came to a halt beside him, jouncing in the saddle
with the suddenness of the stop.

"What's up?" he called eagerly.

"Whistlin' Dan."

"What's new about him? I know they're talkin' about that play he made
agin Haines. They's some says he's a faster man than you, Jim!"

"They say too damned much!" snarled Silent. "This is what's new.
Whistlin' Dan Barry--no less--has busted open the jail at Elkhead an'
set Lee Haines free."

The sheriff could not speak.

"I fixed it, Gus. I staged the whole little game."

"_You_ fixed it with Whistlin' Dan?"

"Don't ask me how I worked it. The pint is that he did the job. He got
into the jail while the lynchers was guardin' it, gettin' ready for a
rush. They opened fire. It was after dark last night. Haines an' Dan
made a rush for it from the stable on their hosses. They was lynchers
everywhere. Haines didn't have no gun. Dan wouldn't trust him with
one. He did the shootin' himself. He dropped two of them with two
shots. His devil of a wolf-dog brung down another."

"Shootin' at night?"

"Shootin' at night," nodded Silent. "An" now, Gus, they's only one
thing left to complete my little game--an' that's to get Whistlin' Dan
Barry proclaimed an outlaw an' put a price on his head, savvy?"

"Why d'you hate him so?" asked Morris curiously.

"Morris, why d'you hate smallpox?"

"Because a man's got no chance fightin' agin it."

"Gus, that's why I hate Whistlin' Dan, but I ain't here to argue. I
want you to get Dan proclaimed an outlaw."

The sheriff scowled and bit his lip.

"I can't do it, Jim."

"Why the hell can't you?"

"Don't go jumpin' down my throat. It ain't human to double cross
nobody the way you're double crossin' that kid. He's clean. He fights
square. He's jest done you a good turn. I can't do it, Jim."

There was an ominous silence.

"Gus," said the outlaw, "how many thousand have I given you?"

The sheriff winced.

"I dunno," he said, "a good many, Jim."

"An' now you're goin' to lay down on me?"

Another pause.

"People are gettin' pretty excited nowadays," went on Silent
carelessly. "Maybe they'd get a lot more excited if they was to know
jest how much I've paid you, Gus."

The sheriff struck his forehead with a pudgy hand.

"When a man's sold his soul to the devil they ain't no way of buyin'
it back."

"When you're all waked up," said Silent soothingly, "they ain't no
more reasonable man than you, Gus. But sometimes you get to seein'
thi