out! call up the boys--tell'em to stop Dan from saddlin' a horse for
Kate----"

"Wait and listen!" cut in Buck Daniels. "D'you hear that?"

On the wet ground outside they heard a patter of galloping hoofs, and
then a wild whistling, sweet and keen and high, came ringing back to
them. It diminished rapidly with the distance.

"He's carryin' her off on Satan!" groaned Joe Cumberland, staggering as
he tried to step forward. "Buck, call out the boys. Even Satan can't
beat my hosses when he's carryin' double--call'em out--if you bring her
back----"

His voice choked and he stumbled and would have fallen to his knees had
not Buck Daniels sprang forward and caught him and carried him back to
the couch.

"What's happened there ain't no man can stop," said Buck hoarsely.
"God's work or devil's work--I dunno--but I know there ain't no place
for a man between Dan and Kate."

"Turn up the lights," commanded Joe Cumberland sharply. "Got to see; I
got to think. D'you hear?"

Buck Daniels ran to the big lamp and turned up the wick. At once a clear
light flooded every nook of the big room and showed all its emptiness.

"Can't you make the lamp work?" asked the old ranchman angrily. "Ain't
they any oil in it? Why, Buck, they ain't enough light for me to see
your face, hardly. But I'll do without the light. Buck, how far will
they go? Kate's a good girl! She won't leave me, lad!"

"She won't," agreed Buck Daniels. "Jest gone with Dan for a bit of a
canter."

"The devil was come back in his eyes," muttered the old man. "God knows
where he's headin' for! Buck, I brought him in off'n the range and made
him a part of my house. I took him into my heart; and now he's gone out
again and taken everything that I love along with him. Buck, why did he
go?"

"He'll come back," said the big cowpuncher softly.

"It's gettin' darker and darker," said Joe Cumberland, "and they's a
kind of ringing in my ears. Talk louder. I don't hear you none too
well."

"I said they was comin' back," said Buck Daniels.

Something like a light showed on the face of Joe Cumberland.

"Ay, lad," he said eagerly, "I can hear Dan's whistlin' comin'
back--nearer and nearer. Most like he was jest playin' a joke on me, eh,
Buck?"

"Most like," said Buck, brokenly.

"Ay, there it's ringin' at the door of the house! Was that a footstep on
the hall?"

"It was," said Buck. "They's comin' down the hall!"

But far, far away he heard the whistling of Dan Ba