by Max Brand
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.
26. 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.
27. 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 long 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.