by Max Brand
CHAPTER XXXVI
FEAR
Into the dark he rode. Somewhere in the mountains was Silent, andnow alone. In Dan's mouth the old salt taste of his own blood wasunforgotten.
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. Afterseveral days he rode across a tall red-roan stallion, a mere wreck ofa horse with lean sides and pendant head and glazed eye. It was a longmoment before Dan recognized Silent's peerless mount, Red Pete. Theoutlaw had changed his exhausted horse for a common pony. The end ofthe long trail must be near.
The whole range followed that chase with breathless interest. It waslike the race of Hector and Achilles around the walls of Troy. Andwhen they met there would be a duel of giants. Twice Whistling Dan wassighted. Once Jim Silent fought a running duel with a posse fresh fromElkhead. The man hunters were alert, but it was their secret hope thatthe two famous outlaws would destroy each other, but how the wildchase would end no one could know. At last Buck Daniels rode to tellKate 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 devilSilent--"
"Dan," cried old Joe, and rushed around the table to Buck.
"Silent has dared Dan to meet him at three o'clock tomorrow afternoonin Tully's saloon in Elkhead! He's held up four men in the lasttwenty-four hours and told them that he'll be at Tully's tomorrow andwill expect Dan there!"
"It isn't possible!" cried Kate. "That means that Silent is givinghimself up to the law!"
Buck laughed bitterly.
"The law will not put a hand on them if it thinks that they'll fightit out together," he said.
"There'll be a crowd in the saloon, but not a hand will stir to arrestSilent till after the fight."
"But Dan won't go to Tully's," broke in old Joe. "If Silent is crazyenough 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 Elkheadand turn Dan back."
"Ay," said Joe, "for even if he kills Silent, the crowd will tacklehim 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 youdream any one could turn him back?"
The two men were mute.
"You're right," said Buck at last. "I hoped for a minute that youcould do it, but now I remember the way he was in that dark shanty upthe Bald-eagle Creek. You can't turn a wolf from a trail, and WhistlingDan 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. Buckcaught 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 atthree o'clock tomorrow afternoon, but until then she'll want to bealone. There'll be ghosts enough with her all the time. You c'n lay tothat."
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 thatglow 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 nomore. He's goin' to die. Somethin' tells him that. But he wants to diewhere they's humans around him, and when he dies he wants to pull Dandown with him."
They sat staring at each other for a time.
"If he lives through that fight with Silent," said Buck sadly, "thecrowd 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 Bucksimply. "So long, Joe!"
The old man wrung his hand and then followed him out to thehitching-rack where Buck's horse stood.
"Ain't Dan got no friends among the crowd?" asked Cumberland. "Don'tthey 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 lotin favour of Dan, explainin' how the jail bustin' took place. Lee issure provin' himself a white man. He's gettin' well of his woundsand it's said the Governor will pardon him. You see, Haines went badbecause the law done him dirt a long time ago, and the Governor istakin' that into account."
"But they'd still want to kill Dan?"
"Half of the boys wouldn't," said Buck. "The other half is all wroughtup over the killings that's been happenin' on the range in the lastmonth. Dan is accused of about an even half of 'em, an' the friends ofdead men don't waste no time listenin' to arguments. They say Dan's anoutlawed man an' that they're goin' to treat him like one."
"Damn them!" groaned Cumberland. "Don't Morris's confession make nodifference?"
"Morris was lynched before he had a chance to swear to what he said inDan's favour. Kilduff an' Jordan an' Rhinehart might testify that Danwasn't never bought over by Silent, but they know they're done forthemselves, an' they won't try to help anybody else, particular theman 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, butto get some more money out of him, an' that the fight in the shanty upat Bald-eagle Creek was because Silent refused to give Dan any moremoney."
"Then there ain't no hope," muttered Cumberland. "But oh, lad, itbreaks my heart to think of Kate! Dan c'n only die once, but everyminute is a death to her!"