by Max Brand
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 theslightest idea. For many years old Joe Cumberland had patiently taughthim that the last offence against God and man was to fight. The oldcattleman had instilled in him the belief that if he did not cross thepath of another, no one would cross his way. The code was perfectand satisfying. He would let the world alone and the world would nottrouble him. The placid current of his life had never come to "whitewaters" of wrath.
Wherefore he gazed bewildered about him. They were laughing--they werelaughing unpleasantly at him as he had seen men laugh at a fiery youngcolt which struggled against the rope. It was very strange. They couldnot mean harm. Therefore he smiled back at them rather uncertainly.Morgan slapped at his shoulder by way of good-fellowship and tohearten him, but Dan slipped away under the extended hand with amotion as subtle and swift as the twist of a snake when it flees forits 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 manis considerable riled; which he'll now bet his sombrero agin you whenit comes to shootin'."
He turned back to Silent.
"Look here, partner," he said, "this is the man I said could nail thefour dollars before they hit the dust. I figger you don't think how itcan be done, eh?"
"Him?" said Silent in deep disgust. "Send him back to his ma beforesomebody musses him all up! Why, he don't even pack a gun!"
Morgan waited a long moment so that the little silence would make hisnext speech impressive.
"Stranger," he said, "I've still got somewhere in the neighbourhood offive hundred dollars in that cash drawer. An' every cent of it hollersthat Dan can do what I said."
Silent hesitated. His code was loose, but he did not like to takeadvantage of a drunk or a crazy man. However, five hundred dollars wasfive hundred dollars. Moreover that handsome fellow who had just takenwater 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 wayanything talks except money."
"Corral that talk, Morgan!" called a voice from the crowd, "you'replumb locoed if you think any man in the world can get away with astunt like that! Pick four in the air!"
"You keep your jaw for yourself," said Silent angrily, "if he wants todonate a little more money to charity, let him do it. Morgan, I've gotfive 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 waslittle loud conversation. The stakes were large. The excitement madethe men hush the very tones in which they spoke. Morgan moistened hiswhite lips.
"You c'n see I'm not packin' any shootin' irons," said Dan. "Hasanybody got any suggestions?"
Every gun in the crowd was instantly at his service. They wereheartily tempted to despise Dan, but as one with the courage toattempt the impossible, they would help him as far as they could. Hetook their guns one after the other, weighed them, tried the action,and handed them back. It was almost as if there were a separateintelligence in the ends of his fingers which informed him of thequalities of each weapon.
"Nice gun," he said to the first man whose revolver he handled, "but Idon't like a barrel that's quite so heavy. There's a whole ounce toomuch in the barrel."
"What d'you mean?" asked the cowpuncher. "I've packed that gun forpretty nigh eight years!"
"Sorry," said Dan passing on, "but I can't work right with a top-heavygun."
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 toanother 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 ahorse. If you don't treat it right it won't treat you right. That'sall I know about it. Your gun ain't very clean, stranger, an' a gunthat ain't kept clean gets off feet."
Silent glanced at his weapons, cursed softly, and restored them to theholsters.
"Lee," he muttered to Haines, who stood next to him, "what do youthink he meant by that? D' you figger he's got somethin' up hissleeve, an' that's why he acts so like a damned woman?"
"I don't know," said Haines gravely, "he looks to me sort ofqueer--sort of different--damned different, chief!"
By this time Dan had secured a second gun which suited him. He whirledboth guns, tried their actions alternately, and then announced that hewas ready. In the dead silence, one of the men paced off the twentyyards.
Dan, with his back turned, stood at the mark, shifting his revolverseasily in his hands, and smiling down at them as if they couldunderstand 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 prettyclose 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 hischances as much as possible. A little snap of his hand gave them arapid rotary motion so that each one was merely a speck of winkinglight. He flung them high, for it was probable that Whistling Danwould wait to shoot until they were on the way down. The higher hethrew them the more rapidly they would be travelling when they crossedthe level of the markman's eye.
As a shout proclaimed the throwing of the coins, Dan whirled, and itseemed to the bystanders that a revolver exploded before he was fullyturned; 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 moreshots blended almost together; two more dollars darted away intwinkling streaks of light. One coin still fell, but when it was afew inches from the earth a six-shooter barked again and the fourthdollar glanced sidewise into the dust. It takes long to describe thefeat. Actually, the four shots consumed less than a second of time.
"That last dollar," said Dan, and his soft voice was the first soundout 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 wildscramble for the dollars. They dived into the dust for them, risingwhite of face and clothes to fight and struggle over their prizes.Those dollars with the chips and neat round holes in them wouldconfirm the truth of a story that the most credulous might be temptedto laugh or scorn. A cowpuncher offered ten dollars for one of therelics--but none would part with a prize.
The moment the shooting was over Dan stepped quietly back and restoredthe guns to the owners. The first man seized his weapon carelessly. Hewas in the midst of his rush after one of the chipped coins. The othercowpuncher received his weapon almost with reverence.
"I'm thankin' you for the loan," said Dan, "an here's hopin' youalways 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 getgrandchildren I'm goin' to point out that gun to 'em and tell 'em whatmen used to do in the old days. Let's go in an' surround some red-eyeat
my expense."
"No thanks," answered Dan, "I ain't drinkin'."
He stepped back to the edge of the circle and folded his arms. It wasas if he had walked out of the picture. He suddenly seemed to be alooffrom 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'sthe nearest I ever come to a undeserved grave, an' I've had some closecalls! 'That last dollar wasn't good! It didn't ring true,' says hewhen 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 isyellow all through!"
"Is he?" growled Bill Kilduff, "well, I'd hate to take him bysurprise, so's he'd forget himself. He gets as much action out of acommon six-gun as if it was a gatling. He was right about that lastdollar, 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 alittle 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 theroad, and she swayed gracefully, following the sudden motion. Hermount came to the sudden halt of the cattle pony and she slipped tothe ground before Morgan could run out to help. Even Lee Haines, whowas 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 hereyes. She smiled up to him, and as she shook her head in refusal hereyes lingered a pardonable moment on his handsome face, with the straylock of tawny hair fallen low across his forehead. She was used tofrank admiration, but this unembarrassed courtesy was a new world toher. 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 wanderedabout 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 whichhe watched Whistling Dan dominated the entire picture.
"As a matter of fact," went on Morgan, "it would be a ten man job totake 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 theprettiest 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 themost critical day in his life, for there he stood surrounded by armedmen. If there were anything wild in his nature it would be brought outthat 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 LeeHaines, "I'll do what I can to help you!"
Her smile of thanks set his blood tingling. His glance lingered alittle too long, a little too gladly, and she coloured slightly.
"Miss Cumberland," said Haines, "may I introduce myself? My name isLee."
She hesitated. The manners she had learned in the Eastern schoolforbade it, but her Western instinct was truer and stronger. Her handwent out to him.
"I'm very glad to know you, Mr. Lee."
"All right, stranger," said Morgan, who in the meantime had beenshifting from one foot to the other and estimating the large chancesof failure in this attempt to collect the guns, "if you're going tohelp 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 hedrew his guns slowly and presented them to his comrade, while his eyesshifted to Kate and he said coldly: "Lady, I hope I ain't the last oneto congratulate you!"
She did not understand, but Haines scowled and coloured. Dan, in themeantime, was swept into the saloon by an influx of the cowpunchersthat left only Lee Haines outside with Kate. She had detained him witha gesture.