"Where is Buck?" asked the man. "I've come for him!"
As if in answer, the great, shaggy dog slipped through the entrance past
his master and glided across the room. As he passed, Kate held out a
hand to him. She called softly: "Bart!" but she was greeted with a
silent baring of fangs; and she caught her hand back against her breast,
with the tears springing in her eyes. On the other side of the room the
black dog paused and looked back to his master, while Byrne realised
with a shudder that the door before which it stood was the door through
which Buck Daniels had disappeared. Straight to that door Barry stepped,
and Byrne realised, with an eerie emotion, that the footfalls made no
sound.
Before he reached the door, however, the girl started forward and sprang
before him. With her outstretched arms she barred the way. Her skirt
brushed almost in the face of the dog, and the beast shrank away not in
fear, but crouching in readiness to leap. The sharp ears twitched back;
a murderous snarl rolled up from between the wicked teeth. Yet she did
not cast a single glance at him; she faced the greater danger.
She was saying: "Whatever Buck did, it wasn't done to hurt you, Dan; it
was done for your own sake. And for Dad's sake. You shan't pass here!"
From his position, the doctor could not see the face of Dan Barry, but
he guessed at it through the expression of Kate. Such terror and horror
were in her eyes as though she were facing a death's head inches away.
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