these streaks of greased lightnin'," said Buck,
with a touch of scorn, "but I'll stack old Mike agin the best of
them."

"An' there's a dog along with the hoss--a dog that's the nearest to a
wolf of any I ever seen."

There was a sudden change in Buck--a change to be sensed rather than
definitely noted with the eye. It was a stiffening of his body--an
alertness of which he was at pains to make no show. For almost
immediately he began to whistle softly, idly, his eyes roving
carelessly across the wall while he tilted back in his chair. Dan
dropped his hand close to the butt of his gun. Instantly, the eyes of
Buck flashed down and centered on Dan for an instant of keen scrutiny.
Certainly Buck had connected that mention of the black horse and the
wolf-dog with a disturbing idea.

When they went to their room--a room in which there was no bed and
they had to roll down their blankets on the floor--Dan opened the
window and commenced to whistle one of his own wild tunes. It seemed
to Calder that there was a break in that music here and there, and a
few notes grouped together like a call. In a moment a shadowy figure
leaped through the window, and Black Bart landed on the floor with
soft padding feet.

Recovering from his start Calder cursed softly.

"What's the main idea?" he asked.

Dan made a signal for a lower tone.

"There ain't no idea," he answered, "but these Daniels people--do you
know anything about them?"

"No. Why?"

"They interest me, that's all."

"Anything wrong?"

"I guess not."

"Why did you whistle for this infernal wolf? It makes me nervous to
have him around. Get out, Bart."

The wolf turned a languid eye upon the marshal.

"Let him be," said Dan. "I don't feel no ways nacheral without havin'
Bart around."

The marshal made no farther objections, and having rolled himself in
his blankets was almost immediately asleep and breathing heavily. The
moment Dan heard his companion draw breath with a telltale regularity,
he sat up again in his blankets. Bart was instantly at his side. He
patted the shaggy head lightly, and pointed towards the door.

"Guard!" he whispered.

Then he lay down and was immediately asleep. Bart crouched at his feet
with his head pointed directly at the door.

In other rooms there was the sound of the Daniels family going to
bed--noises distinctly heard throughout the flimsy frame of the house.
After that a deep silence fell which lasted many hours, but in that