"To the rest of us," she murmured, "Dan has nothing but silence, and hardly a glance. Buck saved his life to-night, and yet Dan remembered nothing except the blow which had been struck. And now--now he pours out all the music in his soul for a dumb beast. Listen!"
He saw her straighten herself and stand taller.
"Then through the wolf--I"ll conquer through the dumb beast!"
She whipped past Byrne and disappeared into the house; at the same instant the whistling, in the midst of a faint, high climax, broke, shivered, and was ended. There was only the darkness and the silence around Byrne, and the unsteady wind against his face.
CHAPTER XXV
WERE-WOLF
Doctor Byrne, pacing the front veranda with his thoughtful head bowed, saw Buck Daniels step out with his quirt dangling in his hand, his cartridge belt buckled about his waist, and a great red silk bandana knotted at his throat.
He was older by ten years than he had been a few days before, when the doctor first saw him. To be sure, his appearance was not improved by a three days" growth of beard. It gave his naturally dark skin a dirty cast, but even that rough stubble could not completely shroud the new hollows in Daniels" cheeks. His long, black, uncombed hair, sagged down raggedly across his forehead, hanging almost into his eyes; the eyes themselves were sunk in such formidable cavities that Byrne caught hardly more than two points of light in the shadows. All the devil-may-care insouciance of Buck Daniels was quite, quite gone. In its place was a dogged sullenness, a hang-dog air which one would not care to face of a dark night or in a lonely place. His manner was that of a man whose back is against the wall, who, having fled some keen pursuit, has now come to the end of his tether and prepares for desperate even if hopeless battle. There was that about him which made the doctor hesitate to address the cowpuncher.
At length he said: "You"re going out for an outing, Mr. Daniels?"
Buck Daniels started violently at the sound of this voice behind him, and whirled upon the doctor with such a set and contorted expression of fierceness that Byrne jumped back.
"Good G.o.d, man!" cried the doctor, "What"s up with you?"
"Nothin"," answered Buck, gradually relaxing from his first show of suspicion. "I"m beating it. That"s all."
"Leaving us?"
"Yes."
"Not really!"
"D"you think I ought to stay?" asked Buck, with something of a sneer.
The doctor hesitated, frowning in a puzzled way. At length he threw out his hands in a gesture of mute abandonment.
"My dear fellow," he said with a faint smile, "I"ve about stopped trying to think."
At this Buck Daniels grinned mirthlessly.
"Now you"re talkin" sense," he nodded. "They ain"t no use in thinking."
"But why do you leave so suddenly?"
Buck Daniels shrugged his broad shoulders.
"I am sure," went on Byrne, "that Miss c.u.mberland will miss you."
"She will not," answered the big cowpuncher. "She"s got her hands full with--_him_."
"Exactly. But if it is more than she can do, if she makes no headway with that singular fellow--she may need help----"
He was interrupted by a slow, long-drawn, deep-throated curse from Buck Daniels.
"Why in h.e.l.l should I help her with--_him?_"
"There is really no reason," answered the doctor, alarmed, "except, I suppose, old friendship----"
"d.a.m.n old friendship!" burst out Buck Daniels. "There"s an end to all things and my friendship is worn out--on both sides. It"s done!"
He turned and scowled at the house.
"Help her to win _him_ over? I"d rather stick the muzzle of my gun down my throat and pull the trigger. I"d rather see her marry a man about to hang. Well--to h.e.l.l with this place. I"m through with it. S"long, doc."
But Doctor Byrne ran after him and halted him at the foot of the steps down from the veranda.
"My dear Mr. Daniels," he urged, touching the arm of Buck. "You really mustn"t leave so suddenly as this. There are a thousand questions on the tip of my tongue."
Buck Daniels regarded the professional man with a hint of weariness and disgust.
"Well," he said, "I"ll hear the first couple of hundred. Shoot!"
"First: the motive that sends you away."
"Dan Barry."
"Ah--ah--fear of what he may do?"
"d.a.m.n the fear. At least, it"s him that makes me go."
"It seems an impenetrable mystery," sighed the doctor. "I saw you the other night step into the smoking h.e.l.l of that barn and keep the way clear for this man. I knew, before that, how you rode and risked your life to bring Dan Barry back here. Surely those are proofs of friendship!"
Buck Daniels laughed unpleasantly. He laid a large hand on the shoulder of the doctor and answered: "If them was the only proofs, doc, I wouldn"t feel the way I do. Proofs of friendship? Dan Barry has saved me from the--rope!--and he"s saved me from dyin" by the gun of Jim Silent.
He took me out of a rotten life and made me a man that could look honest men in the face!"
He paused, swallowing hard, and the doctor"s misty, overworked eyes lighted with some comprehension. He had felt from the first a certain danger in this big fellow, a certain reckless disregard of laws and rules which commonly limit the actions of ordinary men. Now part of the truth was hinted at. Buck Daniels, on a time, had been outside the law; and Barry had drawn him back to the ways of men. That explained some of the singular bond that lay between them.
"That ain"t all," went on Buck. "Blood is thick, and I"ve loved him better nor a brother. I"ve gone to h.e.l.l and back for him. For him I took Kate c.u.mberland out of the hands of Jim Silent, and I left myself in her place. I took her away and all so"s she could go to him. d.a.m.n him!
And now on account of him I got to leave this place."
His voice rose to a ringing pitch.
"D"you think it"s easy for me to go? D"you think it ain"t like tearing a finger-nail off"n the flesh for me to go away from Kate? G.o.d knows what she means to me! G.o.d knows, but if He does, He"s forgotten me!"
Anguish of spirit set Buck Daniels shaking, and the doctor looked on in amazement. He was like one who reaches in his pocket for a copper coin and brings out a handful of gold-pieces.
"Kind feelin"s don"t come easy to me," went on Buck Daniels. "I been raised to fight. I been raised to hard ridin" and dust in the throat. I been raised on whiskey and hate. And then I met Dan Barry, and his voice was softer"n a girl"s voice, and his eyes didn"t hold no doubt of me. Me that had sneaked in on him at night and was goin" to kill him in his sleep--because my chief had told me to! That was the Dan Barry what I first knew. He give me his hand and give me the trust of his eyes, and after he left me I sat down and took my head between my hands and my heart was like to bust inside me. It was like the clouds had blowed away from the sun and let it shine on me for the first time in my life. And I swore that if the time come I"d repay him. For every cent he give me I"d pay him back in gold. I"d foller to the end of the world to do what he bid me do."