he has the fightin’ instinct of the ancestors
of man. So far I’ve kept him away from
other men. Which I may say is the main reason
I bought Dan Morgan’s place so’s to keep
fightin’ men away from our Whistlin’ Dan.
So I’ve been hidin’ him from himself.
You see, he’s my boy if he belongs to anybody.
Maybe when time goes on he’ll get tame.
But I reckon not. It’s like takin’
a panther cub—or a wolf pup—an
tryin’ to raise it for a pet. Some day
it gets the taste of blood, maybe its own blood, an’
then it goes mad and becomes a killer. An’
that’s what I fear, Kate. So far I’ve
kept Dan from ever havin’ a single fight, but
I reckon the day’ll come when someone’ll
cross him, and then there’ll be a tornado turned
loose that’ll jest about wreck these parts.”
Her anger had grown during this speech. Now she
rose.
“I won’t believe you, Dad,” she
said. “I’d sooner trust our Dan than
any man alive. I don’t think you’re
right in a single word!”
“I was sure loco,” sighed Cumberland,
“to ever dream of convincin’ a woman.
Let it drop, Kate. We’re about to get rid
of Morgan’s place, an’ now I reckon there
won’t be any temptation near Dan. We’ll
see what time’ll do for him. Let the thing
drop there. Now I’m goin’ over to
the Bar XO outfit an’ I won’t be back till
late tonight. There’s only one thing more.
I told Morgan there wasn’t to be any gun-play
in his place today. If you hear any shootin’
go down there an’ remind Morgan to take the
guns off’n the men.”
Kate nodded, but her stare travelled far away, and
the thing she saw was the yellow light burning in
the eyes of Whistling Dan.
SILENT SHOOTS
It was a great day and also a sad one for Morgan.
His general store and saloon had been bought out by
old Joe Cumberland, who declared a determination to
clear up the landscape, and thereby plunged the cowpunchers
in gloom. They partially forgave Cumberland, but
only because he was an old man. A younger reformer
would have met armed resistance. Morgan’s
place was miles away from the next oasis in the desert
and the closing meant dusty, thirsty leagues of added
journey to every man in the neighbourhood. The
word “neighbourhood,” of course, covered
a territory fifty miles square.
If the day was very sad for this important reason,
it was also very glad, for rustling Morgan advertised
the day of closing far and wide, and his most casual
patrons dropped all business to attend the big doings.
A long line of buckboards and cattle ponies surrounded
the place. Newcomers gallopped in every few moments.
Most of them did not stop to tether their mounts,
but simply dropped the reins over the heads of the
horses and then went with rattling spurs and slouching
steps into the saloon. Every man was greeted by
a shout, for one or two of those within usually knew
him, and when they raised a cry the others joined
in for the sake of good fellowship. As a rule
he responded by ordering everyone up to the bar.
