a buckboard an' a pair of hosses to take Tex back to
Elkhead. As for this feller Haines, I'll take care of him."

"I sure need a buckboard," said Dan slowly, "but I'll get the loan
from a--white man!"

He turned his back sharply on the sheriff and asked if any one else
had a wagon they could lend him. One of the men had stopped at
Morris's place on his way to Elkhead. He immediately proposed that
they make the trip together.

"All right," said Morris carelessly. "I won't pick trouble with a
crazy man. Come with me, Haines."

He turned to leave the room.

"Wait!" said Dan.

Haines stopped as though someone had seized him by the shoulder.

"What the devil is this now?" asked Morris furiously. "Stranger, d'you
think you c'n run the world? Come on with me, Haines!"

"He stays with me," said Dan.

"By God," began Morris, "if I thought--"

"This ain't no place for you to begin thinkin'," said the man who had
offered his buckboard to Dan. "This feller made the capture an' he's
got the right to take him into Elkhead if he wants. They's a reward on
the head of Lee Haines."

"The arrest is made in my county," said Morris stoutly, "an' I've got
the say as to what's to be done with a prisoner."

"Morris," said Haines earnestly, "if I'm taken to Elkhead it'll be
simply a matter of lynching. You know the crowd in that town."

"Right--right," said Morris, eagerly picking up the word. "It'd be
plain lynchin'--murder--"

Dan broke in: "Haines, step over here behind me!"

For one instant Haines hesitated, and then obeyed silently.

"This is contempt of the law and an officer of the law," said Morris.
"An" I'll see that you get fined so that--"

"Better cut it short there, sheriff," said one of the men. "I wouldn't
go callin' the attention of folks to the way Jim Silent walked into
your own house an' made his getaway without you tryin' to raise a
hand. Law or no law, I'm with this stranger."

"Me too," said another; "any man who can fan a gun like him don't need
no law."

The sheriff saw that the tide of opinion had set strongly against him
and abandoned his position with speed if not with grace. Dan ordered
Haines to walk before him outside the house. They faced each other in
the dim moonlight.

"I've got one question to ask you," he said.

"Make it short," said Haines calmly. "I've got to do my talking before
the lynching crowd."

"You can answer it in one word. Does Kate Cumberland--what is she to
you?"