“It’s all over, Hare.”  Another tragedy had passed by this man of the desert, and left his strength unshaken, but his deadly quiet and the gloom of his iron face were more terrible to see than any grief.

“Father, and you, Hare, come out into the road,” said George.

Another motionless form lay beyond Chance and Culver.  It was that of a slight man, flat on his back, his arms wide, his long black hair in the dust.  Under the white level brow the face had been crushed into a bloody curve.

“Dene!” burst from Hare, in a whisper.

“Killed by a horse!” exclaimed August Naab.  “Ah!  What horse?”

“Silvermane!” replied George.

“Who rode my horse—­tell me—­quick!” cried Hare, in a frenzy.

“It was Mescal.  Listen.  Let me tell you how it all happened.  I was out at the forge when I heard a bunch of horses coming up the lane.  I wasn’t packing my gun, but I ran anyway.  When I got to the house there was Dave facing Snap, Dene, and a bunch of rustlers.  I saw Chance at first, but not Holderness.  There must have been twenty men.

“‘I came after Mescal, that’s what,’ Snap was saying.

“‘You can’t have her,’ Dave answered.

“‘We’ll shore take her, an’ we want Silvermane, too,’ said Dene.

“‘So you’re a horse-thief as well as a rustler?’ asked Dave.

“‘Naab, I ain’t in any mind to fool.  Snap wants the girl, an’ I want Silvermane, an’ that damned spy that come back to life.’

“Then Holderness spoke from the back of the crowd:  ’Naab, you’d better hurry, if you don’t want the house burned!’

“Dave drew and Holderness fired from behind the men.  Dave fell, raised up and shot Chance and Culver, then dropped his gun.

“With that the women in the house began to scream, and Mescal ran out saying she’d go with Snap if they’d do no more harm.

“‘All right,’ said Snap, ‘get a horse, hurry—­hurry!’

“Then Dene dismounted and went toward the corral saying, ’I shore want Silvermane.’

“Mescal reached the gate ahead of Dene.  ’Let me get Silvermane.  He’s wild; he doesn’t know you; he’ll kick you if you go near him.’  She dropped the bars and went up to the horse.  He was rearing and snorting.  She coaxed him down and then stepped up on the fence to untie him.  When she had him loose she leaped off the fence to his back, screaming as she hit him with the halter.  Silvermane snorted and jumped, and in three jumps he was going like a bullet.  Dene tried to stop him, and was knocked twenty feet.  He was raising up when the stallion ran over him.  He never moved again.  Once in the lane Silvermane got going—­Lord! how he did run!  Mescal hung low over his neck like an Indian.  He was gone in a cloud of dust before Snap and the rustlers knew what had happened.  Snap came to first and, yelling and waving his gun, spurred down the lane.  The rest of the rustlers galloped after him.”