by Max Brand
CHAPTER XXIX
"WEREWOLF"
Buck's cattle pony broke from the lope into a steady dog-trot. Now andthen Buck's horse tossed his head high and jerked his ears quicklyback and forth as if he were trying to shake off a fly. As a matter offact he was bothered by his master's whistling. The only sound whichhe was accustomed to hear from the lips of his rider was a gruntedcurse now and then. This whistling made the mustang uneasy.
Buck himself did not know what the music meant, but it brought intohis mind a thought of strong living and of glorious death. He hadheard it whistled several times by Dan Barry when the latter laydelirious. It seemed to Buck, while he whistled this air, that thespirit of Dan travelled beside him, nerving him to the work which layahead, filling the messenger with his own wild strength.
As Buck dropped into a level tract of country he caught sight of arider coming from the opposite direction. As they drew closer theother man swung his mount far to one side. Buck chuckled softly,seeing that the other evidently desired to pass without beingrecognized. The chuckle died when the stranger changed direction androde straight for Buck. The latter pulled his horse to a quick stopand turned to face the on-comer. He made sure that his six-gun wasloose in the holster, for it was always well to be prepared for theunusual 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 recognizedthe voice of Hal Purvis, who swiftly ranged alongside.
"What's the dope?" asked Buck, producing his tobacco and theinevitable 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 onPurvis.
"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 thecamp with you."
Buck drew a long puff on his cigarette. He drew a quick mental pictureof 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'swhat I mean, Hal. Some of the cowpunchers are beginnin' to think I'm alittle 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 thehills."
He started his horse to a walk. "But of course if you're bound to havethat gun, Hal--"
Purvis grinned mirthlessly, his lean face wrinkling to the eyes, andhe swung his horse in beside Buck.
"Anyway," said Buck, "I'm glad to see you ain't a fool. How's thingsat the camp?"
"Rotten. They's a girl up there--"
"A girl?"
"You look sort of pleased. Sure they's a girl. Kate Cumberland, she'sthe one. She seen us hold up the train, an' now we don't dare lether go. She's got enough evidence to hang us all if it came to ashow-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 ofmen. We had her in the house for a while, an' then Silent rigged upthe 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'thad no good word for any of us since she's been up there. Every timeshe 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 lovewith Lee Haines and had deserted Barry for the outlaw. "Say, ain'tHaines 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 alllike to be, for that matter. She's a ravin' beauty, Buck. One of theseblue-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 heburned 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'reall too damned afraid of a girl. You all treat 'em like they wasqueens 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 breaksall the rules. She's got her heart set on another man, an' she's thatfunny sort that don't never love twice. Maybe you'll guess who the manis?"
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 ofhim. Since yesterday she wouldn't eat none. She says she'll starveherself to death unless we turn her loose. The hell of it is that shewill. I know it an' so does the rest of the boys."
"Starve herself to death?" said Buck exuberantly. "Wait till I gethold of her!"
"_You?_"
"Me!"
Purvis viewed him with compassion.
"Me bein' your friend, Buck," he said, "take my tip an' don't try nofool stunts around that girl. Which she once belongs to Whistlin' DanBarry 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 wantis 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 theday 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 turnsinto a wolf."
Buck nodded and shrugged his shoulders. A little chill went up anddown 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' BlackBart is a man turned into a wolf."
"Hal, you been drinkin'."
"Maybe."
"What made you think--" began Buck, but the long rider put spurs tohis horse and once more broke into a fast gallop.