hen 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?"

CHAPTER XXVIII

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