The Seventh Man Page 13

  Chapter XIII. Equal Payment

  They knew what it meant; even Joan had heard the cry of the lone wolfhunting in the lean time of winter, and of all things sad, all thingslonely, all things demoniacal, the howl of a wolf stands alone. LeeHaines reached for his gun, little Joan stood up silent on the hearth,but Kate and Buck Daniels sat listening with a sort of hungry terror,as the cry sobbed away to quiet. Then out of the mountains and the nightcame an answer so thin, so eerie, one might have said it was the voiceof the mountains and white stars grown audible; it stole on the ear asthe pulse of a heart comes to the consciousness.

  Truly it was an answer to the cry of the wolf-dog, for in the slendercompass it carried the same wail, the same unearthly quality with thisgreat difference, that a thrilling happiness went through it, as if someone walked through the mountains and rejoiced in the unknown terrors. Asob formed in the throat of Kate and the wolf turned its head and lookedat her, and the yellow of things that see in the night swam in its eyes.Lee Haines struck the arm of Buck Daniels.

  "Buck, let's get clear of this. Let's start. He's coming."

  At the whisper Buck turned a livid face; one could see him gather hisstrength.

  "I stick," he said with difficulty, as though his lips were numb."She'll need me now."

  Lee Haines stood in a moment's indecision but then settled back in hischair and gripped his hands together. They both sat watching the door asif the darkness were a magnet of inescapable horror. Only Joan, ofall in that room, showed no fear after the first moment. Her face wasblanched indeed, but she tilted it up now, smiling; she stole towardsthe door, but Kate caught the child and gathered her close withstrangling force. Joan made no attempt to escape. "S-sh!" she cautioned,and raised a plump little forefinger. "Munner, don't you hear? Don't youlike it?"

  As if the sound had turned a corner, it broke all at once clearly overthem in a rain of music; a man's whistling. It went out; it floodedabout them again like beautiful, cold light. Once again it stopped, andnow they sensed, rather than heard, a light, rapid, padding step thatapproached the cabin. Dan Barry stood in the door and in that shadowyplace his eyes seemed luminous. He no longer whistled, but a spirit wentfrom him which carried the same sense of the untamed, the wild happinesswhich died out with his smile as he looked around the room. The brimof his hat curved up, his neckerchief seemed to flutter a little. Thewolf-dog reached the threshold in the same instant and stood lookingsteadily up into the face of the master.

  "Daddy Dan!" cried Joan.

  She had slipped from the nerveless arms of Kate and now ran towards herfather, but here she faltered, there she stopped with her arms slowlyfalling back to her sides. He did not seem to see her, but looked pasther, far beyond every one in the room as he walked to the wall and tookdown a bridle that hung on a peg. Kate laid her hands on the arms of thechair, but after the first effort to rise, her strength failed.

  "Dan!" she said. It was only a whisper, a heart-stopping sound. "Dan!"Her voice rang, then her arms gathered to her, blindly, Joan, who hadshrunk back. "What's happened?"

  "Molly died."

  "Died."

  "They broke her leg."

  "The posse!"

  "With a long shot."

  "What are you going to do!"

  "Get Satan. Go for a ride."

  "Where?"

  He looked about him, troubled, and then frowned. "I dunno. Out yonder."

  He waved his arm. Black Bart followed the turn of the master's body, andswitching around in front continued to stare up into Dan's face.

  "You're going back after the posse?"

  "No, I'm done with them."

  "What do you mean?"

  "They paid for Grey Molly."

  "You shot one of their--horses?"

  "A man."

  "God help us!" Then life came to her; she sprang up and ran between himand the door. "You shan't go. If you love me!" She was only inches fromBlack Bart, and the big animal showed his teeth in silent hate.

  "Kate, I'm goin'. Don't stand in the door."

  Joan, slipping around Bart, stood clinging to the skirts of her motherand watched the face of Dan, fascinated, silent.

  "Tell me where you're going. Tell me when you're coming back. Dan, forpity!"

  Loud as a trumpet, a horse neighed from the corral. Dan had stood withan uncertain face, but now he smiled.

  "D'you hear? I got to go!"

  "I heard Satan whinney. But what does that mean? How does that make yougo?"

  "Somewhere," he murmured, "something's happening. I felt it on the windwhen I was comin' up the pass."

  "If you--oh, Dan, you're breaking my heart!"

  "Stand out of the door."

  "Wait till the morning."

  "Don't you see I can't wait?"

  "One hour, ten minutes. Buck--Lee Haines--"

  She could not finish, but Buck Daniels stepped closer, trying to make asmile grow on his ashen face.

  "Another minute, Dan, and I'll tell a man you've forgotten me."

  Barry pivoted suddenly as though uneasy at finding something behind him,and Daniels winced.

  "Hello, Buck. Didn't see you was here. Lee Haines? Lee, this is fine."

  He passed from one to the other and his handshake was only the elusivepassage of his fingers through their palms. Haines shrugged hisshoulders to get rid of a weight that clung to him; a touch of colorcame back to his face.

  "Look here, Dan. If you're afraid that gang may trail you here and startraising the devil--how many are there?"

  "Five."

  "I'm as good with a gun as I ever was in the old days. So is Buck.Partner, let's make the show down together. Stick here with Kate andJoan and Buck and I will help you hold the fort. Don't look at me likethat. I mean it. Do you think I've forgotten what you did for me thatnight in Elkhead? Not in a thousand years. Dan, I'd rather make my lastplay here than any other place in the world. Let 'em come! We'll saltthem down and plant them where they won't grow."

  As he talked the pallor quite left him, and the fighting fire blazedin his eyes, he stood lion-like, his feet spread apart as if to meeta shock, his tawny head thrown back, and there was about him ahair-trigger sensitiveness, in spite of his bulk, a nervousness of handand coldness of glance which characterizes the gun-fighter. Buck Danielsstepped closer, without a word, but one felt that he also had walkedinto the alliance. As Barry watched them the yellow which swirled in hiseyes flickered away for a moment.

  "Why, gents," he murmured, "they ain't any call for trouble. The posse?What's that got to do with me? Our accounts are all squared up."

  The two stared dumbly.

  "They killed Grey Molly; I killed one of them."

  "A horse--for a man?" repeated Lee Haines, breathing hard.

  "A life for a life," said Dan simply. "They got no call forcomplainin'."

  Glances of wonder, glances of meaning, flashed back and forth fromHaines to Buck.

  "Well, then," said the latter, and he took in Kate with a caution fromthe corner of his eye, "if that's the case, let's sit down and chin fora minute."

  Dan stood with his head bowed a little, frowning; two forces pulled him,and Kate leaned against the wall off in the shadow with her eyes closed,waiting, waiting, waiting through the crisis.

  "I'd like to stay and chin with you, Buck--but, I got to be off. Outthere--in the night--something may happen before mornin'." Black Bartlicked the hand of the master and whined. "Easy, boy. We're startin'."

  "But the night's just beginnin'," said Buck Daniels genially. "You got aworld of time before you, and with Satan to fall back on you don't haveto count your minutes. Pull up a chair beside me, Dan, and--"

  The latter shook his head, decided. "Buck, I can't do it. Just to sithere"--he looked about him--"makes me feel sort of choked. Them wallsare as close--as a coffin."

  He was already turning; Kate straightened in the shadow, desperate.

  "As a matter of fact, Dan," said Lee Haines, suddenly, "we need yourhelp badly."

/>   "Help?"

  The heart of Kate stood in her eyes as she looked at Lee Haines.

  "Sit down a minute, Dan, and I'll tell you about it."

  Barry slipped into a chair which he had pulled to one side--so that theback of it was towards the wall, and every one in the room was beforehim.