No gun--he don't need nothin'
but his hands--and what was in front of my eyes was a death like--like
Jim Silent's!"
He squinted his eyes close and groaned. Once more he roused himself.
"But I couldn't move a foot without my knees bucklin', so I takes out my
makin's and rolls a cigarette. And while I was doin' it I was prayin'
that my strength would come back to me before he come back to
himself--and started!"
"It was surprise that held him, Buck. To think of you striking him--you
who have saved his life and fought for him like a blood-brother. Oh,
Buck, of all the men in the world you're the bravest and the noblest!"
"They ain't nothin' in that brand of talk," growled Buck, reddening.
"Anyway, at last I started for the door. It wasn't farther away than
from here to the wall. Outside was my hoss, and a chance for livin'. But
that door was a thousand years away, and a thousand times while I walked
towards it I felt Dan's gun click and bang behind me and felt the lead
go tearin' through me. And I didn't dare to hurry, because I knew that
might wake Dan up. So finally I got to the doors and just as they was
swingin' to behind me, I heard a sort of a moan behind me----"
"From Dan!" whispered the white-faced girl. "I know--a sort of a stifled
cry when he's angered! Oh, Buck."
"My first step took me ten yards from that door," reminisced Buck
Daniels, "and my next step landed me in the saddle, and I dug them spurs
clean into the insides of Long Bess.
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