Dan slipped down beside the marshal and the latter
dropped a sympathetic hand over the lean, brown fingers.
They returned the pressure with a bone-crushing grip.
“Fight, Dan! It will make you forget her.”
“Her skin is softer’n satin, Tex.”
“Ay, but you’ll never touch it again,
Dan.”
“Her eyes are deeper’n a pool at night
an’ her hair is all gold like ripe corn.”
“You’ll never look into her eyes again,
Dan, and you’ll never touch the gold of that
hair.”
“God!”
The word was hardly more than a whisper, but it brought
Black Bart leaping to his feet.
Dan spoke again: “Tex, I’m thankin’
you for listenin’ to me; I wanted to talk.
Bein’ silent was burnin’ me up. There’s
one thing more.”
“Fire it out, lad.”
“This evenin’ I told you I hated no man
but Jim Silent.”
“Yes.”
“An’ now they’s another of his gang.
Sometime—when she’s standin’
by—I’m goin’ to take him by
the throat till he don’t breathe no more.
Then I’ll throw him down in front of her an’
ask her if she c’n kiss the life back into his
lips!”
Calder was actually shaking with excitement, but he
was wise enough not to speak.
“Tex!”
“Ay, lad.”
“But when I’ve choked his damned life
away——”
“Yes?”
“Ay, lad.”
“There’ll be five more that seen her shamin’
me. Tex—all hell is bustin’
loose inside me!”
For a moment Calder watched, but that stare of cold
hate mastered him.
He turned his head.
THE CROSS ROADS
As Black Bart raced away in answer to Dan’s
whistle, Kate recovered herself from the daze in which
she stood and with a sob ran towards the willows,
calling the name of Dan, but Silent sprang after her,
and caught her by the arm. She cried out and
struggled vainly in his grip.
“Don’t follow him, boys!” called
Silent. “He’s a dog that can bite
while he runs. Stand quiet, girl!”
Lee Haines caught him by the shoulder and jerked Silent
around. His hand held the butt of his revolver,
and his whole arm trembled with eagerness for the
draw.
“Take your hand from her, Jim!” he said.
Silent met his eye with the same glare and while his
left hand still held Kate by both her wrists his right
dropped to his gun.
“Not when you tell me, Lee!”
“Damn you, I say let her go!”
“By God, Haines, I stand for too much from you!”
And still they did not draw, because each of them
knew that if the crisis came it would mean death to
them both. Bill Kilduff jumped between them and
thrust them back.
He cried, “Ain’t we got enough trouble
without roundin’ up work at home? Terry
Jordan is shot through the arm.”
Kate tugged at the restraining hand of Silent, not
in an attempt to escape, but in order to get closer
to Haines.
