Dan Barry stood
thoughtfully still, but now and then he called a word of encouragement.
And Black Bart stayed with his work. Now he struck out a wide circle,
running always with his nose close to the ground. Again he doubled back
sharply to the barn-site, and began again in a new direction. He ran
swiftly, sometimes putting his injured leg to the ground with hardly a
limp, and again drawing it up and running on three feet. In a moment he
passed out of sight behind a slight rise of ground to the left of the
ash-heaps, and at some little distance. He did not reappear. Instead, a
long, shrill wail came wavering towards the doctor and Dan Barry. It
raised the hair on the head of the doctor and sent a chill through his
veins; but it sent Whistling Dan racing towards the place behind which
Black Bart had disappeared. The doctor hurried after as fast as he
might and came upon the wolf-dog making small, swift circles, his nose
to the ground, and then crossing to and fro out of the circles. And the
face of the master was black while he watched. He ran again to Bart and
began talking swiftly.
"D'you see?" he asked, pointing. "From behind this here hill you could
get a pretty good sight of the barn--and you wouldn't be seen, hardly,
from the barn. Someone must have waited here. Look about, Bart, you'll
be findin' a pile of signs, around here. It means that them that done
the shootin' and the firin' of the barn stood right here behind this
hill-top and watched the barn burn--and was hopin' that Satan and you
wouldn't ever come out alive.
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