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+*** 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 ***