em like they was
queens an' you was their slaves. They like a master."

The thin lips of Purvis curled.

"You're quite a man, ain't you?"

"Man enough to handle any woman that ever walked."

Purvis broke into loud laughter.

"That's what a lot of us thought," he said at last, "but she breaks
all the rules. She's got her heart set on another man, an' she's that
funny sort that don't never love twice. Maybe you'll guess who the man
is?"

Buck frowned thoughtfully to cover his growing excitement.

"Give it up, Buck," advised Purvis. "The feller she loves is Whistlin'
Dan Barry. You wouldn't think no woman would look without shiverin'
at that hell-raiser. But she's goin' on a hunger strike on account of
him. Since yesterday she wouldn't eat none. She says she'll starve
herself to death unless we turn her loose. The hell of it is that she
will. I know it an' so does the rest of the boys."

"Starve herself to death?" said Buck exuberantly. "Wait till I get
hold of her!"

"_You?_"

"Me!"

Purvis viewed him with compassion.

"Me bein' your friend, Buck," he said, "take my tip an' don't try no
fool stunts around that girl. Which she once belongs to Whistlin' Dan
Barry an' therefore she's got the taboo mark on her for any other man.
Everything he's ever owned is different, damned different!"

His voice lowered to a tone which was almost awe.

"Speakin' for myself, I don't hanker after his hoss like Bill Kilduff;
or his girl, like Lee Haines; or his life, like the chief. All I want
is a shot at that wolf-dog, that Black Bart!"

"You look sort of het up, Hal."

"He come near puttin' his teeth into my leg down at Morgan's place the
day Barry cleaned up the chief."

"Why, any dog is apt to take a snap at a feller."

"This ain't a dog. It's a wolf. An' Whistlin' Dan--" he stopped.

"You look sort of queer, Hal. What's up?"

"You won't think I'm loco?"

"No."

"They's some folks away up north that thinks a man now an' then turns
into a wolf."

Buck nodded and shrugged his shoulders. A little chill went up and
down his back.

"Here's my idea, Buck. I've been thinkin'--no, it's more like dreamin'
than thinkin'--that Dan Barry is a wolf turned into a man, an' Black
Bart is a man turned into a wolf."

"Hal, you been drinkin'."

"Maybe."

"What made you think--" began Buck, but the long rider put spurs to
his horse and once more broke into a fast gallop.

CHAPTER XXX

"THE MANHANDLING"

It