The instant the swinging doors closed Barry started from his chair with
a strange cry--none of them had ever heard the like from human lips--for
there was grief in it, and above all there was a deadly eagerness. So a
hungry man might cry out at the sight of food. Down the length of the
barroom he darted and was drawing his gun as he whipped through the
doors. A common rush followed him, and those who reached the open first
saw Buck Daniels leaning far forward in his saddle and spurring
desperately into the gloom of the night. Instantly he was only a
twinkling figure in the shadows, and the beat of the hoofs rattled back
at them. Dan Barry stood with his gun poised high for a second or more.
Then he turned, dropped the gun into the holster, and with the same
strange, unearthly cry of eagerness, he raced off in the direction of
the barns.
There were some who followed him even then, and this is what they
reported to incredulous ears when they returned. Barry ran straight for
the left hand corral and wrenched at the gate, which appeared to be
secured by a lock and chain. Seeing that it would not give way he ran
around to the barn, and came out again carrying a saddle and bridle.
These he tossed over the high fence into the corral. Then he picked up a
loose scantling and with it pried and wrenched off the top bar of the
fence in one section and vaulted into the enclosure.
The black stallion had whinnied once or twice during this time and the
great black, shaggy dog had come snarling and whining about the feet of
his master.
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