He chuckled and made ahead as fast as his long legs
could carry him. Haines dropped back beside Kate.
“Everything goes finely,” he assured her.
“I told Rhinehart what to do. He’s
gone ahead to the camp. Now all you have to do
is to keep your head. One of the boys will tell
you that we’ve heard some whistling near the
camp this evening. Then I’ll ask you to
stay around for a while in case the whistling should
sound again, do you see? Remember, never ask
a question!”
It was even more simple than Haines had hoped.
Silent’s men suspected nothing. After all,
Kate’s deception was a small affair, and her
frankness, her laughter, and her beauty carried all
before her.
The long riders became quickly familiar with her,
but through their rough talk, the Westerners’
reverence for a woman ran like a thread of gold over
a dark cloth. Her fear lessened and almost passed
away while she listened to their talk and watched
their faces. The kindly human nature which had
lain unexpressed in most of them for months together
burst out torrent-like and flooded about her with a
sense of security and power. These were conquerors
of men, fighters by instinct and habit, but here they
sat laughing and chattering with a helpless girl,
and not a one of them but would have cut the others’
throats rather than see her come to harm. The
roughness of their past and the dread of their future
they laid aside like an ugly cloak while they showed
her what lies in the worst man’s heart—a
certain awe of woman. Their manners underwent
a sudden change. Polite words, rusted by long
disuse, were resurrected in her honour. Tremendous
phrases came labouring forth. There was a general
though covert rearranging of bandanas, and an interchange
of self-conscious glances. Haines alone seemed
impervious to her charm.
The red died slowly along the west. There was
no light save the flicker of the fire, which played
on Kate’s smile and the rich gold of her hair,
or caught out of the dark one of the lean, hard faces
which circled her. Now and then it fell on the
ghastly grin of Terry Jordan and Kate had to clench
her hand to keep up her nerve.
It was deep night when Jim Silent rode into the clearing.
Shorty Rhinehart and Hal Purvis went to him quickly
to explain the presence of the girl and the fact that
they were all members of the Y Circle X outfit.
He responded with nods while his gloomy eyes held fast
on Kate. When they presented him as the boss,
Jim, he replied to her good-natured greeting in a
voice that was half grunt and half growl.
DELILAH
Haines muttered at Kate’s ear: “This
is the man. Now keep up your courage.”
“He doesn’t like this,” went on
Haines in the same muffled voice, “but when
he understands just why you’re here I think he’ll
be as glad as any of us.”
Silent beckoned to him and he went to the chief.
