The Seventh Man Page 15

  Chapter XV. Seven For One

  Dangerous men were no novelty for Gregg. He had lived with them, workedwith them, as hard-fisted himself as any, and as ready for trouble, butthe man of the mountain-desert has a peculiar dread for the practiced,known gun-fighter. In the days of the rapier when the art of fence grewso complicated that half a life was needed for its mastery, men would assoon commit suicide as ruffle it with an assured duellist; and the manof the mountain-desert has a similar respect for those who are born, itmight be said, gun in hand. There was ample reason for the prickling inhis scalp, Vic felt, for here he sat on an errand of consummate dangerwith three of these deadly fighters. Two of them he knew by name andrepute, however dimly, and as for Buck Daniels, unless all signs failedthe dark, sharp-eyed fellow was hardly less grim than the others. Vicgauged the three one by one. Daniels might be dreaded for an outburstof wild temper and in that moment he could be as terrible as any. LeeHaines would fight coolly, his blue eyes never clouded by passion, forthat was his repute as the right hand man of Jim Silent, in the dayswhen Jim had been a terrible, half-legendary figure. One felt that samequiet strength as the tawny haired man talked to Barry now; his voicewas a smooth, deep current. But as for Barry himself, Gregg could notcompute the factors which entered into the man. By all outward seemingthat slender, half-timid figure was not a tithe of the force whicheither of the others represented, but out of the past Gregg's memorygathered more and more details, clear and clearer, of the wolf-dog,the black stallion, and the whistling man who tracked downSilent--"Whistling Dan" Barry; that was what they called him, sometimes.Nothing was definite in the mind of Gregg. The stories consisted ofpatched details, heard here and there at third or fourth hand, but heremembered one epic incident in which Barry had ridden, so rumor told,into the very heart of Elkhead, taken from the jail this very man, thisLee Haines, and carried him through the cordon of every armed man inElkhead. And there was another picture, dimmer still, which an eyewitness had painted: of how, at an appointed hour, Barry met Jim Silentand killed him.

  Out of these thoughts he glanced again at the man in the shadow, halfexpecting to find his host swollen to giant size. Instead, he found thesame meager form, the same old suggestion of youth which would not age,the same pale hands, of almost feminine litheness. Lee Haines talkedon--about a porphyry dyke somewhere to the north--a ledge to be found inthe space of ten thousand square miles--a list of vague clues--an appealfor Barry to help them find it--and Barry was held listening though everseeming to drift, or about to drift, towards the door. Black Bart layfacing his master, and his snaky head followed every movement. Katesat where the firelight barely touched on her, and in her arms she heldJoan, whose face and great bright eyes were turned towards Daddy Dan.All things in the room centered on the place where the man sat by thewall, and the sense of something impending swept over Gregg; then a wildfear--did they know the danger outside? He must make conversation; heturned to Kate, but at the same moment the voice of Buck Daniels besidehim, close.

  "I know how you feel, old man. I remember an old bay hoss of mine, aMorgan hoss, and when he died I grieved for near onto a year, mostly. Hewasn't much of a hoss to look at, too long coupled, you'd say, and hislegs was short, but he got about like a coyote and when he sat down ona rope you couldn't budge him with a team of Percherons. That's how goodhe was! When he was a four year old I was cutting out yearlin's withhim, and how--"

  The loud, cheerful tone fell away to a confidential murmur, Danielsleaned closer, with a smile of prospective humor, but the words whichcame to Gregg were: "Partner, if I was you I'd get up and git and Iwouldn't stop till I put a hell of a long ways between me and thiscabin!"

  It spoke well of Vic's nerve that no start betrayed him. He bowed hishead a little, as though to catch the trend of the jolly story better,nodding.

  "What's wrong?" he muttered back.

  "Barry's watchin' you out of the shadow."

  Then: "You fool, don't look!"

  But there was method in Vic's raising his head. He threw it back andbroke into laughter, but while he laughed he searched the shadow by thewall where Dan sat, and he felt glimmering eyes fixed steadily upon him.He dropped his head again, as if to hear more.

  "What's it mean, Daniels?"

  "You ought to know. I don't. But he don't mean you no good. He's lookin'at you too steady. If I was you--"

  Through the whisper of Buck, through the loud, steady talk of LeeHaines, cut the voice of Barry.

  "Vic!"

  The latter looked up and found that Barry was standing just within theglow of the hearth-light and something about him made Gregg's heartshrink.

  "Vic, how much did they pay you?"

  He tried to answer; he would have given ten years of life to have hisvoice under control for an instant; but his tongue froze. He knew thatevery one had turned toward him and he tried to smile, look unconcerned,but in spite of himself his eyes were wide, fixed, and he felt that theycould stare into the bottom of his soul and see the guilt.

  "How much?"

  Then his voice came, but he could have groaned when he heard its crazilyshaken, shrill sound.

  "What d'you mean, Dan?"

  The other smiled and Gregg added hastily: "If you want me to be movin'along, Dan, of course you're the doctor."

  "How much did they pay?" repeated the quiet, inexorable voice.

  He could have stood that, even without much fear, for no matter howterrible the man might be in action his hands were tied in his ownhouse; but now Kate spoke: "Vic, what have you done?"

  Then it came, in a flood. Hot shame rolled through him and the wordsburst out:

  "I'm a yaller houn'-dog, a sneakin' no-good cur! Dan, you're right. I'vesold you. They're out there, all of 'em, waitin' in the rocks. For God'ssake take my gun and pump me full of lead!"

  He threw his arms out, clear of his holster and turned that Barrymight draw his revolver. Vaguely he knew that Haines and Buck had drawnswiftly close to him from either side; vaguely he heard the cry of Kate;but all that he clearly understood was the merciless, unmoved face ofBarry. It was pretense; with all his being he wanted to die, but whenBarry made no move to strike he turned desperately to the others.

  "Do the job for him. He saved my life and then I used it to sell him.Daniels, Haines, I got no use for livin'."

  "Vic," he said, "take--this!--and march to your friends outside; andwhen you get through them, plant a forty-five slug in your own dirtyheart and then rot." Haines held out his gun with a gesture of contempt.

  But Kate slipped in front of him, white and anguish.

  "It was the girl you told me about, Vic?" she said. "You did it to getback to her?"

  He dropped his head.

  "Dan, let him go!"

  "I got no thought of usin' him."

  "Why not?" cried Vic suddenly. "I'll do the way Haines said. Or else letme stay here and fight 'em off with you. Dan, for God's sake give me onechance to make good."

  It was like talking to a face of stone.

  "The door's open for you, and waitin'. One thing before you go. That'sthe same gang you told me about before? Ronicky Joe, Harry Fisher, GusReeve, Mat Henshaw, Sliver Waldron and Pete Glass?"

  "Harry Fisher's dead, Dan, if you'll give me one fightin' chance to playsquare now--"

  "Tell 'em that I know 'em. Tell 'em one thing more. I thought Grey Mollywas worth only one man. But I was wrong. They've done me dirt and playedcrooked. They come huntin' me--with a decoy. Now tell 'em from me thatGrey Molly is worth seven men, and she's goin' to be paid for in full."

  He stepped to the wall and took down the bridle which Vic had hungthere.

  "I guess you'll be needin' this?"

  It ended all talk; it even seemed to Gregg that as soon as he receivedthe bridle from the hand of Barry the truce ended with a sudden periodand war began. He turned slowly away.