But Mac Strann had no eye for any saving Dan Barry.
“Are you the creepin’, sneakin’
snake that done—this?”
“You got me figured right,” answered Dan
coldly.
“Then, by God------” began the roaring voice of Mac, but Jerry Strann
stirred wildly on the bed.
“Mac!” he called, “Mac!” His
voice went suddenly horribly thick, a bubbling, liquid
sound. “For God’s sake, Mac!”
He had reared himself up on one elbow, his arm stretched
out to his brother. And a foam of crimson stood
on his lips.
“Mac, don’t pull no gun! It was me
that was in wrong!”
And then he fell back in the bed, and into the arms
of Mac, who was beside him, moaning: “Buck
up, Jerry. Talk to me, boy!”
“Mac, you’ve finished the job,”
came the husky whisper.
Mac Strann raised his head, and his terrible eyes
fixed upon Dan Barry. And there was no pity in
the face of the other. The first threat had wiped
every vestige of human tenderness out of his eyes,
and now, with something like a sneer on his lips,
and with a glimmer of yellow light in his eyes, he
was backing towards the door, and noiselessly as a
shadow he slipped out and was gone.
FINESSE
“A man talks because he’s drunk or lonesome;
a girl talks because that’s her way of takin’
exercise.”
This was a maxim of Buck Daniels, and Buck Daniels
knew a great deal about women, as many a school marm
and many a rancher’s daughter of the mountain-desert
could testify.
Also Buck Daniels said of women: “It ain’t
what you say to ’em so much as the tune you
put it to.”
Now he sat this day in O’Brien’s hotel
dining-room. It was the lazy and idle hour between
three and four in the afternoon, and since the men
of the mountain-desert eat promptly at six, twelve,
and six, there was not a soul in the room when he
entered. Nor was there a hint of eating utensils
on the tables. Nevertheless Buck Daniels was not
dismayed. He selected a corner-table by instinct
and smote upon the surface with the flat of his hand.
It made a report like the spat of a forty-five; heavy
footsteps approached, a door flung open, and a cross-eyed
slattern stood in the opening. At the sight of
Buck Daniels sitting with his hands on his hips and
his sombrero pushed back to a good-natured distance
on his head the lady puffed with rage.
“What in hell d’you think this is?”
bellowed this gentle creature, and the tone echoed
heavily back from all four walls. “You’re
three hours late and you get no chuck here. On
your way, stranger!”
Buck Daniels elevated himself slowly from the chair
and stood at his full height. With a motion fully
as deliberate he removed his sombrero and bowed to
such a depth that the brim of the hat brushed the floor.
“Lady,” he said humbly, “I was thinkin’
that some gent run this here eatin’ place.
Which if you’ll excuse me half a minute I’ll
ramble outside and sluice off some of the dust.
If I’d known you was here I wouldn’t of
thought of comin’ in here like this.”
