The yellow gleam died; his hands were loosed; but he made no move to
spring at Dan's throat. Chill horror had taken the place of his shame,
and the wolf-dog still whined at his feet with lips grinned back from
the long white teeth.

"Who in the name of God are you?" he gasped, and even as he spoke
the truth came to him--the whistling--the panther-like speed of
hand--"Whistling Dan Barry."

The other frowned.

"If you didn't know my name why were you trailin' me?"

"I wasn't after you," said Calder.

"You was crawlin' along like that jest for fun? Friend, I figger to
know you. You been sent out by the tall man to lay for me."

"What tall man?" asked Calder, his wits groping.

"The one that swung the chair in Morgan's place," said Dan. "Now
you're goin' to take me to your camp. I got something to say to him."

"By the Lord!" cried the marshal, "you're trailing Silent."

Dan watched him narrowly. It was hard to accuse those keen black eyes
of deceit.

"I'm trailin' the man who sent you out after me," he asserted with a
little less assurance.

Calder tore open the front of his shirt and pushed back one side of
it. Pinned there next to his skin was his marshal's badge.

He said: "My name's Tex Calder."

It was a word to conjure with up and down the vast expanse of the
mountain-desert. Dan smiled, and the change of expression made him
seem ten years younger.

"Git down, Bart. Stand behind me!" The dog obeyed sullenly. "I've
heard a pile of men talk about you, Tex Calder." Their hands and their
eyes met. There was a mutual respect in the glances. "An' I'm a pile
sorry for this."

He picked up the gun from the ground and extended it butt first to the
marshal, who restored it slowly to the holster. It was the first time
it had ever been forced from his grasp.

"Who was it you talked about a while ago?" asked Dan.

"Jim Silent."

Dan instinctively dropped his hand back to his revolver.

"The tall man?"

"The one you fought with in Morgan's place."

The unpleasant gleam returned to Dan's eyes.

"I thought there was only one reason why he should die, but now I see
there's a heap of 'em."

Calder was all business.

"How long have you been here?" he asked.

"About a day."

"Have you seen anything of Silent here among the willows?"

"No."

"Do you think he's still here?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I dunno. I'll stay here till I find him among the trees or he breaks
away into the open."

"How'll