God!" said Silent. "I've got him! The whole world is agin him— the law an' the outlaws. He's done for!"
He stopped short.
"Unless you're feelin' uncommon grateful to him for what he done for you, Lee?"
"He told me he hated me like hell," said Haines. "I'm grateful to him as I'd be to a mountain lion that happened to do me a good turn. Now for Kate!"
"Let him see her," said Silent. "That's the quickest way. Call her out, Haines. We'll take a little walk while you're with her."
The moment they were gone Haines rushed to the door and knocked loudly. It was opened at once and Kate stood before him. She winced at sight of him.
"It's I, Kate!" he cried joyously. "I've come back from the dead."
She stepped from the room and closed the door behind her.
"What of Dan? Tell me! Was—was he hurt?"
"Dan?" he repeated with an impatient smile. "No, he isn't hurt. He pulled me through—got me out of jail and safe into the country. He had to drop two or three of the boys to do it."
Her head fell back a little and in the dim light, for the first time, he saw her face with some degree of clearness, and started at its pallor.
"What's the matter, Kate—dear?" he said anxiously.
"What of Dan?" she asked faintly.
"I don't know. He's outlawed. He's done for. The whole range will be against him. But why are you so worried about him, Kate?—when he told me that you loved me—"
She straightened.
"Love? You?"
His face lengthened almost ludicrously.
"But why—Dan came for me—he said you sent him—he —" he broke down, stammering, utterly confused.
"This is why I sent him!" she answered, and throwing open the door gestured to him to enter.
He followed her and saw the lean figure of old Joe Cumberland lying on a blanket close to the wall.
"That's why!" she whispered.
"How does he come here?"
"Ask the devil in his human form! Ask your friend, Jim Silent!"
He walked into the outer room with his head low. He found the others already returned. Their carefully controlled grins spoke volumes.
"Where's Silent?" he asked heavily.
"He's gone," said Jordan.
Hal Purvis took Haines to one side.
"Take a brace," he urged.
"She hates me, Hal," said the big fellow sadly. "For God's sake, was there no other way of getting me out?"
"Not one! Pull yourself together, Lee. There ain't no one for you to hold a spite agin. Would you rather be back in Elkhead dangling from the end of a rope?"
"It seems to have been a sort of—joke," said Haines.
"Exactly. But at that sort of a joke nobody laughs!"
"And Whistling Dan Barry?"
"He's done for. We're all agin him, an' now even the rangers will help us hunt him down. Think it over careful, Haines. You're agin him because you want the girl. I want that damned wolf of his, Black Bart. Kilduff would rather get into the saddle of Satan than ride to heaven. An' Jim Silent won't never rest till he sees Dan lyin' on the ground with a bullet through his heart. Here's four of us. Each of us want something that belongs to him, from his life to his dog. Haines, I'm askin' you man to man, was there any one ever born who could get away from four men like us?"
28. WHISTLING DAN, DESPERADO
It was an urgent business which sent Silent galloping over the hills before dawn. When the first light came he was close to the place of Gus Morris. He slowed his horse to a trot, but after a careful reconnoitring, seeing no one stirring around the sheriff's house, he drew closer and commenced to whistle a range song, broken here and there with a significant phrase which sounded like a signal. Finally a cloth was waved from a window, and Silent, content, turned his back on the house, and rode away at a walk.
Within half an hour the pounding of a horse approached from behind. The plump sheriff came to a halt beside him, jouncing in the saddle with the suddenness of the stop.
"What's up?" he called eagerly.
"Whistlin' Dan."
"What's new about him? I know they're talkin' about that play he made agin Haines. They's some says he's a faster man than you, Jim!"
"They say too damned much!" snarled Silent. "This is what's new. Whistlin' Dan Barry—no less—has busted open the jail at Elkhead an' set Lee Haines free."
The sheriff could not speak.
"I fixed it, Gus. I staged the whole little game."
"You fixed it with Whistlin' Dan?"
"Don't ask me how I worked it. The pint is that he did the job. He got into the jail while the lynchers was guardin' it, gettin' ready for a rush. They opened fire. It was after dark last night. Haines an' Dan made a rush for it from the stable on their hosses. They was lynchers everywhere. Haines didn't have no gun. Dan wouldn't trust him with one. He did the shootin' himself. He dropped two of them with two shots. His devil of a wolf-dog brung down another."
"Shootin' at night?"
"Shootin' at night," nodded Silent. "An" now, Gus, they's only one thing left to complete my little game—an' that's to get Whistlin' Dan Barry proclaimed an outlaw an' put a price on his head, savvy?"
"Why d'you hate him so?" asked Morris curiously.
"Morris, why d'you hate smallpox?"
"Because a man's got no chance fightin' agin it."
"Gus, that's why I hate Whistlin' Dan, but I ain't here to argue. I want you to get Dan proclaimed an outlaw."
The sheriff scowled and bit his lip.
"I can't do it, Jim."
"Why the hell can't you?"
"Don't go jumpin' down my throat. It ain't human to double cross nobody the way you're double crossin' that kid. He's clean. He fights square. He's jest done you a good turn. I can't do it, Jim."
There was an ominous silence.
"Gus," said the outlaw, "how many thousand have I given you?"
The sheriff winced.
"I
