee or pursue, and the man was the +brain which directed, and the power which struck. + +He had formulated no plan of action to free Buck and kill Silent. All +he knew was that he must reach the long riders at once, and he would +learn their whereabouts from Morris. He rode more slowly as he +approached the hotel of the sheriff. Lights burned at the dining-room +windows. Probably the host still sat at table with his guests, but it +was strange that they should linger over their meal so late. He had +hoped that he would be able to come upon Morris by surprise. Now he +must take him in the midst of many men. With Black Bart slinking at +his heels he walked softly across the porch and tiptoed through the +front room. + +The door to the dining-room was wide. Around the table sat a dozen +men, with the sheriff at their head. The latter, somewhat red of face, +as if from the effort of a long speech, was talking low and earnestly, +sometimes brandishing his clenched fist with such violence that it +made his flabby cheeks quiver. + +"We'll get to the house right after dawn," he was saying, "because +that's the time when most men are so thick-headed with sleep that--" + +"Not Whistling Dan Barry," said one of the men, shaking his head. "He +won't be thick-headed. Remember, I seen him work in Elkhead, when he +slipped through the hands of a roomful of us." + +A growl of agreement went around the table, and Black Bart in +sympathy, echoed the noise softly. + +"What's that?" called the sheriff, raising his head sharply. + +Dan, with a quick gesture, made Black Bart slink a pace back. + +"Nothin'," replied one of the men. "This business is gettin' on your +nerves, sheriff. I don't blame you. It's gettin' on mine." + +"I'm trustin' to you boys to stand back of me all through," said the +sheriff with a sort of whine, "but I'm thinkin' that we won't have no +trouble. When we see him we won't stop for no questions to be asked, +but turn loose with our six-guns an' shoot him down like a dog. He's +not human an' he don't deserve--Oh, God!" + +He started up from his chair, white faced, his hands high above his +head, staring at the apparition of Whistling Dan, who stood with two +revolvers covering the posse. Every man was on his feet instantly, +with arms straining stiffly up. The muzzles of revolvers are like the +eyes of some portraits. No matter from what angle you look at them, +they seem directed straight at you. And every cowpuncher in the room +was sure that he was the main object of Dan's aim. + +"Morris!" said Dan. + +"For God's sake, don't shoot!" screamed the sheriff. "I--" + +"Git down on your knees! Watch him, Bart!" + +As the sheriff sank obediently to his knees, the wolf slipped up to +him with a stealthy stride and stood half crouched, his teeth bared, +silent. No growl could have made Bart more terribly threatening. +Dan turned completely away from Morris so that he could keep a more +careful watch on the others. + +"Call off your wolf!" moaned Morris, a sob of terror in his voice. + +"I ought to let him set his teeth in you," said Dan, "but I'm goin' to +let you off if you'll tell me what I want to know." + +"Yes! Anything!" + +"Where's Jim Silent?" + +All eyes flashed towards Morris. The latter, as the significance of +the question came home to him, went even a sicklier white, like the +belly of a dead fish. His eyes moved swiftly about the circle of his +posse. Their answering glares were sternly forbidding. + +"Out with it!" commanded Dan. + +The sheriff strove mightily to speak, but only a ghastly whisper came: +"You got the wrong tip, Dan. I don't know nothin' about Silent. I'd +have him in jail if I did!" + +"Bart!" said Dan. + +The wolf slunk closer to the kneeling man. His hot breath fanned the +face of the sheriff and his lips grinned still farther back from the +keen, white teeth. + +"Help!" yelled Morris. "He's at the shanty up on Bald-eagle Creek." + +A rumble, half cursing and half an inarticulate snarl of brute rage, +rose from the cowpunchers. + +"Bart," called Dan again, and leaped back from the door, raced out to +Satan, and drove into the night at a dead gallop. + +Half the posse rushed after him. A dozen shots were pumped after the +disappearing shadowy figure. Two or three jumped into their saddles. +The others called them back. + +"Don't be an ass, Monte," said one. "You got a good hoss, but you +ain't fool enough to think he c'n catch Satan?" + +They trooped back to the dining-room, and gathered in a silent circle +around the sheriff, whose little fear-bright eyes went from face to +face. + +"Ah, this is the swine," said one, "that was guardin' our lives!" + +"Fellers," pleaded the sheriff desperately, "I swear to you that I +jest heard of where Silent was today. I was keepin' it dark until +after we got Whistling Dan. Then I was goin' to lead you--" + +The flat of a heavy hand struck with a resounding thwack across his +lips. He reeled back against the wall, sputtering the blood from his +split mouth. + +"Pat," said Monte, "your hoss is done for. Will you stay here an' see +that he don't get away? We'll do somethin' with him when we get back." + +Pat caught the sheriff by his shirt collar and jerked him to a chair. +The body of the fat man was trembling like shaken jelly. The posse +turned away. + +They could not overtake Whistling Dan on his black stallion, but they +might arrive before Silent and his gang got under way. Their numbers +were over small to attack the formidable long riders, but they wanted +blood. Before Whistling Dan reached the valley of Bald-eagle Creek +they were in the saddle and riding hotly in pursuit. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + + +CLOSE IN! + +In that time ruined shack towards which the posse and Dan Barry rode, +the outlaws sat about on the floor eating their supper when Hal +Purvis entered. He had missed the trail from the Salton place to the +Bald-eagle half a dozen times that day, and that had not improved his +bitter mood. + +"You been gone long enough," growled Silent. "Sit down an' chow an' +tell us what you know." + +"I don't eat with no damned traitors," said Purvis savagely. "Stan' up +an' tell us that you're a double crossin' houn', Buck Daniels!" + +"You better turn in an' sleep," said Buck calmly. "I've knowed men +before that loses their reason for want of sleep!" + +"Jim," said Purvis, turning sharply on the chief, "Barry is at Buck's +house!" + +"You lie!" said Buck. + +"Do I lie?" said Purvis, grinding his teeth. "I seen Black Bart +hangin' around your house." + +Jim Silent reached out a heavy paw and dropped it on the shoulder of +Buck. Their eyes met through a long moment, and then the glance of +Buck wavered and fell. + +"Buck," said Silent, "I like you. I don't want to believe what Purvis +says. Give me your word of honour that Whistlin' Dan--" + +"He's right, Jim," said Buck. + +"An' he dies like a yaller cur!" broke in Purvis, snarling. + +"No," said Silent, "when one of the boys goes back on the gang, they +pay _me_, not the rest of you! Daniels, take your gun and git down to +the other end of the room an' stand with your face to the wall. I'll +stay at this end. Keep your arms folded. Haines, you stand over there +an' count up to three. Then holler: 'Fire!' an' we'll turn an' start +shootin'. The rest of you c'n be judge if that's fair." + +"Too damned fair," said Kilduff. "I say: String him up an' drill the +skunk full of holes." + +Without a word Buck turned on his heel. + +"One moment," said Haines. + +"He ain't your meat, Lee," said Silent. "Jest keep your hand out of +this." + +"I only wish to ask him a question," said Haines. He turned to Buck: +"Do you mean to say that after Barry's wolf cut up your arm, you've +been giving Whistling Dan a shelter from the law--and from us?" + +"I give him a place to stay because he was damned near death," said +Buck. "An' there's one thing you'll answer for in hell, Haines, an' +that's ridin' off an' leavin' the man that got you out of Elkhead. He +was bleedin' to death." + +"Shot?" said Haines, changing colour. + +Silent broke in: "Buck, go take your place and say your prayers." + +"Stay where you are!" commanded Haines. "And the girl?" + +"He was lyin' sick in bed, ravin' about 'Delilah' an' 'Kate.' So I +come an' got the girl." + +Haines dropped his head. + +"An' when he was lyin' there," said Silent fiercely, "you could of +made an' end of him without half liftin' your hand, an' you didn't." + +"Silent," said Haines, "if you want to talk, speak to me." + +"What in hell do you mean, Lee?" + +"You can't get at Buck except through me." + +"Because that devil Barry got a bullet for your sake are you goin' +to--" + +"I've lived a rotten life," said Haines. + +"An' I suppose you think this is a pretty good way of dyin'?" sneered +Silent. + +"I have more cause to fight for Barry than Buck has," said Haines. + +"Lee, we've been pals too long." + +"Silent, I've hated you like a snake ever since I met you. But outlaws +can't choose their company." + +His tawny head rose. He stared haughtily around the circle of lowering +faces. + +"By God," said Silent, white with passion, "I'm beginnin' to think +you do hate me! Git down there an' take your place. You're first an' +Daniels comes next. Kilduff, you c'n count!" + +He stalked to the end of the room. Haines lingered one moment. + +"Buck," he said, "there's one chance in ten thousand that I'll make +this draw the quickest of the two. If I don't, you may live through +it. Tell Kate--" + +"Haines, git to your mark, or I'll start shootin'!" + +Haines turned and took his place. The others drew back along the walls +of the room. Kilduff took the lamp from the table and held it high +above his head. Even then the light was dim and uncertain and the +draughts set the flame wavering so that the place was shaken with +shadows. The moon sent a feeble shaft of light through the window. + +"One!" said Kilduff. + +The shoulders of Haines and Silent hunched slightly. + +"Two!" said Kilduff. + +"God," whispered someone. + +"Three. Fire!" + +They whirled, their guns exploding at almost the same instant, and +Silent lunged for the floor, firing twice as he fell. Haines's second +shot split the wall behind Silent. If the outlaw chief had remained +standing the bullet would have passed through his head. But as Silent +fired the third time the revolver dropped clattering from the hand of +Haines. Buck caught him as he toppled inertly forward, coughing blood. + +Silent was on his feet instantly. + +"Stand back!" he roared to his men, who crowded about the fallen long +rider. "Stand back in your places. I ain't finished. I'm jest started. +Buck, take your place!" + +"Boys!" pleaded Buck, "he's not dead, but he'll bleed to death +unless--" + +"Damn him, let him bleed. Stand up, Buck, or by God I'll shoot you +while you kneel there!" + +"_Shoot and be damned!_" + +He tore off his shirt and ripped away a long strip for a bandage. + +The revolver poised in Silent's hand. + +"Buck, I'm warnin' you for the last time!" + +"Fellers, it's murder an' damnation for all if you let Haines die this +way!" cried Buck. + +The shining barrel of the revolver dropped to a level. + +"I've given you a man's chance," said Silent, "an' now you'll have the +chance of--" + +The door at the side of the room jerked open and a revolver cracked. +The lamp shivered to a thousand pieces in the hands of Bill Kilduff. +All the room was reduced to a place of formless shadow, dimly lighted +by the shaft of moonlight. The voice of Jim Silent, strangely changed +and sharpened from his usual bass roar, shrilled over the sudden +tumult: "Each man for himself! _It's Whistling Dan!_" + +Terry Jordan and Bill Kilduff rushed at the dim figure, crouched to +the floor. Their guns spat fire, but they merely lighted the way to +their own destruction. Twice Dan's revolver spoke, and they dropped, +yelling. Pandemonium fell on the room. + +The long riders raced here and there, the revolvers coughing fire. For +an instant Hal Purvis stood framed against the pallid moonshine at the +window. He stiffened and pointed an arm toward the door. + +"The werewolf," he screamed. + +As if in answer to the call, Black Bart raced across the room. Twice +the revolver sounded from the hand of Purvis. Then a shadow leaped +from the floor. There was a flash of white teeth, and Purvis lurched +to one side and dropped, screaming terribly. The door banged. Suddenly +there was silence. The clatter of a galloping horse outside drew +swiftly away. + +"Dan!" + +"Here!" + +"Thank God!" + +"Buck, one got away! If it was Silent--Here! Bring some matches." + +Someone was dragging himself towards the door in a hopeless effort to +escape. Several others groaned. + +"You, there!" called Buck. "Stay where you are!" + +The man who struggled towards the door flattened himself against the +floor, moaning pitifully. + +"Quick," said Dan, "light a match. Morris's posse is at my heels. No +time. If Silent escaped--" + +A match flared in the hands of Buck. + +"Who's that? Haines!" + +"Let him alone, Dan! I'll tell you why later. There's Jordan and +Kilduff. That one by the door is Rhinehart." + +They ran from one to the other, greeted by groans and deep curses. + +"Who's that beneath the window?" + +"Too small for Silent. It's Purvis, and he's dead!" + +"Bart got him!" + +"No! It was fear that killed him. Look at his face!" + +"Bart, go out to Satan!" + +The wolf trotted from the room. + +"My God, Buck, I've done all this for nothin'! It was Silent that got +away!" + +"What's that?" + +Over the groans of the wounded came the sound of running horses, not +one, but many, then a call: "Close in! Close in!" + +"The posse!" said Dan. + +As he jerked open the door a bullet smashed the wood above his head. +Three horsemen were closing around Satan and Black Bart. He leaped +back into the room. + +"They've got Satan, Buck. We've got to try it on foot. Go through the +window." + +"They've got nothing on me. I'll stick with Haines." + +Dan jumped through the window, and raced to the shelter of a big rock. +He had hardly dropped behind it when four horsemen galloped around the +corner of the house. + +"Johnson and Sullivan," ordered the voice of Monte sharply, "watch +the window. They're lying low inside, but we've got Barry's horse and +wolf. Now we'll get him." + +"Come out or we'll burn the house down!" thundered a voice from the +other side. + +"We surrender!" called Buck within. + +A cheer came from the posse. Sullivan and Johnson ran for the window +they had been told to guard. The door on the other side of the house +slammed open. + +"It's a slaughter house!" cried one of the posse. + +Dan left the sheltering rock and raced around the house, keeping a +safe distance, and dodging from rock to rock. He saw Satan and Black +Bart guarded by two men with revolvers in their hands. He might have +shot them down, but the distance was too great for accurate gun-play. +He whistled shrilly. The two guards wheeled towards him, and as they +did so, Black Bart, leaping, caught one by the shoulder, whirling him +around and around with the force of the spring. The other fired at +Satan, who raced off towards the sound of the whistle. It was an easy +shot, but in the utter surprise of the instant the bullet went wide. +Before he could fire again Satan was coming to a halt beside Dan. + +"Help!" yelled the cattleman. "Whistling Dan!" + +The other guard opened fire wildly. Three men ran from the house. All +they saw was a black shadow which melted instantly into the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + + +FEAR + +Into the dark he rode. Somewhere in the mountains was Silent, and +now alone. In Dan's mouth the old salt taste of his own blood was +unforgotten. + +It was a wild chase. He had only the faintest clues to guide him, +yet he managed to keep close on the trail of the great outlaw. After +several days he rode across a tall red-roan stallion, a mere wreck of +a horse with lean sides and pendant head and glazed eye. It was a long +moment before Dan recognized Silent's peerless mount, Red Pete. The +outlaw had changed his exhausted horse for a common pony. The end of +the long trail must be near. + +The whole range followed that chase with breathless interest. It was +like the race of Hector and Achilles around the walls of Troy. And +when they met there would be a duel of giants. Twice Whistling Dan was +sighted. Once Jim Silent fought a running duel with a posse fresh from +Elkhead. The man hunters were alert, but it was their secret hope that +the two famous outlaws would destroy each other, but how the wild +chase would end no one could know. At last Buck Daniels rode to tell +Kate Cumberland strange news. + +When he stumbled into the ranch house, Kate and her father rose, +white-faced. There was an expression of waiting terror in their eyes. + +"Buck!" cried Joe. + +"Hush! Dad," said Kate. "It hasn't come yet! Buck, what has happened?" + +"The end of the world has come for Dan," he said. "That devil +Silent--" + +"Dan," cried old Joe, and rushed around the table to Buck. + +"Silent has dared Dan to meet him at three o'clock tomorrow afternoon +in Tully's saloon in Elkhead! He's held up four men in the last +twenty-four hours and told them that he'll be at Tully's tomorrow and +will expect Dan there!" + +"It isn't possible!" cried Kate. "That means that Silent is giving +himself up to the law!" + +Buck laughed bitterly. + +"The law will not put a hand on them if it thinks that they'll fight +it out together," he said. + +"There'll be a crowd in the saloon, but not a hand will stir to arrest +Silent till after the fight." + +"But Dan won't go to Tully's," broke in old Joe. "If Silent is crazy +enough to do such a thing, Dan won't be." + +"He will," said Kate. "I know!" + +"You've got to stop him," urged Buck. "You've got to get to Elkhead +and turn Dan back." + +"Ay," said Joe, "for even if he kills Silent, the crowd will tackle +him after the fight--a hundred against one." + +She shook her head. + +"You won't go?" + +"Not a step." + +"But Kate, don't you understand--?" + +"I couldn't turn Dan back. There is his chance to meet Silent. Do you +dream any one could turn him back?" + +The two men were mute. + +"You're right," said Buck at last. "I hoped for a minute that you +could do it, but now I remember the way he was in that dark shanty up +the Bald-eagle Creek. You can't turn a wolf from a trail, and Whistling +Dan has never forgotten the taste of his own blood." + +"Kate!" called her father suddenly. "What's the matter, honey?" + +With bowed head and a faltering step she was leaving the room. Buck +caught old Joe by the arm and held him back as he would have followed. + +"Let her be!" said Buck sharply. "Maybe she'll want to see you at +three o'clock tomorrow afternoon, but until then she'll want to be +alone. There'll be ghosts enough with her all the time. You c'n lay to +that." + +Joe Cumberland wiped his glistening forehead. + +"There ain't nothin' we c'n do, Buck, but sit an' wait." + +Buck drew a long breath. + +"What devil gave Silent that idea?" + +"_Fear_!" + +"Jim Silent don't know what fear is!" + +"Any one who's seen the yaller burn in Dan's eyes knows what fear is." + +Buck winced. + +Cumberland went on: "Every night Silent has been seein' them eyes that +glow yaller in the dark. They lie in wait for him in every shadow. +Between dark and dawn he dies a hundred deaths. He can't stand it no +more. He's goin' to die. Somethin' tells him that. But he wants to die +where they's humans around him, and when he dies he wants to pull Dan +down with him." + +They sat staring at each other for a time. + +"If he lives through that fight with Silent," said Buck sadly, "the +crowd will jump in on him. Their numbers'll make 'em brave." + +"An' then?" + +"Then maybe he'd like a friend to fight by his side," said Buck +simply. "So long, Joe!" + +The old man wrung his hand and then followed him out to the +hitching-rack where Buck's horse stood. + +"Ain't Dan got no friends among the crowd?" asked Cumberland. "Don't +they give him no thanks for catching the rest of Silent's gang?" + +"They give him lots of credit," said Buck. "An' Haines has said a lot +in favour of Dan, explainin' how the jail bustin' took place. Lee is +sure provin' himself a white man. He's gettin' well of his wounds +and it's said the Governor will pardon him. You see, Haines went bad +because the law done him dirt a long time ago, and the Governor is +takin' that into account." + +"But they'd still want to kill Dan?" + +"Half of the boys wouldn't," said Buck. "The other half is all wrought +up over the killings that's been happenin' on the range in the last +month. Dan is accused of about an even half of 'em, an' the friends of +dead men don't waste no time listenin' to arguments. They say Dan's an +outlawed man an' that they're goin' to treat him like one." + +"Damn them!" groaned Cumberland. "Don't Morris's confession make no +difference?" + +"Morris was lynched before he had a chance to swear to what he said in +Dan's favour. Kilduff an' Jordan an' Rhinehart might testify that Dan +wasn't never bought over by Silent, but they know they're done for +themselves, an' they won't try to help anybody else, particular the +man that put 'em in the hands of the law. Kilduff has swore that Dan +_was_ bribed by Silent, that he went after Silent not for revenge, but +to get some more money out of him, an' that the fight in the shanty up +at Bald-eagle Creek was because Silent refused to give Dan any more +money." + +"Then there ain't no hope," muttered Cumberland. "But oh, lad, it +breaks my heart to think of Kate! Dan c'n only die once, but every +minute is a death to her!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + + +DEATH + +Before noon of the next day Buck joined the crowd which had been +growing for hours around Tully's saloon. Men gave way before him, +whispering. He was a marked man--the friend of Whistling Dan Barry. +Cowpunchers who had known him all his life now avoided his eyes, but +caught him with side glances. He smiled grimly to himself, reading +their minds. He was more determined than ever to stand or fall with +Whistling Dan that day. + +There was not an officer of the law in sight. If one were present it +would be his manifest duty to apprehend the outlaws as soon as they +appeared, and the plan was to allow them to fight out their quarrel +and perhaps kill each other. + +Arguments began to rise among separate groups, where the crimes +attributed to Whistling Dan Barry were numbered and talked over. It +surprised Buck to discover the number who believed the stories which +he and Haines had told. They made a strong faction, though manifestly +in the minority. + +Hardly a man who did not, from time to time, nervously fumble the butt +of his six-gun. As three o'clock drew on the talk grew less and less. +It broke out now and again in little uneasy bursts. Someone would tell +a joke. Half hysterical laughter would greet it, and die suddenly, +as it began. These were all hard-faced men of the mountain-desert, +warriors of the frontier. What unnerved them was the strangeness of +the thing which was about to happen. The big wooden clock on the side +of the long barroom struck once for half-past two. All talk ceased. + +Men seemed unwilling to meet each other's eyes. Some of them drummed +lightly on the top of the bar and strove to whistle, but the only +sound that came through their dried lips was a whispering rush of +breath. A grey-haired cattle ranger commenced to hum a tune, very low, +but distinct. Finally a man rose, strode across the room, shook the +old fellow by the shoulder with brutal violence, and with a curse +ordered him to stop his "damned death song!" + +Everyone drew a long breath of relief. The minute hand crept on +towards three o'clock. Now it was twenty minutes, now fifteen, now +ten, now five; then a clatter of hoofs, a heavy step on the porch, and +the giant form of Jim Silent blocked the door. His hands rested on the +butts of his two guns. Buck guessed at the tremendous strength of that +grip. The eyes of the outlaw darted about the room, and every glance +dropped before his, with the exception of Buck's fascinated stare. + +For he saw a brand on the face of the great long rider. It lay in no +one thing. It was not the unusual hollowness of eyes and cheeks. It +was not the feverish brightness of his glance. It was something which +included all of these. It was the fear of death by night! His hands +fell away from the guns. He crossed the room to the bar and nodded his +head at the bartender. + +"Drink!" he said, and his voice was only a whisper without body of +sound. + +The bartender, with pasty face, round and blank, did not move either +his hand or his fascinated eyes. There was a twitch of the outlaw's +hand and naked steel gleamed. Instantly revolvers showed in every +hand. A youngster moaned. The sound seemed to break the charm. + +Silent put back his great head and burst into a deep-throated +laughter. The gun whirled in his hand and the butt crashed heavily on +the bar. + +"Drink, damn you!" he thundered. "Step up an' drink to the health of +Jim Silent!" + +The wavering line slowly approached the bar. Silent pulled out his +other gun and shoved them both across the bar. + +"Take 'em," he said. "I don't want 'em to get restless an' muss up +this joint." + +The bartender took them as if they were covered with some deadly +poison, and the outlaw stood unarmed! It came suddenly to Buck what +the whole manoeuvre meant. He gave away his guns in order to tempt +someone to arrest him. Better the hand of the law than the yellow +glare of those following eyes. Yet not a man moved to apprehend him. +Unarmed he still seemed more dangerous than six common men. + +The long rider jerked a whisky bottle upside down over a glass. Half +the contents splashed across the bar. He turned and faced the crowd, +his hand dripping with the spilled liquor. + +"Whose liquorin'?" he bellowed. + +Not a sound answered him. + +"Damn your yaller souls! Then all by myself I'll drink to--" + +He stopped short, his eyes wild, his head tilted back. One by one the +cowpunchers gave back, foot by foot, softly, until they stood close to +the opposite wall of the saloon. All the bar was left to Silent. The +whisky glass slipped from his hand and crashed on the floor. In his +face was the meaning of the sound he heard, and now it came to their +own ears--a whistle thin with distance, but clear. + +Only phrases at first, but now it rose more distinct, the song of the +untamed; the terror and beauty of the mountain-desert; a plea and a +threat. + +The clock struck, sharp, hurried, brazen--one, two, three! Before the +last quick, unmusical chime died out Black Bart stood in the entrance +to the saloon. His eyes were upon Jim Silent, who stretched out his +arms on either side and gripped the edge of the bar. Yet even when the +wolf glided silently across the room and crouched before the bandit, +at watch, his lips grinned back from the white teeth, the man had no +eyes for him. Instead, his stare held steadily upon that open door and +on his raised face there was still the terror of that whistling which +swept closer and closer. + +It ceased. A footfall crossed the porch. How different from the +ponderous stride of Jim Silent! This was like the padding step of the +panther. And Whistling Dan stood in the door. He did not fill it as +the burly shoulders of Silent had done. He seemed almost as slender as +a girl, and infinitely boyish in his grace--a strange figure, surely, +to make all these hardened fighters of the mountain-desert crouch, and +stiffen their fingers around the butts of their revolvers! His eyes +were upon Silent, and how they lighted! His face changed as the +face of the great god Pan must have altered when he blew into the +instrument of reeds and made perfect music, the first in the world. + +"Bart," said the gentle voice, "go out to Satan." + +The wolf turned and slipped from the room. It was a little thing, but, +to the men who saw it, it was terrible to watch an untamed beast obey +the voice of a man. + +Still with that light, panther-step he crossed the barroom, and now he +was looking up into the face of the giant. The huge long rider loomed +above Dan. That was not terror which set his face in written lines--it +was horror, such as a man feels when he stands face to face with the +unearthly in the middle of night. This was open daylight in a room +thronged with men, yet in it nothing seemed to live save the smile of +Whistling Dan. He drew out the two revolvers and slipped them onto the +bar. They stood unarmed, yet they seemed no less dangerous. + +Silent's arms crept closer to his sides. He seemed gathering himself +by degrees. The confidence in his own great size showed in his face, +and the blood-lust of battle in his eyes answered the yellow light in +Dan's. + +Dan spoke. + +"Silent, once you put a stain of blood on me. I've never forgot the +taste. It's goin' to be washed out today or else made redder. It was +here that you put the stain." + +He struck the long rider lightly across the mouth with the back of +his hand, and Silent lunged with the snarl of a beast. His blow spent +itself on thin air. He whirled and struck again. Only a low laughter +answered him. He might as well have battered away at a shadow. + +"Damnation!" he yelled, and leaped in with both arms outspread. + +The impetus of his rush drove them both to the floor, where they +rolled over and over, and before they stopped thin fingers were locked +about the bull neck of the bandit, and two thumbs driven into the +hollow of his throat. With a tremendous effort he heaved himself from +the floor, his face convulsed. + +He beat with both fists against the lowered head of Dan. He tore at +those hands. They were locked as if with iron. Only the laughter, the +low, continual laughter rewarded him. + +He screamed, a thick, horrible sound. He flung himself to the floor +again and rolled over and over, striving to crush the slender, +remorseless body. Once more he was on his feet, running hither and +thither, dragging Dan with him. His eyes swelled out; his face +blackened. He beat against the walls. He snapped at the wrists of Dan +like a beast, his lips flecked with a bloody froth. + +That bull-dog grip would not unlock. That animal, exultant laughter +ran on in demoniac music. In his great agony the outlaw rolled his +eyes in appeal to the crowd which surrounded the struggling two. Every +man seemed about to spring forward, yet they could not move. Some had +their fingers stiffly extended, as if in the act of gripping with +hands too stiff to close. + +Silent slipped to his knees. His head fell back, his discoloured +tongue protruding. Dan wrenched him back to his feet. One more +convulsive effort from the giant, and then his eyes glazed, his body +went limp. The remorseless hands unlocked. Silent fell in a shapeless +heap to the floor. + +Still no one moved. There was no sound except the deadly ticking of +the clock. The men stared fascinated at that massive, lifeless figure +on the floor. Even in death he was terrible. Then Dan's hand slid +inside his shirt, fumbled a moment, and came forth again bearing a +little gleaming circle of metal. He dropped it upon the body of Jim +Silent, and turning, walked slowly from the room. Still no one moved +to intercept him. Passing through the door he pushed within a few +inches of two men. They made no effort to seize him, for their eyes +were upon the body of the great lone rider. + +The moment Dan was gone the hypnotic silence which held the crowd, +broke suddenly. Someone stirred. Another cursed beneath his breath. +Instantly all was clamour and a running hither and thither. Buck +Daniels caught from the body of Jim Silent the small metal circle +which Dan had dropped. He stood dumbfounded at the sight of it, and +then raised his hand, and shouted in a voice which gathered the others +swiftly around him. They cursed deeply with astonishment, for what +they saw was the marshal's badge of Tex Calder. The number on it was +known throughout the mountain-desert, and seeing it, the worst of +Dan's enemies stammered, gaped, and could not speak. There were more +impartial men who could. In five minutes the trial of Whistling Dan +was under way. The jury was every cowpuncher present. The judge was +public opinion. It was a grey-haired man who finally leaped upon the +bar and summed up all opinion in a brief statement. + +"Whatever Whistlin' Dan has done before," he said, "this day he's done +a man-sized job in a man's way. Morris, before he died, said enough to +clear up most of this lad's past, particular about the letter from Jim +Silent that talked of a money bribe. Morris didn't have a chance to +swear to what he said, but a dying man speaks truth. Lee Haines had +cleared up most of the rest. We can't hold agin Dan what he done in +breakin' jail with Haines. Dan Barry was a marshal. He captured Haines +and then let the outlaw go. He had a right to do what he wanted as +long as he finally got Haines back. And Haines has told us that when +he was set free Barry said he would get him again. And Barry did get +him again. Remember that, and he got all the rest of Silent's gang, +and now there lies Jim Silent dead. They's two things to remember. The +first is that Whistlin' Dan has rid away without any shootin' irons on +his hip. That looks as if he's come to the end of his long trail. The +second is that he was a bunkie of Tex Calder, an' a man Tex could +trust for the avengin' of his death is good enough for me." + +There was a pause after this speech, and during the quiet the +cowpunchers were passing from hand to hand the marshal's badge which +Calder, as he died, had given to Dan. The bright small shield was a +more convincing proof than a hundred arguments. The bitterest of +Dan's enemies realized that the crimes of which he was accused were +supported by nothing stronger than blind rumour. The marshal's badge +and the dead body of Jim Silent kept them mute. So an illegal judge +and one hundred illegal jurymen found Whistling Dan "not guilty." + +Buck Daniels took horse and galloped for the Cumberland house with the +news of the verdict. He knew that Whistling Dan was there. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + + +THE WILD GEESE + +So when the first chill days of the late autumn came the four were +once more together, Dan, Kate, Black Bart, and Satan. Buck and old Joe +Cumberland made the background of their happiness. It was the latter's +request which kept the wedding a matter of the indefinite future. He +would assign no reason for his wish, but Kate guessed it. + +All was not well, she knew. Day after day, as the autumn advanced, +Dan went out with the wolf and the wild black stallion and ranged the +hills alone. She did not ask him where or why, for she understood that +to be alone was as necessary to him as sleep is to others. Yet she +could not explain it all and the cold fear grew in her. Sometimes she +surprised a look of infinite pity in the eyes of Buck or her father. +Sometimes she found them whispering and nodding together. At last on +an evening when the three sat before the fire in solemn silence and +Dan was away, they knew not where, among the hills, she could bear it +no longer. + +"Do you really think," she burst out, "that the old wildness is still +in Dan?" + +"Wild?" said her father gently. "Wild? I don't say he's still +wild--but why is he so late tonight, Kate? The ground's all covered +with snow. The wind's growin' sharper an' sharper. This is a time for +all reasonable folk to stay home an' git comfortable beside the fire. +But Dan ain't here. Where is he?" + +"Hush!" said Buck, and raised a hand for silence. + +Far away they heard the wail of a wolf crying to the moon. She rose +and went out on the porch of the house. The others followed her. +Outside they found nothing but the low moaning of the wind, and the +snow, silver glimmering where the moonlight fell upon it. Then they +heard the weird, inhuman whistling, and at last they saw Dan riding +towards the house. A short distance away he stopped Satan. Black Bart +dropped to his haunches and wailed again. Dan was staring upwards. + +"Look!" said Kate, and pointed. + +Across the white circle of the moon drove a flying wedge of wild +geese. The wail of the wolf died out. A faint honking was blown to +them by the wind, now a distant, jangling chorus, now a solitary sound +repeated like a call. + +Without a word the three returned to their seats close by the fire, +and sat silent, staring. Presently the rattle of the wolf's claws came +on the floor; then Dan entered with his soft step and stood behind +Kate's chair. They were used to his silent comings and goings. Black +Bart was slinking up and down the room with a restless step. His eyes +glowed from the shadow, and as Joe looked up to the face of Dan he +saw the same light repeated there, yellow and strange. Then, like the +wolf, Dan turned and commenced that restless pacing up and down, up +and down, a padding step like the fall of a panther's paw. + +"The wild geese--" he said suddenly, and then stopped. + +"They are flying south?" said Kate. + +"South!" he repeated. + +His eyes looked far away. The wolf slipped to his side and licked his +hand. + +"Kate, I'd like to follow the wild geese." + +Old Joe shaded his eyes and the big hands of Buck were locked +together. + +"Are you unhappy, Dan?" she said. + +"The snow is come," he muttered uneasily. + +He began pacing again with that singular step. + +"When I went out to Satan in the corral this evenin', I found him +standin' lookin' south." + +She rose and faced him with a little gesture of surrender. + +"Then you must follow the wild geese, Dan!" + +"You don't mind me goin', Kate?" + +"No." + +"But your eyes are shinin'!" + +"It's only the reflection of the firelight." + +Black Bart whined softly. Suddenly Dan straightened and threw up his +arms, laughing low with exultation. Buck Daniels shuddered and dropped +his head. + +"I am far behind," said Dan, "but I'll go fast." + +He caught her in his arms, kissed her eyes and lips, and then whirled +and ran from the room with that noiseless, padding step. + +"Kate!" groaned Buck Daniels, "you've let him go! We've all lost him +for ever!" + +A sob answered him. + +"Go call him back," pleaded Joe. "He will stay for your sake." + +She whispered: "I would rather call back the wild geese who flew +across the moon. And they are only beautiful when they are wild!" + +"But you've lost him, Kate, don't you understand?" + +"The wild geese fly north again in spring," said Buck, "and he'll--" + +"Hush!" she said. "Listen!" + +Far off, above the rushing of the wind, they heard the weird +whistling, a thrilling and unearthly music. It was sad with the beauty +of the night. It was joyous with the exultation of the wind. It might +have been the voice of some god who rode the northern storm south, +south after the wild geese, south with the untamed. + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Untamed, by Max Brand + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNTAMED *** + +***** This file should be named 10886.txt or 10886.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/8/8/10886/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Gene Smethers and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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