Haw-Haw Langley moved towards the door, to give himself a free s.p.a.ce for exit.
"Jerry"s hurt," he said, and he watched.
There was a ripple of pain on the face of Mac Strann.
"Hoss kicked him--fall on him?" he asked.
"It weren"t a hoss."
"Huh? A cow?"
"It weren"t no cow. It weren"t no animal."
Mac Strann faced full upon Langley. When he spoke it seemed as if it were difficult for him to manage his lips. They lifted an appreciable s.p.a.ce before there was any sound.
"What was it?"
"A man."
Langley edged back towards the door.
"What with?"
"A gun."
And Langley saw the danger that was coming even before Mac Strann moved.
He gave a shrill yelp of terror and whirled and sprang for the open. But Mac Strann sprang after him and reached. His whole body seemed to stretch like an elastic thing, and his arm grew longer. The hand fastened on the back of Langley, plucked him up, and jammed him against the wall. Haw-Haw crumpled to the floor.
He gasped: "It weren"t me, Mac. For Gawd"s sake, it weren"t me!"
His face was a study. There was abject terror in it, and yet there was also a sort of grisly joy, and his eyes feasted on the silent agony of Mac Strann.
"Where?" asked Mac Strann.
"Mac," pleaded the vulture who cringed on the floor, "gimme your word you ain"t goin" to hold it agin me."
"Tell me," said the other, and he framed the face of the vulture between his large hands. If he pressed the heels of those hands together bones would snap, and Haw-Haw Langley knew it. And yet nothing but a wild delight could have set that glitter in his little eyes, just as nothing but a palsy of terror could have set his limbs twitching so.
"Who shot him from behind?" demanded the giant.
"It wasn"t from behind," croaked the bearer of ill-tidings. "It was from the front."
"While he wasn"t looking?"
"No. He was beat to the draw."
"You"re _lyin"_ to me," said Mac Strann slowly.
"So help me G.o.d!" cried Langley.
"Who done it?"
"A little feller. He ain"t half as big as me. He"s got a voice like Kitty Jackson, the school-marm; and he"s got eyes like a starved pup. It was him that done it."
The eyes of Mac Strann grew vaguely meditative.
"Nope," he mused, in answer to his own thoughts, "I won"t use no rope.
I"ll use my hands. Where"d the bullet land?"
A fresh agony of trembling shook Langley, and a fresh sparkle came in his glance.
"Betwixt his ribs, Mac. And right on through. And it come out his back!"
But there was not an answering tremor in Mac Strann. He let his hands fall away from the face of the vulture and he caught up the saddle.
Langley straightened himself. He peered anxiously at Strann, as if he feared to miss something.
"I dunno whether he"s livin" right now, or not," suggested Haw-Haw.
But Mac Strann was already striding through the door.
Sweat was pouring from the lather-flecked bodies of their horses when they drew rein, at last, at the goal of their long, fierce ride; and Haw-Haw slunk behind the broad form of Mac Strann when the latter strode into the hotel. Then the two started for the room in which, they were told, lay Jerry Strann.
"There it is," whispered Haw-Haw, as they reached the head of the stairs. "The door"s open. If he was dead the door would be closed, most like."
They stood in the hall and looked in upon a strange picture, for flat in the bed lay Jerry Strann, his face very white and oddly thin, and over him leaned the man who had shot him down.
They heard Dan Barry"s soft, gentle voice query: "How you feelin" now, partner?"
He leaned close beside the other, his fingers upon the wrist of Jerry.
"A pile better," muttered Jerry Strann. "Seems like I got more"n a fightin" chance to pull through now."
"Jest you keep lyin" here quiet," advised Dan Barry, "and don"t stir around none. Don"t start no worryin". You"re goin" to live"s long as you don"t lose no more blood. Keep your thoughts quiet. They ain"t no cause for you to do nothin" but jest keep your eyes closed, and breathe, and think of yaller sunshine, and green gra.s.s in the spring, and the wind lazyin" the clouds along across the sky. That"s all you got to think about. Jest keep quiet, partner."
"It"s easy to do it now you"re with me. Seems like they"s a pile of strength runnin" into me from the tips of your fingers, my frien".
And--I was _some_ fool to start that fight with you, Barry."
"Jest forget all that," murmured the other. "And keep your voice down.
I"ve forgot it; you forget it. It ain"t never happened."
"What"s it mean?" frowned Mac Strann, whispering to Haw-Haw.
The eyes of the latter glittered like beads.
"That"s him that shot Jerry," said Haw-Haw. "Him!"
"h.e.l.l!" snarled Mac Strann, and went through the door.