Before any one could speak he poured in another volley between wind and water:  “One slip of a girl can make fools out of five long riders?  No, you ain’t long riders.  All you c’n handle is hobby hosses!”

“What do you want us to do?” growled swarthy Bill Kilduff.

“Keep your face shut while I’m talkin’, that’s what I want you to do!”

There was a devil of rage in his eyes.  His folded arms tugged at each other, and if they got free there would be gun play.  The four men shrank, and he was satisfied.

“Now I’ll tell you what we’re goin’ to do,” he went on.  “We’re goin’ out after Haines an’ the girl.  If they come up with this Whistlin’ Dan we’re goin’ to surround him an’ fill him full of lead, while they’re talkin’.”

“Not for a million dollars!” burst in Hal Purvis.

“Not in a thousan’ years!” echoed Terry Jordan.

Silent turned his watchful eyes from one to the other.  They were ready to fight now, and he sensed it at once.

“Why?” he asked calmly.

“It ain’t playin’ square with the girl,” announced Rhinehart.

“Purvis,” said Silent, for he knew that the opposition centred in the figure of the venomous little gun fighter; “if you seen a mad dog that was runnin’ straight at you, would you be kep’ from shootin’ it because a pretty girl hollered out an’ asked you not to?”

Their eyes shifted rapidly from one to another, seeking a way out, and finding none.

“An’ is there any difference between this hero Whistlin’ Dan an’ a mad dog?”

Still they were mute.

“I tell you, boys, we got a better chance of dodgin’ lightnin’ an’ puttin’ a bloodhound off our trail than we have of gettin’ rid of this Whistlin’ Dan.  An’ when he catches up with us—­well, all I’m askin’ is that you remember what he done to them four dollars before they hit the dust?”

“The chief’s right,” growled Kilduff, staring down at the ground.  “It’s Whistlin’ Dan or us.  The mountains ain’t big enough to hold him an’ us!”

* * * * *

Before Whistling Dan the great wolf glided among the trees.  For a full hour they had wandered through the willows in this manner, and Dan had made up his mind to surrender the search when Bart, returning from one of his noiseless detours, sprang out before his master and whined softly.  Dan turned, loosening his revolver in the holster, and followed Bart through the soft gloom of the tree shadows and the moonlight.  His step was almost as silent as that of the slinking animal which went before.  At last the wolf stopped and raised his head.  Almost instantly Dan saw a man and a woman approaching through the willows.  The moonlight dropped across her face.  He recognized Kate, with Lee Haines walking a pace before her.

“Stand where you are,” he said.

Haines leaped to one side, his revolver flashing in his hand.  Dan stepped out before them while Black Bart slunk close beside him, snarling softly.