The Night Horseman

by Max Brand

  CHAPTER XX

  THE COMING

  Then a padding step, light, lighter than the sound of the softestthought. It was passing near; the faint breeze blew the sound to them,around them, behind them. Each man felt as if some creature werestalking him, unseen. Next--it appeared by magic against the blue blackof the night--the head of a great wolf, quite black, shaggy, withsharply pointed ears. And the eyes stared at them, green eyes withlights that swirled as the flame jumped in the throat of the lamp. For along moment the horror lasted. Then the head, as it had come,disappeared, and the light, light foot fall, faded away.

  Buck Daniels had risen, now. The sound of his whisper made them start.

  "I'm going up--to my room--and lock the door--for God's sake--keep--himaway!"

  And so he stole soundlessly away, and then they heard the creaks whichannounced his progress up the stairs.

  Not Buck Daniels alone. In the deadly silence Kate rose to her feet; andthe old man, the invalid--he with the dead body and the living brain,rose from his couch and stood as erect as a soldier on parade. Thedoctor was conscious of repeating to himself, hurriedly, a formulasomething like this: "The thing which is coming is human; it cannot bemore than human; as long as it is human it is nothing to fear; the lawsof truth are irrevocably fixed; the laws of science will not change."Yet in spite of this formula he was deadly cold, as if a wind wereblowing through his naked soul. It was not fear. It was something beyondfear, and he would not have been otherwhere for any reward. All his mindremained poised, expectant, as the astronomer waits for the new starwhich his calculations have predicted to enter the field of histelescope.

  He caught the sound of another horse coming, far different even to hisunpracticed ear from the beat of hoofs which announced the coming ofBuck Daniels. The rhythm of their fall was slower, as if the stride ofthe animal were much longer. He pictured a mighty creature with a vastmane blown back against the chest of a giant rider. There was a murmurfrom Kate: "Dan, my dear, my dear!"

  Then he heard a padding footfall, hardly louder than the light, lightstep of the wolf. The knob of the door turned slowly, without a sound;it opened, and a man stepped in. He was not larger than the doctor; aslender fellow, almost dapper in his dress, with hardly a sign of travelabout him, except that the brim of his sombrero was folded back from hisface as if from continual pressure of wind. These things Randall Byrnenoted vaguely; what he was sharply aware of were the eyes of the man. Hehad the feeling that he had seen them before; he remembered the yellowlight that had swirled in the eyes of the wolf at the window.

  The newcomer flashed a glance about the room, yet for all its speed itseemed to linger an instant on each face, and when it crossed the stareof Byrne the doctor shrank.

  "Where is Buck?" asked the man. "I've come for him!"

  As if in answer, the great, shaggy dog slipped through the entrance pasthis master and glided across the room. As he passed, Kate held out ahand to him. She called softly: "Bart!" but she was greeted with asilent baring of fangs; and she caught her hand back against her breast,with the tears springing in her eyes. On the other side of the room theblack dog paused and looked back to his master, while Byrne realisedwith a shudder that the door before which it stood was the door throughwhich Buck Daniels had disappeared. Straight to that door Barry stepped,and Byrne realised, with an eerie emotion, that the footfalls made nosound.

  Before he reached the door, however, the girl started forward and sprangbefore him. With her outstretched arms she barred the way. Her skirtbrushed almost in the face of the dog, and the beast shrank away not infear, but crouching in readiness to leap. The sharp ears twitched back;a murderous snarl rolled up from between the wicked teeth. Yet she didnot cast a single glance at him; she faced the greater danger.

  She was saying: "Whatever Buck did, it wasn't done to hurt you, Dan; itwas done for your own sake. And for Dad's sake. You shan't pass here!"

  From his position, the doctor could not see the face of Dan Barry, buthe guessed at it through the expression of Kate. Such terror and horrorwere in her eyes as though she were facing a death's head inches away.Then he saw the slender hand of Barry rise and move towards the girl,slowly, tremblingly, as though one fierce impulse urged him to thrusther to one side and as though another held back his arm. The doctorcould not watch the girl longer; fear and pity were wringing him as helowered his glance to the floor.

  Then he heard her cry: "Have you forgotten me, like Bart? Like Bart,have you forgotten me, Dan?"

  His hand fell to his side and he glided back from her; but now Byrnecould see that the eyes of Barry were looking past the girl, as thoughhe stared through the solid wood of the door and found his prey beyondit. The stranger slipped towards the door by which he had entered, withthe great dog slinking at his heels. Kate Cumberland leaned heavilyagainst the wall, her arm thrown across her face, but there was noconsciousness of her in the face of Barry. Yet at the very door hepaused and straightened; Byrne saw that he was staring towards JoeCumberland; and the old man reached a bony hand out.

  "Oh, lad," he said softly, "I been waitin' for you years an' years,seems like!"

  Barry crossed the room as noiselessly, as swiftly, as a flying shadow.

  "Sit down!" he commanded, and Byrne caught a faint ring in the voice,like the shiver of metal striking steel.

  Joe Cumberland obeyed without a word, and then lay back at full lengthupon the couch--a palsy had seized on him, and the hand which rested onthe shoulder of Dan Barry was shaking. By the couch came the tall dog,and crouched, staring up in the master's face; then the younger manturned his face towards Byrne and the girl. Those thin-cut nostrilsexpanded, the lips compressed, and Byrne dared not look into the flareof the eyes.

  "Who done this?" asked Barry, and still the shiver of cold metal rang inhis voice. "Who's done this?"

  "Steady, lad," said Joe Cumberland faintly. "They ain't no call forfightin'. Steady, Dan, boy. An' don't leave me!"

  Byrne caught a signal from Kate and followed her obediently from theroom.

  "Let them be alone," she said.

  "Impossible!" protested the doctor. "Your father is lapsed into a mostdangerous condition. The physical inertia which has held him for so longis now broken and I look for a dangerous mental and nervous collapse toaccompany it. A sedative is now imperative!"

  He laid his hand on the knob of the door to return, but the girl blockedhis way.

  "Don't go in," she commanded feebly. "I can't explain to you. All I cansay is that Dad was the one who found Dan Barry and there's somethingbetween them that none of us understand. But I know that he can helpDad. I know Dad is in no danger while Dan is with him."

  "A pleasant superstition," nodded the doctor, "but medicine, my dearMiss Cumberland, does not take account of such things."

  "Doctor Byrne," she said, rallying a failing strength for the argument,"I insist. Don't ask me to explain."

  "In that case," he answered coldly, "I cannot assume responsibility forwhat may happen."

  She made a gesture of surrender, weakly.

  "Look back in on them now," she said. "If you don't find father quiet,you may go in to him."

  Doctor Byrne obeyed, opening the door softly. He saw Joe Cumberlandprone, of course, upon the couch. One hand lay as usual across hisbreast, but the other was at his side, clasped in the hands of DanBarry. The old cattleman slept. Yes, there was no doubt that for thefirst time in many days he slumbered soundly. The lean, narrow chestrose and fell with deep, slow breaths; the eyes were closed, and therewas no twitching of muscles to betray ragged nerves or a mind thatdreamed fiercely while the body slept. Far over the sleeping man leanedthe stranger, as if he were peering closely into the closed eyes of JoeCumberland. There was a tenseness of watching and waiting in hisattitude, like the runner on the mark, or like the burden-bearer liftinga great weight, and Byrne gathered, in some mysterious manner, theimpression that Barry sent through his hands and into the body ofCumberland a continual stream of nervous strength--an electr
ic thing.Nonsense, of course. And it was nonsense, also, to think that the hugedog which lay staring up into the face of the master understood all thisaffair much better than the practiced mind of the physician. Yet theillusion held with Randall Byrne in spite of all his scepticism.

  He was certain that he had made not the slightest sound in opening thedoor, but presently the head of the watcher turned slowly, and Byrne waslooking into those same yellow, terrible eyes. At the same instant thesick man moaned faintly. The doctor closed the door as softly as he hadopened it and turned a drawn face upon Kate Cumberland.

  "I don't understand; it isn't possible!" he whispered.

  "No one understands," said the girl, and smiled mirthlessly. "Don't tryto, Doctor Byrne. Go to bed, and sleep. If you can. Good night."

  "But you," said Byrne, following her, "are almost as ill as your father.Is there nothing I can do for you?"

  "You?" she asked, surprised. "No, nothing."

  "But there's not the slightest colour in your face. And you aretrembling, Miss Cumberland!"

  She did not seem to hear him.

  "Will he stay?" she asked of herself. "Will he leave before themorning?"

  "I shall see that he stays," said the doctor. "I will stay here outsidethe door and see that he does not leave, if you wish."

  Once more she smiled in that baffling manner.

  "Could you keep the wind from blowing, Doctor Byrne? If I thought thathe could be kept----" she stopped. "He has forgotten us. He hasforgotten all of us except Dad. And if Dad cannot keep him, nothing willkeep him. It's useless for you to wait here. Good night again, DoctorByrne."

  He watched her up the stairs. By the dim light he saw her hand catchingat the balustrade as if she were drawing herself up, step by step. Whenshe reached the landing and turned half towards him, he saw that herhead was fallen.

  "Not a glance, not a thought for me," murmured the doctor. "But if thestranger _does_ leave----" Instead of finishing the muttered sentences,he drew a chair back against the wall and sat down with folded hands towait.